By Tyrone Zhang
Staff Writer

This year, Chinese New Year fell on February 14th and ended on the 28th of February. When most people think of Chinese New Year, the first thing that comes to mind is the red envelopes containing money. Although that is a crucial part of the celebration, it is not what Chinese New Year is entirely about. Chinese New Year is also known as the Spring Festival to Chinese families. This is because Chinese New Year is a day to welcome a new year as well as the arrival of spring.

During Chinese New Year, children perform a kowtow in front of the parents, which is the process of kneeling down and bowing the head. They also say “Gong Xi Fa Cai” which is a sentence meaning “I wish you good fortune”. After this act, the parents present their children with a red envelope containing money on the day of the New Year. Red is actually an important color to the Chinese and is abundant in many Chinese ornaments. Although there are many holidays in China, the New Year is considerably the most important. Simply praising one’s family and receiving money is no way to completely celebrate such a grand holiday.

To celebrate, Chinese families gather together for parties. They prepare feasts of many Chinese dishes. The most notable food to have on Chinese New Year is dumplings. It has become a tradition in most Chinese families to prepare dumplings for Chinese New Year. The Chinese word for dumpling is jiao zhi, which is also a term that describes the countdown to a new year. Similar to the countdown in America, people in China have a countdown to the New Year that is held in Beijing in the middle of the Spring Festival. After the clock reaches midnight, and the New Year has come, people rejoice and celebrate even more. In these parties, people gather to sing songs in Chinese. One famous song is the “Happy New Year” song which is sung to the tune of Clementine. Although it is true that the red envelopes are a crucial part of Chinese New Year, the parties, the songs, and the food are all important parts of the Spring Festival as well.