The bull or cow symbolized in the ancient world the foundation of the earth. The bull is the animal used for plowing the land, threshing, and producing meat, and hence it was attributed traits such as perseverance, determination, and diligence.
The cow’s milk and meat used for food represented qualities such as nourishment, giving, and generosity. Their heavy body structure and slow and cyclical motion gave them features attributed to the earth element’s movement. Many myths and rituals were woven around these two animals.
According to Chinese philosophy, the energy of the earth affects us on two levels:
This energy symbolizes acceptance, fertility, nourishment, perseverance, giving, and stability on the first level.
On the second level, it represents the issue of transitions between periods and time planes in life. The image of this year corresponds to the element of the earth and the energy that characterizes it. This is a time that symbolizes new and fresh opportunities and beginnings.
Connecting to the earth brings up the following picture: Perseverance, confidence, and stability, as well as a sense of mental and physical nourishment, are the basis for our ability to accommodate changes and respond to them flexibly.
Nutrition includes a message of balance and health. To nourish the body with quality food that will maintain its cleanliness and vitality, we must anticipate and clean the soil we live in and the water sources that seep into it from old toxins and nourish it with pure substances.
In parallel, the liver, representing the earth this year, is the body’s heaviest organ. It contains the blood and purifies it. To work correctly, we must clean it of existing toxins and be careful not to burden it with additional toxins. This year the body is in dire need of it.
The beginning of the Chinese year, the earthly bull, is an opportunity to renew and connect to new forces, seek for ourselves unique qualities, and stabilize and not lose our direction in life. This is an excellent time to find the balance between movement and change and stability and grounding, renewal, and digestion of the existing.
Chinese New Year—often termed as Lunar New Year—is considered one of the most important events for Chinese people.
Unlike the beginning of a New Year devised based on the Gregorian Calendar, the Chinese Year signifies a New Year in the traditional Chinese calendar.
According to the Chinese calendar, which dates back to over 4,000 years, the fourth edition marks the Pig Year. A bit about the arrival of the Chinese New Year falls the commencing of the crop cycle, which signals the winter’s completion and a signal to welcome a new season.
Compared to the Gregorian Calendar, which works on the principles of the solar calendar, Chinese New Year takes the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar into account, whose dates symbolize both the time of the solar year and the phase of the moon.
The dates of the two calendars vary as the Lunar months fall short by two days regarding the magnitude of the Solar month. To close the gap between the two calendars, every few years, a month is added to the Chinese calendar.
Because the Chinese New Year depends on the lunar calculation, there has been designated no fixed value for the inauguration of a fresh start, i.e., the New Year. Still, it mostly falls between 21 January and 20 February.
The Chinese New Year represents moving away from the previous year and stepping in the new lunar year, doing good in health, prosperity, happiness, and fortune.
It’s a time that the entire nation collectively celebrates with a notion to catch up with the ups and downs of family members, celebrate fireworks, share gifts, and enjoy good food.
Chinese New Year signifies breaking those chains associated with the old year that held one back and opened the window of freshness to welcome good fortune and a ton of luck.
With Chinese diaspora presence across the globe, the Chinese New Year is celebrated not just in Asia but worldwide.
According to the Chinese Zodiac, which consists of 12 animal signs, each new year tallies with one of those 12 animals. The 2019 Chinese New Year is the Year of the Pig and will continue for 15 consecutive days. Out of this period, the initial two or three days of the festival are granted as a public vacation in China and differs from country to country in the different parts of the world.
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The first day fills the Chinese people with a new start and dumping the old ones. It brings a message of hope, refreshment, wealth increment, happiness, and prosperity.
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For married men, this day is devoted to visiting and meeting married women’s parents. Married women visit their birth parents to pay respect and distribute gifts.
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On the third day of the New Year, Chinese people avoid moving out. They believe in the ideology that the third day is generally unlucky, and it gives rise to quarrels and disputes, so they avoid meeting outsiders such as relatives and friends.
This is superstitious, though. In fact, after a busy two-day celebration, they like to relax and prepare for the next day’s adventures.
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This is believed to be when Gods of food and wealth descend from heaven to visit earth. Especially for entrepreneurs, this day is of prime importance as they try to impress and win favor with the Gods.
On this day, people prepare for a big feast and the main dishes are three types of meat—fish, pork, and chicken—along with fruits and alcohol.
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On this day, breaking the taboos, people clean the shreds of firecrackers-produced read papers, and empty the trash. It’s the day on which they celebrate the birthday of the God of wealth. To welcome this God, people open the windows and doors shortly after midnight.
