chinese new year traditions essay

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A Brief Guide to the Chinese New Year (春节 Chūnjié)

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Perhaps the most important of all Chinese holidays , the Chinese New Year is celebrated worldwide each January or February in places like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Mainland China.

Also called the Spring Festival (春节 Chūnjié), the Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning of the Chinese year based on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar and officially ends 14 days later with the Lantern Festival .

Table of Contents

How is Chinese New Year celebrated?

1. steamed fish | 蒸鱼 | zhēng yú, 2. new year cake | 年糕 | niángāo, 3. spring rolls | 春卷 | chūnjuǎn, 4. fruits | 水果 | shuǐguǒ, 5. dumplings | 饺子 | jiǎozi, 6. “longevity noodles” | 长寿面 | chángshòumiàn, 7. tangyuan | 汤圆 | tāngyuán, 1. 新年快乐 (xīnnián kuàilè) - happy new year, 2. 恭喜发财 (gōngxǐfācái) - may you have a prosperous year, 兔年大吉 (tùnián dàjí) - happy year of the rabbit (2023), 4. 岁岁平安 (suìsuì píng'ān) - may you have peace year after year, 5. 万事如意 (wànshìrúyì) - may all your hopes be fulfilled, 1. no cleaning, 2. no wearing black or white, 3. no cutting hair, 4. no breaking things, why is it called the “lunar” new year, chinese zodiac animal signs, the chinese new year through a local's eyes, chinese vocabulary for the spring festival, join a spring festival celebration and practice your chinese.

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Spring Festival is a time for families to come together, exchange money-filled red envelopes (红包, hóngbāo) , and enjoy delicious Chinese food.

The Chinese New Year is a 15-day holiday and includes a variety of festivities depending on the region and its local traditions and customs. However, certain common customs are shared regardless of region.

For example, it is common practice to decorate one’s home with Chinese lanterns . In many homes, you will find auspicious Chinese characters and couplets on red paper stuck on doors. Red is an auspicious color as it scares away the Nian monster . Wearing new clothes is also a common tradition to ward off bad luck—a new year is a time for newness after all!

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The Chinese New Year is an important time to 拜年 (bàinián, to pay a new year call), so it is common practice to visit relatives and exchange auspicious greetings and Chinese gifts , including the ever-popular lucky red envelopes filled with Chinese currency . Devoted Buddhist and Daoist practitioners also often visit local temples to welcome the new year.

The holiday has even had an influence on the traditional festivals of other cultures with whom the Chinese have historically interacted, including the Koreans, Vietnamese, Mongolians, and Japanese.

What foods are eaten during Chinese New Year?

Family is of central importance in traditional Chinese culture, and Spring Festival is generally a very family-oriented holiday.

The New Year’s Eve dinner (年夜饭 niányèfàn) kick starts the tradition of family reunions. In fact, the Chinese Spring Festival also marks the world’s largest human migration, as overseas Chinese and Chinese migrant laborers return home to celebrate the advent of the new year alongside their families.

Though traditions can vary between northern and southern China, here are a few examples of common “auspicious foods” presented at reunion dinners:

As you may already know, the Chinese language includes many homophones (同音词 tóngyīncí), which results in many characters and words having the same pronunciation as one another.

In this instance, “fish” (鱼 yú) has the same pronunciation as “surplus” (余 yú). There is also a typical New Year greeting, 年年有余 (niánnián yǒuyú), which translates to “may you have a surplus (of blessings) every year”. Therefore, eating fish symbolizes an increase in prosperity.

Sticky rice cakes symbolize a prosperous year to come, as “cake” (糕 gāo) has the same pronunciation as “high/lofty” (高 gāo). This coincides with the greeting 年年高升 (niánniángāoshēng; “advance year after year”). Rice cakes are a must during Chinese New Year festivities!

How can you start spring without spring rolls? This delicacy was originally a seasonal food that was consumed only during the spring. Eating spring rolls is a way to welcome the arrival of spring, and their golden color also symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

Fruits are commonly enjoyed as desserts and snacks during Spring Festival celebrations. They symbolize life and new beginnings and are also a common new year gift.

Due to their resemblance to imperial coins (元宝 yuánbǎo), dumplings are representative of wealth and fortune.

“Longevity noodles” are a kind of flat Cantonese egg noodles which are usually consumed during special occasions (such as the Chinese New Year and birthdays).

As their name indicates, their long strings represent longevity and living to a ripe old age. The trick is to eat them in a single mouthful and not cut the noodles short!

The fifteenth and final day of the new year holiday is celebrated by the Lantern Festival (元宵节 Yuánxiāojié). During this time, it is common to eat a Chinese dessert called tāngyuán (汤圆), which consists of sweet glutinous rice balls filled with a variety of fillings such as sesame, peanut, and red bean paste. Their round shapes represent togetherness and reunion.

How to Say Happy New Year in Chinese

Would you like to wish a friend, colleague, or loved one Happy New Year in Chinese? Read on to learn this festive phrase and more!

Cultural note: In China, people often hold a fist salute or 抱拳礼 (bàoquánlǐ) when saying the below greetings. Remember that this method of greeting is mainly used during formal occasions, so we suggest to avoid using it during informal encounters!

Saying “Xīnnián Kuàilè” is the simplest and most straightforward way to wish your Chinese friends, family and colleagues a happy new year. Want to know how to pronounce it? Just watch the following video and repeat!

In addition to 新年快乐 (Xīnnián Kuàilè), this is probably the most popular saying you'll hear around the Chinese New Year. It has been the center of many 贺年歌曲 (hènián gēqǔ, Chinese New Year songs) and literally means “congratulations, make a fortune!”

Learn to sing along to the famous Chinese New Year song “恭喜” (gōngxǐ) in the following video.

大吉 (dàjí) is a noun meaning very auspicious or lucky. You can put any given year's zodiac animal year before 大吉 and use it as a general new year greeting. You can also simply say 大吉大利 (dàjídàlì), which means “good luck and great prosperity.”

To learn how to say other year-specific Spring Festival greetings, see the Spring Festival Chinese Vocabulary List toward the bottom of this article.

A fun things aspect of Chinese is wordplay based on 同音词 (tóngyīncí, homophones). A great example of this is 岁岁平安. Breaking things during the Chinese new year is a taboo in China as it is believed to bring bad luck resulting in money loss and a family split in the future.

If something does break, you can say “碎碎平安” (suìsuìpíngān) which sounds exactly the same as “岁岁平安” (suìsuìpíngān) . “碎” means to break, whereas “岁” means age or year and is the character used in 岁岁平安. This is a very clever way to negate all that bad luck!

万 literally means “ten thousand” or “a great number.” When you say 万事如意 to your Chinese friends, you are literally wishing that all matters (万事, ten thousand matters/affairs) be according to his/her wishes (如意)。

What are some taboos during Spring Festival?

All auspicious things aside, there are certain taboos that must be avoided during Chinese New Year:

Any type of “spring cleaning” must take place before the new year and never during the actual holiday. This allows the cleaned space to be filled with the new blessings and fortunes of the new year. Cleaning during the holiday consequently means that you are getting rid of these new fortunes!

In Chinese color symbolism, black signifies evil and white is the color of death and used for funerals. Instead, auspicious colors such as red and gold are often worn during the new year.

发 fā (hair) is also the character and sound for 发财 fā cái (to get rich), so cutting hair signifies a loss of fortune.

碎 suì means to break, whereas 岁 suì means age or year. If something does break, you can say “碎碎平安” (suì suì píng ān) which sounds exactly the same as “岁岁平安” (“may you have peace year after year”).

The term “lunar” is an English adaptation, mainly because the holiday starts with the new moon, ends with the full moon 14 days later, and is thus based on the Chinese lunisolar calendar . The name of the holiday in Chinese, 春节 Chūnjié, literally translates to “Spring Festival”.

The Chinese New Year is also a time when the annual zodiac sign changes, meaning that each year is assigned to a specific zodiac animal. Zodiac signs play an integral role in Chinese culture. It is said that your luck regarding financial situations, health and relationships for each year can be calculated based on your zodiac sign.

To ask your Chinese friends and colleagues what their zodiac animal is, just say "你属什么？ (nǐ shǔ shénme?)". 属 shǔ can mean “to belong to” or “to be born in the year of". In China, it is common to be asked how old you are or what your 生肖 (shēngxiào, Chinese zodiac sign) is.

In response, you can say: 我属 (wǒ shǔ) + insert animal. For example: “我属牛” (Wǒ shǔ niú, I was born in the Year of the Ox ). Consult CLI's article on the 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals for an in-depth look at this cultural phenomena and to find out what your own zodiac sign is!

In our Spring Festival video, we invite you to peer into the life of a Guilin resident who walked the same arduous path traveled by so many in China from poverty to prosperity. Join Dayong, a CLI team member since 2009, as he converses with Uncle Ye (叶叔叔, Yè Shūshu) about how his quality of life has changed for the better over the decades.

While watching the video, follow along in this downloadable Chinese-English transcript for the Chinese characters, Chinese pinyin , and English translation.

We hope this article helped you learn more about the Chinese New Year! It is truly a fun and festive holiday that is celebrated all across the world. Spring Festival is a time for family reunions, showing appreciation for one’s friends, and delicious feasts.

If you are in China during Spring Festival, we hope you'll get to experience this important holiday for yourself by participating in some Chinese New Year activities with friends or colleagues. Keep in mind that many people will be traveling back and forth during this period as part of the famous Spring Festival travel rush (春运 chūnyùn). If you do plan to go anywhere during this period, especially by train , make sure to buy your tickets far in advance.

If you aren't in China, we encourage you to seek out your local Chinese community, attend holiday events, and even volunteer to help prepare for the Chinese New Year festivities. This is a great way to learn more about Chinese culture and to immerse yourself in the Chinese language .

And now that you know some Chinese New Year greetings, it is time to put them to use! On behalf of the CLI team, we wish you a wonderful Chinese New Year and welcome you to learn Chinese in China . 祝大新年快乐，身体健康，万事如意 ！

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Chinese New Year 2025: Traditions, Snake Year Celebration Calendar

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is the most important festival in China and a major event in some other East Asian countries.

Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. Chinese New Year 2024 will fall on Saturday, February 10th. The date changes every year but is always somewhere in the period from January 21st to February 20th.

It was traditionally a time to honor deities and ancestors, and it has also become a time to feast and visit family members .

Content Preview

• Traditions and Celebrations
• How Long is Chinese New Year Celebration?
• 2025 Zodiac Animal: Earth Snake
• Superstitions and Taboos
• Chinese New Year Greetings
• Why Chinese New Year Is Celebrated?

Chinese New Year Celebrations in Other Regions and Countries

Chinese new year traditions and celebrations.

Regional customs and traditions vary widely but share the same theme: seeing out the old year and welcoming in the luck and prosperity of a new year. The main Chinese New Year activities include

• putting up decorations,
• offering sacrifices to ancestors,
• eating reunion dinner with family on New Year's Eve,
• giving red envelopes and other gifts,
• firecrackers and fireworks, and
• watching lion and dragon dances.

