Most of the traditional festivals in China are based on the Chinese lunar calendar. 
There are also three key national holiday periods in China, when a large part of the population is on the move – all travel bookings are extremely tight at these times, hotels generally increase their rates and flights and trains can be very crowded.  The main, week-long holidays are:
         Chinese New Year in February
         International Labour Day the first week of May, and
         to celebrate National Day the first week in October.

Spring Festival(Lunar New Year-18 Feb 07; 7 Feb 08)

Spring Festival is the most important festival in China. All the traditional festivals in China are based on the Chinese lunar calendar. The Spring Festival marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year. In Chinese, we also say Guo Nian, meaning keeping off the monster of Nian.

Since the Spring Festival marks the first day of a brand new year, the first meal is rather important. People from north and south have different sayings about the food they eat on this special day.

In Northern China, people usually eat Jiaozi or dumplings shaped like a crescent moon. It is said that dumplings were first known in China some 1,600 years ago. In Chinese pronunciation Jiaozi means midnight or the end and the beginning of time. According to historical records, people from both north and south ate dumplings on Chinese New Year's Day. Perhaps because Southern China produced more rice than any other area, gradually, southern people had many more other choices on New Year's Day.

Nowadays, most people in China's rural areas still hold to these traditional celebrations, However, as the pace of life continues to quicken in the cities, urban residents have taken up new ways to celebrate the Chinese traditional New Year. For example, many city dwellers no longer bother to send out greeting cards. Instead, they use the telephone to convey greetings to relatives and friends.

Lantern Festival (15th day of 1st lunar month-5 Mar 05; 22 Feb 08)

The Lantern Festival (also called Yuanxiao Festival) is on the 15th day of the first Chinese lunar month. It is closely related to Spring Festival.In the old days, people began preparing for the Spring Festival about 20 days before. However, After the Lantern Festival,everything returns to normal. Yuan literally means first, while Xiao refers to night. yuanxiao is the first time when we see the full moon in the new year. It is traditionally a time for family reunion.

The largest Lantern Festival celebration took place in the early part of the 15th century. The festivities continued for ten days. Emperor Chengzu had the downtown area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns. Even today,there is a place in Beijing called Dengshikou.In Chinese, Deng means lantern and Shi is market.The area became a market where lanterns were sold during the day.In the evening, the local people would go there to see the beautiful lighted lanterns on display.

Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. We call these balls Yuanxiao. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.

The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuanxiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, walnuts, sesame, osmanthus flowers, rose petals, sweetened tangerine peel, bean paste, or jujube paste. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling . The salty variety is filled with minced meat, vegetables or a mixture.

Qingming Festival(early April , usually 5th April -4th April in Leap Years)

Qingming,meaning clear and bright, is the day for mourning the dead. It falls in early April every year. It corresponds with the onset of warmer weather, the start of spring plowing, and of family outings.
In ancient China, Qingming was by no means the only time when sacrifices were made to ancestors. In fact such ceremonies were held very frequently, about every two weeks, in addition to other important holidays and festivals. The formalities of these ceremonies were in general very elaborate and expensive in terms of time and money.

In an effort to reduce this expense, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty declared in 732 AD that respects would be formally paid at the tombs of ancestors only on the day of Qingming.This is the custom that continues to date.

Dragon Boat Festival(5th day of 5th lunar month-31 May 06; 19 Jun 07; 8 Jun 08)

As we enter the month of June, we find ourselves already in the middle of the year. However, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the fifth month just begins and the Chinese people are preparing to celebrate another traditional festival-the Dragon Boat Festival( also called Duanwu ) .The Duanwu Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. For thousands of years, Duanwu has been marked by eating Zongzi and racing dragon boats.

The taste of Zongzi, a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice and wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves to give it a special flavor, varies greatly across China. Zongzi is often made of rice mixed with dates in Northern China, because dates are abundant in the area. Eastern China's Jiaxing County is famous for its pork-stuffed Zongzi.In the southern Province of Guangdong, people stuff Zongzi with pork, ham, chestnuts and other ingredients, making them very rich in flavor. In Sichuan Province, Zongzi is usually served with a sugar dressing. Most people still maintain the tradition of eating Zongzi on the day of the Duanwu Festival. But the special delicacy has become so popular that you can now buy it all the year round.

Duanwu is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival, because dragon boat races are the most popular activity during the festival, especially in Southern China. A dragon boat is shaped like a dragon, and is brightly painted in red, white, yellow and black. Usually, a dragon boat is 20 to 40 meters long, and needs several dozen people to row it. Boatmen row the boat in cadence with the drumbeats, as the captain standing in the bow of the boat waves a small flag to help coordinate the rowing. Before the race gets underway, a solemn ceremony is held to worship the Dragon King.

Dragon boat racing is quite a spectacle, with drums beating, colorful flags waving, and thousands of people cheering on both sides of the river. Nowadays, it has become a popular sporting activity in Southern China.

Ancient Chinese believed realgar was an antidote for all poisons, and therefore most effective to drive away evil spirits and kill insects . So everyone would drink some realgar wine during the Duanwu Festival ,and children would have the Chinese character forKing-written on their foreheads with realgar wine.

 

Mid-Autumn Festival(15th day of 8th lunar month-6 Oct 06; 25 Sep 07)

One of the most important Chinese festivals is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Chinese ancestors believed that the seventh, eighth, and ninth lunar months belong to autumn. So the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.

Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations date back more than 2,000 years. In feudal times, Chinese emperors prayed to Heaven for a prosperous year. They chose the morning of the 15th day of the second lunar month to worship the sun and the evening of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month to hold a ceremony in praise of the moon. In the western district of Beijing is Yuetan Park, which originally was the Temple of Moon. Every year the emperor would go there to offer a sacrifice to the moon.

In mid-autumn, farmers have just finished gathering their crops and bringing in fruits from the orchards. They are overwhelmed with joy when they have a harvest and at the same time, they feel quite relaxed after a year of hard work. So the 15th Day of the eighth lunar month has gradually evolved as a widely celebrated festival for ordinary people.

People in different parts of China have different ways to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. But one traditional custom has definitely remained and is shared by all the Chinese. This is eating the festive specialty: cakes shaped like the moon.

Originally,moon-cakes were a family tradition. But gradually they began to appear at markets and stores. The moon-cakes made in various parts of the country have very different flavors. For instance, