Editor's note: Spring Festival marks the beginning of a new year in China and is the most important traditional festival for Chinese people. The festival, along with a full range of practices and celebrations, was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2024.

As the first season of the year, spring symbolizes life and hope in Chinese agrarian culture, and Chinese people have always placed great significance on this seed-sowing season. Celebrations for Spring Festival are therefore often grand, which also reflects people's connection with and respect for nature. 

Preparations for Spring Festival traditionally begin around one month in advance on Laba Festival, which occurs on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month. Laba Festival was originally held to mark the Buddha's enlightenment and has since evolved into a popular folk festival. Eating Laba porridge on this day is a longstanding tradition, as the food symbolizes good fortune, a long life and a fruitful harvest. 

In addition to Laba Festival, another eight days, each with their own unique traditions, are also an important part of the lead-up to Spring Festival. These days include Little New Year (23rd or 24th day of the 12th lunar month), House-cleaning Day (24th day), Tofu-dish-making Day (25th day), Meat-preparing Day (26th day), Clothes-washing Day (27th day), Bread-steaming Day (28th day), Couplets-pasting Day (29th day) and New Year's Eve (30th day). 

During the run-up to Spring Festival, families carefully prepare to usher in the new year. Folk customs, such as cleaning the house, worshipping deities, pasting blessing decorations and making special dishes, are widely practiced across the country. While the customs may vary across different regions, they all carry similar good wishes for a brighter new year. 

Chinese New Year's Eve is undoubtedly the highlight of the festival season, connecting the old and the new. After days of preparation and with expectations running high, the day finally arrives. As a symbol of family reunion, the annual New Year's Eve feast is extremely important, and returning home for the meal is a tradition deeply rooted in every Chinese person no matter where they are.

Following the Chinese New Year's Eve, people commonly celebrate Spring Festival from the first until the 15th day of the first lunar month. The 15th day is known as Lantern Festival, and celebrates the first full moon of the new year. In some regions, the Spring Festival season may run to the second day of the second lunar month, also called Dragon Head-raising Day. On this day, people celebrate by praying for timely and plentiful rain and a good harvest for the year.

As UNESCO explains, during the festival season, "people wear new clothes, make offerings to heaven, earth and ancestors, and extend greetings to elders, relatives, friends and neighbors. Public festivities are held by communities, cultural institutions, social groups and art troupes." The traditional knowledge of rituals, customs, legends and ballads related to Spring Festival, and the skills for preparing decorations and supplies, are transmitted informally within families and communities as well as formally through the public education system. 

Spring Festival was designated as a national-level intangible cultural heritage in China in 2006 and listed as a U.N. floating holiday in 2024. UNESCO inscribed it into the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2024, saying it "promotes family values, social cohesion and peace while providing a sense of identity and continuity for the Chinese people."

Spring Festival is also celebrated worldwide in countries and regions where overseas Chinese work and live. It is especially popular in places with large overseas Chinese populations, such as Southeast Asia, Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In 2025, Spring Festival, also called Chinese New Year, falls on Jan. 29.

Discover more treasures from China on UNESCO's ICH list:

• 2022: Traditional tea processing

• 2020: Wangchuan ceremony, taijiquan

• 2018: Lum medicinal bathing of Sowa Rigpa

• 2016: Twenty-four solar terms

• 2013: Abacus-based Zhusuan

• 2012: Training plan for Fujian puppetry performers

• 2011: Shadow puppetry, Yimakan storytelling

• 2010: Peking opera, acupuncture and moxibustion, wooden movable-type printing, watertight-bulkhead technology of Chinese junks, Meshrep

• 2009: Yueju opera, Xi'an wind and percussion ensemble, traditional handicrafts of making Xuan paper, traditional firing techniques of Longquan celadon, Tibetan opera, sericulture and silk craftsmanship, Regong arts, Nanyin, Khoomei, Mazu belief and customs, Dragon Boat Festival, Manas, Craftsmanship of Nanjing Yunjin brocade, Xinjiang Uygur Muqam art, Hua'er

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