1. Cleaning and Decorating Houses with Red Things

People give their houses a thorough cleaning before the Spring Festival, which symbolizes sweeping away the bad luck of the preceding year and making their homes ready to receive good luck.

Red is the main color for the festival, as red is believed to be an auspicious color for the Lunar New Year, denoting prosperity and energy — which ward off evil spirits and negativity . Red lanterns hang in streets; red couplets and New Year pictures are pasted on doors.

• See more on How to Decorate for Chinese New Year: The Top 7 Decorations .

2. Offering Sacrifices to Ancestors

Honoring the dead is a Chinese New Year's tradition that's kept to the word. Many Chinese people visit ancestors' graves on the day before the Chinese New Year's day, offer sacrifices to ancestors before the reunion dinner (to show that they are letting their ancestors "eat" first), and add an extra glass and place it at the dinner table on New Year's eve.

3. Enjoying a Family Reunion Dinner on Lunar New Year's Eve

Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) is a time for families to be together. Chinese New Year's Eve is the most important time. Wherever they are, people are expected to be home to celebrate the festival with their families. The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is called ' reunion dinner '. Big families of several generations sit around round tables and enjoy the food and time together.

4. Exchanging Red Envelopes and other Gifts

Chinese New Year is a season of red envelopes (or red packets, lìshì or lai see in Cantonese). Red envelopes have money in, and are often given to children and (retired) seniors.

The red envelope (money) is called ya sui qian (压岁钱 /yaa sway chyen/), which means 'suppressing Sui [the demon]money'. Those who receive a red envelope are wished another safe and peaceful year.

Other popular Lunar New Year gifts are alcohol, tea, fruits, and candies.

See more on:

• Who You Should Give Red Envelopes to and How Much to Give
• Best Chinese New Year Gift Ideas for Friends, Parents, Kids
• 10 Things You Should Not Give as a Chinese New Year Gift

5. Setting Off Firecrackers and Fireworks

From public displays in major cities to millions of private celebrations in China's rural areas, setting off firecrackers and fireworks is an indispensable festive activity. It is a way to scare away the evil and welcome the new year's arrival.

Billions of fireworks go up in China at 12 am and in the first minutes of Chinese New Year, the most anywhere at any time of year.

• See more on Why Chinese New Year Must Have Firecrackers .

6. Watching Lion and Dragon Dances

Lion dances and dragon dances are widely seen in China and Chinatowns in many Western countries during the Lunar New Year period. They are performed to bring prosperity and good luck for the upcoming year or event.

There are more Chinese New Year traditions and customs , such as wearing new clothes, staying up late on Chinese New Year's Eve, watching the Spring Festival Gala, etc.

How Long Is Chinese New Year Celebrations?

Celebrations of Chinese New Year traditionally last for 16 days , starting from Chinese New Year's Eve to the Lantern Festival. The public holiday in 2025 is from January 28th to February 3th, lasting 7 days.

The most notable dates of the Chinese New Year 2024 are these days:

Chinese New Year Food

• Fish is a must as it sounds like 'surplus' in Chinese and symbolizes abundance.
• Dumplings shaped like Chinese silver ingots are shared as a sign of the family unit and prosperity.
• Niángāo (glutinous rice cake) is welcome because it symbolizes a higher income or position as it sounds like 'year high'.

Food is an important part of Chinese New Year. Lucky food is served during the 16-day festival season, especially on the New Year's Eve family reunion dinner.

Read more on:

• 7 Lucky Chinese New Year Foods
• The Top 11 Chinese New Year Desserts
• Top 7 Chinese New Year Snacks
• Chinese New Year Fruits

2025 Chinese Zodiac Animal: Earth Snake

Each Chinese year is associated with an animal sign according to the Chinese zodiac cycle. 2025 is the year of the Snake , specifically, Earth Snake.

Chinese New Year Superstitions: Things You Mustn't Do

Chinese people traditionally believe that the year's start affects the whole year, so China's Spring Festival is a season of superstitions. It's believed that what something looks like (color, shape), and what its name sounds like, gives it auspicious or ill-fated significance. There are many things you cannot do:

• Don't sweep up on New Year's Day, otherwise you'll 'sweep all your luck away'.
• Don't eat porridge for breakfast, otherwise you'll 'become poor in the upcoming year'.
• Don't wash your clothes and hair (on New Year's Day), otherwise you'll 'wash fortune away'.

See more on Chinese New Year Taboos and Superstitions: Top 18 Things You Should Not Do .

How to Say "Happy Chinese New Year" in Chinese

When people meet friends, relatives, colleagues, and even strangers during the festive period, they usually say "Xīnnián hǎo" (新年好), literally meaning 'New Year Goodness', or "Xīnnián kuàilè" (新年快乐), meaning 'Happy Chinese New Year'.

One of the most famous traditional greetings for Chinese New Year is the Cantonese kung hei fat choi , literally 'happiness and prosperity'. In Mandarin that's gongxi facai .

新年好 — Happy Chinese New Year

• In Mandarin: xīn nián hǎo /sshin-nyen haoww/
• In Cantonese: san nin hou

恭喜发财 — Happiness and prosperity

• In Mandarin: gōng xǐ fā cái /gong-sshee faa-tseye/
• In Cantonese: gong hay fat choy

For more greetings and wishes, see

• More Ways to Say "Happy New Year" in Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese)
• 40+ Chinese New Year Greetings and Wishes for Family, Friends, Colleagues, Boss, and Clients

(We encourage you to find creative ways to share the content or images with your friends, family, colleagues, and communities, provided that you acknowledge the copyright along the lines of "Copyright chinahighlights.com.")

Why Is Chinese New Year Celebrated?

First, legend states that the Chinese New Year stemmed from an ancient battle against the Nian (/nyen/, which sounds the same as 'year' in Chinese), a terrifying beast that showed up every Lunar New Year 's Eve to eat people and livestock. To scare away the monster, people displayed red paper, burned bamboo, lit candles, and wore red clothes. These traditions have been continued until the present time.

Second, it is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the Chinese lunisolar calendar.

• The Origin and History of Chinese New Year
• The Top 3 Chinese New Year Legends/Stories

Chinese New Year is not only celebrated in China's mainland but also in various other regions and countries influenced by Chinese traditions and with ethnic Chinese populations. Some notable places where Chinese New Year celebrations take place include:

Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan: Chinese New Year is a major holiday in these regions, with locals actively participating in customs and traditions.

Taiwan enjoys a 6-holiday from January 28 to February 2 in 2025, while Hong Kong and Macau residents have a 3-day holiday from January 29 to 31 in 2025.

Festivities include vibrant flower markets, street fairs, lantern decorations, and civil servants in Macau being allowed to gamble for three days from the second day of Chinese New Year.

In Chinese Communities around the World

Southeast Asian countries with a significant Chinese population celebrate Chinese New Year with similar traditions.

Singapore and Malaysia observe a 2-day holiday from January 29th to 30th in 2025.

Indonesia has a day public holiday on  January 29th, 2025.

Thailand designates Chinese New Year (January 29th in 2025) as a regional public holiday, specifically for the provinces of arathiwat, Pattani, Yala, and Satun.

As for the Philippines , Chinese New Year is recognized as a Special Non-working Holiday.

The United States: Chinese New Year is designated as a 1-day holiday in some states such as New York and Iowa and school districts in San Francisco, Montgomery, and Philadelphia.

Australia: Chinese New Year is officially recognized as a state holiday in Christmas Island. In other places, there are no official holidays, but vibrant celebrations take place within the Chinese communities.

The United Kingdom: Chinese New Year is not a public holiday in the UK, but some educational institutions may arrange 1–2 days holiday to celebrate the festival.

These festivities are often marked by elaborate street parades, lion and dragon dances, Chinese lantern displays, fireworks, and food festivals.

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Lunar New Year 2024

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 9, 2024 | Original: February 4, 2010

Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year among East and Southeast Asian cultures, including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean communities, among others. The New Year celebration is celebrated for multiple days—not just one day as in the Gregorian calendar’s New Year.

This Lunar New Year, which begins on February 10, is the Year of the Dragon.

China’s Lunar New Year is known as the Spring Festival or Chūnjié in Mandarin, while Koreans call it Seollal and Vietnamese refer to it as Tết .

Tied to the lunar calendar, the holiday began as a time for feasting and to honor household and heavenly deities, as well as ancestors. The New Year typically begins with the first new moon that occurs between the end of January and spans the first 15 days of the first month of the lunar calendar—until the full moon arrives.

Zodiac Animals

Each year in the Lunar calendar is represented by one of 12 zodiac animals included in the cycle of 12 stations or “signs” along the apparent path of the sun through the cosmos. 

The 12 zodiac animals are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. In addition to the animals, five elements of earth, water, fire, wood and metal are also mapped onto the traditional lunar calendar. Each year is associated with an animal that corresponds to an element.

The year 2024 is slated to be the year of the dragon—an auspicious symbol of power, wisdom and good fortune. The year of the dragon last came up in 2012.

Lunar New Year Foods and Traditions

Each culture celebrates the Lunar New Year differently with various foods and traditions that symbolize prosperity, abundance and togetherness. In preparation for the Lunar New Year, houses are thoroughly cleaned to rid them of inauspicious spirits, which might have collected during the old year. Cleaning is also meant to open space for good will and good luck.

Some households hold rituals to offer food and paper icons to ancestors. Others post red paper and banners inscribed with calligraphy messages of good health and fortune in front of, and inside, homes. Elders give out envelopes containing money to children. Foods made from glutinous rice are commonly eaten, as these foods represent togetherness. Other foods symbolize prosperity, abundance and good luck.

Chinese New Year is thought to date back to the Shang Dynasty in the 14th century B.C. Under Emperor Wu of Han (140–87 B.C.), the tradition of carrying out rituals on the first day of the Chinese calendar year began. 

“This holiday has ancient roots in China as an agricultural society. It was the occasion to celebrate the harvest and worship the gods and ask for good harvests in times to come," explains Yong Chen, a scholar in Asian American Studies. 

During the Cultural Revolution in 1967, official Chinese New Year celebrations were banned in China. But Chinese leaders became more willing to accept the tradition. In 1996, China instituted a weeklong vacation during the holiday—now officially called Spring Festival—giving people the opportunity to travel home and to celebrate the new year. 

Did you know? San Francisco, California, claims its Chinese New Year parade is the biggest celebration of its kind outside of Asia. The city has hosted a Chinese New Year celebration since the Gold Rush era of the 1860s, a period of large-scale Chinese immigration to the region.

Today, the holiday prompts major travel as hundreds of millions hit the roads or take public transportation to return home to be with family.

Among Chinese cultures, fish is typically included as a last course of a New Year’s Eve meal for good luck. In the Chinese language, the pronunciation of “fish” is the same as that for the word “surplus” or “abundance.” Chinese New Year’s meals also feature foods like glutinous rice ball soup, moon-shaped rice cakes (New Year’s cake) and dumplings ( Jiǎozi in Mandarin). Sometimes, a clean coin is tucked inside a dumpling for good luck.

The holiday concludes with the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated on the last day of New Year's festivities. Parades, dances, games and fireworks mark the finale of the holiday.

