far and away the most important holiday in china is spring festival, also known as the chinese new year. to the chinese people it is as important as christmas to people in the west. the dates for this annual celebration are determined by the lunar calendar rather than the gregorian calendar, so the timing of the holiday varies from late january to early february.
to the ordinary chinese, the festival actually begins on the eve of the lunar new year's day and ends on the fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar. but the 15th of the first month, which normally is called the lantern festival, means the official end of the spring festival in many parts of the country.
preparations for the new year begin the last few days of the last moon, when houses are thoroughly cleaned, debts repaid, hair cut and new clothes purchased. houses are festooned with paper scrolls bearing auspicious antithetical couplet (as show on both side of the page) and in many homes, people burn incense at home and in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask the gods for good health in the coming months.
guo nian, meaning passing the year, is the common term among the chinese people for celebrating the spring festival. it actually means greeting the new year. at midnight at the turn of the old and new year, people used to let off fire-crackers which serve to drive away the evil spirits and to greet the arrival of the new year. in an instant the whole city would be engulfed in the deafening noise of the firecrackers.
on new year's eve, all the members of families come together to feast. jiaozi, a steamed dumpling as pictured below, is popular in the north, while southerners favor a sticky sweet glutinous rice pudding called nian gao.
one legend goes that the beast nian had a very big mouth that would swallow a great many people with one bite. people were very scared.
传说有一个叫“年”的怪兽，有一个大嘴，能一口吞下很多人。人们都很怕它。
the custom of putting up red paper and firing fire-crackers is to scare away nian.
贴红纸和方鞭炮的习俗就是为了吓跑年。
however, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that they feel the color and the sound add to the excitement of the celebration.
但是，现在人们大多忘记了为什么这么做的原因，只是觉得色彩和响声增加了过节的气氛。
according to the briefing, according to legend there is a chinese ancient times called the years of the monster, the first long tentacles, unusually ferocious. year for many years hiding the sea, only to climb up every new year's eve shore, devouring livestock harm human life. therefore, every new year's eve that day, the village young people walled villages fled to the mountains, to escape the year animal damage.
据介绍，相传中国古时候有一种叫“年”的怪兽，头长触角，凶猛异常。“年”长年深居海底，每到除夕才爬上岸，吞食牲畜伤害人命。因此，每到除夕这天，村村寨寨的人们扶老携幼逃往深山，以躲避“年”兽的伤害。
this year's eve, peach blossom village, young people are the mountain refuge, from a village outside begging the elderly, saw hiscrutches, arm ride capsule bag, silver to be graceful, head if lang stars. some villagers sealed windows locked, and some to pack up and get some thunbergia sheep, everywhere people shouting, scene of a panic rush. at this time, who determined to take care of the elderly people begging. village head only an old lady to the elderly more food, and urged him to speed up the mountain to escape the year beast, the old man smiled stroking beard: mother-in-law if i stay at home one night, i have the year removed the animal. head scared the old lady look at, to see him mental healthy, bearing out of the ordinary. she is still continuing to persuade, begging people laugh instead of the phrase. mother-in-law no option but to leave home and go up the mountain refuge.
