Chinese New Year: 10 fun facts
Chinese New Year is China's most important traditional holiday, as well as an indispensable part of its culture. It is a special celebration for all Chinese people around the world. In this article, full of Chinese New Year traditions, we tell you 10 curious facts that you may not have known.
1. A special date: Why doesn't Chinese New Year have a fixed date?
The date of the Chinese New Year festival changes every year. This is because it is based on the Chinese lunar calendar, which follows the movement of the moon around the Earth, as opposed to the conventional solar calendar, which follows the movement of the Earth around the Sun.
Typically, Chinese New Year falls between mid-January and mid-February. Chinese New Year always falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, which means that its date varies between January 21 and February 20.
In 2025 the Chinese New Year will fall on January 29, in 2026 on February 17 and in 2027 on February 6.
2. The "Spring Festival"
It is also known as the "spring festival" (春节; Chūnjié) because it coincides with the beginning of that season. This is because spring is considered to mark the beginning of the year. In fact, Chunjie is what the Chinese call the New Year's holiday.
3. Chinese New Year lasts for several days
The holiday lasts for 15 days, and the most important moment of the entire celebration is Chinese New Year's Eve, the first day of the lunar new year. On the 15th, the famous Lantern Festival takes place, which marks the end of the celebration.
4. It's a travel operator's favorite season
As it is the longest national holiday of the year, millions of people from all over the country take the opportunity to travel and visit their relatives. Most employees have 7-12 days off, and students have a month of winter vacation. During this time, Chinese from all over the world will travel in all the means of transportation that are necessary to get home for a family reunion, just as in the West, people try to spend Christmas with their families.
There are also families who take advantage of the holidays to travel together. So the number of people moving is huge. This makes it the largest annual migration in the world. The total number of trips made by plane, train, bus and boat is said to be as high as nearly 3 billion.
5. "Spring Cleaning": An Essential Chinese New Year Tradition
No matter if it is a city apartment or a cottage, there is no shortage of diligent housewives who will use all their energies to carry out a thorough cleaning of the house before the Chinese New Year. Sweeping, scrubbing, washing... Sometimes, the whole family needs to lend a hand with chores, to make sure the house gets rid of the old year's dust and is ready to receive the "fortune" of the New Year (and family members who come to visit during the holidays, of course).
6. Red is the star color
Once the cleaning is done, each house is decorated with its favorite color: bright red. From red lanterns, Chinese knots, posters with Spring Festival (New Year) motifs to the sign panels on both sides of the doors, red shines through in its presence.
In Chinese culture, the color red symbolizes good fortune and joy. People also believe that decorating the house red wards off evil spirits and brings good luck. By keeping the houses decorated in red and these ornaments, people hope that the family living inside will be surrounded by good fortune and joy during the coming year.
In addition to the red lanterns, the decoration includes, dragons, orange and tangerine trees and plum blossoms.
7. The World's Largest Fireworks Show
Fireworks are an indispensable element of the celebration of the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival. All families set off fireworks to celebrate the festival. The biggest fireworks display is on Lunar New Year's Eve, as this "New Year's Eve" is also called.
At midnight, when the Chinese New Year begins, the world's largest fireworks display begins. In fact, did you know that China produces approximately 90% of the world's fireworks?
8. The greetings
"过年好" (Guònián Hao) is one of the most commonly used greetings. This is like when in the West we wish a happy new year or a merry Christmas.
And although in Chinese Guonian hao is used to mean "Happy New Year", in reality 过年 (guònián) literally means "past year". It's like saying, "The year is over!"
That is why, in popular culture, the celebration of the Spring Festival is also called "Guo Nian". How many names for the same celebration! See it as an opportunity to expand your Chinese vocabulary 😉
Another greeting is "新年快乐" (xīnnián kuàilè) which is a more literal translation of "happy new year", as 新年 (xīnnián) means "new year" and 快乐 (kuàilè) is "happy/joyful".
9. The red envelopes
The red envelopes (红包; hóngbāo) of the Chinese New Year are the "lucky money" that older generations give to young generations as New Year's gifts, similar to the gifts that Westerners give at Christmas. Lucky money is usually placed in a red envelope or wrapped in red paper.
Since red symbolizes vitality, happiness, and good luck in Chinese culture, people believe that giving red envelopes to children can keep them safe and bring them good luck.
10. The Dragon Dance
The dragon dance is the traditional dance, so it cannot be missed on the most important occasion of the year. People believe that performing the dragon dance at the beginning of the year scares away evil spirits and brings good luck.
Would you like to know more?
In this article, we have only seen some of the characteristic elements of the Chinese New Year celebration. But they are not the only ones and each of them teaches us something of this millenary culture.
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