In Vietnamese celebrations of the holiday, homes are decorated with kumquat trees and flowers such as peach blossoms, chrysanthemums, orchids and red gladiolas. As in China, travel is heavy during the holiday as family members gather to mark the new year.

Families feast on five-fruit platters to honor their ancestors. Tết celebrations can also include bánh chưng , a rice cake made with mung beans, pork, and other ingredients wrapped in bamboo leaves. Snacks called  mứt tết   are commonly offered to guests. These sweet bites are made from dried fruits or roasted seeds mixed with sugar.

In Korea, official Lunar New Year celebrations were halted from 1910-1945. This was when the Empire of Japan annexed Korea and ruled it as a colony until the end of World War II . Celebrations of Seollal were officially revived in 1989, although many families had already begun observing the lunar holiday. North Korea began celebrating the Lunar New Year according to the lunar calendar in 2003. Before then, New Year's was officially only observed on January 1. North Koreans are also encouraged to visit statues of founder Kim Il Sung, and his son Kim Jong Il, during the holidays and provide an offering of flowers.

Among both North and South Koreans, sliced rice cake soup ( tteokguk ) is prepared to mark the Lunar New Year holiday. The clear broth and white rice cakes of tteokguk are believed to symbolize starting the year with a clean mind and body. Rather than giving money in red envelopes, as in China and Vietnam, elders give New Year's money in white and patterned envelopes.

Traditionally, families gather from all over Korea at the house of their oldest male relative to pay their respects to both ancestors and elders. Travel is less common in North Korea and families tend to mark the holiday at home. 

Lunar New Year Greetings

Cultures celebrating Lunar New Year have different ways of greeting each other during the holiday. In Mandarin, a common way to wish family and close friends a happy New Year is “ Xīnnián hǎo ,” meaning “New Year Goodness” or “Good New Year.” Another greeting is “ Xīnnián kuàilè, ” meaning "Happy New Year."

Traditional greetings during Tết in Vietnam are “Chúc Mừng Năm Mới” (Happy New Year) and “Cung Chúc Tân Xuân” (gracious wishes of the new spring). For Seollal, South Koreans commonly say "Saehae bok mani badeuseyo” (May you receive lots of luck in the new year), while North Koreans say "Saehaereul chuckhahabnida” (Congratulations on the new year).

— huiying b. chan , Research and Policy Analyst on the Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative team at the New York University Metro Center, edited this report.

"Lunar New Year origins, customs explained," by Laura Rico,  University of California, Irvine , February 19, 2015.

"Everything you need to know about Vietnamese Tết," Vietnam Insider , December 3, 2020.

"Seollal, Korean Lunar New Year," by Brendan Pickering,  Asia Society . 

"The Origin of Chinese New Year," by Haiwang Yuan, Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR , February 1, 2016.

"The Lunar New Year: Rituals and Legends," Asia for Educators .

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• 10 Chinese New Year Traditions

Rituals and Customs to Celebrate Chinese New Year

History Editor

From mouth-watering treats to impressive pyrotechnics, these are the ways that people commonly celebrate Chinese New Year around the world.

While most Westerners experience ‘Chinese New Year’ by watching parades in Chinatown and having a great meal, its traditions vary from country to country. The holiday is more aptly called ‘Lunar New Year’, as it marks the start of a new lunar cycle, and is one of the most important holidays in Asia. Did you know you can now travel with Culture Trip? Book now and join one of our premium small-group tours to discover the world like never before.

Catch up with family and friends

Lunar New Year (LNY) is a time to head home – here’s to hoping you still fit in a twin bed. So get ready to have your cheeks pinched, your plate filled and your life choices questioned.

Like many major holidays, Lunar New Year is best spent with family and friends. The tradition is so crucial that LNY travel is annually heralded as the ‘world’s largest human migration’ – at least until Covid-19. In 2019, three billion trips were made during the holiday season.

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Family reunion dinners falling on LNY Eve also include ancestral worship rituals that connects the 3,800-year history of the holiday to the present. To start a new year, connecting with the people in your life is central to LNY.

Hang Door Gods pictures

Known as mén shén and dating back to the Tang Dynasty, the Door Gods are the guardians of an entrance and were some of the most popular gods for ancient Chinese people. They come in pairs, always facing each other, and are thought to protect homes from evil spirits. During Chinese New Year, people add pictures of the gods to their doors to bring good fortune to the household and to protect the family in the coming year.

Brighten up with some colour

It’s easy to see when the Lunar New Year is around the corner – festive scarlet deçor adorns every street, storefront and home. Being associated with wealth and good fortune, red decorations are hung to ward off Nian – a lion-like monster that is afraid of the colour red, according to LNY mythology.

In parts of China, where the holiday is called Spring Festival, bright floral arrangements and fruit trees also brighten homes and streets – peach and apricot blossoms hold special significance for the celebration of Tết in Vietnam . In Korea, birds join these decorations – decorative cranes symbolise longevity while magpies represent good fortune.

Share the wealth with loved ones

The colour red brings literal wealth in the form of red lai see packets gifted to children and unmarried adults during the holiday. These red packets are cash gifts that can range from a few dollars to quite hefty amounts, depending on the relationship to the recipient. Employers are also expected to gift red packets to unmarried employees as a sign of gratitude.

For Seollal celebrations in Korea , these presents take the form of red satchels, and monetary gifts are accompanied by encouraging messages and blessings of good luck for the new year.

In Tibet, where the holiday is called Losar, children bring gifts to their elders. On the first morning of LNY, children will don traditional clothing and bring a basket containing cooked meats, steamed dumplings, fruit, sweets and amdo balep , a traditional bread – no doubt helpful to adults who may have imbibed too much during the evening’s revelry.

Watch a traditional dance or fireworks show

Perhaps not the most hangover-friendly of traditions, LNY wouldn’t be complete without pyrotechnics. In China, New Year’s firecrackers are made from strings of rolled red paper containing gunpowder that, when set off, leave shreds of scarlet paper in their wake.

The belief is that the loud noise of the firecrackers serves to scare Nian, the lion-like monster who legend says rose from the sea for a feast of human flesh on the new year.

Nian mythology also plays out during lion dances across LNY festivities. These dances are one of the most globally recognised traditions because of their prominence in diaspora celebrations. These colourful traditional dances are performed outdoors to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals, sometimes as a street parade – or in the air, if a flying lion dance is taking place.

Clear out last year’s clutter and splurge on new threads

In the days leading up to LNY, windows are scrubbed, floors swept and furniture dusted to wash away the bad luck of the past year. In China, the word “dust” is a homophone for “old”, so cleaning the house is required to drive away any bad luck of the previous year and prepare for a new start.

Make sure you’ve finished wiping by midnight though: cleaning on the first day of the new year is forbidden in case you wash away any of the new good luck.

Cleaning house may not seem like the most joyous of traditions, but as a ritual, it sets the tone for the new year to start fresh. And it isn’t just the house that gets an updated look for LNY. New clothes are also a part of the holiday celebration – a trend luxury brands have been keen to capitalise on.

Chow down on festive treats

What holiday would be complete without a feast? This is also where celebrations of LNY vary the most. In northern China, people prepare and eat jiaozi (dumplings, 餃子) as part of LNY Eve. The time-consuming nature of their preparation allows for the family to spend time together, while their resemblance to an antiquated currency suggests good fortune for the new year.

For Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, a tower of pastries is the culinary centrepiece. Long rounded scone-like cookies are arranged to evoke Mount Sumeru – a five-peaked mountain of holy importance to Hindu, Jain and Buddhist cosmology.

People eat Korean tteokguk (rice cake soup, 떡국) for Seollal. A person is said to age one year with each bowl of tteokguk they eat, but only the most auspicious restrict this delicious soup’s consumption to LNY. The clear broth symbolises a fresh, clear start to the new year, while rice cakes resembling coins offer prosperity.

Other foods such as mandarin oranges, candied fruits and fish are also commonly eaten, displayed and gifted across cultures that celebrate LNY.

Visit a LNY market

Ahead of New Year’s Day, open-air markets sell decorations, red packets, toys, clothes and trinkets. These outdoor markets are a frenzy of activity. In Southern China, street markets teem with flowers and potted plants. Flowers such as orchids and peonies are popular because they are considered especially auspicious.

Other outdoor marketplaces are associated with the religious aspect of the holiday. These are called temple fairs and take place after the holiday begins. Offerings usually include sugar-worked animals from the lunar zodiac, prayer scrolls and incense. Somewhat similar to the Christmas markets in Europe, these markets are a way to embrace the holiday spirit.

Pray at the temple

The Lunar New Year season is a busy time for temples. Worshippers typically visit the temple on the third day of LNY to light incense and pray to deities for blessings and good luck in the year ahead. Many major temples will also put on festive dragon and lion dances in the courtyard.

In Tibet, tspedro lend colour to the deçor – people leave these intricately carved butter sculptures as deity offerings. Ranging in size from small placards to massive recreations of temples and gods, their ephemeral nature and labour-intensive construction remind people to bring generosity into the new year.

As with any traditional holiday, observance varies depending on the individual. Many of the most auspicious traditions are symbolically observed, though younger generations tend to eschew their importance. LNY is an excellent time to visit and learn about one of the world’s major cultural traditions, but as with any cultural activity, deference to local custom is key to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the holiday fully.

Interested in exploring more of Asia? Join our 12-day adventure to Vietnam , or our 12-day trip to Japan , for an unforgettable cultural getaway.

Siobhan Grogan contributed additional reporting to this article.

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The History of Chinese New Year

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The most important holiday in Chinese culture around the world is undoubtedly Chinese New Year, and it all started out of fear.

The centuries-old legend of the origins of the Chinese New Year celebration varies from teller to teller, but every telling includes a story of a terrible mythical monster preying on villagers. The lion-like monster’s name was Nian (年), which is also the Chinese word for “year."

The stories include a wise old man who counsels the villagers to ward off the evil Nian by making loud noises with drums and firecrackers and by hanging red paper cutouts and scrolls on their doors, because Nian is scared of the color red.

The villagers took the old man’s advice and Nian was conquered. On the anniversary of the date, the Chinese recognize the “passing of the Nian,” known in Chinese as guo nian (过年), which is synonymous with celebrating the new year.

Lunar Calendar

The date of Chinese New Year changes each year because it's based on the lunar calendar. While the western Gregorian calendar is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun, the date of Chinese New Year is determined according to the moon’s orbit around the Earth. Chinese New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. Other Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam also celebrate the new year using the lunar calendar.

While Buddhism and Daoism have unique customs during the New Year, Chinese New Year is far older than both religions. As with many agrarian societies, Chinese New Year is rooted in a celebration of spring, like Easter or Passover.

Depending on where it's grown, the rice season in China lasts roughly from May to September (north China), April to October (Yangtze River Valley), or March to November (Southeast China). The New Year was likely the start of preparations for a new growing season.

Spring cleaning is a common theme during this time. Many Chinese families clean out their homes during the holiday. The New Year celebration could also have been a way to break up the boredom of the long winter months.

Traditional Customs

On Chinese New Year, families travel long distances to meet and make merry. Known as the "Spring movement" or Chunyun (春运), a great migration takes place in China during this period as many travelers brave crowds to get to their hometowns.

