Lunar New Year

China’s peak holiday travel season, often billed as the “the world’s biggest annual human migration,” has just kicked off. The season usually begins about two weeks before the Lunar New Year's Day, which falls on January 25 this year, and lasts around six weeks. Also called the Spring Festival, the holiday is the most important time of the year for families to get together, eat huge amounts of food and grill single relatives about their romantic prospects. In order to ease the epic annual travel crunch – a massive 3 billion in total trips, compared to the relatively puny 55 million Americans who traveled last Thanksgiving – the country’s sole railway operator has introduced electronic ticket

The people in this photo aren’t lining up to buy new iPhones or cronuts. They’re employees of Tencent Holdings, waiting outside the tech giant’s headquarters in Shenzhen to receive cash-filled red envelopes from company chairman Pony Ma and other senior management. A long line started forming from Tuesday morning for a chance to get a second of face time with Ma, China’s third-richest man. It is customary in many parts of China for companies or bosses to give their employees red packets to start the new work year, as a form of good wishes. (Although the Chinese economy’s slowdown is poised to hit its tech sector hard.) The most diehard employees were in place since before 8pm on Monday, me

Chinese lantern crafting is an ancient tradition that is still very alive today. Around the Lunar New Year period, all kinds of lanterns can be seen on display – but the most intricate is likely the ornate dragon lantern.  Comprised of multiple parts and carried by several people, these long, undulating lanterns are stunning to watch.  The villagers of Dujing in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang region built a large dragon lantern for the Lunar New Year.

Even before Lunar New Year was on the horizon, Shen Yi was planning how to avoid her family during the holidays. “I won’t visit them. I just won’t go this year,” she said firmly. The 32-year-old from Nanjing in eastern China’s Jiangsu province said she had become tired of year after year of criticism from her relatives – especially at family get-togethers during the holidays. One year, an older cousin told her she had a bad personality and questioned why she was still single, while another suggested she should wear more make-up. Shen is far from alone in experiencing this treatment from family members. More and more, younger Chinese people are complaining about their relatives’ interfering w

The Lunar New Year is here. Across Asia, communities are celebrating big to ring in the Year of the Pig. Check out our gallery, above, for more.

The Lunar New Year is a time of celebration with family and friends – but just like any other holiday, there are plenty of traditions and superstitions to be observed. Adam White breaks down some Cantonese beliefs surrounding China’s biggest holiday. 

The Lunar New Year is here and that means the Year of the Pig has arrived.  But what does that mean for you? Each year Hong Kong consulting firm CLSA puts out a guide for the coming Lunar New Year, with tips for investors and insight into what the market might have in store. Budding investor? Check out our video, above, for more.

Chinese people around the world are celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Pig, an animal symbolizing fortune and wealth, according to the Chinese zodiac. Unlike Western horoscopes, which divide a year into 12 signs based on the position of the sun, the Chinese zodiac runs in a 12-year cycle. But much like in Western astrology, Chinese culture believes that your birth animal has an impact on your personality and fortunes. The two can mix. In Hong Kong newspapers and magazines, it’s common to have a page featuring the Chinese zodiac and Western horoscopes side by side. There’s an interesting legend (with several variations, of course) behind the origins of the Chinese zodiac. The story g

China is slowly falling out of love with a millennium-old tradition. Decrying fireworks as polluting and dangerous, the Chinese government has banned their display in more and more cities. The bans now risk snubbing out an industry – and disrupting the lifeblood of the city of Liuyang, in the southern province of Hunan.  Watch the video, above, for a glimpse into the past and future of the pyrotechnic capital of the world.

Lunar New Year used to be a far more boisterous time in China. For days on end, fireworks and firecrackers would crackle in the streets and ring across the countryside, the noise believed to bring good fortune in the new year. But this millennium-old tradition is increasingly at odds with the country, one pressing ahead with modernization and urbanization. The authorities have deemed fireworks dangerous, polluting and even uncivilized. Since 2017, they’ve been banned in more than 400 Chinese cities. All this spells bad news for Liuyang in southern China, a city of 1.3 million where about 70% of China’s fireworks are produced. The labor-intensive fireworks industry is crucial to the city, e