Chinese New Year Traditions

Chinese New Year is a time for family and friends to get together to share food, red packets filled with money and have fun. In the days before New Year, every family is busy giving the house a thorough cleaning, hoping to sweep away all the ill-fortune there may have been to make way for incoming good luck.

Doors and windows are newly painted, usually in red, then decorated with paper-cuts and couplets on the themes of "happiness", "wealth", "longevity" and "satisfactory marriage with more children".

Paintings on the same theme are put up in the house over new wallpaper.

The Eve of the New Year is very carefully observed. Everyone comes together for supper, which is a feast.

One of the most popular courses is jiaozi - dumplings boiled in water. Jiaozi means "sleep together and have sons," a good wish for a family.

After dinner the whole family sits up for the night playing cards or board games or watching special TV programmes.

Every light is supposed to be kept on the whole night. At midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks, and firecrackers make everywhere seem like a war zone. Excitement reaches its zenith.

Very early the next morning, children greet their parents and receive presents of cash wrapped up in red paper packages.

Then the family set out to greet their relatives and then their neighbours.

It's a great time for reconciliation - old grudges are easily cast off and the air is warm and friendly.

On this day and the days that follow, people visit each other and gifts are exchanged.

Fifteen days later comes the Festival of Lanterns, an occasion for shows and folk dances.

A typical food is tang yuan - another kind of dumpling made of sweet rice rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings.

The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Year season and life becomes routine again.

New Year customs vary from place to place because China is a big country, not just geographically, but also demographically and ethnically.

Yet the spirit underlying the diverse celebrations is the same: a sincere wish of peace and happiness for family members and friends.