Though the holiday is actually just a week long, traditionally it's celebrated as a 15-day holiday when firecrackers are lit, drums are heard on the streets, red lanterns glow at night, and red paper cutouts and calligraphy hang on doors. Children are also given  red envelopes  containing money. Many cities around the world hold New Year parades complete with dragon and lion dances. Celebrations conclude on the 15th day with the Lantern Festival .

Food is an important component of the New Year. Traditional foods to eat include nian gao  (sweet sticky rice cake) and savory dumplings. 

Chinese New Year vs. Spring Festival

In China, New Year celebrations are synonymous with Spring Festival (春节 or chūn jié), which is typically a week-long celebration. The origins of this renaming from "Chinese New Year" to “Spring Festival” are fascinating and not widely known.

In 1912 the newly formed Chinese Republic, governed by the Nationalist Party, renamed the traditional holiday "Spring Festival" to get the Chinese people to transition into celebrating the Western New Year. During this period, many Chinese intellectuals felt that modernization meant doing all things as the West did.

When the Communists took over power in 1949, the celebration of New Year was viewed as feudalistic and steeped in religion, not proper for an atheist China. Under the Chinese Communist Party , Chinese New Year wasn't celebrated some years.

By the late 1980s, however, as China began liberalizing its economy, Spring Festival celebrations became big business. Since 1982, China Central Television has held an annual New Year’s Gala which is televised across the country and via satellite to the world.

Over the years, the government has made several changes to its holiday system. The May Day holiday was increased and then shortened to one day, and the National Day holiday was made three days instead of two. More traditional holidays, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, are emphasized. The only week-long holiday that was maintained is Spring Festival. 

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Chinese New Year Foods: Chinese Culture and Traditions Essay

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Introduction

Works cited.

Culture can be defined as the way of life of a given people. It entails how people behave and perceive different life issues. It includes aspects like religion, ethnicity, customs, language, beliefs, and food among others that define a people.

Culture varies from one place to the other depending on the circumstances surrounding a place, for instance, climate and environment as well as how people perceive different things. Chinese culture is unique in its way and stands out distinctively among other cultures through different cultural aspects such as foods taken on different occasions.

This piece of work will give an in depth discussion of Chinese culture with the central focus being on the Chinese New Year Foods and its relationship with the changes that have been experienced in the Chinese Cultures. How the cultural production or cultural producer struggled to change the boundaries and meanings of what can be said or done will also be discussed.

To have a clear understanding of the concept in question, it is advisable to give some background information. Chinese New Year is a concept that has received a lot of concern among different people. It has been celebrated for more than 4000 years.

In China it was a holiday that was initially meant to mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring, which was deemed to be the start of a New Year (Flanagan, Zhurkina, & Labbo 7). It is one of the most significant holidays in Chinese traditions that is celebrated all over east and South-East-Asia.

A lot of importance is attached to this celebration to an extent of influencing the overall Chinese culture to a large extent. Most things done during this festive are clearly seen in carrying out of different Chinese cultural aspects.

What the Chinese New Year Foods reveal about the changing and contested nature of Chinese cultures and how this cultural production or cultural producer struggled to change the boundaries and meanings of what can be said or done

Chinese culture is a unique one. It is considered to be one of the world’s complex and oldest cultures. The Chinese culture is portrayed in a relatively large geographical region of eastern Asia.

Although there exists some differences in the customs and traditions among different cites, towns, and provinces some cultural aspects are usually maintained. These include traditional food, cultural celebrations, music, martial arts, literature, and visual arts among others (Davis 10).

Just like any other aspect, culture is subject to changes with passage of time. Although Chinese culture has been perceived by many to be static, the reality is that no one culture is absolutely static but rather undergoes some changes no matter how minor they may be.

The modern civilization that emerged from Europe and America is one of the factors that are linked with the changes in the Chinese culture. Modern Chinese culture has been invaded by other external cultures especially from Europe and the United States of America.

Over the past 20 years, the Peoples Republic of China has been observed to be adopting western culture and technology in a rapid rate. A good example to support this statement can be seen in their extensive acceptance of a lot of aspects such as cell phones, fast food as well as the American television (Kleinman & Tsung-Yi Lin 4).

The Chinese New Year’s festival has had a lot of influence on the Chinese culture as a whole. This is more so due to the significance that has been attached to this festival. This can even be seen through the number of days it is given on the lunar calendar as compared to other holidays.

Some of the beliefs associated with the Chinese New Year festival have been maintained up to date while others have undergone some changes over the years. The Chinese New Year festival or the spring festival is still the largest celebration in China.

Despite the fact that Chinese New Year occurs on dates that usually vary from between mid January to mid February, it is strictly observed among different Chinese populations.

During this time, people are involved with various activities, for instance, a thorough cleaning of houses to signify a new start and giving of the children money packaged in red envelopes as a sign of good luck and attainment of happiness in the coming year.

This occasion is also dedication in honour of the ancestors and activities such as fireworks and parades with dancers who are smartly dressed are common during this function.

The Chinese New Year festival is considered to be a significant part of China’s culture. As stated earlier, Chinese New Year is the most regarded festival in China and therefore it is highly celebrated not only in China but also in countries and territories with a considerable number of Chinese populations, for instance, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Tibet, Singapore, and Mainland China among others.

Among the reasons behind the aspect being considered to be Chinese and to form a large portion of the overall Chinese culture is the fact that it started in China, that is, it has its roots in china. Despite the fact that the Chinese New Year festival is celebrated in different parts of the world, its origin is in China.

Consequently, the festival is practiced mainly by the Chinese populations and it involves China’s cultural aspects including the foods that are prepared and served during this time. To show how important the festival is perceived in China, Chinese New Year is the longest holiday in the country’s calendar taking a total of 15days.

The Chinese New Year Foods is a significant element in the entire festival. Food is given noteworthy importance in the Chinese culture. Traditional Chinese food is prepared way before the beginning of the New Year since according to the Chinese culture, the people are not supposed to prepare and cook food within the first five days of the year.

This is however somehow tricky due to the fact that as opposed to other holidays that have some fixed calendar dates, the date of the Chinese New Year changes each and every year based on the lunar calendar. The Chinese people stay prepared at around this time to avoid any form of inconveniences.

Some of the traditional foods include savoury dumplings, nian gao also known as sweet sticky rice cake, turnip cakes, Yusheng, taro cakes, noodles, mandarin oranges, fish and Buddhas’s delight among others. All these foods offered during the Chinese New Year are extremely delicious and deemed crucial to the Chinese people. Each type of food carries along a symbolic significance.

For instance, serving a whole chicken during this festival is a sign of family togetherness. For this reason, all family members are expected to come together and celebrate in union. The noodles on the other hand are a sign of long life and should be prepared and served without cutting them.

The sweet steamed cakes also have a symbolic meaning. The sticky rice cake, for example, stand for a wealthy sweet life that is full of good things for the coming year. This is represented by its sweetness and layers (Chiu par 12).

Back from the early days, a lot of importance has been given to the traditional Chinese New Year food. They are for example taken as a symbol of opulence, good health, long life and good luck in general life for every individual who partake it.

Apart from offering physical satisfaction, the food is associated with some old Chinese beliefs that keep the Chinese people going to present moments. For instance, most of the foods are expected to wish the people good things in the coming year.

The Chinese cultures are portrayed by the different activities that the people engage in. Research shows that even though some concepts have been maintained to today, there are some cultural changes that are quite evident. This can even be seen through the Chinese New year Foods.

These changes can be attributed to changes in times and cultural beliefs about some issues due to exposure, for instance, through technological innovations and developments. Gleason (12) asserts that years ago, on the New Year’s eve, Chinese people would take baths with mint leaves in the water with the believe that this practice would make them superfluously clean.

It was as well believed that it was not right to wash during the New Year’s Day since by doing so people would wash away their good luck for the coming year. Although some of these beliefs still stand among some individuals, there are some other cultural aspects that have been adopted in today’s world among the Chinese people.

For instance, there is a tendency of many people getting their haircut and buying of new clothes before or on the eve of the New Year’s Day as a sign of being fresh and leaving the past. Colour red is preferred by many for the clothing due to the fact that it is associated with happiness and thus it was believed that putting them on the New Year’s Day would bring happiness to the people throughout the following year.

It is also a belief that change of appearance through new haircuts and clothes is a way that is expected to put off the evil spirits that disturbed them in the past year as they would not recognize who they were, after the change.

Another issue that is linked with the Chinese New Year festival and culture is the fact that people have believed that they ought to do away with or finish everything that had been started over the past year.

For instance, people are expected to pay back any money they owe others as well as settle any form of discrepancies that could exist between their families and friends before the begging of the New Year. The children are also expected to catch up on their schoolwork.

In a nutshell, the Chinese culture requires that everything should be in a perfect condition for New Year’s Day in an effort to make the coming year a success; filled with good things (Gleason 13).

Looking at the Chinese New Year ceremony and all the issues that surround it, including the food taken and the significance attached to them, it is clear that it has played a great role in shaping the overall Chinese culture. There are various do’s and don’ts that are stipulated in regard to this ceremony with respect to what ought to bring good luck to the people and what could be a source of bad luck in the coming year.

The Chinese New Year celebration stipulates what is supposed to be done and said among the Chinese population all over the world not only during this season but also under normal circumstances, for instance, when doing business.

Amazingly, the practices of the Chinese New Year have been seen to influence the overall Chinese culture in many ways. One good example is on the changing culture and etiquette. From the Chinese New Year festivals, a lot of cultural aspects can be learnt most of which affect how the Chinese people behave and how they expect those they come across, irrespective of their origin, to behave.

The understanding of several key cultural concepts associated with the Chinese culture is helpful in carrying out both individual as well as business related activities in China. It is therefore advisable to have some basic knowledge of the socio-cultural, historical, political, and economic situation in China before entering the country for any purpose.

The cultural differences are also essential. They include the verbal and non verbal communication styles and the issues surrounding the Chinese etiquette, for instance, proper banquet behaviour and giving of gifts. All these aspects can be drawn from the Chinese New Year festival and hence its importance in the overall Chinese culture.

From the above discussion, it is evident that the Chinese New Year food and the entire festival have an extremely critical part to play in the cultures in China. This is more so because a lot of importance is attached to this issue and a lot of activities are done in preparation to the big day and it is celebrated for a relatively long period of time (15 days) as compared to other holidays.

Over the past decade, there are some cultural traditional concepts that have been maintained year after year while some concepts and beliefs have changed for the best of the communities. All in all, a great percentage of the cultural concepts that were present long before have been maintained up to today; an aspect that contributes much to the value that is attached to the Chinese New Year festival.

However, it is clear that no single culture in the world is absolutely static but rather it undergoes some changes no matter how minor they may be. China’s culture is therefore not an exception and it has experienced a revolutionary rate of change.

External factors play a great role in facilitating cultural change in different parts of the world, for instance, expansion of international trade and mass media as well as massive human population increase.

