Kong Hee Fatt Choy

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For other traditions of celebrating lunar new year, see Lunar New Year.
Chinese New Year
Traditional Chinese 農曆新年
Simplified Chinese 农历新年
Literal meaning Agrarian Calendar New Year
[show]Transliterations
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin nóng lì xīn nián
Cantonese
- Jyutping nung4 lik6 san1 nin4

Spring Festival
Traditional Chinese 春節
Simplified Chinese 春节
[show]Transliterations
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin chūn jié
the spring festival


Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year's Eve in Meizhou, Guangdong, China
Also called Lunar New Year, Spring Festival
Observed by Chinese communities worldwide
Type Cultural, Religious
(Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian)
Significance The first day of the Chinese calendar (lunisolar calendar)
2011 date February 3
2012 date January 23
Celebrations Dragon dances/Lion dances, fireworks, family gathering, family meal, visiting friends and relatives (拜年), giving red envelopes, decorating with duilian (對联).
Related to Lantern Festival, which concludes the celebration of the New Year.
Mongolian New Year, Tibetan New Year, Japanese New Year, Korean New Year, Vietnamese New Year
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.
Chinese New Year - often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar - is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. Despite its winter occurrence, in China it is known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name 春节 (Pinyin: Chūn Jié), owing to the difference between Western and traditional Chinese methods for computing the seasons. The festival begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: Zhēng Yuè) in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chú Xī (除夕) or "Eve of the Passing Year."

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunisolar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.

Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans (Seollal), Tibetans and Bhutanese (Losar), Mongolians (Tsagaan Sar), Vietnamese (Tết), and the Japanese before 1873 (Oshogatsu).

In countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Australia Post, Canada Post, and the US Postal Service issue New Year's themed stamps.