Chinese New Year Traditions, Date, Animals, Celebration, and Decorations
Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Chunjie, stands as the biggest festival in China, dedicated to worshiping ancestors and heaven and reuniting with family.
Typically requiring at least a week of preparation, this festive occasion extends its celebrations over half a month.
Every aspect, from decorations, flowers, and household chores to the array of foods, observance of etiquette, and participation in celebratory activities, contributes to the rich tapestry of Spring Festival or Chinese New Year culture.
Chinese New Year Date: Why Are the Dates Different Each Year
Chinese New Year Animals: The Timeless Zodiac Signs
Chinese New Year Celebration: Reasons and Traditions
Chinese New Year Traditions: Preparations, Schedule, Activities, and Customs
What People Don't Do During Chinese New Year Festival
Chinese New Year Parade and Performance
Chinese New Year Calendar and Date: Why Are the Dates Different Each Year
New Year marks the end of frigid winter, the onset of the new year, and the hopeful arrival of spring.
Since the year 104 BC, with the approval of Emperor Wudi, the Chinese New Year has been celebrated on the 1st of January in the Chinese Traditional Calendar.
Besides, the Chinese Traditional Calendar is a Lunisolar Calendar, different from the Gregorian Calendar.
As a result, the date of each year's Spring Festival varies when converted to the Gregorian Calendar, usually falling somewhere between the 21st of January to the 21st of February.
The 2024 Chinese New Year is on the 10th of February.
Chinese New Year Animals: The Timeless Zodiac Signs
No later than the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC — 1046 BC), the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches System, also known as the Sexagenary Cycle, was used as ordinal numbers to mark time.
Centuries later, 12 zodiac signs were formed and used to represent the 12 Earthly Branches or Terrestrial Branches, which were later assigned to mark years.
The 12 Chinese New Year Animals in order are Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
Moreover, since the dates of the Spring Festival varied in the Gregorian Calendar, each year's zodiac sign also starts on different dates.
12 Zodiac Animal Signs on Bronze Mirror of the Tang Dynasty (618 — 907) — Luoyang Museum (Photo by Dongmaiying)
Chinese New Year Celebration: Reasons and Traditions
Throughout thousands of years of history, reasons for celebrating Chinese New Year have been:
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To worship heaven, deities, and ancestors and to pray for blessings for the new year.
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To disperse the frigidness of winter and evil monsters (especially the one named "Nian").
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To celebrate the agricultural harvest of the previous year.
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To welcome hopeful spring.
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To reunite and enjoy feasts with family.
Chinese New Year Traditions: Preparations, Schedule, Celebrations, Activities, and Customs
In the Chinese Traditional Calendar:
Preparation Works
23rd (in northern China) or 24th (in southern China) of Dec.:
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To worship Kitchen God (Zao Wang Ye) and eat malt sugar candy (Tang Gua).
It is believed that every family has a Kitchen God guarding their house, who will go back to heaven on that day and report everything that happened in this family in the past year.
Beautiful firecrackers are used to see off all Kitchen Gods, and malt sugar candies are offered to make them feel sticky and sweet so they won't say bad things about the family.
Malt Sugar Candy or Tanggua, the traditional food of Chinese New Year.
24th or 25th of Dec.:
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To clean the entire house and set up auspicious decorations.
25th to 29th of Dec.:
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Shopping for new clothes, cooking or buying holiday food, getting haircuts, and so on.
Hanging Lanterns in the Forbidden City, the Imperial Palace of Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 — 1912), Photo From Official Website of Palace Museum.
Chinese New Year Celebration
30th of Dec., the Eve of the Chinese New Year:
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Paste couplets and door gods.
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Worship ancestors.
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Prepare and eat a feast dinner with the family.
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Welcome the Kitchen God back.
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Make dumplings for the next few days.
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Watch the Spring Festival Gala (or Chun Wan) on TV.
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Stay up late till midnight (some places stay awake the whole night) to welcome the new year.
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Set firecrackers (nowadays not allowed in many areas in China because of the environment).
