Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

(1) Chinese New Year or 'Spring Festival' is China's most important festival and holiday. Spring Festival is a major holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, and in many of China's neighboring countries such as Singapore and South Korea. And it's celebrated in the world's many China towns.

(2) The Chinese New Year is defined to be the first day of the first month in the traditional Chinese calendar. Chinese lunisolar calendar whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. A lunar month is around 2 days shorter than a solar month. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar, an extra month is inserted every few years. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year. Each Chinese year is associated with an animal sign according to the Chinese zodiac. Chinese traditionally believe that years begin and end at Chinese New Year, rather than January 1.

(3) Normally, the celebration will start from the New Year's Eve and will last for around 15 days until the middle of the first month. Before the celebration, people will normally completely clean the house and display traditional New Year decorations. This festivity is the time for families to be together. Wherever they are, people are expected to be home to celebrate the festival with their families. This is the most important part of the Chinese New Year celebration. People will normally visit relatives and friends, do some shopping, watch traditional Chinese shows, launch fireworks, and plan for the coming year. The celebration will sometimes be highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of heaven, earth, the family ancestors and other gods. In modern China, working professionals will normally have 7 days of holiday including the weekend to celebrate. After the family reunion, some modern Chinese families may take the chance to visit tourist destinations.

(4) Chinese people like eating, and they eat a lot during the Spring Festival. The New Year's Eve dinner is called 'reunion dinner', and is believed to be the most important meal of the year. Big families of several generations sit around round tables and enjoy the food and time together. Dishes with lucky meanings must be included in the dinner such as fish, dumplings, and spring rolls.

(5) After reunion dinner, families normally sit together to watch the Spring Festival Gala, one of the most watched TV shows in China. At the same time, most people send WeChat red envelopes or short messages to acquaintances by phone.

A) After Reunion dinner activities.
B) Reunion dinner.
C) CNY is the important holiday which is celebrated in a lot of countries of Asia.
D) Different dates of Chinese New Year.
E) Family activities on Chinese New Year.