Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is the largest holiday in the Chinese community, celebrated in January or February. Korea and Vietnam celebrate their respective new years on the same day, while the Chinese New Year is also widely celebrated among overseas Chinese communities.

Understand

While China uses the Gregorian calendar like most other countries, the Chinese lunisolar calendar governs traditional holidays. In Chinese astrology, each year is assigned one of twelve animals, as well as one of five elements, creating a combined cycle over 60 years. The animal of the coming year is featured during the celebration.

During the Spring Festival, the Han Chinese and many ethnic minorities in China hold various activities to celebrate. These activities mainly focus on ancestor worship, honoring the elderly, expressing gratitude and praying for blessings, family reunions, discarding the old and welcoming the new, inviting good fortune, and praying for a good harvest. They are rich in ethnic characteristics. The customs of the Spring Festival are numerous, including drinking Laba porridge, worshipping the Kitchen God, sweeping dust, pasting Spring Festival couplets, posting New Year pictures, pasting the character "福" upside down, staying up on New Year's Eve, eating dumplings, giving red envelopes, paying New Year calls, and visiting temple fairs.

Influenced by Chinese culture, some countries and regions around the world also have customs to celebrate the Lunar New Year. From Egypt in Africa to Brazil in South America, and from the Empire State Building in New York to the Sydney Opera House, the Chinese Lunar New Year has sparked a "Chinese style" around the world. The Spring Festival is rich and diverse, with significant historical, artistic, and cultural value. In 2006, Spring Festival customs were approved by the State Council and included in Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Eat

During the Spring Festival, although the foods eaten by Chinese people in different regions vary, some traditional seasonal foods still share common characteristics, such as dumplings, rice cakes, and tangyuan (sweet rice balls). These foods symbolize reunion, good fortune, and abundance, carrying people's best wishes for the new year. The dishes served during the Spring Festival often have specific meanings; for example, fish symbolizes abundance year after year, and oranges represent good luck. Regardless of the variety of foods, the Spring Festival table is always an important place for expressing family reunion and hopes for the future.

Dumplings

Dumplings, or 饺子 (jiǎo zi), are a staple food and local snack in northern China, and also a traditional food during festivals. The custom of eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year is mainly found in northern regions. On New Year's Eve, people in the north believe that not eating dumplings would make it feel like the New Year celebration is incomplete. In some mountainous areas of northern China, there is a custom of eating dumplings every morning from the first day to the fifth day of the New Year. Eating dumplings during the Spring Festival is considered to bring great luck and prosperity.

Tang Yuan

In southern China, the traditional food for the Lantern Festival is called 汤圆 (tāng yuán), also known as 元宵 (yuán xiāo), 汤团 (tāng tuán), or 浮元子 (fú yuán zǐ). It is one of the representative traditional snacks in China, made from glutinous rice flour into small, round dumplings. Typically filled with various fillings, they are cooked and served in a soup. Tang Yuan is also the most iconic food for the Lantern Festival. The filling is often made from black sesame, lard, and a little white sugar, and the dumpling is shaped round using glutinous rice flour. In places like Jiangsu and Shanghai, there is a custom of eating Tang Yuan on the morning of the first day of the Chinese New Year.

Spring rolls

Spring rolls, also known as spring pancakes (春饼, chūn bǐng), is an ancient Chinese tradition to eat spring pancakes on the beginning of spring (Li Chun). The custom dates back to the Jin Dynasty, where there was already a dish called "五芋盘" (wǔ yù pán), or "spring plate," which combined spring pancakes and vegetables in one dish.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, the tradition of eating spring pancakes on Li Chun became more widespread, and even the emperor would give them to close officials as gifts. At that time, the spring plate was extremely elaborate: "翠缕红丝，金鸡玉燕" (green threads, red silk, golden chicken and jade swallows), and it was highly refined, with each plate costing a thousand coins. The tradition also spread among the common folk, who exchanged them as gifts.

Over time, the shape and preparation of spring pancakes have varied by region, and the time for consumption also differs. They can be either pan-fried or steamed, and they may range from large, like a fan, to small, resembling a lotus seed shell.

Rice cake

Rice cakes (年糕, nián gāo) are traditional foods associated with the Chinese New Year. They come in three colors: red, yellow, and white, symbolizing gold and silver. These cakes are made from glutinous rice or rice flour, and in the southern regions of China, it is customary to eat rice cakes during the New Year. The sweet and sticky texture of the rice cake represents a life filled with sweetness and a prosperous year ahead, symbolizing a smooth, step-by-step rise to success.

Eating rice cakes during the Chinese New Year is believed to bring good fortune and continuous growth in the coming year. There are different types of rice cakes: in the north, there are yellow rice cakes (黄米糕); in the Jiangnan region, there is water-milled rice cake (水磨年糕); in southwestern China, there is glutinous rice cake (糯粑粑); and in Taiwan, there is red turtle cake (红龟糕).

In the north, rice cakes are typically steamed or fried, while in the south, they are also steamed, fried, sliced and stir-fried, or cooked in soup.

Destinations

China

Langzhong, Sichuan, China - the city where the Spring Festival is believed to have originated. There is a cultural theme park in the city dedicated to the Spring Festival.
Zigong, Sichuan, China - the city where the Lantern Festival was first celebrated. There is a lantern museum in the city.

Elsewhere

Every Chinatown in the world has a Chinese New Year celebration.