The Chinese New Year’s Day celebrations depend on the Chinese traditional country almanac and take place between the 20th and 21st February each year. It starts with the new moon of the year’s first month.

Although in China the Gregorian calendar has finally become officially valid, the New Years Day is still celebrated today in accordance to the moon calendar and done in traditional ways. There are officially three days off for the people, the celebrations last until the 15th day of the New Year and will end with the lantern feast.  

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".

Celebrated in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbours, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans, Mongolians, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, and formerly the Japanese before 1873. Outside of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, Chinese New Year is also celebrated in countries with significant Han Chinese populations, such as Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. In Canada, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Canada Post issues New Year's themed stamps in domestic and international rates.

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese New Year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will range from pigs, to ducks, to chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

新概念美文欣赏—Chinese New Year

　Chinese New Year is also known as Spring Festival. It occurs somewhere between January 30 and February 20. Each Chinese year is represented by a repeated cycle of 12 animals, the rat, ox, tiger, hare (or rabbit), dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Chinese New Year is China’s biggest holiday.

　　Its origin is ancient, but many believe the word Nian, which mans “year”, was the name of a beast that preyed on people on the eve of a new year. In one legend, the beast, Nian , had the power to swallow up all the people in a village in one big bite. Village people were very scared of Nian.

　　One day, an old man came to the villagers’ rescue, offering to subdue Nian. The old man asked Nian, “I know you can swallow people, but can you swallow other beasts of prey instead of people who are by no means your worthy opponents?” Nian accepted the old man’s challenge and swallowed the beasts that had harassed the villagers and their farm animals for years. In the end, Nian was gone and the other beasts of prey were scared into hiding in the forests. The villagers could once again enjoy their peaceful life.

　　The old man told the villagers to put red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year’s end in order to keep Nian away. It was believed Nian was afraid of the color red.

　　The tradition of observing the conquest of Nian has been carried on from generation to generation. The term “Guo Nian”, which means “Survive the Nian”, became “Celebrate the Year” and the word “guo” in Chinese means both “pass over” and “observe”.

　　The custom of putting up red paper and lighting firecrackers to scare away Nian continues today.

　　Days before the New Year celebration, Chinese families are busy giving their home a thorough cleaning. It is believed the cleaning sweeps away bad luck and makes the house ready for good luck to enter. All brooms and dust pans are put away on New Year’s Eve so good luck cannot be swept away.

　　In many homes, doors and windowpanes get a new coat of red paint. The home is decorated with paper-cuts and poems called couplets of “happiness”, “wealth”, “longevity” and “satisfactory marriage with more children”.

　　The New Year’s Eve supper is a feast with all the numbers of the family getting together. One popular food is jiaozi, which are dumplings boiled in water. After dinner, the whole family stays up all night playing cards, board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the New Year’s celebration. Lights in the horse are kept on during the whole night. At midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks which symbolize the sending out of the old year and the welcoming in of the new year. People open all the windows and doors in the house in order to let the old year go out.

　　Very early the next morning, children greet their parents and receive their New Year presents. They get lucky red envelopes with money inside. The rest of the first day of the New Year is spent visiting relatives, friends and neighbors.

　　There are many ancient superstitions still practiced on New Year’s Day in China. Many people do not eat meat on this day because they believe it will give them happy lives for the rest of the year. Also, some believe it is bad luck to wash your hair on this day because you would wash away the good luck of the new year.