Chiu, Lisa. “The History of Chinese New Year.” About.com . 2011. 19 Oct. 2011. < https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-chinese-new-year-687496 >

Davis, Edward, Lawrence. Encyclopaedia of contemporary Chinese culture. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2005. Print

Flanagan, Alice., Zhurkina, Svetlana., & Labbo Linda. Chinese New Year . Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2003. Print

Gleason, Carrie. Chinese New Year . New York: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2008. Print

Kleinman, Arthur., & Tsung-Yi Lin. Normal and Abnormal Behaviour in Chinese Culture. New York: Springer, 1981. Print

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Bibliography

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Essay: This Chinese New Year, Make Noise, Be Brave, Create Your Own Luck

Chinese New Year celebrations are all about new beginnings and fresh starts. The new year is a time of hope and good luck.

How one spends the first day of the new year is supposed to foretell how the rest of the year will go. On Lunar New Year’s Day — this past Saturday — parents are not supposed to scold their children, brothers and sisters are not supposed to argue, and (pro tip) no one is supposed to cook or you will end up scolding, arguing, or cooking all year.

Some say that the first person to come visit your house on Lunar New Year’s Day will foretell what the new year will bring. Instead of leaving it up to chance, some people actually arrange for a rich person to come to their door first thing to ensure that their new year will be full of riches.

I am not really that superstitious, so, although I teach my children these old Chinese traditions , I am OK with occasionally nodding toward the spirit of the idea even if we do not get the letter of it exactly right.

RELATED: 10 Lunar New Year Facts to Help Answer Your Pressing Questions

Celebrated jazz pianist and composer Jon Jang is coming to town for a big concert next week. I plot — if the university has not already made plans for him — that maybe I can invite him to our house for dinner, ensuring that our new year will be filled with music, arts, and activism. Maybe I am superstitious enough to believe that this will be one small act of supernatural resistance against reportedly proposed funding cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities .

"All I want is quiet. But if the news of the past week is any indication, this is not going to be a quiet year."

But our weekend is full of soccer, academic games, Chinese school, and Chinese traditional orchestra rehearsal. Scheduling is going to be tricky. I am invited to a professor’s Lunar New Year party at which Jang will be a guest. Close enough!

Music, arts, and activism may not come to our house directly, but we will be spending the year with them.

Before Lunar New Year’s Day arrives, one is supposed to settle all debts, resolve all fights, clean the house top to bottom, and wrap up the old year so that the new year can begin fresh.

Instead, I usually end up treating the Lunar New Year as an extension, an extra month or two to finish up the old calendar year before I have to start thinking about the new.

On Jan. 1 when people ask, “What are your New Year’s resolutions?” I answer, “Oh, I’m Chinese American, I still have another month.”

However, this past year, I have been feeling so overextended that I have been actively trying to pare down my commitments so that I am not obligated to too many others. During the two weeks of winter break that my children were out of school, I did not leave the house. I just sat in my kitchen, and I worked. Somehow, miraculously, I finished all of my 2016 commitments by Jan. 7, 2017, a first ever for me. I remember spending all of Jan. 8 in a daze. I had new stuff I could do, but there were no emergencies, no fires to put out. Then school started again on Jan. 9 and we were back to frantic freneticism.

RELATED: New Book on Civil Rights Icon Fred Korematsu Challenges Youth to Speak Up for Justice

All I want is quiet.

But if the news of the past week is any indication, this is not going to be a quiet year.

Monday, Jan. 30, is recognized by several states as the Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution . Korematsu challenged the constitutionality of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, which helped pave the way for redress and reparations for the Japanese-American community in the 1980s.

Although Korematsu received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he was also a somewhat reluctant activist. He was only 23 years old at the time and just wanted to hang out with his European-American girlfriend. Yet, once he started fighting, he wanted to make sure that the same thing could never happen to anyone again. He spent the last years of his life standing up for the Muslim-American community after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

This year will be the 135th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act , which banned Chinese from entering America from 1882 to 1943. It is also the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 , which incarcerated about 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, in incarceration camps during World War II. It is also the 35th anniversary of the baseball bat beating death of Chinese American Vincent Chin by auto workers who blamed the Japanese for the troubles of the automotive industry. These events are all connected.

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, President Trump signed an executive order to ban people from several Muslim-majority countries and to halt the entry of refugees . Refugees, international students, and U.S. permanent residents — who had visas and were already in the air when the order was signed — were not allowed entry upon arrival at the airport, followed by a weekend of mass protests at airports around the country and an emergency stay of the order.

“Don’t be afraid to speak up,” Korematsu had said. “One person can make a difference, even if it takes 40 years.”

So on Monday, I will be at the law school’s Korematsu Day program — with members of the Japanese American Citizens League, American Citizens for Justice, and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) — speaking up about this history and the importance of standing up for others, especially today.

I will be thinking about all the ways that I am privileged to speak, and I will be carrying with me the thousands of people who have been standing up, marching, and protesting for others; the dark humor and new-found resistance of historians, scientists, and park rangers; the courage of Native Americans and veterans protecting the environment at Standing Rock; the image of volunteer attorneys sitting and working on the floors of airports; and the conviction of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance who went on strike at JFK Airport Saturday in protest of the executive order.

Chinese New Year is a boisterous, magical time, with firecrackers and lion dances to scare away bad luck and evil spirits and to set the tone for the new year. Chinese New Year traditions are not about waiting and hoping for good luck to arrive, but about taking steps to make sure that it happens.

So make noise. Be brave. Create your own luck to shape this new year.

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Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a freelance writer and speaker based in Michigan and Hawaii. She has been a contributor for AAPIVoices.com, NewAmericaMedia.org, ChicagoIsTheWorld.org, PacificCitizen.org and InCultureParent.com. She teaches Asian Pacific American Studies and writing and she speaks nationally on Asian Pacific American issues.

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Chinese New Year — The Chinese New Year and the Effects of Changing Cultures

The Chinese New Year and The Effects of Changing Cultures

• Categories: Chinese New Year New Year

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Published: Nov 22, 2018

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Traditional Chinese New Year - Chun Jie

• 01. Step 1: Where to go in China
• 02. Step 2: When to go in China
• 03. Step 3: How to Visit Tibet in 2021 — Suggestions and
• Names: Spring Festival
• Chinese : 春节 / chūn jié
• When : end of January or beginning of February
• Activities : Pasting couplets, staying up all night to see the new year in, Bainian (pay a New Year call), lucky money, sacrifices, lion dance, dragon dance, etc.
• Holiday : 7 days,
• Travel tips : The Spring Festival is a good time to experience traditional Chinese culture, and it is also the peak time for tourism. Many people choose to celebrate the Spring Festival while traveling. Most southerners like to travel by car. Therefore, hotel prices in southern cities will rise during the Spring Festival, which is similar to the Mid-Autumn Festival .

Introduction to Traditional Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, is the most important and widely celebrated festival of all in China. It is celebrated from the 1st day of the 1st lunar month to the 15th day of the 1st lunar month. The final (15th) day is called Lantern Festival, and the night before the 1st day is called Chinese New Year's Eve (Chuxi in Chinese pinyin). This is a time for family reunions, visiting relatives and friends and exchanging greetings for the coming New Year. It is also a time to ring out the old and ring in the new. The Chinese New Year can also be called "Guonian" which means the passing of the old year to the new one. This festival emphasizes the importance of family ties. The dinner gathering on Chinese New Year's Eve is the most important family occasion of the year.

Lunar New Year Calendar and holiday

The traditional Chinese New Year holiday is 7 days, starting from the first day of New Year's Eve to the seventh day, with work starting on the eighth day. If you love Chinese New Year culture, this is the best time to visit China.

Note : The tiger is followed by the rabbit, and the cycle continues.

• Avoid the busiest China holidays while planning your China travel

The Origin of Chinese New Year

There are several versions of the origin of the Chinese New Year. The most widely heard one is that there was a mythical beast called "Nian" which means "year" in Chinese. Nian always came on the first day of New Year to prey on livestock, crops, and even people. In order to protect themselves, people started putting food in front of their doors at the beginning of every New Year, as they believed that after Nian ate the food prepared for him, he wouldn't eat any of their crops and people. Coincidentally, some people once saw that Nian was scared away by the red clothes worn by a child so they concluded that Nian was afraid of the color red. Therefore, in preparation for the New Year, people began buying new red clothes. Also, they hung red lanterns and red spring couplets on doors and windows. They also lit firecrackers to scare Nian away. From then on, Nian never came back again.

This tradition has been handed down through generations. People still buy many red items in preparation for the New Year: red clothes, red lanterns, red paper cuttings, red spring couplets, red fireworks and firecrackers, and all manner of red objects. So now you know that people don't just feel the color red is exciting or festive, they have a reason to do that!

Related cultural activities you may like

• Learn traditional Chinese calligraphy in Xi'an >>

Symbolic Cuisines of Chinese New Year

On Chinese New Year's Eve, members of the family, big or small, near or far away, gather for a "reunion dinner". The most common dishes for this dinner are chicken and fish. There are many symbolic foods prepared for the New Year. For example, the fish, "yu" in Chinese pinyin, signifies that there should always be surpluses. Commonly in northern China, "Jiaozi" (dumplings) are made, symbolizing the luck that is wrapped inside. In eastern China, "Nian gao" (Chinese New Year Pudding) is prepared, symbolizing a more prosperous year. People also buy melon seeds, candy, and other seeds.

• Make dumplings in a local home >>

Top Common Practices of Chinese New Year

A few days before the New Year, every corner of the house must be swept and cleaned. This is to wipe away the old and evil spirits. Then, on the eve of the New Year, decorations like red paper cuttings , lanterns, or spring couplets are put up. Written in black ink on large vertical scrolls of red paper, spring couplets are put up on the sides of doors, windows, or other gateways. The couplets are mainly short poems written in classical Chinese, which express good wishes for the family in the coming New Year.

No. 1: Prepare New Year's goods

China's New Year custom culture has a long history, and various New Year customs have been derived from all over the country, which is very different from the north to the south, and each has its own characteristics. Although the customs vary from place to place, preparing New Year's goods and giving New Year's gifts are "must-haves" for New Year's Eve almost all over the country. Buying New Year’s goods, including food , clothing , wearing , using , sticking (New Year's red including couplets, blessings/"福" character, door gods, red envelopes, candles, firecrackers, fireworks, etc.), giving (New Year's greetings) gifts, candy , tea , meat , drinks , wine , etc., is collectively called "New Year's goods", and the process of purchasing New Year's goods is called "New Year's goods". Doing New Year's goods is an important activity for Chinese people to celebrate the Spring Festival.

No. 2: House Cleaning

Among the folks, there is a custom of "sweeping the dust (also known as sweeping the house) on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month. The folk proverb is called "twenty-four, sweeping the house / 腊月二十四 掸尘扫房子". The folks call it "sweeping the dust day". Clean the environment, wash all kinds of utensils, unpick and wash bedding and curtains, sweep the six-lumen courtyard, brush off the dirt and cobwebs, and dredge the open channels and underground ditches. There is a joyous atmosphere of rejoicing, cleaning, and welcoming the new year. According to folk sayings: Because of the homophony of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust before the year has the meaning of "removing old and bringing forth new". The purpose of sweeping dust is to sweep away all bad luck and bad luck, so as to pray for good luck in the coming year.

