Chinese New Year, also celebrated by Koreans, Vietnamese, Mongolian, etc. for hundreds of years, is called Korean New Year, Vietnamese New Year, etc. by other peoples and known in Chinese as the Spring Festival (Simplified Chinese: 春节; Traditional Chinese: 春節; pinyin: Chūnjié) or the Lunar New Year (Simplified Chinese: 农历新年; Traditional Chinese: 農曆新年; pinyin: Nónglì xīnnián). It is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays (The second most important one is the Moon Festival). The festival proper begins on the first day of the first lunar month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival (Simplified Chinese: 元宵节; Traditional Chinese: 元宵節; Mandarin Pinyin: yuánxiāojié; Min Nan pe̍h-ōe-jī: goân-siau-chiat). Lantern Festival is also known as the fifteenth night (Mandarin Chinese: 十五晚; pinyin: shíwǔwǎn or Min Nan Chinese: 十五暝; pe̍h-ōe-jī: cha̍p-gō·-mê).
Chinese New Year’s Eve is known as Chúxì (除夕). Chu literally means “change” and xi means “Eve”.
Celebrated internationally in areas with large populations of ethnic Chinese, Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had a strong influence on the new year celebrations of its neighbours. These include Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese, Miao (Chinese Hmong), Mongolians, Tibetans, the Nepalese and the Bhutanese (see Losar).
Around Chinese New Year is also the time of the largest human migration, when overseas Chinese around the world travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year’s eve.
