Festive China: Spring Festival

00:00:19.029: [Music]
00:00:19.039: the first day of the first luna month is
00:00:21.359: spring festival
00:00:22.960: the beginning of a new year for china
00:00:26.160: spring festival is china's biggest
00:00:28.560: extravaganza and the day for family
00:00:31.119: reunion
00:00:32.480: being around family members at the turn
00:00:34.800: of the year is a vital ritual for the
00:00:37.200: chinese people
00:00:39.200: many of those leaving away from their
00:00:41.120: hometowns returned home during spring
00:00:43.440: festival
00:00:45.120: which gives rise to what's called the
00:00:47.280: largest annual human migration in the
00:00:49.600: world
00:00:50.879: also known as a spring festival travel
00:00:53.199: rush
00:00:59.349: the spring festival celebration is a
00:00:59.359: continuous process
00:01:01.600: starting from the 23rd or 24th of the
00:01:04.640: 12th lunar month
00:01:06.479: people often worship the teaching god
00:01:09.600: clean their houses
00:01:11.520: do their shopping
00:01:13.040: and put up spring festival couplets
00:01:16.320: until new year's eve on the lunar
00:01:18.479: calendar
00:01:27.510: these customs can be traced back to a
00:01:27.520: chinese legend
00:01:29.280: it is said that in ancient times
00:01:31.920: there was a monster named yen
00:01:34.400: who would come out and harm the world by
00:01:36.720: the end of each lunar year
00:01:39.280: people then took measures to send the
00:01:41.360: monster away
00:01:42.799: such as putting up red couplets as name
00:01:45.200: detested the color red
00:01:47.439: and setting of fireworks and
00:01:49.040: firecrackers at their doors to scare it
00:01:51.520: away
00:01:58.469: in addition to staying up late on new
00:01:58.479: year's eve
00:01:59.680: having a new year's eve dinner and
00:02:01.759: watching the spring festival gala are
00:02:04.079: two important customs of spring festival
00:02:08.160: new year's eve dinner are manifested in
00:02:10.640: different ways in different parts of
00:02:12.480: china
00:02:14.879: those in south china must have a dish of
00:02:17.520: fish
00:02:18.480: because fish in chinese sound similar to
00:02:21.040: the character for prosperity symbolizing
00:02:23.840: an abundant and comfortable life
00:02:26.880: [Music]
00:02:29.120: those in north china often eat dumplings
00:02:45.110: the spring festival gala is a variety tv
00:02:45.120: program broadcast annually to celebrate
00:02:47.680: the lunar new year
00:02:50.720: the gala attracts the largest audience
00:02:53.040: of any entertainment show in the world
00:02:55.840: around for more than four hours
00:02:58.239: making it the longest tv show in the
00:03:00.720: world
00:03:02.340: [Music]
00:03:03.840: it is often held as a cultural fist for
00:03:06.319: chinese people on new year's eve
00:03:17.509: there's also a custom of giving and
00:03:17.519: receiving red envelopes or home bow
00:03:22.000: traditionally adults place the money
00:03:24.400: into red envelopes and give them to the
00:03:26.640: children to wish them peace and good
00:03:28.560: luck in the coming year
00:03:32.239: nowadays with the popular resistion of
00:03:34.560: mobile payment in china
00:03:36.640: it is a trend to send red envelopes
00:03:38.879: digitally
00:03:39.710: [Music]
00:03:41.200: the internet can deliver new year's
00:03:43.040: wishes to each and every loved one even
00:03:46.400: if they are thousands of miles away
00:03:53.030: the joyous atmosphere of chinese new
00:03:53.040: year will linger until the first full
00:03:55.360: moon of the first the lunama
00:03:57.680: then the lantern festival is celebrated
00:04:00.720: which is bound to be another busy day