Chinese New Year, known in modern Chinese as the “Spring Festival” (simplified Chinese 春节; traditional Chinese 春節; Pinyin: Chūn jié), is an important Chinese festival celebrated at the turn of the traditional lunisolar Chinese calendar. Celebrations traditionally run from the evening preceding the first day, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first calendar month. The first day of the New Year falls on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February.

2016 is the year of monkey, therefore everything is decorated accordingly. Monkey is a good sign, so plenty of people are looking forward!

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. Often, the evening preceding Chinese New Year’s Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “good fortune” or “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes.

Although there are many interesting legends and stories explaining the start of the Chinese New Year festival, the main two reasons for the festival are:
– To celebrate a year of hard work, have a good rest, and relax with family
– To wish for a lucky and prosperous coming year

Chinese people believe that a good start to the year will lead to a lucky year. Chinese traditionally celebrated the start of a new year of farm work, and wished for a good harvest (when most were farmers). This has now evolved to celebrating the start of a new business year and wishing for profits and success in various vocations. This is time for family, when most Chinese go back home to their hometowns and villages.

The most important dates during the celebration are (at least so I was told by Chinese friends):
Day one
The first day is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and earth, officially beginning at midnight. It is a traditional practice to light fireworks, burn bamboo sticks and firecrackers and to make as much of a din as possible to chase off the evil spirits as encapsulated by nian. This is also a time to honor one’s elders and families visit the oldest and most senior members of their extended families, usually their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

Day five
This day is the god of Wealth’s birthday. In northern China, people eat jiaozi, or dumplings, on the morning of powu. It is also common in China that on the 5th day people will shoot off firecrackers to ensure that gods will return favour and good fortune for the new year.

Day fifteen
The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as “Yuanxiao Festival” or Lantern festival. Plenty of families walk the streets with lanterns. This day often marks the end of the Chinese New Year festivities.

What to do in Beijing if you are “stuck” during the festival?
First of all… Beijing is almost deserted, streets are empty, plenty of shops are closed, so are the restaurants. For the Chinese that celebrate in Beijing, they go to different fairs, one of the most popular is on the grounds of the Temple of Earth.
(Source of information: Wikipedia)