Chinese Culture is rich in its culture and traditions . They have their own beliefs and New Year traditions , which they follow ardently. Although the Chinese New Year , Nian, lasts only two or three days including the Chinese New Year's Eve, the Chinese New Year season extends from the mid-twelfth month of the previous year to the middle of the first month of the new year. A month from the onset of the Chinese New Year, it is supposed to be a good time for business. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration material, food and clothing.

Days before the New Year, every family is busy giving its house a thorough cleaning, hoping to sweep away all the ill-fortune there may have been in the family to make way for the wishful in-coming good luck. People also give their doors and window-panes a new paint, usually in red color. They decorate the doors and windows with paper-cuts and couplets with the very popular theme of "happiness", "wealth", "logevity" and "satisfactory marriage with more children". Paintings of the same theme are put up in the house on top of the newly mounted wall paper. In the old days, various kinds of food are tributed at the alta of ancestors.

The houses are decorated with flowers. A tree (Money Tree) is made of pinecones or Cyprus branches. On the tree are hung old coins, fruit, charms and paper flowers.

The Eve of the New Year is very carefully observed. Supper is a feast, with all members coming together. One of the most popular course is jiaozi, dumplings boiled in water. "Jiaozi" in Chinese literally mean "sleep together and have sons", a long-lost good wish for a family. After dinner, it is time for the whole family to sit up for the night while having fun playing cards or board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the ocassion. Every light is supposed to be kept on the whole night. At midnight, the whole sky will be lit up by fireworks and firecrackers make everywhere seem like a war zone.

Very early the next morning, children greet their parents and receive their presents in terms of cash wrapped up in red paper packages from them. Then, the family starts out to say greetings from door to door, first to their relatives and then to their neighbors. This Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all old grudges.

The air is permeated with warmth and friendliness. During and several days following the New Year's day, people are visiting each other, with a great deal of exchange of gifts. The New Year atmosphere is brought to an anti-climax fifteen days away when the Festival of Lanterns sets in. It is an occasion of lantern shows and folk dances everywhere. One typical food is the Tang Yuan, another kind of dumplings made of sweet rice rolled into balls and stuffed with either sweet or spicy fillings. This tradition is also specially followed on Chinese New Year time.

Fifteen days after New Year's Day or the day of the first full moon, the New Year's season comes to end with the Feast of Lanterns. The festival of the lanterns is an ancient tradition to usher in the increasing light and warmth of the sun after the winter's cold. There are many customs surrounding the lantern festival one being the eating of taro under the lantern. The taro is boiled until soft and at midnight the family gathers under the lantern and the taro is eaten. It is believed that by eating the taro, one would be able to see the future.

On this day there is a huge parade, at its head is an enormous Golden dragon symbolizing strength and goodness. The dragon can be more than a hundred feet long and is constructed of a bamboo frame covered with silk, velvet or paper. Men and boys who prance beneath the dragon and dance along the parade route carry it. There are stilt dancers and the Golden lion dancers. The Golden Lion is an important symbol to the Chinese people.