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10 places to celebrate Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year occurs in the early months of our calendar year, typically January or February and this year falls on January 23rd. This is the first of 15 days of celebration and the start of the Year of the Dragon.
Chinese New Year (also called the Lunar New Year) is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar and a time to welcome longevity, wealth and prosperity and to eliminate any negative chi from the past.
The origin of Chinese New Year taps several myths and traditions and is officially celebrated in countries and territories such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors.
Gallery: 10 Places that celebrate Chinese New Year
In the UK, many shops, bars and restaurants in London will be participating in the celebrations, with big events held in Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square and most importantly, Chinatown.
In the United States, the San Francisco Chinese New Year celebration is now the largest Asian event in North America as well as the largest general market event in Northern California. The celebration includes two major fairs, the Chinese New Year Flower Fair and Chinatown Community Street Fair. All the festivities culminate with Chinese New Year Parade.
Flickr photo by xiquinhosilva
Filed under: Festivals and Events, North America, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Hong Kong
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Hal Jan 22nd 2012 11:17AM
Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as "Spring Festival," the literal translation of the Chinese name 春節 (Pinyin: Chūn Jié), since the spring season in Chinese calendar starts with lichun, the first solar term in a Chinese calendar year. It marks the end of the winter season, analogous to the Western carnival. The festival begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: Zhēng Yuè) in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day where Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as Chú Xī (除夕) or "Eve of the Passing Year." Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year".
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong,[2] Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore,[3] Taiwan, Thailand, and also in Chinatowns elsewhere. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the lunar new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors. These include Korean (Seollal), Bhutanese (Losar), and Vietnamese cultures.
jane Jan 22nd 2012 11:52AM
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Julia Jan 22nd 2012 5:41PM
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Julia Jan 22nd 2012 6:43PM
I heard about the unbelievable deals that people claimed they got from penny auctions. I was curious about how these auctions worked, so I signed up for a BBB Accredited Penny Auction site with a good reputation called BidCactus ( http://tinyurl.com/BestBargainAuctions ). Apparently, Penny auctions work by having people purchase a bid package. Usually you get anywhere from 100-500 bids in a bid package, and you use up these bids by bidding on an item you want. Everytime someone places a bid on an item, the price of the item goes up by one penny.
Taking a look through the items on BidCactus, I was surprised by how many of them were really expensive products (Sony TV's, New iPhone's, etc.) that were going for really cheap. What you do is place a Bid on the item you want and this increases the bid timer by 10 seconds. To win an item you have to be the last bidder when the timer hits 0.
So my strategy to win a penny auction for a new Apple Ipad 2 was to wait until the timer hit 20 seconds left, and then start placing my bids on it. I waited patiently while the timer counted down, and once it hit that 20 second mark, I started placing my bids. I placed about 15 bids before the timer finally hit zero and I won! I was beyond excited, because the price of the item was only $11. That means, after spending 15 bids and having to purchase the new iPhone 4S, I only had to spend a total of Under $25!
bobs Jan 22nd 2012 8:51PM
Why spend all that money to fly overseas. Just go to San Francisco, Seattle, New York. They all have sizeable Chinese populations. And boy do they have great celebrations on Chinese New Years. Lots of fun and great food.
john Jan 23rd 2012 9:16AM
I love Chinese New Year, and although we celebrated it this year in London´s Chinatown, we plan to travel to Shanghai in 2013. Thanks for the info.
http://www.carhire4airports.co.uk/
Glynis Jan 23rd 2012 6:13PM
You didn't mention Sydney Australia where we have masses of events including food festival, dragon boat racing, fireworks, & the huge parade through the city & chinatown. You can check it all out on the official website by googling Chinese New Year 2012 in Sydney for those visiting right now.
Jerry E Jan 24th 2012 11:51AM
Hi,
Actually New years brings some of hope and optimism. China is the country who celebrate the new years with great joy. In my experience I have seen that San Francisco is the city of event organize. This new years San Francisco have organize a lot of event link san francisco fireworks. ruby skye new years eve, tom roche new years eve and many others.......
Thanks