In the countryside, it is usually necessary to clean the inside and outside of the house, especially the cleaning of your brick and tile house is time-consuming and laborious. In addition, you have to clean the kitchen, pigsty and cattle pen separately. But now many rural families do not raise pigs and cattle, so there is no need for cleaning.

No. 3: New Year's Meat

The folk proverb says "on the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, kill the pig and cut the meat for the new year / 腊月二十六，杀猪割年肉 ", which means that the meat for the new year is mainly prepared on this day. The so-called slaughter of pigs is of course the killing of pigs raised by one's own family; the so-called cutting of meat refers to the poor people who do not raise pigs going to the market to buy meat for the New Year. The reason why "cutting the meat of the new year" was included in the New Year's Ballad is that the farming society and economy are underdeveloped, and people can only eat meat during the annual festival, so it is called "the meat of the new year".

Nowadays, many rural people don’t raise pigs anymore, and most of them go to the market to buy; some mountainous areas or ethnic minorities kill a pig during the Chinese New Year, some of them are used to give gifts to relatives, some are used to entertain relatives, and some are used to make bacon or sausage.

No. 4: Paste New Year Red

On the 28th, 29th or 30th day of the new year, every household "posts the New Year's Red" (the New Year's Red is the collective name for the red festive elements pasted during the New Year, such as Spring Festival couplets, door gods, horizontal batches, New Year pictures, and the word "Fu"). It is a traditional Chinese New Year custom to paste New Year's red, which adds to the festive atmosphere and places people's good expectations for the New Year and new life.

4.1: Spring Festival Couplets

• Chinese: 春联 / chūn lián

Pasting Spring Festival couplets is also called pasting couplets, etc. It depicts the background of the times and expresses good wishes with neat, dual, concise and delicate characters. It is a unique literary form in China. Every Spring Festival, no matter in the city or in the countryside, every household will choose a red Spring Festival couplet and paste it on the door to add a festive atmosphere to the festival.

4.2: New Year Pictures

• Chinese: 年画 / nián huà

It is also common to hang and post New Year pictures during the Spring Festival in urban and rural areas. The thick and colorful New Year pictures add a lot of prosperity and joy to thousands of households. New Year pictures are ancient folk art in China, reflecting the people's simple customs and beliefs, and entrusting their hopes for the future. With the rise of woodblock printing, the content of New Year pictures is not limited to monotonous themes such as door gods but has become rich and colorful.

4.3: Paste Paper-cuts to Windows and the word "Fu"/福 (blessing)

• Chinese: 窗花 / chuāng huā 与“福”/ fú

In the folk people also like to paste various paper-cuts on the windows - window grilles. Window grilles not only set off the festive atmosphere but also integrate decoration, appreciation, and practicality. At the same time, some families want to paste large and small "blessing" characters on the house door, walls, and lintels. There are also folks who make the word "Fu" into various patterns, such as longevity star, longevity peach, carp jumping over the dragon's gate, five grains and harvest, dragon and phoenix bringing prosperity, and so on.

No.5: New Year's Eve Dinner

• Chinese : 年夜饭/ nián yè fàn
• When : some families have dinner at 2 or 3 pm, and some have dinner at about 6 pm

New Year's Eve dinner, also known as New Year's dinner, reunion dinner, etc., especially refers to the family dinner at the end of New Year's Eve. The New Year's Eve dinner originated from the ancient year-end sacrificial ceremony, where the family had a reunion dinner after worshiping the gods and ancestors. The New Year's Eve dinner is the highlight of the year, not only rich and colorful but also very meaningful. Before eating the reunion dinner, worship the gods and ancestors first, and the meal will not be served until the worship ceremony is over.

5.1: What do people often prepare for New Year's Eve Dinner?

There are usually chickens (meaning planning), fish (meaning surplus every year), dried oysters (meaning good market), bean curd sticks (meaning abundance), lotus root (meaning smartness), lettuce (meaning making money), sausage (meaning long life) ) and so on for good luck. The Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is a reunion dinner for the family, and this is the richest and most important dinner at the end of the year.

5.2: Differences between North and South for New Year's Eve dinner

There are many famous places for New Year’s Eve dinners, which are different from the north and the south, and each has its own particularity. Northerners are used to eating dumplings during Chinese New Year, which is a habit handed down from ancient times. Due to geographical and climatic reasons, during the Spring Festival, the north is still in a cold winter, and it is basically impossible to grow crops, with scarce resources and few ingredients. The southern region, especially some coastal areas, is basically full of greenery all year round, and the southern region has a great advantage in vegetables and fruits in winter, so it has more choices in the choice of diet; in terms of geographical advantages, the southern water resources There are plenty of fish and various fish ingredients; so on some important festivals, the diet in the south is more abundant.

However, with the increasing number of large supermarkets and the convenience brought by online shopping and logistics, the difference in ingredients is getting smaller and smaller, and the current differences are only differences in eating habits.

No. 6: Staying Up(Shou Sui)

• Chinese : 守岁 / shǒu suì
• Meaning : Shou Sui is the custom of not sleeping on the last night of the old year and staying up late to welcome the arrival of the new year. In ancient times, Shou Sui had two meanings: elders' Shou Sui means "farewell to the old year", meaning to cherish the time; young Shou Sui means to prolong the life of their parents.
• What people do during Shou Sui : watch TV, play on the phone, play mahjong, play poker, set off fireworks or firecrackers, etc.

Shou Sui on New Year's Eve is one of the annual activities, and the custom of Shou Sui has been around for a long time. The folk custom of Shou Sui is mainly manifested in that all the houses are lit with new year fires, the family gathers together , and keep the " Shou Sui Fire " from extinguishing, waiting for the moment of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new year.

On New Year's Eve, the whole family gathers together, has a New Year’s Eve dinner, lights candles or oil lamps, sits around the fire and chats , and stays up all night to watch, which symbolizes driving away all evil plagues and diseases, and looks forward to good luck in the new year.

In the south, usually at 12 o'clock on New Year's Eve, every household in rural areas will set off firecrackers and fireworks on time to welcome the arrival of the New Year. Some families start giving red envelopes(lucky money) to their children after 12 o'clock, hoping that the children will grow up healthily and everything goes well in the New Year!

NO.7: Lucky Money / New Year's Money / Red Envelope

• Chinese : 压岁钱/红包, yā suì qián / hóng bāo
• How much : from RMB10-800 or more

It is said that "lucky money" can suppress evil spirits, and the younger generation can spend the first year safely with the lucky money. In folk culture, lucky money means to ward off evil spirits and drive away ghosts and bless peace. The original purpose of lucky money was to suppress evil and exorcise evil spirits. Because people think that children are vulnerable to ghosts and ghosts, they use lucky money to drive away ghosts and ghosts.

Generally, during the countdown to the new year, the elders distribute "lucky money" to the younger generations, expressing pressure and embodying the elders' concern and sincere blessings for the younger generation. Another kind of "New Year's money" is given to the elderly by the younger generation in the hope of longevity for the elderly.

No.8: Temple Fair

• Chinese : 庙会 / miào huì
• When : from the first day of the New Year to the end of the Lantern Festival, the period varies in different cities.
• Activities : traditional opera, puppet show, comic dialogue, sketch, double reed, magic, Yangko dance, walk on stilts, Diabolo, revolving lantern, rattle, etc.
• Food : Sugar-coated haws, sugar painting, sugar-figure blowing, marshmallow, steamed rice cake, Chinese hamburger(Roujiamo), coold noodles, barbecue skewers, etc.

Visiting temple fairs is one of the most lively folk activities during the Spring Festival. Guangfu Temple Fair and Beijing Ditan Temple Fair are also known as the two major temple fairs in China. The content of the temple fair covers puppet collection, Chinese unique skills, martial arts conference, Lantern Festival and other themed activities, and includes rich content such as blessing culture, folk culture, food culture, business and leisure culture.

Visiting temple fairs during the Spring Festival is the most important way to experience Chinese traditional culture.

No. 9: Pay a New Year call

• Chinese: 拜年 / bài nián

Visiting during the Spring Festival is one of the traditional customs of the New Year, and it is a way for people to bid farewell to the old year, welcome the new year and express good wishes to each other. On the second and third days of junior high school, I started to visit relatives and friends, visit each other, congratulate each other, and say congratulations on Xinxi, Gong Xi Fa Cai , Congratulations , and Happy New Year . The meaning of New Year's greetings is to visit relatives and friends to connect with each other, congratulate each other on the New Year, express feelings for relatives and friends and best wishes for life in the new year. With the development of the times, the custom of paying New Year's greetings is constantly adding new content and forms.

There are two types of New Year greetings

1 . New Year greetings to brothers, uncles, grandparents and grandma who live in the same place. This kind of New Year greetings do not need to bring gifts, just prepare red envelopes;

2 . New Year greetings to uncles, aunts and sisters who are not in the same village. , You need to bring gifts such as milk, wine, chickens and other gifts to celebrate the New Year.

Seasonal food

The Spring Festival is the traditional festival that Chinese people pay the most attention to. On the eve of the Spring Festival, every family will spend a long time preparing for the Spring Festival. So what are the must-eat foods for Spring Festival? Let's take a look below.

Main Dishes

• Chinese: 饺子 / jiǎo zi

Dumplings are an indispensable food for the New Year’s Eve dinner table in the north. Dumplings are shaped like ingots. Eating dumplings during the Spring Festival means “to attract wealth and treasure”. People will also wrap coins in the dumplings. There will be good fortune.

Deserts and Snacks

Desserts and snacks are indispensable in Chinese New Year’s delicacies, such as rice cakes, glutinous rice balls, Steamed sponge cake, Chinese rice pudding, Fried dough twist, Fried flour-coated peanuts, etc., which are loved by children and the elderly.

No. 1: Nian Gao (Rice Cake)

• Chinese: 年糕 / nián gāo

In the early Suzhou people, to commemorate Wu Zixu(famous military strategist, 559 BC - 484 BC.), they made new year cakes during the Chinese New Year. Later, they gradually became popular all over the country, such as red date rice cakes in Shandong, minced fruit rice cakes in Beijing, taro rice cakes and brown sugar or white sugar rice cakes in Fujian, water-milled rice cakes in Ningbo, and rice cakes in Suzhou. Osmanthus sugar rice cake and so on. Nian Gao, a homonym for "nian gao", is a must-have food for the Spring Festival, and it entrusts people's expectation that everything will develop for the better.

No. 2: Glutinous Rice Ball

• Chinese: 汤圆 / tāng yuán

The Lantern Festival food in the south is called "Tangyuan", also known as "Yuanxiao", "Tangyuan" and "Floating Yuanzi". It is one of the representatives of traditional Chinese snacks and is a spherical food made of glutinous rice flour. Generally, there are fillings, boiled and eaten with soup. It is also the most distinctive food of the Lantern Festival. Use black sesame seeds and lard as filling, add a little white sugar, and roll the outside into a round shape with glutinous rice flour. Because this kind of glutinous rice dumpling floats and sinks when boiled in a pot, it was first called "Fuyuanzi", and later in some areas, "Fuyuanzi" was renamed Tangtuan. In Jiangsu, Shanghai and other places, there is a custom of eating glutinous rice balls on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Red envelopes ("hongbao" in Chinese pinyin) are sold all around the markets and streets. They are used to put money in a red envelope and the money is called "ya sui qian", symbolizing the warding off, or suppression of evil. Usually, adults or older people give red envelopes with any amount of money (it can be 5 yuan or 100 yuan or more) to the juniors. On the cover of the red envelopes, there are usually icons of what the year belongs to or some common greetings like "Xin Nian Kuai Le" (Happy New Year) and "Ji Xiang Ru Yi" (wish everything goes well for you). Some people don't use any red envelopes, instead, they give money to the younger directly.

