Happy Chinese New Year! Xin Chun Kuai Le! | WPN World People News

For Chinese across the world, they celebrate and receive good fortune during Chinese New Year after cleaning the house to sweep away ill-fortune. On Lunar New Year's Eve, a surge of worshipers wait in front of a temple for expecting to be the first places the first incense stick into the incense burner and pray for good luck right after midnight. Traditionally, the celebration of Chinese New Year lasts for fifteen days and ends with the Lantern Festival. During Chinese New Year period, people greet each other by saying Gong He Xin Xi or Xin Chun Kuai Le (both mean” happy new year”in Chinese.) Children receive red envelopes filled with money from the elders when they greet the elders.

The date of Chinese New Year varies each year but always falls between late January and mid February. This year, the Chinese New Year of dragon is beginning on Monday, 23 January, which is today. The dragon is the most auspicious of the 12 signs in the Chinese zodiac, which assigns an animal to each year. Unlike the evil, fierce Western dragon, the Chinese dragon is a symbol of power, prosperity, and bountiful harvests. In ancient China, dragon is an emblem of the Emperor and the Imperial power; therefore, those born in the year of dragon are said to be might and intelligence, and many Chinese parents are to have babies in the year of the dragon.

Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. However, the year of dragon has long proved to be an impetus for births. In 2000, the last dragon year, the rate increased to 1.7 children per Taiwanese woman of childbearing age from 1.5 the previous year. This year, it is estimated that an increase of 20 to 30% in the number of babies will be delivered at the hospital. On Jan. 20, President Ma Ying-jeou urged couples to have more babies during the upcoming Year of the Dragon to help boost birth rates.