Chinese New Year, also known as the spring festival, is the most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The spring festival celebrates the start of new life and the season of ploughing and sowing.

New Year festivities start on the first day of the lunar month and continue until the fifteenth, when the moon is brightest. The first week is celebrated with visits to friends and family following special traditions designed to bring good luck. The second week ends with the Lantern festival on the evening of the 15th day of the lunar month.

In depth

Chinese New Year is the oldest Chinese festival and has many traditions. Before the start of the festivities, Chinese people spring clean their houses to sweep away any bad luck. On New Year's Eve, all brooms, dustpan and brushes are put away so that good luck can not be swept away. Houses are decorated with paper scrolls with good luck phrases such as 'Happiness' and 'Wealth'.

On New Year's Eve, families gather together and have a large, traditional meal. There are different types of food depending on which region of China people come from. in the north, people eat jiaozi - a steamed dumpling and in the south nian gao - a sticky, sweet rice pudding.

People will stay up until midnight setting off fireworks to frighten away evil spirits. Red symbolises fire which will scare away evil spirits, so people dress head to foot in new red clothing.

Chinese New Year ends with the lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the month. The lanterns are often hand painted with scenes from history or legend. People hang glowing lanterns at the windows of their houses and carry lanterns under the light of the full moon. A dragon dance often takes places with a dragon made of paper, silk and bamboo held aloft by young men dancing and guiding it around to collect money.

In some countries, especially England, the festivities are shortened, so that the lantern festival takes place on Chinese New Year's day and you can see parades with dragon dancing and brightly painted lanterns.

• Rat - February 19, 1996 | February 7, 2008
• Ox - February 7, 1997 | January 26, 2009
• Tiger - January 28, 1998 | February 14, 2010
• Rabbit - February 16, 1999 | February 3, 2011
• Dragon - February 5, 2000 | January 23, 2012
• Snake - January 24, 2001 | February 10, 2013
• Horse - February 12, 2002 | January 31, 2014
• Goat - February 1, 2003 | February 19, 2015
• Monkey - January 22, 2004 | February 8, 2016
• Rooster - February 9, 2005 | January 28, 2017
• Dog - January 29, 2006 | February 16, 2018
• Pig - February 18, 2007 | February 5, 2019