New Year’s Eve
@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
China
February 7, 2016 12:13am CST
Tomorrow will be the Spring Festival-namely Chinese New Year,so today is the New Year’s Eve. Now I tell you about all our doings this day :
Do general cleaning and everyone takes a bath and has a haircut so that spends the New Year in a neat and tidy way.At the moment every barber’s is filled to capacity .
Put red couplets on the doors,in which all are auspicious rhyming remarks . They add glamour and jubilation to the festival atmosphere .Some families hang red lanterns and red Chinese knots.
Give kids money as a New Year’s gift .We call it “Ya Sui”.The custom may be traced back to ancientry .
Have family reunion dinner. For this meal ,people try to reach home in time ,no matter which part of the country they work in .This can explain why there is a Spring peak transport period over here .
Watch Spring Festival evening Gala.For this visual feast,CCTV geared up as early as July ,2015.Now everybody can’t wait to feast their eyes on it .
Stay up late or all night.I stayed up all night when I was a child. Now most of the people of my age normally go to bed at midnight.
5 people like this
5 responses
@Carmelanirel2 (8084)
• United States
7 Feb 16
Happy New Year Chang!!!! 
I am reminded that this holiday is coming up for you by looking at the calendar the waitress at the oriental restaurant gave us. It doesn't show the holiday, but she pointed it out followed by her birthday which is Feb 14. So we will probably go visit her again soon. Any ideas of what we can give her for either the New Year or her birthday?
I am reminded that this holiday is coming up for you by looking at the calendar the waitress at the oriental restaurant gave us. It doesn't show the holiday, but she pointed it out followed by her birthday which is Feb 14. So we will probably go visit her again soon. Any ideas of what we can give her for either the New Year or her birthday?2 people like this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
8 Feb 16
Thank you ! Today is actually the Spring festival and the spring festival season customarily lasts until Lantern Festival (Feb 22),so no problem, giving her either of them .
2 people like this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
9 Feb 16
@Carmelanirel2 Normally people that are in work will go to work Feb,14th.So much the better ,if it is a nice card with some money ,but how much you give them depends upon your relationship.
1 person likes this
@Carmelanirel2 (8084)
• United States
8 Feb 16
@changjiangzhibin89 Oh, this celebration is not a one day event? That is cool. I wonder what she would like? I know she is saving money for a trip back to visit family in China, maybe a nice card with some money would be nice.
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@Letranknight2015 (51957)
• Philippines
7 Feb 16
maybe it was fun when your a kid celebrating chinese new year. now a days the youth are pressured with both work and studies that they can't spent the whole evening with some holidays. maybe not all of them.
2 people like this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
7 Feb 16
Yes,at the moment kids are beside themselves with joy,as for the youth ,they have lots of things to do and are a bit indifferent to the festival .
2 people like this
@much2say (55601)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Feb 16
Gung hay fat choy (as they say here, but not sure if that is correct)! Happy New Year! At school, my little son and all of kindergarten were treated to a Chinese lunch by a fast food Chinese place called Panda Express. Apparently they brought all the kids a small take out container with orange chicken and chow mein. The kids also made new year signs that are now hanging inside the classroom - and they will be having a late celebration on the 19th (because there are too many other celebrations happening at this time) - with more Chinese food, a dragon dance and even red money envelopes!
Hopefully at home I can throw something together for tomorrow night's dinner as our way of celebrating Chinese New Year. One year we made our own fortune cookies, but this year we won't have time. I will need to get some red envelopes ready!
I used to stay up for New Year's Eve too. These days we sleep at normal time and just sleep right through the change to the New Year.
1 person likes this
@much2say (55601)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Feb 16
@changjiangzhibin89 I guess there is also Gong Xi Fa Cai. Which dialect do you speak? Not that I know a lot, but I am more familiar with Mandarin as that is the class I took in college. Luckily my kids have learned about Chinese New Year through school so they could enjoy the festivity with friends . . . and at home it started off as just crafts when they were much younger, but now we have a Chinese meal for dinner too.
Oh, and this is the year of the Monkey - that is my husband and I!
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@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
8 Feb 16
Thank you very much ! it is right .Gung hay fat choy is Cantonese in China,means Wish you prosperity !I am surprised to know that you also celebrate the Chinese New Year,even there are dragon dance and red envelopes.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
8 Feb 16
@much2say Gong xi Fa Cai is Mandarin that I speak .I guess there are many Chinese people there ,so many of the locals know Chinese New Year.Oh ,it is your year of birth (36 or 48 years ago ).I was born in the year of the OX.Here many young people prefer using star sign as the year of birth .
1 person likes this
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
11 Feb 16
Just like our New Year's eve celebration , we also have the midnight dinner , after having joined in the revelry of lighting some simple fireworks to drive the bad spirits of the year that was .
The Chinese here also celebrates their Chinese New Year with dragon dance at the malls. It was a special non-working holiday that day , February 08 . 
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@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
12 Feb 16
@changjiangzhibin89 Yes , they have that also and the eating of mooncakes and the like .
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@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
12 Feb 16
@SIMPLYD Only we eat the mooncakes on the Mid-autumn Festival .
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@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
11 Feb 16
I know there are many Chinese people over there.Maybe there are also drum dance ,lion dance,walking on stilts and guessing lantern riddles besides dragon dance .
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@RebeccasFarm (89882)
• Arvada, Colorado
24 Nov 20
It will soon be New Years here Chang. January 1st of course. Hope you and family doing very well.
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@changjiangzhibin89 (16762)
• China
25 Nov 20
Thank you ! same to you ! However we make much of the Spring Festival -Chinese New year that will fall on Feb,12th,2021.
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@RebeccasFarm (89882)
• Arvada, Colorado
25 Nov 20
@changjiangzhibin89 Yes it is a few months away from us
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