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Hand out money (Yasuiqian) in red envelopes to kids.
1st of Jan.:
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Worship heaven and ancestors.
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Visit and pray at temples for religious people.
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Wear new clothes and visit important relatives (usually the father's parents or the man's parents for married couples).
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Send New Year's greetings to family and friends.
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Eat Dumplings in northern China, or Sticky Rice Cake (Nian Gao) or Glutinous Rice Balls (Tangyuan) in the south.
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Set firecrackers.
2nd of Jan.:
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Visit the mother's parents or woman's parents for married couples.
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Hand out gifts, like candy or dessert, or money in red envelopes to kids.
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Eat noodles, dumplings, and feast with family.
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In some southern places in China, eat the Opening Spring Festival Banquet (Kainianfan), which includes certain types of auspicious dishes.
3rd and 4th of Jan.:
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Visit other relatives and friends, and have a feast with them.
5th of Jan.:
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Welcome and worship the God of Wealth.
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Sweep the floor and throw out the trash to send away the God of Poverty.
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Set firecrackers and eat dumplings.
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Open up markets.
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In some places in southern China, bosses would hand out Give Money (Lishi) in red envelopes to employees.
Picture of God of Wealth in Chinese Culture
6th to 12th of Jan.:
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Hold worship ceremonies for different deities in different places and religions.
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Attend Temple Fairs.
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Visit performances like Dragon and Lion Dances.
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Reunite with old friends.
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Participate in various local celebrations.
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Many people would go back to work nowadays.
13th to 14th of Jan.:
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Prepare for the Lantern Festival on the 15th of Jan.
What People Don't Do During Chinese New Year Festival
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Do not say unlucky words during New Year, such as "death", "over", "ghost", etc.
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Do not sweep the floor, do laundry, or throw out garbage from the 1st to the 4th of January.
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Do not use the knife, needle, scissors, or other sharp tools on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of January.
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Do not fight or argue with anyone during the festival.
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Do not cry or yell at children.
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Do not borrow nor collect debts.
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Do not get haircuts during the entire of January.
Chinese New Year Decorations and Symbols
Spring Festival Couplets — Poetic Auspiciousness
Spring Festival Couplet or Chunlian is a pair of parallelism lines, usually rhyme and with auspicious meanings that portray a lucky new year, best wishes, and a bright future.
Originated no later than the Five Dynasties (907 — 960), when people would write auspicious lines on peach wood boards and hang or paste them on doors before the new year.
Gradually, black or gold characters on red paper became the most popular form of Spring Festival Couplets, and the writings are getting poetic.
Spring Festival Couplets, Photo from She Ying Duan Shi Pin.
Paste Rules of Spring Festival Couplets
A set of Spring Festival Couplets generally contains two parallel sentences and a horizontal scroll.
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The first line (Shang Lian), usually the tone of the last character, is the third or fourth in Pinyin and is usually pasted on the door's left side.
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The second line (Xia Lian), usually the tone of the last character, is the first or second in Pinyin and is usually pasted on the door's right side.
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The horizontal scroll (Heng Pi), usually four Chinese characters, is pasted above the door in the center.
Today, some people like couplets that are fun and creative.
These couplets still contain the same number of characters in each line. However, they may not follow rhyme and parallelism strictly.
Meanwhile, couplets written on other colors of paper or other materials can also be used as home decor to present one's idea, taste, ambition, literature achievement, etc.
Click to Read Some Beautiful and Auspicious Spring Festival Couplets
Fun Spring Festival Couplets for the Year of Rabbit, Picture from Shengxiaoleyuan Humengmeng.
Door Gods — Powerful Guards
Door Gods or Menshen, besides Spring Festival Couplets, are essential Chinese New Year decorations on doors, which are believed to exorcise evils and back luck, bringing people safety and blessings.
Worshipping Door Gods appeared no later than the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC — 256 BC) since their images carved on peach wood tablets or painted on paper were used in the new year.
General Door Gods, Picture from Palace Museum.
