Spring FestivalSpring Festival Customs

The custom of sweeping away the dust (扫尘) developed very early. The Lüshi Chunqiu (《吕氏春秋》, The Annals of Lü Buwei) already contains traditions associating house cleaning before the New Year with the legendary ages of Yao and Shun. During the Song dynasty, Wu Zimu (吴自牧) wrote in Mengliang Lu: New Year’s Eve (《梦粱录·除夜》):

“Whether noble or common, large household or small, every family sweeps away dust from gates and doorways, removes dirt, cleans courtyards, replaces the Door Gods, hangs images of Zhong Kui, fixes peachwood charms and pastes spring placards.”

The passage shows that by the Song period, New Year cleaning had already become closely integrated with the wider system of household renewal and protective decoration.

A traditional saying goes: “On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, brush away the dust and sweep the house.” (腊月二十四，掸尘扫房子。) Cleaning the home before the Spring Festival has long been a widespread Chinese custom. In northern China it is commonly called “sweeping the house” (扫房), while in the south it is often known as “dusting” (掸尘).

As the festival approaches, households thoroughly clean their surroundings, wash utensils, remove and launder bedding and curtains, sweep courtyards, clear dust and cobwebs, and clean open and covered drains. In folk interpretation, the Chinese words for “dust” (尘, chén) and “old” (陈, chén) are homophones. Sweeping away dust therefore symbolically means “removing the old and establishing the new” (除陈布新)—sweeping poverty, bad luck, and the misfortunes of the previous year out of the home.

The custom expresses the desire to discard the old, renew life, and welcome the coming year. Cleaning is therefore more than a physical act. It also represents spiritual purification: the dust, frustration, and misfortune of the old year are swept away so that the New Year may enter a clean and orderly household bearing fortune and happiness. In traditional Chinese thought, the cleanliness of the home and the auspicious wellbeing of the family are closely linked.

Before the Spring Festival, families can carry out a thorough household cleaning together. Traditionally, some northern regions begin around the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, while southern traditions often favour the twenty-fourth. Family members can divide the work, clean neglected corners, wash bedding and curtains, and prepare the home to welcome the New Year in a fresh and renewed state.

The custom of worshipping the Kitchen God (祭灶) is extremely old and reflects ancestral gratitude and reverence toward fire and the household stove. The Kitchen God was already regarded as an important deity in early Chinese tradition, and by the pre-Qin period, sacrifice to the stove was counted among the traditional “Five Sacrifices” (五祀).

From the Sui and Tang dynasties onward, worship of the Kitchen God gradually separated from the broader year-end sacrificial system and developed into a dedicated ritual associated with the Little New Year (小年).

Kitchen God worship traditionally marks the beginning of preparations for the Spring Festival. A folk saying runs: “officials on the twenty-third, commoners on the twenty-fourth, boat people on the twenty-fifth” (官三民四船家五), referring to differing traditional dates for the ritual.

Today, the Little New Year is commonly associated with the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month in northern China and the twenty-fourth in the south. Families place fruits, wine, dishes, sweets, and other offerings before the Kitchen God, hoping that he will speak favourably of the household when reporting to Heaven and thereby help secure good weather and good fortune.

Sticky sweets such as maltose were traditionally offered so as to “sweeten” or symbolically seal the Kitchen God’s mouth, encouraging him to report only good things. In Qing-dynasty Beijing, offerings included nantang sweets, Guandong malt candy and sugar cakes, while water and beans were also prepared for the divine horse said to carry the Kitchen God to Heaven.

Kitchen God worship expresses reverence and gratitude toward the hearth as the centre of household life. The Kitchen God was traditionally understood to oversee a family’s food, fortune, and misfortune. The ritual is therefore both an act of devotion and a wish for abundant food, domestic peace, and prosperity in the coming year.

On the twenty-third or twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, simple offerings such as traditional sweets or pastries can be placed in the kitchen. In northern China, foods such as Guandong candy or other traditional Kitchen God sweets may be used. Even though modern urban homes no longer have the traditional earthen stove, people can still mark the custom symbolically in the kitchen and learn about its cultural meaning.

Spring Festival couplets (春联) developed from ancient peachwood charms (桃符) associated with warding off harmful spirits. The Book of the Later Han: Treatise on Rituals (《后汉书·礼仪志》) records the use of rectangular peachwood boards hung on either side of gateways, a practice traditionally traced to the Zhou period.

During the Five Dynasties era, Meng Chang (孟昶), ruler of Later Shu, is said to have written on peachwood boards:

“新年纳余庆；佳节号长春。” “May the New Year receive accumulated blessings; may this festive season be called Everlasting Spring.”

