Living Heritage China
Spring Festival home table with red couplets, lanterns, dumplings, oranges, reunion dishes, and New Year decorations

Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage | Chunjie | Chinese New Year

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year)

Spring Festival, widely known as Chinese New Year, is a cycle of social practices for celebrating the traditional new year through family reunion, household renewal, offerings, festive food, visits, greetings, gifts, and lantern customs.

Understand the Heritage See the Practice

Spring Festival | 春节

What is Spring Festival?

Spring Festival, widely known as Chinese New Year, is a cycle of social practices for celebrating the traditional new year through family reunion, household renewal, offerings, festive food, visits, greetings, gifts, and lantern customs.

UNESCO inscribed Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of traditional new year, on the Representative List in 2024.

The official China ICH announcement frames Spring Festival as a living social practice rather than a single object or performance. The tradition spans preparation before New Year's Day, New Year's Eve reunion, visits and greetings during the first days of the year, and related customs through the Lantern Festival.

Close detail of Spring Festival couplets, red envelopes, dumplings, lantern tassels, and family offering tray
Spring Festival becomes clearer when readers can see the materials, tools, gestures, route, social setting, or community use behind the heritage.

Festival Customs and Social Practice

Place, material, practice, and use make the tradition concrete.

  • Reunion The New Year's Eve meal and return-home practice place family relationships at the center.
  • Renewal Cleaning, decorations, couplets, new clothes, and greetings mark a fresh annual beginning.
  • Foodways Dumplings, rice cakes, fish, sweets, oranges, and regional dishes carry local meanings.
  • Festival cycle Spring Festival extends beyond one day through visits, temple fairs, performances, and Lantern Festival.

Traditional Process

How Spring Festival is celebrated

Chinese New Year preparation scene with paper couplets, brush, door charm, dumpling wrappers, offerings, and lanterns
  1. Prepare the homeFamilies clean, shop, cook, decorate, and paste couplets or paper cuttings.
  2. Honor ancestorsOfferings, remembrance, and household rituals connect the new year with family continuity.
  3. Share reunion dinnerThe New Year's Eve meal gathers relatives around symbolic and regional dishes.
  4. Exchange greetingsVisits, red envelopes, blessings, and community events mark the first days of the year.
  5. Close with lanternsLantern Festival customs extend the celebration through lights, riddles, food, and public gatherings.

Heritage Facts

Spring Festival belongs to a living knowledge system.

Practiced across China and in overseas Chinese communities, with strong regional variation in food, ritual, dialect greetings, decorations, and performance.

Chinese Name春节
UNESCO ListingUNESCO inscribed Spring Festival, social practices of the Chinese people in celebration of traditional new year, on the Representative List in 2024.
CategoryFestival, social practice, family ritual, foodway, seasonal custom, and community celebration
Materials, Tools, or ElementsCouplets, lanterns, paper cuttings, offerings, reunion dishes, dumplings or regional foods, red envelopes, firecracker substitutes, calendars
Common UsesFamily reunion, ancestor remembrance, household renewal, greetings, community events, seasonal food, intergenerational teaching
SEO Topic ClusterChinese festivals, Chinese New Year, family ritual, food customs, seasonal heritage

FAQ

Common questions about Spring Festival

Is Spring Festival the same as Chinese New Year?
Yes in common English use, though the UNESCO element name emphasizes the social practices around celebrating the traditional new year.

How long does Spring Festival last?
Customs vary, but the festive cycle commonly runs from pre-New-Year preparations through the Lantern Festival.

Is there one standard way to celebrate it?
No. The shared themes of reunion, renewal, food, offerings, and greetings appear through many regional and family variations.

Sources and Related Guides

Continue through Chinese living heritage.

Official China ICH Source

Spring Festival UNESCO Inscription

Verifies the 2024 inscription, official Chinese wording, reunion themes, and broad living practice.
UNESCO Reference

Spring Festival social practices

Verifies the UNESCO element name, Representative List status, and social-practice framing.
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