![]() ![]() With the ban on fireworks in cities, you won’t be shooting off pop rockets (your ears will thank you). ![]() So put together, you’re exchanging the old year for the new with pillowy pockets of dough. Restaurants are closed, but leading up to the New Year, tuck into heaping plates of dumplings (饺子, jiao zi)-which sounds like 交子 ( jiāo zi) the second symbol, 交 ( jiao) means "exchange”, 子( zi) is an abbreviation for 11 p.m – 1 a.m. Spring Festival is mostly celebrated at home, with family. ( Read about the young and lonely hearts of China’s shrinking cities.) Join the fun Prices vary, but expect to pay around $10 per hour, and more per day if your faux-beau has to travel a long distance to your hometown. Taobao-tech titan Alibaba’s Amazon competitor, considered the world's biggest e-commerce website-offers a solution: You can rent a boyfriend or girlfriend. Rent a dateĬhina’s generation of only children are now in their early 30s and many are being nagged by two parents and four grandparents to settle down and have kids. Then it’s no washing for 24 hours, to avoid scrubbing away the good luck. ![]() Before midnight on New Year’s Day, hair salons are abuzz with revelers, wishing to cut away last year’s bad luck and walk out with a clean, shiny slate. It’s nice to go into a new year without split ends, but for many people celebrating Spring Festival, it’s more than that. Don’t give a multiple of four, as the number is a homonym for death. If you’re traveling in the north, go for a round number in the south, use lucky numbers (anything with six or eight). If invited to someone’s house for Chinese New Year and you know they have kids, it’s nice to put a little bit of cash into a hongbao. If you’re married, you have to give hongbao if you’re single, you usually receive it. Hongbao are generally given by elders to the younger generations, especially children, but if you earn well, it’s polite to share with your parents and grandparents this time of year. The cash inside is considered lucky money for the upcoming year. Hongbao (红包), literally "red packet," is a key element of Chinese New Year. In Mandarin, a kumquat is called jinju (金橘), and jin (金) is the word for gold. In public buildings like offices, hotels, and malls, visitors will notice tasseled, red-paper lanterns strung up, and kumquat trees positioned for good luck and wealth. ![]() Fish (鱼, yu) is a homonym of 余 ( yu), meaning surplus or extra. Symbolizing prosperity, fish is a must for Chinese New Year. Likewise, in older neighborhoods, it’s not uncommon to see huge salt-cured fish hanging from power lines, drying next to the laundry. Red paper cuttings get taped onto windows, so passersby can admire them, and red banners (two vertical, with an optional third hanging horizontally) showcase Spring Festival couplets in gold. Squares of red paper with white characters like 福 ( fú, good fortune) are pasted up diagonally. Walk around older neighborhoods in any Chinese city (or in the countryside) and see peoples’ windows, walls, and doors adorned. Go into any department store from December through February, or stop at one of the many street stalls selling socks and underwear, and you’ll see pair after pair of red. That’s where red underwear becomes useful. So, maybe red’s not your favorite color, or maybe you want to be protected closely, every single day. Plus, in addition to being scared of loud noise, monster Nian is fearful of red. If it’s your Zodiac year you should wear more red than others, to buffer yourself from misfortune. Jumpsuits, sweaters, trousers, scarves, socks, hats, anything is game. It’s considered a lucky color, and people will wear it in celebration, and to usher in an auspicious new year and to keep away bad vibes. In traditional and contemporary Chinese culture, red represents prosperity and happiness. You’ll need to watch out for and ward off bad luck. You would think that your Zodiac year ( benming nian, 本命年) would be lucky, but it’s the opposite. Your sign is determined by birth year-using the lunar calendar-so if you were born between, say, Februand February 5, 1989, you’re a dragon. Certain signs are said to match well with others: Dog (sincere, loyal, independent) and Rabbit (sensitive, modest, warm) are believed to be a good pairing. Couples will aim to have babies in dragon years. Some signs, like the dragon, are coveted, because dragons are considered to be authoritative, strong, and successful. There are twelve Chinese Zodiac signs, and these are taken far more seriously than a back-of-tabloid horoscope. A New York fireworks company makes some special arrangements for the celebration. But the Chinese New Year is a time for fireworks, too. ![]()
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