Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is one of the most important traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan.
Celebrations were expected to carry on into the early hours of Monday,26 january, officially the first day of the Lunar New Year. Firecrackers are believed to scare off evil spirits and entice the god of wealth to people's doorsteps once New Year's Day arrives, which falls on Monday this year under the Chinese lunar calendar.