It is commonly regarded as one of the earliest surviving examples of a Spring Festival couplet. The custom became established during the Song dynasty and especially widespread in the Ming. The founding Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) strongly encouraged the practice and, after establishing his capital at Nanjing, is said to have ordered that before New Year’s Eve, “every household, from officials to commoners, must add a pair of Spring Festival couplets to its doorway.”

New Year pictures (年画) can be traced to Han-dynasty images of Door Gods (门神), originally placed on doors to ward off evil and misfortune. With the development of printing during the Tang and Song periods, their subjects diversified, while their function gradually expanded from protection against evil toward inviting auspicious fortune and blessings.

Spring Festival couplets use balanced, parallel, concise, and carefully crafted language to express hopes for the coming year and to reflect the spirit of the age. They are a distinctive form of Chinese festive literature. During the Spring Festival, households in both cities and villages traditionally choose bright red couplets and paste them on their doors, adding colour to the festival while bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new.

The character 福 (fú, “good fortune” or “blessing”) is also widely displayed. It represents people’s desire for happiness and a good future. The character is sometimes hung upside down because “福倒了” (“fu is upside down”) sounds like “福到了” (“fortune has arrived”) in Chinese, creating an auspicious play on words.

New Year pictures are another traditional form of visual celebration. Historically, families hung newly printed images in main halls, bedrooms, beside windows, on doors, by stoves, and around household shrines. They helped create a festive atmosphere while symbolically inviting divine blessings and driving away calamity.

Spring Festival couplets express auspicious wishes through words, while New Year pictures communicate them through images. Together, they create the festival’s most immediately recognisable visual language: red.

In Chinese culture, red symbolises good fortune, celebration, warmth, vitality, and life. When doorways across entire communities are covered with red couplets and red fu characters, the shared visual environment strengthens both the collective atmosphere of the festival and a sense of cultural belonging.

Before New Year’s Eve, people can buy Spring Festival couplets and New Year pictures or write their own calligraphy. In traditional vertical formatting, the first line is placed on the right and the second on the left. The character fu may be displayed upright or, where custom permits, upside down on doors, windows, or cabinets. New Year pictures can be hung indoors or on doors, preferably using auspicious themes such as “abundance year after year” (连年有余) or “abundant harvest of the five grains” (五谷丰登).

The history of the New Year’s Eve dinner (年夜饭) can be traced at least to the Jin dynasty. Zhou Chu (周处) wrote in the Fengtu Ji (《风土记》, Records of Local Customs) of people inviting one another to food and drink in order to “bid farewell to the year”, while staying awake through New Year’s Eve.

The Jingchu Suishiji (《荆楚岁时记》, Records of the Seasonal Customs of Jing and Chu) later recorded:

“At the year’s end, every household prepares dishes and vegetables and goes to the place of keeping the old year, there to welcome the New Year.”

The specific expression “New Year’s Eve dinner” became established relatively late. It appears in the Qing-period work Qing Jia Lu (《清嘉录》) by the Suzhou scholar Gu Lu (顾禄).

At a deeper level, the custom derives from Chinese ideas of family and cyclical time. At the threshold between the old year and the new, time itself is understood as being in transition. A family sitting together to share food therefore represents not only reunion but also a collective ritual of accompanying the passage from one year into the next.

The New Year’s Eve dinner, also known as the reunion dinner (团圆饭) or family feast, is the evening meal eaten on the final day of the lunar year. It is one of the most important meals of the entire year for Chinese families.

On New Year’s Eve, households prepare abundant banquets and family members of every generation gather together, speaking auspicious words and sharing the meal. Traditionally, offerings to ancestors may be made before the family begins eating, asking ancestral spirits to protect the household.

In northern China, dumplings are especially important. Their shape resembles traditional silver ingots and therefore symbolises wealth in the coming year. Southern traditions often feature tangyuan and niangao. Tangyuan symbolises reunion, while niangao is associated with the homophonous expression “higher year after year” (年年高).

Fish is common throughout China because 鱼 (yú, “fish”) sounds like 余 (yú, “surplus”), producing the blessing “surplus year after year” (年年有余). The number of dishes is often even, symbolising “good things coming in pairs.” Regional specialities include Sichuan cured meats, Cantonese poon choi, and Hunan steamed combinations of cured meats.

The New Year’s Eve dinner is often regarded as the most important meal of the year in Chinese culture. It is far more than a feast: it embodies the reunion of the family.

No matter how far people live from home, many make great efforts to return before New Year’s Eve so that they can sit at the same table with their relatives. Every dish carries an auspicious meaning, and every toast expresses hope for the year ahead.

