The most important holiday of the year in China, Chinese New Year is a time of celebration, family, and traditions. There are lots of traditions that are followed on this holiday from feasting with family to gifting red packets.
Culinary Delights
The Chinese New Year meal is the most important family dinner of the year. Families and friends come together for a yearly reunion.
Many different foods are eaten, often due to the symbolism behind them. Dumplings are often made by hand for New Year as they look like gold ingots, representing wealth. Fish represent surplus and abundance because the word fish (yú 鱼) sounds like abundance (yù裕). Meanwhile, long uncut noodles represent long life.
Fireworks
Fireworks and firecrackers are widely associated with Chinese New Year. Supposedly, this tradition was a way to scare away evil spirits.
It began in the Tang Dynasty (618–907) when after gunpowder was discovered, people would pack bamboo full of the explosive substance before throwing it in a fire with a great bang.
Nowadays, more and more Chinese cities have banned the use of fireworks and firecrackers over safety and pollution concerns. Despite this, they are still regularly set off to celebrate the new year.
Red Packets
If you struggle to buy presents for Christmas for your family and friends, maybe you should try out the Chinese way. For Chinese New Year, red envelopes (hong bao 红包) are given instead. These are packed with money and are decorated with heartfelt blessings.
To keep up with modern trends, it is increasingly common to send electronic red packets as a digital payment using apps like WeChat or Alipay.
New Looks
To embrace the new year, it’s customary to don new clothes as a sign of renewal. Red, the vibrant hue of joy and good fortune is seen as an especially important colour to wear.
Barbers and salons also do their best business in the run-up to Chinese New Year. It is traditional to get a haircut before Chinese New Year. It is seen as unlucky to get a haircut shortly after Chinese New Year.
Travel
Traditionally, people would travel back to their hometown during Chinese New Year. Many people internally migrate to China, moving away from their hometowns to larger cities and different provinces for work. Chinese New Year may be the only chance they get to return home to see elderly relatives or children.
As times change, so do traditions, and in contemporary China more and more people use Chinese New Year as an opportunity to go away on holiday. For the 2025 Chinese New Year, niche destinations in China are more popular for people to travel to. This includes increasing visitors to smaller cities like Quanzhou, Chaozhou, Shantou, Zigong, Datong. Outbound travel is also popular, with people looking to spend their holiday overseas. Many head to nearby destinations in Asia including Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Cleaning
Spring cleaning isn’t only something that is done in the UK. Traditionally, cleaning your house and buying new items will be done on the 24th day of the 12th lunar month – just before New Year’s Day. It is particularly important to sweep away dust, representing the erasure of oldness and sweeping away of bad luck.
Decorations
No festival is complete without decorations. For Chinese New Year that means lanterns and couplets.
Lanterns are often associated with New Year but have their own festival on the 15th day of the new year. In 2025 it falls on February 12th. For Chinese New Year itself, New Year Couplets are the most important decorations. Streets and homes are decorated with red papers covered in various words representing good fortune, happiness, and gaining wealth.
If you liked this article why not read: London Chinese New Year Events 2025
