Sping Festival is the most important day for Chinese worldwide. Officially we have three days off for this festival. For offices, mainly they take the three days off (this year it is Feb 6, 7, 8). But most of the companies and public services shall start their holiday from Feb 4 or 5. Some companies require the staff to take more extra days out of their annual leave days. Some require staff to work on Jan 29 and 30, so most of the factories will resume to work after Feb 12 or Feb 14 in China. Please try to avoid meeting your suppliers during this period.

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. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with Home returnees.

The Spring Festival falls on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian calendar. It originated in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 BC-c. 1100 BC) from the people's sacrifice to gods and ancestors at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.

Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts every year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the mid 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now stipulates people have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Many customs accompany the Spring Festival. Some are still followed today, but others have weakened.

On the 8th day of the 12th lunar month, many families make laba porridge, a delicious kind of porridge made with glutinous rice, millet, seeds of Job's tears, jujube berries, lotus seeds, beans, longan and gingko.

The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is called Preliminary Eve. At this time, people offer sacrifice to the kitchen god. Now however, most families make delicious food to enjoy themselves.

After the Preliminary Eve, people begin preparing for the coming New Year. This is called "Seeing the New Year in".

Store owners are busy then as everybody goes out to purchase necessities for the New Year. Materials not only include edible oil, rice, flour, chicken, duck, fish and meat, but also fruit, candies and kinds of nuts. What's more, various decorations, new clothes and shoes for the children as well as gifts for the elderly, friends and relatives, are all on the list of purchasing.

Before the New Year comes, the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their Homes as well as their clothes, bedclothes and all their utensils.

Then people begin decorating their clean rooms featuring an atmosphere of rejoicing and festivity. All the door panels will be pasted with Spring Festival couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. The content varies from house owners' wishes for a bright future to good luck for the New Year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.

The Chinese character "fu" (meaning blessing or Happiness) is a must. The character put on paper can be pasted normally or upside down, for in Chinese the "reversed fu" is homophonic with "fu comes", both being pronounced as "fudaole." What's more, two big red lanterns can be raised on both sides of the front door. Red paper-cuttings can be seen on window glass and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious meanings may be put on the wall.

People attach great importance to Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together. The meal is more luxurious than usual. Dishes such as chicken, fish and bean curd cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, respectively "ji", "yu" and "doufu," mean auspiciousness, abundance and richness. After the dinner, the whole family will sit together, chatting and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broadcast on China Central Television Station (CCTV) is essential entertainment for the Chinese both at Home and abroad. According to custom, each family will stay up to see the New Year in.

Waking up on New Year, everybody dresses up. First they extend greetings to their parents. Then each child will get money as a New Year gift, wrapped up in red paper. People in northern China will eat jiaozi, or dumplings, for breakfast, as they think "jiaozi" in sound means "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new". Also, the shape of the dumpling is like gold ingot from ancient China. So people eat them and wish for money and treasure. But different regions may have different food for this tradtion as China is too big.

Southern Chinese eat niangao (New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour) on this occasion, because as a homophone, niangao means "higher and higher, one year after another." The first five days after the Spring Festival are a good time for relatives, friends, and classmates as well as colleagues to exchange greetings, gifts and chat leisurely.

Burning fireworks was once the most typical custom on the Spring Festival. People thought the spluttering sound could help drive away evil spirits. However, such an activity was completely or partially forbidden in big cities once the government took security, noise and pollution factors into consideration. As a replacement, some buy tapes with firecracker sounds to listen to, some break little balloons to get the sound too, while others buy firecracker handicrafts to hang in the living room.

The lively atmosphere not only fills every household, but permeates to streets and lanes. A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern Festival is finished.

China has 56 ethnic groups. Minorities celebrate their Spring Festival almost the same day as the Han people, and they have different customs.

Best wishes to all the members at Alibaba Forum Community and Happy Chinese New Year !

Thank you brother, this saves me much time to write the whole texts about the Spring Festival.



There are other names for the Spring Festival, which mean the same object. Some people call it the Chinese New Year, as the origin is from the Chinese Lunar Calendar, and some call it Lunar New Year.



Chinese everywhere still have the same forms of celebration, there are some elements which are common, like the niangoa, sweet rice cakes, the family reunion dinner on the eve of the new year and the giving of red packets containing money. The annual feast is called the year-end dinner and the Cantonese have their black fungus and the fish, while the Fujian have their red cakes with beans or the huat kway.



Singapore Chinese modified the dish with 'yi shen', or raw fish in 7 colours vegetables, red, orange, green, white, brown, yellow and gold. Ingredients are: white radish, green radish, carrot, shaddock, plum juice, sesame seeds, abalone, raw fish meat, and crackers. The dish has all these ingredients separated and the family members mix and toss them up as high as possible with long pairs of chopsticks. This tradition or practice is copied from Hong Kong, or exported there and to Malaysia and Indonesia recently.



Here in Singapore, the significant events are:

• The Eve Dinner, the family reunion, eating and drinking together.
  
• The pallets of dried fruits, pastries such as pineapple tarts, butter cookies, 'love letters' peanuts, melon seeds, broad beans, etc.
• Giving money in red packets.
• Visit the parents on the first day and the groom's parents and siblings beginning with eldest. Giving red packets of money to the children and unmarried.
  
• Second day after the New Year is the bride's parents and siblings. Of course the issue of red packets with money.
• Visit to boss's home, and colleague's or friend's will be done after the third day.
• On the first weekend, Saturday after the Chinese New Year, we have the Chingay Parade in the heart of town.
• The celebration officially ends after the 15th day.

See Chingay Procession Parade in Singapore, this year it will be on the 16th February 2008. Come to Singapore to watch this International parade of dancing, drums, music, floats and colourful costumes and performances.

COLOURFUL COSTUMES OF DANCERS ON FLOATS

THE FIVE SOUNDS

Street Smart

Replying to [Business in China]:

thanks for the article. I was so worried why my supplier hasn't contact me for almost a week!
hope they'll contact me after february 14 like you said. or...

Replying to [Street Smart]:Great thanks for tellig uswesterners adout the wonderful chinese ways and customs

Replying to [Business in China]: