Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival (春节), marks the start of the Lunar New Year on the Chinese calendar. It is the most important holiday in China and the largest annual human migration event globally.
The festival traces back over 3,500 years to the Shang Dynasty. The dates were fixed under Emperor Wu of Han (104 BC). Legend holds that the festival originated as a ritual to scare away the Nián (年), a mythical beast that attacked villages at the end of each year — hence the red decorations and firecrackers used today. Each year is associated with one of twelve zodiac animals on a rotating cycle.
Celebrations span 15 days, beginning with New Year's Eve (除夕) family reunion dinner and ending with the Lantern Festival. Common activities: thorough house cleaning beforehand (sweeping away bad luck), red couplets on doorways, lighting firecrackers, giving red envelopes ("hongbao" / "angpao") with money to children and unmarried adults, watching lion and dragon dances, visiting relatives in order, and avoiding inauspicious words.
Dumplings (jiaozi) in northern China — symbolizing wealth. Spring rolls. Niangao (sticky rice cake) for prosperity. Fish — eaten whole, never finished, symbolizing surplus. Tangyuan (sweet rice balls) for family reunion. Mandarin oranges for luck. In Vietnam: bánh chưng (square sticky rice cake). In Korea: tteokguk (rice cake soup, eaten on Seollal to gain a year of age).
"恭喜发财" (Gōngxǐ fācái — May you have a prosperous year) · "新年快乐" (Xīnnián kuàilè — Happy New Year) · "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (Mandarin transliteration) · "Gong Hei Fat Choi" (Cantonese) · "Selamat Tahun Baru Imlek" · "Chúc Mừng Năm Mới" (Vietnamese)
China observes 7 days of public holiday (Spring Festival Golden Week). Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam also observe multi-day holidays. Train and air tickets to China sell out months ahead; airports and stations are extremely busy. Many shops in Chinatowns worldwide close for 2-3 days. Vietnam observes Tết (Vietnamese New Year) on the same lunar date.