Lunar New Year

Many people in China stayed home by choice, or by order, over the Lunar New Year holiday because of the widespread coronavirus outbreak which has already infected over 7,700 people as of January 30. Being confined to their homes, some people managed to find ingenious ways to overcome their boredom.

An advertisement from sportswear giant Nike about a girl refusing to accept red packets from her aunt during Lunar New Year has earned praise online.

It is the 2020 Lunar New Year holiday, and 11-year-old Xiaoxiao and her little brother are at home with their grandparents in a remote part of central China. They are anxiously waiting for the Spring Festival reunion dinner when their parents return from their jobs in southern Guangdong province. Like hundreds of millions of rural migrant workers in China, Chen and Liu travel home only once a year. The travel rush over the holiday period, which lasts up to 40 days, is considered the largest annual human migration in the world.

Ahead of the Lunar New Year, many people in China surprised their parents by heading home unannounced, and sharing their heartwarming reunions online.

Many Chinese workers can expect their bosses handing them a red packet stuffed with cash during the Lunar New Year celebrations. But this year, employees at Tencent, one of China’s biggest tech companies, won’t be getting the packets directly from company founder Pony Ma. It will be the first time in nearly two decades that this has happened at the company, as China deals with the spread of a deadly coronavirus. The virus has killed nine people in the central Chinese city where it originated and infected 440 others across the country. Tencent, based in the southern Chinese megacity of Shenzhen, has canceled the handout of these red packets, also known as hongbao or laisee, on the first worki

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.