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After welcoming the wealth of God, on the sixth day, people clean their houses and discard all old clothes and stuff that are no longer functioning and only occupying space. They clean all areas of the house, including the garage and storerooms.
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On the seventh day, people celebrate the birthday of the human. They commemorate Nu Wa, who is considered to have separated earth from heaven and humans’ creator, using yellow clay. They prepare seven types of vegetables and rice to make porridge, to celebrate the birthday of humans.
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Chinese people find it important to share with their children where most of their food comes from. So, they visit the nearby farms and fields with their children to educate them about rice’s significance, the staple food of China.
Chinese people find it important to share with their children where most of their food comes from. So, they visit the nearby farms and fields with their children to educate them about rice’s significance, the staple food of China.
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They sacrifice a chicken in honor of the Jade Emperor. Feasting and offerings are also done.
Day ten through twelve is not of paramount importance for the Chinese people, so they do regular activities like meeting friends and relatives, feasts, drinking, and celebrations.
Since the New Year celebration commencement, they all keep eating heavy food, so, on these two days, they try to balance their diet and prepare veg foods like rice and vegetables.
Also, as the lantern day is anytime soon now, they spend most of the time shopping for the lantern day and ingredients for tang yuan. Once the shopping gets over, the Chinese people prepare lanterns and make tang yuan.
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The fifteenth day is celebrated as the lantern festival. Sky gets loaded with colorful lanterns. Everything gets normal after this day. Some people still enjoy this day as Chinese valentine’s day. The lantern festival’s spirit is to assimilate and appreciate the full moon, which symbolizes reunion and happiness.
The Chinese New Year fills the Chinese people with a lot of happiness and joy, and the same they reflect such embedded respect and good wishes in a variety of greetings. Acquainting yourself with these greetings empowers you with a sense of feeling to express if you run into a Chinese person and surprise them with your knowledge of their culture.
Like they follow in India, Chinese, too, practice the two versions of ‘you’—one to greet the youngsters and the second to greet the elders. With elders, to show respect, Nín is used, and, in the case of youngsters, nǐ is used.
祝您…… Zhu nín… I wish you (Older/Respected)
祝你…… Zhu nǐ … Wish you (Younger/Informal)
阖家欢乐 | Héjiā huānlè | The cheerfulness of the whole family |
阖家幸福 | Héjiā xìngfú | Well being of the whole family |
恭喜发财 | Gōngxǐ fācái | Happiness and Prosperity |
事业有成 | Shìyè yǒuchéng | Success in your career |
升官发财 | Shēngguān fācái | Win promotion and get rich |
平步青云 | Píngbù qīngyún | Have a grand rise |
工作顺利 | Gōngzuò shùnlì | May your work go smoothly |
As the Chinese New Year approaches, people begin to experiment with many decorative materials, like Fu character pictures, Spring Festival couplets, and paper cuttings.
Usually, they start shopping and decorating their houses, streets, and office spaces about one week before. As the New Year comes closer, the walls (interior and exterior) and the doors get jeweled with the modernized forms of adornment materials.
Chinese people like red color for the New Year celebration and decoration, so they craft and shop everything red so that the entire surrounding get bathed in the hue of red.
The Fu character stands for blessing and good fortune in Chinese. People stick it on or over the walls, with the character reading upside down on the door or window.
They believe the inversion bestows the Fu character a ‘Dao’ meaning which pronounces the same as “coming” in Chinese. Chinese relate the inverted character’s meaning with the fortune’s coming, or the “pouring out” the “good fortune” on them.
So, when a visitor or a family member passes through the door, it implies that good fortune rains over them.
Reflecting expertise in folk art, Chinese people customarily cut out distinct paper designs using scissors and cutting knife.
These paper cuttings hang behind or stick on a transparent surface, like a glass window or glass door. Paper cuttings symbolize good wishes for the year ahead.
Most people try to morph papers into the shape of the animal that represents a specific year, and some adhere to designing the shape of Fu, Shou, Lu, and Xi, which respectively stands for luck, long-life, wealth, and happiness. The paper can be of any color, but most people prefer the red ones.
Representing a traditional folk handicraft, the bright red lanterns signify the Chinese culture and have established a special place in the Chinese festivals, especially during the Chinese New Year.
As the New Year comes to a close, red lanterns are hung in market streets, temples, shops, parks, and households. For its reunion meaning, which Chinese people have devised, red lanterns play a vital role in adding a spark to the celebrations.