On New Year’s Eve, prepare the meal together with family. Northern-style celebrations may include making dumplings, sometimes with symbolic items such as coins, dates, or peanuts hidden inside. Southern-style meals may include tangyuan or rice cakes.

Sit together, exchange blessings, and enjoy the meal as a family. If reunion with relatives is impossible, friends or colleagues can organise a shared “reunion-table dinner” to preserve the spirit of welcoming the New Year together. Those who wish may place food before ancestral tablets or photographs before eating as a gesture of remembrance and respect.

The custom of shousui (守岁)—staying awake through New Year’s Eve—has a long history. An early account traditionally attributed to the Western Jin writer Zhou Chu states:

“On New Year’s Eve, people exchange gifts, calling it ‘presenting the year’; invite one another to food and drink, calling it ‘bidding farewell to the year’; and remain awake until dawn, calling it ‘guarding the year.’”

The custom became increasingly prominent during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, when many literary works were written about keeping vigil on New Year’s Eve. In the early Tang dynasty, Emperor Taizong, Li Shimin (李世民) wrote in his poem Keeping the Year:

“寒辞去冬雪，暖带入春风。” “Cold departs with the winter snow; warmth arrives upon the spring wind.”

Shousui means remaining awake on the final night of the old year and staying up to greet the arrival of the new. It is also colloquially called “enduring the year” (熬年).

A traditional saying declares:

“One night joins two years; at the fifth watch, the two years divide.”

People traditionally lit candles or oil lamps and stayed awake through the night, symbolically illuminating the darkness and driving away disease and evil while waiting for the auspicious arrival of the new year.

Shousui begins with the reunion dinner, which is traditionally eaten slowly. Families may sit down around nightfall and continue eating, talking, and celebrating until late into the night.

Shousui expresses reverence for time and appreciation for life. At the threshold where one year becomes another, people stay awake to accompany and guard the transition, greeting the first light of the New Year in a conscious and wakeful state.

The custom also strengthens family bonds. During the long night, relatives sit together, talk about the year that has passed, and share their hopes for the year ahead.

On New Year’s Eve, families can sit together, talk, watch the Spring Festival Gala (春晚) or other festive programmes, share snacks, and remain awake through midnight. Keeping household lights on can symbolise illumination and the expulsion of misfortune.

There is no need for elderly or tired family members to remain awake until dawn; participating through midnight and sharing the family gathering is fully in keeping with the spirit of the custom.

Lucky money (压岁钱) is believed to have ancient roots, although the custom became especially widespread during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Historically, there were both specially made protective coins and ordinary circulating currency used as New Year gifts.

The specially produced forms were often imitation coins made of copper or iron, square or rectangular in form, and inscribed with auspicious expressions such as “good fortune and fulfilment” (吉祥如意), “fortune, status, longevity and happiness” (福禄寿喜), or “may you live a hundred years” (长命百岁).

During the Ming and Qing periods, ordinary silver and copper coins increasingly came to be given as lucky money. This marked a gradual shift from a primarily protective or religious function toward the economic gift-giving role familiar today.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, elders traditionally give lucky money to younger family members as a blessing for their safe passage through the year.

A Qing-era poem describing the excitement of children in Hangzhou reads approximately:

“A hundred coins strung long on coloured thread, divided and hidden by the pillow’s edge; debating the price of firecrackers and sweet whistles, the delighted child is busy all night.”

After the Republican period began, it became common to wrap one hundred copper coins in red paper, evoking the blessing “a hundred years of life.” For older descendants, a silver dollar might be placed inside the red wrapping to symbolise flourishing wealth and profitable enterprise.

With modern banknotes, families often favour crisp new notes or consecutive serial numbers, symbolically suggesting continuous prosperity and advancement.

The expression 压岁 (yāsuì) itself carries the idea of suppressing harmful spirits and protecting the recipient through the year. Lucky money is therefore more than a financial gift. It represents an elder’s blessing, protection, affection, and hope for the younger generation.

In contemporary China, it may also express hopes for academic success, professional achievement, health, and a bright future.

On New Year’s Eve or the first day of the New Year, elders may place money in a red envelope (红包) and give it to younger relatives. Auspicious numbers such as 6, 8, or 9 are often preferred.

Young adults who have begun working may also give red envelopes to parents or grandparents as an expression of gratitude and filial affection. New banknotes are traditionally favoured because they symbolise “a new atmosphere for the new year.”

The custom of using firecrackers (爆竹) to celebrate the Spring Festival had developed in China by the Han dynasty at the latest and therefore has a history of more than two thousand years.

