Red lanterns are up, the banks are packed and preparations are well underway for Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival. Before I started living in Hong Kong, I thought CNY was all firecrackers, dumplings and fun animal horoscopes (and those are definitely a fun part of it). But there’s so much more. So, here are 10 surprising facts about Chinese New Year that I’ve learnt during my time in HK:
Chinese New Year is not “Chinese Christmas”
I hear this phrase a lot from fellow westerners, but did you know that the history of Spring Festival goes back 4,500 years? When you remember that JC only recently celebrated his 2,000th birthday, he pales as a moody teenager in comparison.
If anything, that makes Christmas is a Western Chinese New Year. Except of course that it isn’t because they are completely different things.
Chinese New Year moves every year
The Chinese lunar calendar follows the moon’s cycles, so Spring Festival always falls in a different place between 21st January and 20th February each year.
When is Chinese New Year?
There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac, which rotate in cycles. Here are the dates and zodiac signs for the next 12 years:
- 2016 2016-02-08 Monkey (2016-02-08—2017-01-27)
- 2017 2017-01-28 Chicken (2017-01-28—2018-02-15)
- 2018 2018-02-16 Dog (2018-02-16—2019-02-04)
- 2019 2019-02-05 Pig (2019-02-05—2020-01-24)
- 2020 2020-01-25 Rat (2020-01-25—2021-02-11)
- 2021 2021-02-12 Ox (2021-02-12—2022-01-31)
- 2022 2022-02-01 Tiger (2022-02-01—2023-01-21)
- 2023 2023-01-22 Rabbit (2023-01-22—2024-02-09)
- 2024 2024-02-10 Dragon (2024-02-10—2025-01-28)
- 2025 2025-01-29 Snake (2025-01-29—2026-02-16)
- 2026 2026-02-17 Horse (2026-02-17—2027-02-05)
- 2027 2027-02-06 Sheep (2027-02-06—2028-01-25)
This means that when you get back from Christmas break and you’re looking miserably out at the cold January weather, sighing, “I really need a holiday…” BANG! You’re in one!
Chinese New Year is super-long
Think CNY is just a countdown from ten to one followed by a fireworks display? Think again. Chinese New Year seems to go on forever! There are celebrations and parts of the festival that traditionally continue up until the 15th day of the first lunar month.
There are also certain days when you should visit one side of your family, and then other days when you visit the other side, and days when you should just stay at home… find out more about significant CNY days here.
The days of Chinese New Year
- 23rd or 24th day of the last lunar month – The beginning of Spring Festival celebrations. Today is about honouring the Kitchen God and saying goodbye to the old year by cleaning the house.
- Chinese New Year’s Eve – Family reunion dinners
- Day 1 – Celebrating the start of the year, visiting family, friends and neighbours
- Day 2 – Visiting the wife’s side of the family
- Day 3 – Staying at home (an ominous day with lots of taboos)
- Day 4 – Welcoming the Gods (an auspicious day)
- Day 5 – Festival of Po Wu, the God of Fortune
- Day 6 – Driving away the Ghost of Poverty by throwing away old clothes, rubbish and by cleaning the house
- Day 7 – Day of Humankind (according to Chinese legend, mother goddess Nu Wa created humans on the seventh day)
- Day 8 – Celebrating the Creation of Millet, an important crop in ancient China
- Day 9 – Festival of the Jade Emperor
- Day 10 – Celebrating the God of Stone
- Day 11 – Fathers-in-law entertaining sons-in-law
- Days 12-14 – Preparing for Lantern Festival
- Day 15 – Lantern Festival
In China, Chinese New Year is the longest public holiday of the year – around a week, although many businesses close for two or even three weeks. In Hong Kong, the Chinese New Year public holiday is around three days long, but usually tagged onto a weekend.
People give out lai see
People give each other money for CNY rather than gifts, though a box of biscuits or traditional snacks for the family in a “tray of togetherness” doesn’t go amiss. The cash inside lai see must always be crisp, new notes (and long queues at the banks will attest to that) and placed inside in a red envelope.
If someone gives you a lai see, you should receive it with both hands, say thank you (doh jeh) and definitely not open it in front of the person giving it to you.
You should only give out lai see if you are married, an employer, or if you are a person of seniority. As an expat, it’s not always expected of you, but it’s still polite to give out lai see to your doorman, cleaner etc.
The amount of money you give is up to you, but obviously you don’t want to look cheap. A good starting point is 20 HK dollars. (Tip: if you are working as a English teacher, you get all the lai see and this will be your yearly bonus!)
No one goes to the Chinese New Year parade
If you want to see what three million tonnes of glitter and shameless marketing looks like, by all means go and see the big televised Chinese New Year parade in town. But you won’t catch me waiting in the cold and rain to watch the “Sponsored by HSBC!” and “Visit Ocean Park today!” floats.
Instead, I’ve found that there are plenty more traditional and authentic dragon and lion dances (you can hear the drumming a mile off) that pop up around town during the festive period.
There are no firecrackers
Contrary to all the cute pictures of kids playing with firecrackers that you see in many depictions of Spring Festival, firecrackers are super-illegal because they are super-dangerous.
They are banned in Hong Kong, Taiwan, urban areas of Mainland China and many other places (though the those rules don’t always stop people setting them off). I’ve personally never seen any during Lunar New Year celebrations.
It’s not just China
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore obviously celebrate Chinese New Year, but many other countries celebrate Lunar New Year during this period too (Korea, Vietnam and Japan to name but a few).
Not to mention the huge Chinese communities which live all over the globe. San Francisco has one of the biggest CNY celebrations in the world.
Go get a haircut
It’s Spring Festival, so it’s only fitting that a spring clean is in order. Houses are thoroughly cleaned, people get their hair cut and nails done, and buy a new set of clothes (even red underwear) to wear on New Year’s Day.
Then, they leave it as long as possible after the festival before they throw out rubbish, get a hair cut or have a shower. Even though it’s gross, the point is to keep hold of your New Year luck. So this means all the expats get free reign over their hairdresser’s empty schedule for a few weeks.
If it’s your zodiac year, you’re in for a surprise
If you’re going, “Hey! I was born in the Year of the [current zodiac animal]! Does that mean this is my lucky year?” then hold your horses/dragons/snakes…, because it actually means that this year will be much harder for you and “full of surprises”… whatever that means…
More facts about Chinese New Year
Don’t cut your noodles because the Chinese word for noodles sort-of sounds like the word for “life”. You should definitely go to the flower market and get one of those trees with the weird-shaped yellow things on. Wear red. Here’s an orange, eat it!
There’s a guy dressed up in a costume with a long droopy moustache and he brings good fortune. Why? Because Chinese New Year.
Even after five years in Hong Kong, I’m still just a gwei mui (ghost girl) with a foreigner’s perspective, barely scratching the surface of Lunar New Year (and usually wondering where best to travel in Asia to spend the public holiday dates).
Yet, with each passing Spring Festival, I’m learning more and more about CNY and Chinese culture in general, so there’s always next year to learn just a little bit more. Plus, now I know the best time of year to get an appointment at the hairdresser’s…
Wishing you all a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year!