Although it comes in various shapes, sizes, and colors, the red color sells the most during the New Year celebration time.
Chinese knot shares a long history with China. In ancient China, it was merely a thing of recording, which gradually evolved to become a thing of accessories and decorations.
They are now a widely used element for decoration which people mostly use in the interiors, and share in the form of gifts with friends and relatives.
It’s formed of a single long rope which goes through many knot formation to take the form of a complicated shape, like petals and droopy pendants.
Knots come in various shapes, with a different set of meanings associated with each of them. These are taken as a thing of luck and that’s why it’s extensively used to beautify the houses at New Year.
2021 is the Year of the Ox. This year, the Chinese New Year starting on February 12th, 2021, and lasting until January 30th, 2022.
It may be a thing of the norm for Chinese people, but for people not of Chinese origin, the association of an animal with a year definitely rings no bell. So, here is the explanation.
The Chinese Zodiac, which is based on the lunar cycle, consists of 12 years. Each year of the lunar calendar is named after an animal, which could be any of the 12 animals.
Every animal signifies specific traits, and it closely associates with the personalities of the people by the years in which they were born.
In the form of animals, the symbols repeat themselves in the following order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
After completing one Zodiac cycle, the animals will repeat its meaning for the year the cycle will match up with. Compared to Western astrology, in which the month of the birth decides the fortune of a person, the Chinese zodiac sign depends on how a person takes birth.
As legends wrap it in the form of a story, Buddha called for an animal meeting one day. To which some disobeyed and unheard the Buddha, and some made their attendance for a great celebration.
Those 12 animals which came to the gathering received an honor from Buddha, who named one year of the calendar for each of the animals.
Below is a comprehensive list of all 12 Chinese Zodiac signs, which year they relate, and what each animal indicates?
People who are born in the year of Pig, have honorable, determined, sociable, and sincere personality traits. On the flip side of the coin, they’re also lazy and clumsy. They like to have less but bonafide friends. Sheep and Rabbit go well with Pig.
Year: 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031
Element: Water
The people born in the Rooster Year are taken as honest, independent, confident, punctual, flexible, and energetic. Their partnership lasts long with Snake and Ox.
Years: 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029
Element: Metal
They’re helpful, loyal, courageous, lively, adaptable, and honest. People born in the Dog year share a long-lasting relationship with those born in the year of Tiger and Horse.
Years: 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030
Element: Earth
People born in the year of the sheep are considered tasteful, kind, crafty, caring, sensitive, and polite. They partner well with Boar and Rabbit.
Element: Earth
Years: 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027
People born in the year of Monkey share an intelligent and witty personality trait, including lucky, smart, charming, and versatile. Their partnership goes long-lasting with Dragon and Rat.
Years: 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028
Element: Metal
Snakes keep their matters private and are known to be ambitious, intelligent, attentive, decisive, organized, and philosophical. Roosters and Ox fit great with Snake.
Years: 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025
Element: Fire
Rabbits are known to be impulsive, modest, sociable, sensitive, emphatic, and sincere. They don’t do good with meditation. Rabbits fit best with Sheep and Boar.
Years: 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2035
Element: Wood
Tigers are known to be as courageous, ambitious, confident, charismatic, and enthusiastic. They’re highly unpredictable and can’t be easily distracted from their decided course of action. Tigers fit great with Horse and Dog.
Years: 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034
Element: Wood
The Rat is adaptable, artistic, resourceful, sociable, charming, and intelligent. They’re packed with a curious brain, which pushes them to do something different from the mass. They partner well with Dragon and Monkey.
Years: 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032
Element: Water
Oxen are well-tuned with their work, and they’re known for personality traits like strong-built, steady, determined, loyal, reliable, and think carefully before initiating any action. They’ve been known to have going well with Snake and Rooster.
Years: 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033
Element: Earth
Horses run great with Dog and Tiger. They’re loyal, courageous, intelligent, popular, and adventurous.
Years: 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026
Element: Fire
Dragons are taken as imaginative, artistic, charismatic, smart, confident, and eccentric. They’re dominant and have a bad temper. Rat and Monkey go well with Dragon.
Years: 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024
Element: Earth
Many regions outside mainstream China find their interest in joining the Chinese New Year celebration. The celebration is also seen in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippians, Mauritius, and many North American and European countries.
Sprouting out of the Chinatowns, Chinese New Year has joined the club ‘Most Celebrated Festivals.’
Chinese take the important aspect of the Chinese New Year celebration, which is a reunion every new year. To meet their dears, they return from all corners of the world to their homeland.
