Chinese Lunar New Year is around the corner and this year, it falls on the 28th of January. It is a time for families to get together, enjoy delicious traditional food and look forward to a new start. Millions of Chinese travel back to their hometown to be united with their families before the holiday arrives and in China, the bustling travel scene is dubbed “ChunYun,” meaning high traffic load around the time of the Chinese New Year. Chinese travelers spent more than $100 billion in one week during the ChunYun period in 2015, doubling the amount of what Americans spent during Thanksgiving, according to a recent CCTV report.
This year, after having been away from China during the most important holiday for 7 years, I finally booked the flight ticket and will spend the festival with my families in my lovely hometown, Qingdao! The excitement of being able to feel the festive atmosphere and enjoy some family time is beyond words. Even though my parents came to visit me in the U.S. during the holiday, it never felt the same as experiencing the festivity back at home.
So how do Chinese celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year？The daytime of New Year’s Eve is spent in preparation for the night. Many households are busy with some last-minute house cleaning, preparing food for the night, making dumplings and pasting door god, Spring Festival couplets and the reversed Chinese character “Fu,” meaning happiness and good fortune, on their doors.
As dust arrives on New Year's Eve, families and friends usually get together to enjoy a big feast, eating and drinking all night long and tuning in the CCTV channel to watch the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. The show, which airs primarily on CCTV and broadcasts live on many channels including YouTube and Facebook, contains singing and dancing performances, sketches and acrobatics show, usually lasting 4 hours from 8p.m. to past midnight. It is the most-watched program in China with a yearly viewership of more than 700 million views. When New Year’s Eve approaches, elderly family members boil the already-made dumplings and play firecrackers to welcome the New Year. After midnight, youngsters receive red pockets, which usually contain money, from elderly family members. At the same time, people send their best wishes to their friends and families via text messages, phone calls and WeChat messages.
On New Year’s Day, the festivity continues. People go outdoors and visit their neighbors, families and friends and usually have a big meal together. It’s a day of eating delicious food, drinking and having fun. The day is observed in China and most people have the day off and just relax and enjoy the holiday.
On the 15th day of the first lunar month, the New Year officially concludes and is called The Lantern Festival. People usually eat sweet dumplings and solve riddles on the lanterns. This New Year season, I will be doing the very same.
