1. Chinese New Year

2. Time for Family Reunion
Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, has more than 4,000 years of history. It is the grandest and the most important annual event for Chinese people.
Time for Family Reunion
Being one of the traditional festivals, it is the time for the whole families to reunite together, which is similar with Christmas Day in the USA.
The Longest Public Holiday
The festival lasts for 15 days from the 1st to 15th day of the first lunar month. Most people will have 7 days off work, while students take 1 month break from school.

3. Holiday Origins from Monster Nian
Chinese new year also known as “过年” in Chinese. “过年” means “Nian is gone”.
The legend says, Nian was a scary monster that would come down from the mountain to hunt people on the first of each lunar month.
To protect themselves, people needed to scare Nian away. How could they do that?

4. What is Nian (年) afraid of?
Loud and frightening noises
Fire and lights
So people burst out large noises by beating drums and fire when Nian appeared. The monster was forced to back off.
Since then, people have kept the tradition by beating drums and gongs, and lighting fireworks at the new year.

5. Chinese New Year date changes every year
It is based on Chinese lunar calendar.
It usually falls on late Jan or early Feb.
It is Feb 16, 2018 this year.
It is the year of Dog.
The Year of Dog begins on Feb 16, 2018, and ends on Feb 4, 2019.

6. The dates of Chinese New Year are different every year because we need to look at the moon…
The first new moon= Spring Festival
The first full moon= Lantern Festival

7. There are 12 animal signs in the Chinese Zodiac
In order:
Rat Ox
Tiger
Rabbit
Dragon
Snake
Horse
Sheep
Monkey
Rooster
Dog
Pig

8. 2018 is the year of Dog

9. Dog Personality Traits
Ranking as the eleventh animal in Chinese zodiac, Dog is the symbol of loyalty and honesty. People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They are honest, friendly, faithful, loyal, smart, straightforward and have a strong sense of responsibility.

10. Find Your Chinese Zodiac

11. How do we celebrate Chinese New Year?
House cleaning
Decoration with couplets, paper-cuts and lanterns
Dragon dance and lion dance
Firecrackers and fireworks
Family reunion
Eat lots of delicious food
Wear new clothes

12. Children loves Chinese New Year especially because they get a red envelop from their relatives with $$$ (lucky money) inside.
Really? But there’s a trick…

13. The trick is:
you have to say lucky words to wish people good luck and good fortune!
Guo Nian Hao!
过年好
Gong Xi Fa Cai
恭喜发财

14. Chinese people all over the world celebrate the Chinese New Year.
China
Italy
Philippine
San Francisco, USA
Los Angeles, USA
Australia
Spain

15. See the 12 Zodiac on stamps?

16. Trivia Questions about China
What is the most unique animal from China?
Who’s the most famous Chinese girl in kids’ cartoon?
Who’s the biggest Chinese Kung Fu star in a cartoon movie?

17. Here comes the hard questions
1. During the Chinese New Year, what do children receive in red envelopes?
a. Candy
b. Money
c. Stickers
d. Toys
2. How many animals are there in the Chinese Zodiac?
a. 4
b. 8
c. 12
d. 16
3. Which of the following animals is not in the Chinese Zodiac?
a. Dog
b. Panda
c. Dragon
d. Rat

18. Now the hardest questions!
1. What's the legend behind using firecrackers to celebrate Chinese New Year?
a. They're meant to scare away monsters.
b. They wake up the gods in time for the celebration.
c. They provide light for the dark winter night.
2. What color should you wear for New Year's celebrations?
a. Red
b. White
c. Black
3. Chinese New Year's celebrations traditionally start at the beginning of the month and end on what day?
a. 15th
b. 8th
c. 25th

19. Happy Dog Year!
恭 喜 发 财

20. The End