Since most youngsters fancy staying in the developed urban areas, they migrate internally to catch up with their parents, causing the largest internal migration on earth.
Each lunar cycle spans 60 years and its one-fifth division, i.e., 12 years, is considered as a small cycle which, furthermore, is designated an animal sign out of Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Dog, Monkey, Ox, Horse, Sheep, Rooster, and Pig.
According to Chinese mythology, these signs play a pivotal role in deciding the health status, business performance, and relationship success of an individual.
According to the old stories, Chinese people believed that the red color keeps the evil spirits at bay and contributes to happiness, wealth, and prosperity.
Exercising their long-running tradition, they decorate their houses with red lanterns and red paper cuttings, along with sticking the red paper onto doors and windows. They get dressed in red outfits and lit up the streets by red lanterns.
And…last but not the least
In the old days, Spring Festival originally marked the beginning of crop cycles, so people, with the hope of having a good planting and harvesting season, used to pray Gods.
Depicting their ancestors as a messenger returned to the land of God, they also practiced worshipping their forefathers.
Chinese take huge pride in the family gathering and that, too, at the occasion of New Year Eve reunion dinner when it’s of sheer importance to have mandatory attendance.
The presence is taken such passionately that if a family member truly can’t attend the dinner eve, a spare set of plate, besides the existing family members, is placed on the dinner table to notify their absence is being missed.
A myth goes by the monster named Nian, mentioned hereinbefore, who would terrorize the villagers every year, and people would hide in a safe shelter, prepare a feast, and pray for their safety.
Arising out of those myths and some commonly shared trend, foods have found a special place in the New Year celebration, as the major dishes which are produced on the evening dinner is now seen as associated with the good health, wellbeing, promotions, hike in salaries, and business growth.
These are called to hail luck, and good fortune for the Chinese people and are majorly eaten during the 16-day festival season of the CNY. It’s not only the dishes matter but also the method of preparation, ways of serving, and eating them that means a lot for Chinese people.
The most important foods for Chinese New Year Eve are dumplings, Nian Gao, steamed chicken and fish, spring rolls, dumplings, and noodles.
Steamed fish is one of the most important New Year Eve Chinese recipes. Chinese translate fish as Yu (鱼), which sounds (to them) like a word for excess, and in their interpretation, having fish on the dinner table signifies an increment in wealth to them in the next year.
Unlike other cuisines, they usually prefer to either steam or deep fry the fish first, and then, they would top the fish with a sweet and sour sauce. The entire fish represents a harmonious family.
Once the fish gets prepared for the dinner, the first half of it is served on the eve dinner, and the second half is reserved for the next day. Doing this, they believe, prolong the surplus and create a prosperous future. The top fishes are Crucian Carp, Chinese Mud Carp, and Catfish, among many.
Dumplings have secured a place in the classic Chinese food for over 1,800 years and are a traditional dish served on the eve of Chinese New Year.
Dumplings represent gold ingots, and for this reason, they’re common to most Chinese households during the CNY season. The dumplings’ unique design speaks for their place in Chinese cuisine as they believe eating this would help them generate more wealth and prosperity in the coming year.
According to the legends, what’s filled inside the dumplings and how much one person consumes decide the magnitude of rewards one wants to seize.
The filling generally consists of finely chopped vegetables, minced pork, ground chicken, beef, and diced shrimp. As per the individual’s taste choice, dumplings can either be fried, steamed, baked, or boiled.
Spring rolls are traditionally accepted Chinese New Year food. Spring roll, which is really an egg roll, has got its name devised from the spring festival.
It’s most popular in East and Southern China. Shaped cylindrical, spring roll is a dim sum dish consisting of a thin dough wrapper with vegetables, meat, or sweet.
Chinese people find any excuse to gulp one or two dumplings and prefer to eat it as an appetizer, dinner dish, or snack. Chinese deep fry the stuffed cylindrical roll until it turns golden.
Besides deep-frying, in some parts of China, steaming or baking is favored as well. Mostly it’s found in the cylindrical shape, but some people don’t fall by the norm side and give the spring roll a small rectangle or large flat circular shape.
Also known as long noodles and Changshou Mian, longevity noodles represent a lengthened lifeline and good health, so Chinese people include them in their New Year Menu as a symbol of good luck.
They’re over two feet longer than normal noodles and are served uncut. The purpose is not to look for 2-feet size but to find as long as possible because the longer the noodle, the better.
Breaking noodles while cooking is taken as a bad omen associated with shortening someone’s life, so extra precaution is maintained to keep the length intact. It’s usually served either boiled or fried, with a variety of seafood to enhance the taste.
