A Beginner's Guide to Chinese New Year

Across the world, millions of people celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1st. This first day of the year is an important moment in many cultures, as it represents a fresh start and an opportunity to look forward to all of the exciting things to come. But what about parts of the world that don’t celebrate New Year on the 1st of January?

For many people in Eastern Asia, along with the Asian diaspora around the world, New Year celebrations usually happen sometime between late January and mid-February. In fact, Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the most important event in the Chinese calendar and it’s often observed as a week-long holiday.

To help you celebrate, we have special Chinese New Year cards to the app for you to share with your Tandem partner! You can send a Chinese New Year card by tapping the holiday icon when you are messaging your partner. In the meantime, to better understand this exciting holiday, we’ll review some of the most important details of the upcoming Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year Facts

Before jumping into the 2024 Chinese New Year celebrations, we thought we’d cover a few of the basics up front. Here are some of the most interesting Chinese New Year facts to remember:

• Chinese New Years goes on for 16 days, making it the longest Chinese holiday
• Only the first week of Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday
• Chinese New Year is sometimes called “the Spring Festival”
• Many families “fight off” a monster named Nian using firecrackers
• The color red is also used to help scare off Nian!
• Chinese New Year even involves giving cash in red envelopes
• Chinese New Year is a family-oriented holiday
• Dumplings are the most common food eaten during Chinese New Year
• During Chinese New Year, you cannot shower or sweep as this could cause you to “wash away” good luck
• The New Year celebrations are closed with the Lantern Festival

Looking for a way to boost your language skills quickly and effectively? The Tandem app helps you find a conversation exchange partner to chat with! Whether you want to learn how to wish someone a happy Chinese New Year, discover the latest slang phrases, or just want to talk to a like-minded language learner, Tandem is the app for you!

When is Chinese New Year?

While January 1st is an easy date to remember, the timing of Chinese New Year is a little trickier to predict! The date coincides with the Lunar Calendar, an Ancient Chinese invention that’s based on the monthly cycles of the moon’s phases. This means that Chinese New Year is celebrated on a different day every year.

Today, many people in China use the Gregorian calendar (much like the rest of the world), but the traditional Lunar calendar is still used for important festivals like Chinese New Year. Since lunar cycles change each year, the date of celebration does too, but it usually occurs sometime between late January to mid or late February. This year, it’s celebrated on Saturday, February 10th. Don’t forget to send well wishes to your friends that day and the night before (New Year’s Eve)!

Which zodiac animal is the 2024 Chinese New Year connected with?

Chinese culture has long had the tradition of associating each year with one of twelve zodiac animals. This means you can easily check your Chinese zodiac animal by looking up your birth year and its associated sign.

For example, if you were born in 1995, you were born in the Year of the Pig. If you were born in 1999, you were born in the Year of the Rabbit. Anyone born in 2024 will be connected to the Year of the (Wood) Dragon.

Many Chinese people have the belief that if the upcoming year is the year of your animal sign when you were born, you tend to have bad luck in that year. For example, those born in 2000, which was also the Year of the Dragon, may find themselves facing bad luck in 2024. Thankfully, there’s a simple way to avoid any back luck your Chinese zodiac year may bring. Red is said to be such a lucky color that it can cancel out any impending bad luck.. So, all you need to do is wear something red every day in 2024 and you should be fine!

Every 12 years, the Chinese Zodiac is repeated, so the last time it was the Year of the Dragon was in 2012. However, the cycle also switches between the five elements—fire, earth, water, metal, and wood. In 2012, it was the Year of the Water Dragon. In 2024, it will be the Year of the Wood Dragon. The Year of the Dragon is said to be associated with success, power, honor, and even luck. The Year of the Wood Dragon also represents imagination and creativity, so it’s bound to be an exciting combination!

What do people eat at Chinese New Year?

Dumplings are one of China’s most common, traditional foods, making it no surprise that many Chinese people eat them on New Year’s Day. China is a big and diverse country, however, so you’ll find that people in different regions eat differently and have their own variations on New Year’s cuisine. Some regions might have Niangao (年糕), which is a special kind of New Year rice cake, or spring rolls, along with specially-cooked poultry (especially chicken) and fish. All of those foods are associated with positive vibes, and are seen as helping to ensure good fortune for the year ahead.