Dragon dances and lion dances are very popular and common during the Chinese New Year. From the 1st day of New Year to the 15th day, streets and homes are filled with dragon and lion dances. They are formed by a group of people, some of whom manage the "dragon" and the "lion", while some beat the drums. It is believed that the loud noise created by the drums, along with the faces of the dragon and lion scare away evil spirits.

When the New Year celebration ends on the 15th day of the New Year, there comes the Lantern Festival. On the evening of that day, in some places, people make lanterns and put them into a main river and just let them flow with the currents. In other places, there are lantern parades. People bring lanterns with them and walk on the streets. Young men may highlight the parade with a dragon dance.

Do you know these New Year phrases?

• For everyone you meet: Happy new year! - 新年快乐 /xīn nián kuài lè
• For seniors: Everything goes well and perfect health - 万事如意, 身体健康/ wàn shì rú yì, shēn tǐ jiàn kāng
• For students and young people: May all your wishes come true - 心想事成 / xīn xiǎng shì chéng
• For business people: Wish youa  great fortune! - 恭喜发财 / gōng xǐ fā cái
• For business people: Wish your business success - 生意兴隆 / hēng yì xìng lóng
• For those who work： Promoting to a higher position - 步步高升 / bù bù gāo shēng
• Pun: I hope you make a killing and give me a red envelope(New Year's Money)! - 恭喜发财,红包拿来!

Where can I experience the nyear'sear atmosphere and activities?

New year travel itineraries.

• Make bamboo lion head in your Guilin trip >>

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Photo Essay: My Favorite Chinese New Year Moments

While this is the first year in many that we won’t be spending Chinese New Year with family, I still have fond memories experiencing China’s most important holiday – and I’d like to share some of those highlights through my favorite photos from Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Traditions

Red couplets, known as duilian in Chinese, are one of the most vibrant decorations for Chinese New Year. Here, I stand by the door of the family home adorned with red couplets just written by my father-in-law, a yearly tradition for him.

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, the family always visits ancestors’ graves — offering them dinner, incense and money for the afterlife.

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, my husband and his brother pay respects to a camphor tree that watches over the family.

The ancestors’ dinner table is always set first, complete with candles and wine, on Chinese New Year’s Eve. We will then pray to them and pay our respects.

Jun sets the firecrackers and fireworks at the gate to the family home on Chinese New Year’s Eve.

Before the ancestors table, we burn paper money to send to them in the afterlife.

On Chinese New Year’s Eve, the whole family gathers before the door to pray to the ancestors.

Here I’m carrying two festive gift boxes filled with Chinese New Year goods, also known as nianhuo . It’s customary to give gifts for the holiday.

Giving out red envelopes, known as hongbao , is also a family tradition Chinese New Year’s Eve.

Hanging red lanterns at the family home is an annual tradition to ring in the new lunar year.

The family watches the firecrackers and fireworks exploding at midnight, welcoming the new lunar year.

Jun and I greet the new lunar year dressed head to toe in our new clothing.

Chinese New Year Food

The Laba Festival (which was January 24 this year) falls on the eighth day of the final month of the lunar year and is considered the official start to the Chinese New Year season. Every year, my mother-in-law commemorates the day by dishing up the traditional laba porridge (腊八粥) for breakfast .

At my in-laws’ home, no Chinese New Year is complete without a heaping bag of dongmitang (冻米糖) sitting in the corner of our bedroom , ready for snacking at a moment’s notice. These crispy Chinese New Year treats are made from puffed rice mixed with rice syrup.

Every Chinese New Year, we always prepare savory rice turnovers known as migu in the local dialect . They’re stuffed with either veggies (salted bamboo, pickled greens and tofu) or veggies and pork.

You haven’t had tofu until you’ve tried tofu made from scratch. Here my mother-in-law is in the process of preparing homemade tofu .

Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner is the most sumptuous meal of the year, with so many dishes on the table there’s barely enough room for them.

Family at Chinese New Year

Bainian , or Chinese New Year calls, is one of the most important traditions for family, where relatives visit one another at home to send wishes for a prosperous new year. This is one of my favorite bainian memories — Jun’s grandma and grandpa, who have since passed away, happened to visit us at our home in 2014.

Jun’s grandma was actually one of my favorite people to see during the holidays. Here, she and I spend time in front of the family home.

Toasting family at the table is an important ritual during Chinese New Year. Here, I’m attending the first dinner of the year at an aunt’s home — she never fails to make a scrumptious tofu dish and some of the best kimchi I’ve ever tasted.

During Chinese New Year, we also travel to other relatives’ homes to dine and socialize. Here I sit with family before an aunt and uncle’s home, where we are having lunch.

I especially love when family come together to prepare food. Here relatives sit around the table making those savory turnovers.

But most of all, it’s a pleasure to spend Chinese New Year’s Eve together with family at the dinner table.

Wherever you are in the world, here’s wishing you an auspicious Year of the Dog filled with great fortune and blessings.

4 Replies to “Photo Essay: My Favorite Chinese New Year Moments”

Dear Jocelyn, Thank you for continuing this column. I love seeing scenes of family life in China-they make me so comforted and happy to see how people live and appreciate each other.

BTW- engineers in my continuing ed class in Xi’an asked if Western women were attracted to Chinese men. I laughed and said of course many of us are. The REAL question for them is ARE YOU attracted to us?!

Hi Meghan, thank you for the comment and for reading! Cute about the engineers in your class — and true, it’s a good question to them!

I love these photos! They make me miss China a lot. I like to see your husband’s family still carrying on such strong Chinese traditions (I was really touched by the camphor tree photo… speaks volumes about how much we value our home and family).

Happy year of the dog to you 🙂 I guess you’re spending it in Beijing? In America it feels like any other day. I don’t miss the holiday crowds of Chinese New Year, but I miss the atmosphere.

Hey Mary, thank you so much for the comment and glad you enjoyed the photos! Yes, it is nice his family still continues these traditions — though sadly, that camphor tree was bulldozed away. 🙁

Happy Year of the Dog to you too! Indeed you do miss the atmosphere when you’re not in China — but the crowds are something you’ll never miss!

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Stories / Awards

The 2023 James Beard Media Award Winners

June 03, 2023

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Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 James Beard Media Awards, presented by Capital One. The Media Awards took place in Chicago and honored the nation’s top food authors, broadcast producers, hosts, journalists, podcasters, and social media content creators.

Join us in celebrating the winners below!

2023 James Beard Foundation Book Award Winners

Cookbooks and other non-fiction food or beverage-related books published in the United States in 2022 were elligible to enter the 2023 James Beard Book Awards.

Baking and Desserts Tava: Eastern European Baking and Desserts from Romania & Beyond Irina Georgescu (Hardie Grant Books)

Beverage with Recipes The Bartender's Manifesto: How to Think, Drink, and Create Cocktails Like a Pro Toby Maloney and Emma Janzen (Clarkson Potter)

Beverage without Recipes Exploring the World of Japanese Craft Sake: Rice, Water, Earth Nancy Matsumoto and Michael Tremblay (Tuttle Publishing)

Bread The Perfect Loaf: The Craft and Science of Sourdough Breads, Sweets, and More: A Baking Book Maurizio Leo (Clarkson Potter)

Food Issues and Advocacy Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America Psyche A. Williams-Forson (University of North Carolina Press)

General The Cook You Want to Be: Everyday Recipes to Impress Andy Baraghani (Lorena Jones Books)

International   Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico: A Cookbook Rick Martínez (Clarkson Potter)

Literary Writing Savor: A Chef's Hunger for More Fatima Ali with Tarajia Morrell (Ballantine Books)

Reference, History, and Scholarship Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History Jori Lewis (The New Press)

Restaurant and Professional  Bludso's BBQ Cookbook: A Family Affair in Smoke and Soul Kevin Bludso with Noah Galuten (Ten Speed Press)

Single Subject The Wok: Recipes and Techniques J. Kenji López-Alt (W.W. Norton & Company)

U.S. Foodways  I Am From Here: Stories and Recipes from a Southern Chef Vishwesh Bhatt (W. W. Norton & Company)

Vegetable-Focused Cooking  The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories from a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition: A Cookbook Hannah Che (Clarkson Potter)

Visuals  Chinese-ish: Home Cooking Not Quite Authentic, 100% Delicious Joanna Hu and Armelle Habib (Interlink Books)

Cookbook Hall of Fame Joe Randall

Emerging Voice Illyanna Maisonet    Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook    Ten Speed Press

2022 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award Winners

The Broadcast Media Awards are open to all works in English from digital and terrestrial media—radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, documentaries, online sites, social media—covering food and beverage topics and appearing widely for the first time in the United States in 2022.

Audio Programming Copper & Heat “Abalone: The Cost of Consumption” Airs on: Various podcast platforms Audio Reporting Jane Black and Elizabeth Dunn Pressure Cooker “The Twisted History of School Lunch in America”    Airs on: Various podcast platforms

Commercial Media Hallie Davison, Jorge Gaviria, and Daniel Klein Masienda Presents Airs on: YouTube Documentary/Docuseries Visual Media Coldwater Kitchen Airs on: Various film festivals

Instructional Visual Media Big Sky Kitchen With Eduardo Garcia Airs on: Magnolia Network and Discovery+

Reality or Competition Visual Media Restaurant Takeover ft. Matta Airs on: YouTube

Visual Media—Short Form CBS Sunday Morning  “Black, White, and The Grey”; “How Erin French found herself at The Lost Kitchen” Airs on: CBS

Visual Media—Long Form The Whole Animal Airs on: SOMM TV    

Social Media Account Erwan Heussaff Erwan             Airs on: Instagram

Emerging Voice Abena Anim-Somuah Host, The Future of Food is You Airs on: Cherry Bombe

2023 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award Winners

The Journalism Awards recognize work covering food- or drink-related topics published—or self-published—in 2022.