Tangyuan, or sweet rice balls, is mostly eaten on the 15th and the 16th day of the Spring Festival. The rice balls contain the sweet filling and are boiled in water for cooking. It is also called soup spheres, as the sweet rice balls are dipped in sweet syrup or broth before eating.
Its Chinese name (汤圆) sounds like a reunion and for this reason, behind the making of sweet rice balls, there is a message that the circular shape of the rice balls represents the completion and unity of the family. For its hot characteristics, it’s usually prepared and enjoyed in the winter season.
The inception of the Chinese New Year celebration sparks off from the bravery saga of a boy who used to keep a monster, which would appear somehow on the eve of every new year, at bay, using the fireworks.
The next day, people enjoying their safety and survival would set off more fireworks. And from there, the trend repeated year by year. Since China leads the world in terms of population, one can imagine why a record high fireworks are set off on the eve of every new year.
But…the firework is partially banned now. Facing the fierce challenges associated with the incremental pollution hazards, the Chinese government has banned fireworks.
Beijing has had fireworks banned for 13 years, but citizens’ anger brought the government back foot, and so, the ban was lifted in 2006. Around 500 minor to major cities have still got fireworks restrictions.
The firecrackers are infamous for producing noise nuisance and a sheet of red paper shreds all around the houses; however, Chinese people find joy in setting off the firecrackers and take it in their stride, without complaining about the air pollution.
This tradition is shared all over the country, and because of distinct beliefs, setting off firecrackers differs from region to region.
The last year is extraordinary because of the outbreak of the plague in China and its spread worldwide. Every trip must be according to the covid 19 situations but to write the tips for a trip to China during the Chinese New Year. Let’s say you can travel to China and everything is as we used to have, with the hope that it will be like this soon enough
Luckily, there is a relief that can soothe your exponentially rising curiosity. Apart from creating hype of collective entropy by the Chinese celebration, Chinese New Year doesn’t stand in the path of travelers, generally.
The entire chain of businesses runs intact, and only a few temporarily pull out their contribution to move out of the city to meet their near and dear ones. The major institutions hold their position and run dry for only selected periods on which the celebration mood is at the peak.
So, what is it like to step into a pond that’s severely tremored by the shake of its own constituting particles? Simply putting, to what magnitude could, and would, travel during the Chinese New Year affects your spontaneous or a well-planned itinerary?
The answer is not something anybody would be ready to rumble. But, if there come the preparations that this guide helps you walk through, your travel would definitely be a piece of cake.
Yes, indeed, but brace yourself with a potential thought set up to bear the hiked fares and overcrowded transportations. Chinese move from their place of work to hometowns once a year.
The crowd that accumulates due to international and internal migration depicts an exodus that overwhelms the first-time visitors. The terminals and the railway stations flooded with people heading home to meet their elderly parents, eat dumplings, and celebrate.
A wise man would begin making travel bookings at about sixty days before the Chinese New Year booking madness takes on the whole of China by storm.
Of course, the rates would severely multiply, and you can’t complain about it. The top hotels get booked way before the blink of an eye, so it’s obvious not to let go of a single opportunity that you get by chance.
It’s ideal for making bookings two to four months ahead, so as not to get yourself trapped in the human jungle everywhere. It’s hard for last-minute travel bookings to acquire those precious arrangements as those come with their own monopoly of premium paying.
The problems with traveling are obvious, but when you’re visiting China during CNY, you should have elevated patience and a cheerful spirit bundled within you not to give the fellow travelers a hiccup or some weird look. On the flip side, by being more cheerful and patient, you can have fun even if you’re stuck in a crowd or in an unexpectedly packed train tour.
You know some extrovert guys who don’t see ‘you and I’ and jump into a conversation without an intention to unearth the in-depth details—all they do so not to let the drawbacks of travel tiresome dominate them.
You can roll the same sort of dices to keep yourself up and motivated. If this strategy doesn’t amuse you, there are saunas all over in China’s big cities where you can get a relaxing massage to relieve the stress.
This is common in all places, and you won’t have to move to a specific place to witness fireworks. In fact, it will be best to have a stay in a hotel with a big glass window through which you can get a wide visual
Yes. Some parts of China face extreme cold and rain during the CNY time. It would be great to have some warm clothes and put a blanket in the luggage bag to combat the teeth-shivering temperature as you move from one region to another.
Some parts of China also face unexpected rain during this season, so having an umbrella won’t attract eyes.
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