Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is the most important Chinese holiday. Different parts of China have different traditions to celebrate Chinese New Year.
New Year’s Eve Dinner
The New Year’s Eve dinner is the most important dinner for Chinese people. Normally, this is the family reunion dinner, especially for those with family members away from home. During the dinner, normally fish will be served. Dumplings are the most important dishes in Northern China. The majority of Chinese will have New Year’s Eve dinner at home instead of a restaurant.
Fireworks
Fireworks are used to drive away the evil in China. Right after 12:00pm on New Year’s Eve, fireworks will be launched to celebrate the coming of the New Year as well as to drive away the evil. It is believed that the person who launched the first firework of the New Year will obtain good luck.
Red Packets
The red packet is a red envelope with money in it, which ranges from on to a few thousand Chinese Yuan. Usually the red racket is given by adults, especially married couples, and elderly to young children in the New Year days. It was believed that the money in the red packet will suppress the evil from the children, keep them a healthy, and long life.
Cleaning
A few days before the Chinese New Year, people will do a complete cleaning of the house and house wares which signifies to remove the old and welcome the new.
Decoration
After the cleaning, people will decorate the house to welcome the New Year. Most of the decorations are red in color. The most popular New Year decorations are upside down FU, duilian, lanterns, year paint, paper cutting, door gods, etc.