The Spring Festival is the longest Chinese holiday being technically 15 days long, but celebration begins on New Year’s Eve so it’s really celebrated for 16 days. Traditionally people over the holiday spend time with family and can only go out after the 5th day. Since it’s a national holiday most stores are closed, so people stock up for the Chinese new year holiday the month prior by buying cooking supplies, snacks, gifts, new clothes, as well as other things.
Family is the most important part of Chinese New year. On New Year’s Eve family’s have a reunion dinner that brings everyone together. In modern China, the Spring Festival causes the largest human migration in the world. Since many elderly parents live in rural villages and their children work in the cities they must travel home to vacation. In 2015, statistics showed the train stations sold 1,000 tickets per second during chuyun or Spring Migration. An important part of Chinese culture is having children and passing down the family legacy. Some desperate singles hire a fake boyfriend or girlfriend to take home to meet the family during Spring migration.
On New year’s day there is no showering because people don’t want to wash away the good luck! People also are expected to not sweep, throw garbage out, get a haircut, use sharp things, argue, swear, say unlucky words, or break things during Chinese New Year. But there is a whole day dedicated to cleaning before the Spring Festival to sweep the bad luck away and make room for the good.
Gifts are exchanged during the Spring Festival, like other cultures, but Chinese children also receive lucky money in red envelopes. They are also called red packets or pockets that include money to help transfer fortune from the elders to the kids. Red envelopes can also be given to someone’s boss, employ, co-worker, or friend. In current times with technology, people like to send digital red pockets.
https://chinesenewyear.net/21-things-you-didnt-know-about-chinese-new-year/