New Year and Renewal

The clock is ticking toward midnight. The table is still covered in dumpling crumbs and fish bones. Grandma is cracking watermelon seeds between her teeth. Your cousin is already reaching for the mahjong tiles. Outside, the first firecrackers are popping in the distance. This is Chinese New Year’s Eve—or 除夕 […]

The sound of firecrackers. The glow of red lanterns strung across narrow streets. The warmth of a reunion dinner table where every dish tells a story. Chinese New Year’s Eve — known as chúxī (除夕) — is the emotional heart of the entire Spring Festival. It is the night when […]

Chinese New Year’s Eve — known as Chúxī (除夕) — falls on Monday, February 16, 2026 this year. It is the single most important evening on the Chinese calendar. Families across China, Southeast Asia, and Chinatowns around the world will gather for the annual reunion dinner (年夜饭, Nián Yè Fàn), […]

On the evening of February 16, 2026, families across China and Chinese communities around the world will gather for one of the most meaningful nights of the year — Chinese New Year’s Eve (除夕, Chúxī). By the time midnight strikes and firecrackers split the winter silence, a new lunar year […]

Chinese New Year’s Eve — known as 除夕 (Chúxī) — is the single most important evening on the Chinese calendar. In 2026, it falls on Monday, February 16, the night before the Lunar New Year ushers in the Year of the Fire Horse. Across China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Chinatowns […]

By a lifelong student of world festivals and customs — from the rice paddies of Guizhou to the neon-lit streets of Shanghai, this guide is written with the warmth of someone who has sat at many round tables on many New Year’s Eves. February 16, 2026. That is the date […]

Chinese New Year’s Eve, known as Chúxī (除夕) in Mandarin, is the single most important night on the Chinese calendar. Every year, over 1.4 billion people across mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and Chinese communities worldwide gather for this one evening. It is a night of homecoming, feasting, remembrance, […]

The kitchen smells like ginger and soy sauce. A steamer is rattling on the stove. Somewhere between folding the fortieth dumpling and checking the whole fish in the oven, the doorbell rings — more family has arrived. This is Nián Yè Fàn (年夜饭), the Chinese New Year’s Eve reunion dinner, […]

There is a night each year when nearly one-fifth of the world holds its breath. Streets fall quiet. Kitchen stoves roar. Television sets glow in every living room from Harbin to Guangzhou. This is Chuxi (除夕) — Chinese New Year’s Eve — and it is, without exaggeration, the single most […]