Though foreign cultures are exerting a growing influence on the Chinese way of life, the customary New Year's Eve dinner, or " Nianyefan" in Chinese, continues to be the mainstay of the celebrations on the festival night.

A festive atmosphere started to prevail along the narrow roads in the rural areas of Yunxi County, central China's Hubei province, as early as at the beginning of the 12th month of the lunar canlendar.

"Every year we start to be busy preparing for the New Year's Eve activities at the beginning of the 12th month of the lunar canlendar. Pigs are slaughtered and liquor is distilled for the New Year's Eve dinners," an official from the county government said, pointing to pig carcases hanging by the roadside.

The length of the preparations highlights the importance of the Spring Festival. Nianyefan is probably the most important of the 1, 000 meals a Chinese has in a year.

Customs in the Spring Festival come from an ancient legend about an evil beast with a bloody mouth, named "Nian", which attacked people village by village and household by household on the eve of a lunar new year.

However, the villagers managed to scare Nian away by setting off firecrackers, wearing red festive costumes and keeping their homes brightly-lit throughout the night.

Over the centuries, the Chinese have gradually woven their desires and wishes into the festive customs. For instance, getting together to have Nianyefan symbolizes hopes for a good harvest.

In recent years, "enjoying Spring Festival holidays every day" has become a popular saying in China, implying improvements in the living standards of the Chinese people and difficulty in finding new ways to spend holidays.

Now the Chinese can celebrate the Lunar New Year Eve by sending greeting cards or making festive telephone calls, or by travelling, giving books and flowers, instead of money, as New Year presents, watching the annual variety performance show of China Centeral Television (CCTV), or extending short greetings via mobile phone text messages.

Though new practices have become more fashionable, the family reunion continues to be the motif of Nianyefan, which is still the most popular custom on the lunar New Year.

"Actually, Nianyefan is a sort of ritual and a symbol too, embodying best wishes for family hapiness," Wang Hui, a worker at a post office in China's capital, says.

Besides having dinner at home, eating out on the Lunar New Year 's Eve is also a popular option.

A Manchu-style restaurant in Fangzhuang, Beijing, was booked out 10 days before this New Year's Eve.

Reservations are high at many hotels in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang province. "Nianyefan business has become more and more profitable, as many customers have been more willing to go swimming, play poker and enjoy karaoke after having the dinner," Liu Hao, a hotel vice-general manager, says.

However it is possible to go overboard with the holiday binge.

A hotel in Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, prepared an 88,000-yuan (US$10,602) Nianyefan for Spring Festival last year. The lavish feast was criticized in the media for undermining the "family-gathering" tradition at the New Year's Eve dinner.

(eastday.com February 2, 2003)