By Caitlyn Ng

There are many different cultures all around the world. Arguably, one of the most multifaceted ones is Chinese culture. The most important tradition of all is the celebration of Chinese New Year. Families travel across the nation during Chinese New Year to spend the holiday with their loved ones in their hometowns. Elders and married individuals bear gifts and red packets to hand out to the youth. China’s ministry of travel expected over 2.1 billion domestic journeys to be made within the 40-day period surrounding New Year’s day as people rushed to see their extended families.Many families don’t have enough money to ride planes or trains. The only option is to ride bikes. Volunteers create tents to feed riders so they have enough energy to continue the ride home.

Spending time with family is one of the most important things during the Chinese New Year. During the Lunar New Year, attending festivals and viewing fireworks are major cultural events. Elders and adults also distribute red packets, also known as "紅包" (hongbao) to the kids. These red envelopes, which are stuffed with cash, are used to send luck and good wishes. Red is used to symbolise energy, joy, and prosperity. Red packets are red with golden letters on them, most with ‘福’ (fu), the character meaning good fortune, written on them.  

During the new year, families stick ‘對聯’ (Duilian) or ‘揮春’ (Hui chun)  on doors and in houses writing Chinese good luck messages: for instance, ‘學習進步’ (xuexi jinbu) which in English means ‘learning improvements’. There are twelve zodiacs in the Chinese zodiac representing each year: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. A person’s zodiac sign depends on the year that they are born in.

 Each zodiac sign contains different characters and strengths. For instance, the year of the rabbit represents longevity, positivity, cleverness and wittiness. 

Chinese New Year came from this old Chinese mythology that started all the Chinese traditions. The myth is that in the olden times, there was a lion called ‘年’ (nian)that got sent from god as a punishment every lunar new year and would eat anyone who crossed its path, so in order to be safe all the villagers would hide out in the mountains until the next day where the lion would be gone. One year, an old granny couldn’t go up to the mountains and had to stay in the house, so a god came to land to help the old lady; he said to put up lanterns. light fireworks and use many red things to scare away the monster. So she did: she put up red lanterns that lit up to make beautiful glows and lit various coloured fireworks. Soon it worked. The monster was scared and went away. The old lady was ecstatic and soon told everyone in her village to do this to to be safe, and from then on everyone would do this to stay safe from Nian. This is the myth of Chinese New Year and even though it is a myth that is how Chinese new year traditions started. Chinese New Year is now celebrated all across the world in Chinese families.

In addition, one of the many famous foods in the Chinese new year is ‘餃子’  which translates to dumplings that look like gold bars to demonstrate wealth and good fortune. Families come together to eat ‘年飯’（nianfan）which is a New Year dinner.  A popular dish in Chinese food is hot pot which involves dipping food into a hot steel bowl to cook dinner.  Then elders greet one another with phrases such as ‘九九同心‘ (jiu jiu tong xin) and ‘身體健康‘ (shenti jiankang). Families join together to celebrate together. Some don’t have enough money for red packets but instead they celebrate with hot pot and quality time together to celebrate New Year's. Every family has their traditions, and although these traditions hold great significance to Chinese culture and history, the heart of the lunar new years is the time spent alongside loved ones.