Preface 02
Chapter I Chinese Spring Festival Fervor
Section 1 Spring Festival, a Traditional Event 002
Section 2 New-Style Spring Festival 009
Chapter II Spring Festival, both Ancient and Young
Section 1 The Origin of Spring Festival 018
Section 2 Legends of the Spring Festival 026
Section 3 A Brief History of the Spring Festival 031
Chapter III Bustling Preparations for Chinese New Year
Section 1 Laba Rice Porridge, Beginning of the New Year’s Celebration 040
Section 2 Offering Sacrifices to Ancestors, a Top Priority of Chinese Lunar New Year 046
Section 3 Full Preparation Made for a Satisfying Spring Festival 053
Section 4 House Cleaning and Bathing, for a Fresh Start of New Year 070
Section 5 Pasting Spring Festival Couplets, Fu Characters and Auspicious Pat- terns for Good Luck 075
Section 6 New Year Painting—Festival in Folk Arts 092
Chapter IV New Year Celebration
Section 1 Chinese New Year’s Eve—Family Reunion, Time to Ring out the Old and Ring in the New Year 108
Section 2 Paying a New Year Call 123
Section 3 Dragon and Lion Dances 136
Section 4 The Temple Fair, Chinese New Year Carnival 143
Section 5 Shehuo, a Show Staged in the Field 148
Section 6 Spring Festival, Conventions and Rules 155
Section 7 Spring Festival Travel Season, Going Home for the New Year 168
Section 8 During the Weeklong Holiday for Spring Festival, How to Thoroughly Enjoy Oneself 175
Section 9 Lantern Festival, Climax Ending the Spring Festival 178
Chapter V The Feast of Spring Festival
Section 1 New Year’s Eve Dinner, Family Reunion 186
Section 2 Different Recipes for the Spring Festival 191
Chapter VI Spring Festival Celebrated Across the World
Section 1 Spring Festival and Christmas 208
Section 2 Chinese Lunar New Year and Japanese ‘Old First Month’ 212
Section 3 Chinatown, a Thriving Sign of Chinese Culture 215
Section 4 Chinese Lunar Stamps, Popular in the World 219