Similar to the importance of the Christmas holiday for the westerners, the Spring Festival is the most important celebration for Chinese people. Although the meaning and the methods of celebration of the Spring Festival are changing with the time, the important status of the Spring Festival is incomparable.

Chinese Spring Festival has a long history, which is nearly four thousand years old. Initially, the festival had no name or fixed date. However, people called Spring Festival "the age" according to the revolution period of Jupiter by B.C. 2100. Before B.C. 1000, people used "the year", which means "Great Harvest" representing the Spring Festival.

According to the traditional custom, all the families clean their houses, wash their clothes and bed sheets. Special New Year purchases are also important parts of upcoming New Year. In the city, they celebrate the New Year with art teams performances, various entertainment parties, and the big parks hold "temple fairs" to provide recreation, food and art! 

There are different traditional customs in different parts of China, but the whole family having reunion dinner together in the New Year Eve is indispensable. In the South China, the reunion dinner usually has more than ten meals including bean curd and fish, because the pronunciation of these two meals means "wealthy" in Chinese language. In the North China, most of the reunion meals are dumplings, which are made and eaten by the whole family.

Usually stay up late and set off fireworks on New Year's Eve. By the first day of first lunar month, people are wearing festival dresses and begin to visit families, friends and loved ones. They greet each other "Happy New Year" and "Happy Spring Festival" and invite guests to drink tea and chat at their home. There are also people who prefer to stay at home and watch television. Pasting New Year couplets and watching festive lanterns are also the traditional movements for the Spring Festival celebration.

The ways of Spring Festival celebration are changing along with the standard of living. For instance, traveling has becoming a new fashion of Spring Festival celebration.