Chinese New Year's Day Customs

In 1911, the Xinhai Revolution led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen overthrew the Manchu rule and established the Republic of China. Representatives of the provincial governors met in Nanjing and decided to use the Gregorian calendar, calling January 1 of the lunar calendar "Spring Festival" and January 1 of the Gregorian calendar "New Year's Day," although it was not officially announced at the time.

On September 27, 1949, the first session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) decided to establish the People's Republic of China (PRC), and at the same time, decided to adopt the world's common Gregorian calendar, which we call the solar calendar.

January 1 of the solar calendar was designated as the beginning of the new year, "New Year's Day", and included in the legal holiday, which has become our current legal holiday.

The Chinese have never had a custom of celebrating New Year's Day on the solar calendar as the beginning of the solar year, just a celebration of "Happy New Year's Day".

Our custom is to celebrate the traditional holiday, Chinese New Year!