The Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival.
The Spring Festival, also called Chinese New Year, falls on the first day of the first month on Chinese lunar calendar, on the New Year Eve, there will be a living Spring Festival Program Evening which will start from 8:00pm till 12:30am the next day, and most Chinese people will watch it on TV, at 12:00 o’clock in the midnight, people will eat dumplings together, celebrating the new beginning, and after that, people will give New Year greetings to others, called Bai Nian in China. The children will get New Year gift money（Ya Sui Qian）from their parents and the elder.

The Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China.

According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns and eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

Tomb-Sweeping Day

Qingming, meaning clear and bright, is the day for mourning the dead. It falls in early April every year. People weep tombs and pay respect for the dead.

Qingming is not just a day of remembrance, it is also a day to celebrate the coming of spring, corresponds with the onset of warmer weather, the start of spring plowing, and of family outings. People often go out for a picnic. With the coming of spring, nature wakes up, dressing the world in green. All is new, clean and fresh.

The Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese calendar. For thousands of years, the festival has been marked by eating zong zi (glutinous rice wrapped to form a pyramid using bamboo or reed leaves) and racing dragon boats.

The festival is best known for its dragon-boat races, especially in the southern provinces where there are many rivers and lakes. This regatta commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, an honest minister who is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself in a river.

Mid-Autumn Festival

The joyous Mid-Autumn Festival, was celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon in Chinese lunar calendar, around the time of the autumn equinox. Many referred to it simply as the "Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon". This day was also considered a harvest festival since fruits, vegetables and grain had been harvested by this time and food was abundant. With delinquent accounts settled prior to the festival, it was a time for relaxation and celebration. A special food for the festival is moon cakes, measuring about three inches in diameter and one and a half inches in thickness, resembled Western fruitcakes in taste and consistency. On this day, the moon is full and silver in the dark sky, and traditionally, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them.