GSU CHINESE MAJOR

  春节- Spring Festival is by far the most important holiday in China and it is celebrated in all quarters of the world wherever there are Chinese people. If you know how important Christmas is to/for the Western world, you will know how important this festival is to/for the Chinese. As all traditional festivals are calculated by the lunar calendar, it is not celebrated on the same day on the Gregorian calendar. 

元宵节 – The Lantern Festival in China is a festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year, marking the last day of the lunar New Year celebration. During the Lantern Festival, children go out at night to temples carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns (猜灯谜 cāidēngmí).  

Yuandan (元旦) is the first day of the solar calendar and it is the Chinese version of saying New Year. In Chinese, “元”（Yuan）means “the first”and “旦”（Dan）means “day.” Collectively 元旦means the first day of the year. The Chinese term “元旦快乐” is an equivalence of Happy New Year. This day is also called the Solar New year in China as opposed to the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival (春节). It is also celebrated as the first day of a new year in almost all the countries throughout the world. 

The International Children's Day (六一国际儿童节) is widely celebrated on June 1. Children's Day had its origin in the World Conference for the Wellbeing of Children in Geneva in 1925.  

The Party Day (七一建党节) is to commemorate the founding of the Communist Part of China on July 1, 1921. The founding of CPC was directly influenced by the October Revolution in Russia in 1917. However, the CPC was founded for the specific needs of the Chinese revolutionary situation. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the people across the country hold various activities this day to celebrate China's Army Day (八一建军节), which falls on August 1.

The National Day (十一国庆节) of the People's Republic of China is celebrated every year on October 1. It is a public holiday in the People's Republic of China to celebrate their foundation on October 1, 1949.

BY DR. ZZ