What is a red envelope?

Speaking of the color red, receiving a red envelope is probably the most exciting thing about Chinese New Year for kids! Red envelopes usually contain money and are given to children by elders. Traditionally, they represent love and blessing, but for many children, the most important part of red envelopes is what’s inside—a small amount of money. In some regions, the tradition of a physical envelope has evolved to virtual envelopes. With the help of mobile devices and payment apps, such as WeChat Pay, people can easily send each other electronic red envelopes alongside their good wishes.

What do people eat at Chinese New Year?

Dumplings are one of China’s most common, traditional foods, making it no surprise that many Chinese people eat them on New Year’s Day. China is a big and diverse country, however, so you’ll find that people in different regions eat differently and have their own variations on New Year’s cuisine. Some regions might have Niangao (年糕), which is a special kind of New Year rice cake, or spring rolls, along with specially-cooked poultry (especially chicken) and fish. All of those foods are associated with positive vibes, and are seen as helping to ensure good fortune for the year ahead.

What is "Chun Wan"?

Watching “Chun Wan” perhaps isn’t the most traditional part of Chinese New Year, but over the years it has become a common tradition. “Chun Wan”, or the “Spring Festival Gala” is an annual variety show produced by China Central Television (CCTV) featuring musical, dance, comedy, and drama performances. The first Chun Wan took place in 1983 and is widely regarded as one of the most-watched annual TV programs in the world. Over the years, it has become a New Year institution and many Chinese people stay home with their family on New Year’s Eve to watch this show. However, the younger generation is generally less interested.

If you are interested in finding out more about this popular entertainment show, you can always ask your Chinese friends what they think of it. Some love it; others hate it.

Where is Chinese New Year celebrated?

You might think from its name that Chinese New Year is 100% a Chinese festival. However, as the population of ethnic Chinese people living outside of China has grown, the traditions and practices of the festival have spread around the world. There are many Chinese markets and China towns in Western countries, and each will have a special celebration for Chinese New Year. You can see lanterns, lion dances, and firecrackers everywhere just like the ones in China when Chinese New Year approaches. Additionally, there are many other Asian countries that also use the Lunar calendar for their New Year celebrations. Vietnam, for example, celebrates a similar festival at the same time called “Tet” which has its own special traditions.

Chinese New Year Phrases to Use With Your Friends

We’ve prepared some special phrases for you in Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese Chinese to share with your Tandem partner this year.

To help you celebrate the Year of the Wood Dragon, we’ve put together a few Chinese New Year phrases to get familiar with. These special phrases can be said in either Mandarin Chinese or Cantonese Chinese and shared with your Tandem partner (or any other Chinese-speaking friend or family member) this year.

Chinese New Year Phrases in Mandarin:

• 新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè) means “Happy New Year” in Mandarin, and you can add “万事如意” if you want to make it sound a bit more exciting!
• 万事如意 (wàn shì rú yì) can be translated into “may everything that you wish come true”, a phrase which is commonly used by Chinese speakers during Chinese New Year.
• 恭喜发财，红包拿来 (gōng xǐ fā cái, hóng bāo ná lái) is more of a joke blessing. The meaning of it is: “May prosperity be with you - now give me a red envelope!” The last four words didn’t exist at the very beginning when this line was invented, but were added as a tongue-in-cheek rhyme that emphasizes the monetary benefits of the holiday.

Chinese New Year Phrases in Cantonese:

• 新 年 快 樂 (sun leen fai lok) - “Happy New Year”. It is often paired with other new year phrases in one sentence, e.g: 新年快樂身體健康 - “Happy New Year and good health”
• 新年快樂歲歲平安 - “Happy New Year and peace for the following years”
• 歲歲平安 - (sui sui ping on) - “Hope you have peace for generations to come”
• 快高長大 (fai goh jeung dai) - “Grow tall and be strong”, this one is generally used for children...
• 學業進步 (hohk yihp jeun bouh) - This is a greeting reserved for students, wishing them progress in their studies. This is important for young students as well as more advanced students.
• 恭喜發財 (gong hei fat choy) - when you want to wish prosperity in the new year.