Its distant origins are sometimes associated with the ancient “courtyard torch” (庭燎) tradition. The Book of Songs: Lesser Odes contains the line “庭燎晰晰”, describing brilliant courtyard fires.

The sixth-century Jingchu Suishiji already records that on the first day of the first lunar month people “rise at cockcrow and first explode bamboo before the courtyard” in order to drive away mountain spirits and evil beings.

During the Tang dynasty, exploding bamboo was known as baogan (爆竿). The Nanchang poet Lai Hu (来鹄) wrote in his poem Early Spring:

“新历才将半纸开，小亭犹聚爆竿灰。” “The new calendar is scarcely half unfolded; by the little pavilion still lie the ashes of exploding bamboo.”

With the invention of gunpowder and the spread of paper, the Northern Song period saw the appearance of paper-wrapped gunpowder devices. These gradually developed into the firecrackers familiar today.

Setting off firecrackers is a traditional act of bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. On New Year’s Eve, households traditionally ignite them to drive away evil and pray for good fortune.

On the morning of the first day, people may set off firecrackers immediately after opening the front door. This is called the “opening-door firecracker” (开门炮仗). After the explosions, red paper fragments cover the ground, producing what is traditionally called “a hall full of red” (满堂红)—a highly auspicious image.

The loud sound of firecrackers has long been believed to possess the power to frighten away harmful forces and avert calamity.

The popular legend of the Nian monster (年兽) provides a vivid narrative explanation: loud explosions could terrify the creature and protect households from harm. At the same time, the sound of firecrackers announces the arrival of the New Year and communicates human joy and hope to Heaven and Earth.

Where legally permitted, firecrackers and fireworks may be set off in courtyards or designated areas on New Year’s Eve. Safety precautions and local regulations should always be observed.

Many cities now restrict or prohibit private fireworks for environmental and safety reasons. In such places, official firework shows, light displays, or electronic firecrackers provide safer alternatives.

The custom of paying New Year calls (拜年) is sometimes linked to formal New Year court audiences held in imperial times. Ministers first paid respects to the emperor on New Year’s Day, and the wider practice of exchanging ritual congratulations gradually became popular among the general population.

Forms of New Year greeting existed by the Han dynasty. During the Song period, sending name cards or congratulatory visiting slips became fashionable, much like New Year cards today. By the Qing dynasty, collective forms of greeting known as “group New Year calls” (团拜) had also developed.

Paying New Year calls is one of the most important social customs of the Spring Festival. Historically, the term primarily referred to formally congratulating elders on the New Year, usually beginning within one’s own household.

On the first morning of the year, people rise early, put on their best clothes, visit relatives and friends, and exchange auspicious wishes.

In earlier society, the process strongly reinforced family hierarchy and kinship relationships. The Qing writer Gu Tieqing (顾铁卿) described in Qing Jia Lu:

“After men and women have paid respects to the head of the household in order, the host leads younger and junior members out to visit neighbours, clan relatives and friends; or sends younger family members in their place. This is called ‘paying New Year calls.’”

New Year calls are among the most important social-interaction rituals of the Spring Festival. They do more than convey blessings: they reaffirm and strengthen social relationships.

Through face-to-face greetings, ties between relatives, neighbours, friends, and communities are renewed. Although modern technology has diversified the ways people exchange New Year greetings, the underlying function—maintaining emotional connections and expressing good wishes—remains unchanged.

On the first day of the New Year, greet elders respectfully and offer auspicious phrases. Then visit relatives and friends, or contact them by telephone, video call, or messaging applications.

Common greetings include “Happy New Year” (新年快乐), “May everything go as you wish” (万事如意), “Wishing you prosperity” (恭喜发财), and “Wishing you good health” (身体健康). Electronic red envelopes may also be sent when an in-person visit is impossible.

The origins of dragon dancing (舞龙) can be traced to the pre-Qin period, when dragons were understood as divine beings capable of connecting Heaven and Earth. During the Han dynasty, dragon dances were performed in rituals praying for rain and functioned as both ceremonial acts and entertainment.

Lion dancing (舞狮) developed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, initially as a ritual performance associated with warding off evil and averting disaster. By the Tang dynasty, lion dances had also become court entertainment. After the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, migration from the Central Plains helped spread lion-dance traditions into Lingnan and southern China.

Dragon and lion dancing are among the most recognisable Spring Festival performances.

Dragon dancing, traditionally also called “dancing the dragon lantern” (舞龙灯), developed from ancient dragon worship. In Chinese culture, the dragon symbolises auspiciousness, dignity, courage, power, rain, and abundance. Dragon dances are therefore performed to drive away harmful forces and invite blessings and good fortune.