Paste Rules of Door Gods
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Door Gods or Menshen usually come in pairs and come from the same background (historically, religiously, and culturally).
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Door Gods who are strong and are better at exorcising evilness are better to be pasted on the outer doors; those who are divines of intelligence and fortune are better to be pasted on inner doors.
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They should be pasted symmetrically on the door and inside the Spring Festival Couplets.
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Two Door Gods should face each other, which looks like they are checking out everyone and everything that enters the door.
Door Gods or Menshen on Doors of Palace Museum.
Who are the Chinese Door Gods or Menshen?
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Shen Shu and Yu Lv
From Ancient Mythology, Shen Shu and Yu Lv are guards on the Door of Ghosts. They lead and manage all ghosts in the world and implement cruel punishment for those who commit crimes.
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Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong
Qin Qiong (? — 638) and Yuchi Gong (585 — 658) were two great generals who assisted Li Shimin (599 — 649) in building the Tang Dynasty (618 — 907) and getting the throne. They are powerful, brave, and loyal, and have been respected as famous Door Gods for centuries.
Besides, Door Gods also can be deities of Taoism Religion and Buddhism, and other respectable historical figures, such as Guan Yu (? — 220), Wei Zheng (580 — 643), Yue Fei (1103 — 1142), Wen Tianxiang (1236 — 1283).
Taoism Religion Door Gods, Picture from Palace Museum.
Chinese New Year Lanterns — Art of Brightness and Togetherness
Beautiful lanterns, the art of night and representative of brightness and togetherness, are popular decorations, usually hanging in front of doors in pairs, for both the New Year and Lantern Festival.
Today, Chinese New Year lanterns are usually red, and some are other auspicious colors with lucky pictures and symbols.
Lanterns in Part of Painting "Ming Xianzong Yuanxiao Xingle Tu" About Celebrations of Lantern Festival of Chenghua Emperor (1447 — 1487) in Imperial Forbidden City, by Court Artist of the Ming Dynasty — National Museum of China
Chinese New Year Decors — Joyful Festival Atmosphere
Besides doors, there are other Chinese New Year decorations on windows and inside the houses, such as Paper Cuttings and auspicious plants.
People can paste, hang, and place those festival decors, most of which contain auspicious and meaningful elements.
Read More about Paper Cuttings, Auspicious Flowers, and Color Symbolism
Paper Cutting Rabbit and Auspicious Gourds, by Li Zhimei.
Chinese New Year Symbols
They are common elements on New Year decorations that represent good luck and a bright future.
Some typical Chinese New Year Symbols include:
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春 Chun means spring.
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福 Fu means fortune, blessing, and good luck.
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The year's specific Zodiac Animal.
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Auspicious animals such as fish and red-crowned cranes.
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Lucky phrases, idioms, and poems.
Read More About Traditional Chinese Patterns and Chinese New Year Greetings
Chinese New Year Parade and Performance
Dragon Dance and Lion Dance
In ancient sacred sacrifice and worship ceremonies, people imitated dragons and lions, two auspicious mythical animals, to pray for blessings.
About 1000 to 2000 years ago, Dragon and Lion Dances became popular entertainment activities in important festivals, whose costumes, skills, steps, movements, appearances, and props varied among different places in China.
Pageant on Immortals or You Shen
In many places in China, on essential festivals, people would respectfully set statues of deities of their local temples on a well-decorated sedan chair, show them around the city they are protecting, and wish them to cast blessings on people.
Though different in each place, a Pageant on Immortals usually includes some important statues of deities.
This excellent touring team leads and carries deities and countless civilians, welcoming them on the street and praying for fortune.
Tai Ge or Piao Se
In important festival processions, someone would dress up, dance, or perform figures from ancient legends, mythology, and history on a moving platform that people carry.
The performing platforms are usually tall, with exquisite decorations.
When they are moving, figures dancing and performing look like they are floating on air, which is quite splendid.
Hence, it has been a famous performance in essential festivals in Chinese culture.
Traditional Chinese New Year Food
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