Chinese people are welcoming the Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake through different celebrations.
Chinese New Year’s Eve has been officially included in the Spring Festival break in 2025, making it an eight-day holiday from Jan. 28th to Feb. 4th. The extended holiday has boosted bookings for lunch banquets at restaurants by about 20 percent year-on-year, catering firms said.
Book for Reunion Lunch
Over the past few years, family reunions over dinner on Chinese New Year’s Eve have been quite popular and it has often been difficult to book a table. Therefore, some customers have shifted to having a meal with their families at noon, and bookings for lunchtime get-togethers are expected to remain robust.
For example, Quanjude, an iconic traditional Peking roast duck chain of Beijing, said it would remain open all day during Chinese New Year’s Eve, and also extend its business hours. The restaurant chain also said it plans to increase dining spaces at its major outlets nationwide to cater to growing demand from consumers.
Meanwhile, Shandong-style restaurant chain Fengzeyuan, started to accept bookings of private rooms and meals for Spring Festival holiday as early as October. So far, all private rooms for Chinese New Year’s Eve’s noon banquets have been booked at its Zhushikou outlet.
A Lucky Year for Slytherin Fans?
China Post unveiled the designs of special stamps to celebrate the upcoming Chinese zodiac Year of the Snake in Beijing in October. Those who favor Slytherin in Harry Potter are in luck as the designs featuring the house’s motifs and serpent emblem.
The licensed collection, launched in December in Shanghai, includes notebooks, postcards, stamps and other produces and is part of the dozens of collectibles presented by China Post to celebrate the Year of the Snake.
Every year ahead of the arrival of Chinese New Year, China Post launches themed stamps and cultural products as a festive warm-up. As soft stuffed toys won the hearts of young consumers over the past year, the group also launched a toy snake called Jinxiaosi.
What’s more, a snake-themed mascot of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games was unveiled to celebrate the Year of the Snake in Beijing in November. The design of Bing Dwen Dwen’s snake version drew inspiration from the Chinese folk love story “The Legend of the White Snake” with delicate decorations on mascot, indicating the best wishes for happiness.
Written by Yetao Gu, additional reporting by Ecns and China Daily.
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