Beijing: People in China and across South-East Asia have been welcoming the Lunar New Year with celebrations ranging from street festivals to intimate family dinners.
Residents of major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai are enjoying quieter holidays than in past years, after authorities banned fireworks due to pollution and safety concerns.
According to Chinese tradition, fireworks and firecrackers help scare off the past year’s monster, “guonian", and usher in a lucky new year. The decision to ban them didn’t sit right with some Chinese.
“Lots of Beijingers, especially old people, are against it,” said Ma, a 37-year-old entrepreneur, who only wanted to give his last name. “My father-in-law is even considering trying to set off fireworks in secret to see if it’s really that strict.”
Nevertheless, downtown Beijing was completely quiet, unlike previous years when fireworks sounded day and night during the week-long holiday.
According to the Chinese zodiac, 2018 is the Year of the Earth Dog, following the Year of the Fire Rooster in 2017. The Earth Dog signifies conservatism and fortune-tellers warn of bearish markets, natural disasters and international conflicts.
The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in China and hundreds of millions of people travel to celebrate it with their families, making this the world’s largest annual human migration. Authorities expect a total of almost 3 billion trips by car, train and aeroplane in the 40 days surrounding the holiday.
On Chinese New Year’s Eve, families hold traditional dinners and watch a marathon televised gala. Children and youth receive red envelopes (“hongbao”) filled with money for good luck.
Families decorate their doors with red paper cut-outs of the word for luck, “fu,” as well as images of fish, bats and the animal assigned to the new year - in this case, the dog. -