| Spring Festival --The Longest & Most Important Public Holiday in China | | | | The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. Why is it called Spring Festival? The festival date is in January or February, around the Chinese solar term the 'Beginning of Spring', so it is also named the 'Spring Festival'. When is Chinese New Year? Unlike the universal New Year observed on January 1st, Chinese New Year is never on a fixed date. The dates vary according to Chinese lunar calendar, but generally fall on a day between January 21st and February 20th in the Gregorian calendar. In 2019 Chinese New Year festival falls on Feb-5th. 2019 – The Year of the Pig It is the Year of the Pig according to the Chinese zodiac, which features a 12-year cycle with each year represented by a specific animal. People born in the Years of the Pig including 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, and 2007 will experience their Zodiac Year of Birth (Ben Ming Nian) | | | | | | How do Chinese people celebrate the festival? | House Cleaning and Decorating – half month before No matter whether in a city apartment or a countryside villa, there must be a diligent housewife exerting all her energies to carry out a thorough clean of the house before Chinese New Year. Sweeping, mopping, wiping, washing… Then every house is decorated with the most favored color, the bright Red – red lanterns, Chinese knots, Spring Festival couplets, 'Fu' character pictures, and red window paper-cuts. | | | | | | | | | | Family Reunion Dinner – New Year's Eve | Home is the principal focus of the Spring Festival. All Chinese people manage to make their way home at the latest by New Year's Eve, for a reunion dinner with the whole family. The essential course on all Chinese menus for a reunion dinner will be a steamed or braised whole fish, representing a surplus every year. | | | | | | | | | | Giving Red Envelopes – Best Wishes through Money | From newborn babies to teenagers, luck money will be given by seniors, wrapped in red packets in the hope of dispelling evil spirits from the kids.Besides a small disposable amount, most of the money is used to buy the kids toys, snacks, clothes, stationery, or saved for their future educational expenditure. | | | | | | | | | | | Watching CCTV New Year's Gala – 20:00 to 0:30 It is undeniable that the CCTV New Year's Gala is China's most watched television special, despite the declining viewership in recent years. The 4.5-hour live broadcast features music, dance, comedy, opera, and acrobatic performances. Although the audience becomes more and more critical of the programs, that never stops people turning on the TV on time. The delightful songs and words act as a habitual background to a reunion dinner, for after all it's been a tradition ever since 1983. | | | | Setting off Firecrackers at 0:00 There is New Year bell on the TV gala at 0:00, but you can hardly hear it since there would be loud bangs of firecrackers, from 0:00 to 0:30 and even later. Chinese people have by long tradition set off firecrackers, originally to scare away the legendary monster Nian which emerges at midnight. In recent years, many urban areas have a firecracker ban or set special area or period for fireworks, to prevent accidents and threats to air quality. | | | | | | | | TBB Holiday Notice Closed: 2019/2/2 - 2019/2/11 Open: 2019/2/12 9:00am During the holiday, we are unable to reply you immediately, once we back we will reply you soon. If you have anything import or urgent at present, please inform us in advance. | | | | If you like our share and want to know more, please clike to SUBSCRIBE | | | If you don't want to receive our campaign, click to UNSUBSCRIBE | | | |
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