This year the Spring Festival will be celebrated from February 18 to March 4, concluding with the Lantern Festival, and most of the people will enjoy a weeklong holiday from February 18.

These days some customs are followed, some are dying out.

To promote folk customs of Spring Festival, an exhibition on how Shanghainese spend the holiday will be held from February 13 to March 11 at Shanghai Sanshan Club. Images of the gods of fortune, doors and the kitchen will be displayed as well as lucky bats and lions. Traditional tea cups and wine cups are part of the exhibit.

On February 14, an event, "Foreigners Spending Chinese New Year," will be held especially for expatriates. Lectures on folk customs will be given by professors in this field. Visitors can watch paper-cutting exhibitions and write Spring Festival couplets by themselves. Foreigners are welcome to call the organizer for participation details.

In addition, an competition will be held among foreign families, including writing the Fu character, which means blessings or happiness, as well as playing badminton.

On the Lunar New Year's Eve, people make delicious food not only as offerings to the Kitchen God, but also to celebrate family reunion.

Traditional foods include ba bao fan, a rice pudding (sometimes quite large for a family) stuffed with sweet red bean paste and covered with crushed peanuts; jiaozi stuffed with meat and vegetables; tangyuan, like jiaozi but either stuffed with sweets or with meat; niangao, (meaning prosperity) long bland bread that is fried or boiled with meat or vegetables.

Red envelopes containing money are distributed by family elders to the children and the younger generation, representing an auspicious beginning, luck and wealth.

Then people begin decorating their clean rooms in an atmosphere of rejoicing. Spring Festival couplets are black calligraphy on red paper, often classical poetry and good wishes, hung on either side of the doorway.

Red paper-cuttings and brightly colored New Year paintings with auspicious figures can be also seen on windows.

The Chinese character Fu is a must. The character on paper is often pasted upside down, for in Chinese the reversed Fu is homophonic with "Fu comes."

Setting off fireworks is the most typical custom at the Spring Festival. In ancient times, the noise was considered a way to drive off evil spirits. In Shanghai, fireworks are banned within the Inner-Ring Road for reasons of noise, security and pollution. But you can still hear them.

Lion dancing, dragon dancing, lantern festivals and temple fairs will be held for days. The Spring Festival ends when the Lantern Festival concludes.

"Foreigners spending Chinese New Year" event
Date: February 14, 1:30pm
Address: 1551 Zhongshan Road S.
Tel: 021-63803892