Chinese visit temples, fairs to ring in Year of the Monkey

A Malaysian ethnic Chinese woman takes a souvenir photograph of illuminated traditional Chinese lanterns on the eve of Lunar New Year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016.

Monday marks the beginning of the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar.

Additionally, if you are trading on a China based exchange, you should be prepared for the holiday schedule.

Art galleries in the inner-city Auckland suburb of Parnell are getting into the spirit of the Year of the Monkey.

“We also get a red packet every year”, shared the Year Six pupil who also hopes to get a new laptop, should she score straights As in the UPSR later this year.

Scenes from the 2016 Chinese New Year Celebrations held at King’s Lynn Town Hall.

“We are planning the largest-ever celebrations in the Year of the Monkey”.

The newly formed Norwich Chinese Community Centre (NCCC) are running a number of events with the culmination being a lantern festival and celebration performance of Chinese dance and music at the Merge restaurant on Dereham Road in Norwich on February 19.

In a video message, Ban introduced himself and said “happy lunar new year” in Chinese.

According to “Chinese Five Elements Horoscopes, ‘ this year will be all about trying to deal with ‘financial events”. Also, hang or paste spring festival couplets in red paper with black or gold calligraphy characters written on it. Daphne Lowe Kelley, Chinese Heritage Association of Australia former head, encouraged celebrating together as a family to see out the old year.

2016 is the ‘Year of the Fire Monkey.’ People born under this sign are mischievous, ambitious and adventurous. “For the people born in the Year of the Dragon it will be good for their career and wealth, while for the rat it is good for their relationships with people”, he said. Chinese social media users are mocking Western brands for reductive takes on Chinese symbolism and culture that many young people in the country see as passé – while charging a premium too.

There were 6571 Chinese-born Canberra residents at the time of the last census in 2011, but almost 11,000 residents spoke a Chinese language, making it the most common non-English language group. “Eating fish is believed to bring a surplus of money or good luck in the coming year”, Chen told Refinery29.

Chinese New Year traditions continue with shopping sprees and good food at customary reunion dinners. But the cleaning needs to be done before the lunar new year – Chen told Refinery29 that washing your hair and cleaning during the first three days of the Chinese New Year are thought to “wash away the good luck”.