Lion dancing was historically known in some contexts as “Music of Great Peace” (太平乐) and developed into one of China’s most celebrated folk performance traditions. The lion, regarded as a powerful and protective animal, is believed to repel evil. During the Spring Festival, the lively movement of the lion brings an atmosphere of celebration and blessing.

Today, dragon and lion dances continue to embody hopes for protection from evil, peace, prosperity, and auspicious fortune, while serving as important vehicles of Chinese cultural identity.

Both the dragon and the lion possess sacred symbolic power in Chinese culture. The dragon is closely linked to rain, fertility and abundance, while the lion symbolises courage and the ability to ward off evil.

Dragon and lion dancing is therefore more than folk entertainment. It is also a collective ritual of blessing. Amid the pounding of drums and gongs, people project their hopes for the coming year onto the leaping lion and undulating dragon.

During the Spring Festival, dragon and lion dances can be watched at temple fairs, public squares, cultural centres, and community celebrations. Some locations also offer participatory experiences.

Spectators should remain outside the performance area and maintain a safe distance. Where permitted, touching the dragon or lion during interactive segments may be regarded as “sharing in the blessing.”

Temple fairs (庙会) originated in religious sacrifice and can be traced to very ancient times. Early fairs were held on temple festival days or other significant dates, usually within temple precincts or immediately nearby.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism flourished and large numbers of temples were constructed. Merchants gathered around temple celebrations to serve pilgrims and visitors, gradually turning these gatherings into lively temple markets.

By the Northern Song dynasty, the temple fair at Daxiangguo Temple in Kaifeng had become especially famous. In Beijing, traditional temple fairs can be traced to the Liao dynasty, developed further in the late Yuan and early Ming, and reached great prosperity during the Ming and Qing periods.

Temple fairs are major traditional folk-cultural events and an important part of Spring Festival celebrations. They bring together food, shopping, entertainment, religious observance, craft traditions, and performance.

Visitors may encounter local snacks, dragon and lion dances, martial arts, acrobatics, diabolo performances, pinwheels, kites, paper cutting, comic dialogue, magic tricks, banner balancing, stilt walking, revolving lanterns and sugar figurine making.

At Beijing’s Baiyun Temple Fair, visitors traditionally queue to touch a stone monkey, believed to help avert illness and misfortune and promote longevity.

The temple fair therefore functions both as a New Year custom and as a lively seasonal marketplace.

Temple fairs integrate belief, entertainment, commerce, and social life. They are places where people honour deities, but also where communities gather, socialise and celebrate.

Their noise and vitality embody the Spring Festival ideal of “universal celebration”: young and old, rich and poor, men and women can all find something to enjoy.

During the Spring Festival, visit a local temple fair to sample regional foods, watch performances, explore folk crafts, and participate in games.

Large northern cities often host famous traditional fairs, including Beijing’s Changdian and Baiyun Temple fairs. Check opening dates and locations in advance and, where possible, avoid the busiest hours.

The Guangzhou flower-market tradition can be traced to the Ming dynasty, when Huadi (花地) in the Fangcun area had already become an important centre of flower cultivation.

By the 1860s, previously scattered flower markets gradually became concentrated in the days immediately before the Spring Festival and developed into organised New Year flower markets (年宵花市). By the 1920s, the custom of “walking the flower street” (行花街) commonly took place from the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month until New Year’s Eve.

In 2021, the Spring Festival custom of Walking the Flower Street was included in China’s fifth national list of representative intangible cultural heritage projects.

Walking the flower street is a distinctive Spring Festival tradition of the Lingnan region. From around the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month until New Year’s Eve, people gather at designated flower markets where flowers provide the central setting for a combination of New Year customs, horticultural culture, commerce, blessing rituals, and seasonal celebration.

For many Cantonese people, there is a popular saying: “It is not truly New Year until you have walked the flower street.”

Families buy flowering plants and festive greenery to decorate their homes and welcome the coming year.

Flowers symbolise auspiciousness, beauty, renewal, and prosperity in Lingnan culture. Different plants carry specific meanings:

• New Year kumquats symbolise great good fortune.
• Peach blossoms suggest expanding prospects and success.
• Narcissus represents good luck and fulfilment.
• Phalaenopsis orchids symbolise happiness and harmony.

Walking the flower street is therefore more than shopping. It is a form of seasonal blessing: people walk among blossoms and fragrance, then bring those auspicious symbols home with them.

Between the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and New Year’s Eve, visit a local flower market and choose festive plants such as kumquats, peach blossoms, narcissus or orchids.

Evening is often the most atmospheric time to go, when the markets are brightly illuminated and filled with New Year crowds.