Beverage “Lost in Translation — How Flavor Wheels and Tasting Tools Can Evolve to Speak with Global Beer Drinkers”  Mark Dredge                    Good Beer Hunting

Columns and Newsletters  “Tetelas Are the Tasty Triangles You Need to Try Right Now”; “Birria Is the Greatest Threat to Taco Culture—and Its Savior”; “Trompo Tacos Are So Much More Than Tacos al Pastor”    José R. Ralat    Texas Monthly

Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award “Poncho’s Tlayudas, a window to Oaxaca, serves one of L.A.’s defining dishes”; “At Chinatown’s Pearl River Deli, the menu is always changing — and worth chasing”; “Anajak Thai is our 2022 Restaurant of the Year”    Bill Addison Los Angeles Times

Dining and Travel “The I-95 exit-by-exit eating guide”; “Don't leave home without your I-95 eating guide” Hanna Raskin    The Food Section

Feature Reporting  “Blood Sweat & Tears” Shane Mitchell The Bitter Southerner

Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication   The Bitter Southerner                                    

Foodways  “Come Hell or High Water — Oysters, Brewing, and How the Come Yahs & Bin Yahs Could End Sea Level Rise in Charleston” Jamaal Lemon Good Beer Hunting

Health and Wellness  “How the Supreme Court Decision Exacerbated the Dire State of Bar Industry Healthcare” Betsy Andrews SevenFifty Daily

Home Cooking  “Sour Power” Lara Lee    Food & Wine

Innovative Storytelling  “Night Market”  Thrillist Staff    Thrillist

Investigative Reporting   “Animal Agriculture Is Dangerous Work. The People Who Do It Have Few Protections.”; “‘I Was Coughing So Hard I Would Throw Up’”; “Tyson Says Its Nurses Help Workers. Critics Charge They Stymie OSHA.” Christina Cooke, Alice Driver, and Gosia Wozniacka    Civil Eats

Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award “When I Feel Unmoored by Life, I Always Find My Way Back to Either/Or”; “At Mira’s East African Cuisine, One Family’s Iftar Traditions Take the Forefront”; “Why Isn’t There an Overdose Kit Stocked Behind Every Bar in Portland?” Brooke Jackson-Glidden    Eater

MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award “Blood Sweat & Tears” Shane Mitchell The Bitter Southerner    

Personal Essay with Recipes “Dog S#!t Dacquoise” Diep Tran    Food & Wine Personal Essay without Recipes “On Boba” Kyla Wazana Tompkins  The LARB Quarterly of the Los Angeles Review of Books

Profile   “The Sweetest Harvest” Kayla Stewart and Clay Williams   Food & Wine

Emerging Voice Lyndsay C. Green Restaurant and Dining Critic Detroit Free Press

Read the full press release here .

The James Beard Awards are Presented by Capital One   Presented In Association with: BentoBox and Chicago O’Hare and Midway International Airports   Premier Sponsors: Acqua Panna® Natural Spring Water , American Airlines , Guinness , Hilton , HMSHost , and S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Mineral Water   Supporting Sponsors: HexClad , Moët & Chandon , and Skuna Bay Salmon   Reception Sponsors: Don Julio , Ecolab , Kendall College , and Windstar Cruises   Additional Support: Château d’Esclans , Cristaux , Here Here Market , Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet , Tock , and VerTerra Dinnerware   Broadcast Partner: Intersport   Proud Hosts: Choose Chicago and Illinois Restaurant Association Want to be the first to know about Beard Awards news? Subscribe to the James Beard Awards newsletter.

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After Trump’s Conviction, a Wary World Waits for the Fallout

Already braced for uncertainty about the U.S. election, countries in Europe and Asia are now even more unclear about the future of American diplomacy.

• Share full article

By Hannah Beech and Paul Sonne

• May 31, 2024

The world does not vote in American presidential elections. Nor do its jurors play a part in the American judicial system. Nevertheless, the conviction of Donald J. Trump on all 34 felony counts in a hush-money trial in a New York court on Thursday has again made clear how consequential what happens in the United States is for the rest of the planet.

Many America-watchers are grappling with the same questions posed by people in the United States: Can Mr. Trump still run for president? (Yes.) And if so, will the guilty verdicts cut into the support from his political base? (Unclear.)

Foreign observers also began wondering if Mr. Trump, already a volatile force, would become even less likely to stay within the guardrails of normal politics and diplomacy if he won the presidency again in November.

Mr. Trump’s supporters in anti-immigrant, right-wing nationalist circles abroad quickly jumped to his defense. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Kremlin-friendly prime minister, called Mr. Trump “a man of honor” in a post on X and said the American people should deliver their own verdict in November.

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister and the leader of the hard-right League party, expressed “solidarity and full support,” and called Mr. Trump a “victim of judicial harassment.”

“This verdict is a disgrace,” Nigel Farage, the pro-Brexit campaigner and Trump supporter, who is honorary president of Reform UK, a small right-wing party in Britain, wrote on social media. “Trump will now win big.”

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia did not immediately respond to the verdict but has seized on the situation more broadly to undermine American influence. Mr. Putin last year called the various proceedings against Mr. Trump political “ persecution ” and said they had revealed the “rottenness of the American political system, which cannot pretend to teach others about democracy.”

His spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, reiterated the point on Friday in response to the verdict, saying it was clear to the entire world that the U.S. authorities were trying to eliminate political rivals “by all possible legal and illegal means.”

The convictions by a Manhattan jury come as the question of American engagement has become central in several global crises.

In Ukraine, the war effort against Russia has been stymied after Republicans in Congress delayed American military aid for months.

In Europe, leaders reliant on the United States for their defense are jittery about a return to a more acrimonious relationship with Washington and a possible withdrawal of American support for hardening defenses against Russia.

In Asia, where the Biden administration perceives a growing Chinese threat and worries about a possible invasion of Taiwan, American allies are concerned about the sanctity of defense treaties that have long girded the regional security order.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump has said he would encourage Russia to attack any NATO member that doesn’t pay sufficiently for its defense and has questioned whether the United States should defend South Korea, a treaty ally that hosts a large American military presence. He is considering the Ohio senator J.D. Vance, one of Washington’s most vociferous opponents of military aid for Ukraine, as a possible running mate.

Foreign analysts worry that Mr. Trump’s favored currency, unpredictability, could again shake up the global order.

Concern about his possible return to the White House is particularly palpable in Germany, the object of Mr. Trump’s ire for much of his first term and the host of more than 35,000 U.S. troops.

Andrea Römmele, vice president of the Hertie School, a public policy-focused graduate school in Berlin, said many Germans watching the Trump verdict were relieved to see that even a former president was not above the law in the United States. But she said Germans remained very anxious about a Trump victory.

“I think everyone is much more prepared to think the unthinkable,” she said.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, whose right-wing domestic opponents accuse him of using the judiciary to settle political scores, hailed the conviction of Mr. Trump in New York as “an American lesson” for Polish politicians.

“The law determines guilt and punishment, regardless of whether the perpetrator is a president or a minister,” Mr. Tusk said in a message posted on X. A veteran centrist, Mr. Tusk took office after an October election that ousted a nationalist government that cultivated close ties with Mr. Trump during and after his time in the White House.

Still, on Friday, most foreign governments, forced to surf every shift in the American political mood, reacted cautiously.

“I would like to refrain from commenting on matters related to judicial procedures in other countries,” Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, said at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday.

In Britain, where a national election campaign is underway, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused to discuss the Trump case. His Labour Party opponent, Keir Starmer, a former top prosecutor, said he respected the court’s decision and called the situation unprecedented.

“Ultimately whether he is elected president will be a matter for the American people and obviously, if we’re privileged to come in to serve, we would work with whoever they choose as their president,” Mr. Starmer told BBC Radio Scotland.

Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry, declined to comment on the verdict. She said she hoped whoever was elected president would “be committed to developing healthy and stable China-U. S. relations.”

The possibility of Mr. Trump’s return to the White House is a source of anxiety for U.S. allies in Asia that rely on Washington for their defense.

When Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan made a state visit to Washington in April, President Biden called relations between the countries the most important bilateral alliance in the world. With American concern rising over China’s expanding military footprint, Mr. Biden has strengthened American defense partnerships with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and others in Asia.

By contrast, while president, Mr. Trump called for Japan, which hosts more than 50,000 American troops on its soil, to pay $8 billion for the upkeep of American bases there. (It never happened.)

Still, the fundamental tension in regional geopolitics — the contest between the United States and China — will continue no matter who wins the American presidential election.

“Beijing has no illusion about Trump or Biden, given their anti-China solid stance,” said Lau Siu-kai, an adviser to the Chinese government on Hong Kong policy. “Beijing is all set for a more intense confrontation with the U.S. over technology, trade and Taiwan.”

Officials in China’s embassy in the United States and its consulates around the country are most likely scrambling to assess how the verdict could affect the election, said Willy Lam, an analyst of Chinese politics at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington.

“The majority of Xi Jinping’s advisers now think a Trump presidency might be worse for U.S.-China relations,” Mr. Lam said of China’s top leader. “If Trump were to win, given the now peculiar circumstances of his victory, he might gravitate towards unpredictable actions to assert his authority.”

There is a sense in Asia that the region is perennially overlooked and underappreciated by U.S. presidents, particularly as crises in Europe and the Middle East have monopolized Mr. Biden’s attention. That sentiment was also felt acutely during Mr. Trump’s presidency, and for American partners in Asia it was made worse by his affinity for regional strongmen.

In addition to occasional expressions of admiration for Mr. Putin and Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Mr. Trump invited to the White House a former army chief who led a coup in Thailand and installed himself as prime minister. Mr. Trump drew accolades from Rodrigo Duterte, formerly the president of the Philippines and now under investigation by the International Criminal Court over his deadly war on drugs.

The Philippines is now led by the son of the longtime dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, who died in exile in Hawaii. He has reoriented the country away from China back toward the United States.

In at least one regard — the prosecution of former leaders — the rest of the world is far ahead of the United States. South Korea, where four former presidents have been convicted of corruption and abuse of power, has made something of a national sport of imprisoning disgraced leaders. The former French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac were convicted of corruption.

Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, has been charged with money laundering, among other crimes. And Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sentenced to years in prison for corruption after leading Brazil. His convictions were eventually annulled. He is again president of the country.

Reporting was contributed by Stephen Castle, Elisabetta Povoledo, Roger Cohen, Zixu Wang, Andrew Higgins, Camille Elemia , Choe Sang-Hun , Motoko Rich , Alexandra Stevenson , Sui-Lee Wee and Sameer Yasir .

An earlier version of this article misstated the length of Rodrigo Duterte’s term in office. It was six years, not eight years.

How we handle corrections

Hannah Beech is a Times reporter based in Bangkok who has been covering Asia for more than 25 years. She focuses on in-depth and investigative stories. More about Hannah Beech

Paul Sonne is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on the war against Ukraine. More about Paul Sonne

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

Guilty Verdict : Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 counts  of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened his bid for the White House in 2016, making him the first American president to be declared a felon .

Next Steps: The judge in the case set Trump’s sentencing for July 11, and Trump already indicated that he plans to appeal. Here’s what else may happen .

Reactions: Trump’s conviction reverberated quickly across the country and over the world . Here’s what Trump , voters , New Yorkers , Republicans  and the White House  had to say.

The Presidential Race : The verdict will test America’s traditions, legal institutions and ability to hold an election under historic partisan tension , reshuffling a race that has been locked in stasis and defined by a polarizing former president.

Making the Case: Over six weeks and the testimony of 20 witnesses, the Manhattan district attorney’s office wove a sprawling story  of election interference and falsified business records.

Legal Luck Runs Out: The four criminal cases that threatened Trump’s freedom had been stumbling along, pleasing his advisers. Then his good fortune expired .

Connecting the Dots: As rumors circulated of Trump’s reported infidelity, two accounts of women  being paid to stay silent about their encounters became central to his indictment.