Spring Festival & Chinese New year

I grew up in LiaoNing Province in the northern part of China where it snows a lot in winter. My family lived in the suburban part of the city of Liaoyang, which had a population of 20,000 people. My parents and most of the adults in the city worked for a big state chemical factory producing military hardware. All of my best Spring Festival memories are from this time in my life and I will remember them forever.

Spring Festival is the most important festival in China.  It is a holiday that is equivalent to Christmas in the United States. Spring Festival begins on the first day of the Chinese lunar month, which on the Western calendar is usually sometime in late January or early February, and continues for 15 days.  Officially, Spring Festival begins on the first day of the Chinese New Year at 00:00:00 (midnight), but the festivities actually begin on the Eve of the Chinese New Year.

We have all kinds of legends from the north to the south, dating back over five thousand years. Our most popular legend is about a monster called “Nian,” who always went to the village to eat the livestock, destroy the property, and chase the people into the mountains. Nian came every year to the village until a wise old man scared him away with bright candle lights and fireworks. The village celebrated this victory, and ever since then, we have celebrated this legend every year on the first day of Spring Festival.

Family is the most important thing during the Spring Festival. No matter how far you have moved away from your parents, Spring Festival is the time to go home to be with your family to enjoy and celebrate life. We have all kinds of food, we have leisure time because everybody is off from work, and all the children will have new clothes on. We play games, hold parades, shoot off fireworks, greet each other with “guo nian hao” (or “gei nin bai nian le” to our elders).  It is the happiest time for everyone and we make a lot of fond memories.

Next Article: Preparing for the Spring Festival

About the Author

Ying Stumpf (whose Chinese name is Zhang Ying) was born in LianoNing Province in China.  She graduated from the prestigious People's Police Officer University in Beijing, China, with a bachelor's degree in Chinese Language and Literature.  Currently, she lives with her husband in the U.S. and works as a English-to-Mandarin interpreter for Language Line, and also as a private Chinese Mandarin teacher.  Click here for information on learning Chinese Mandarin.

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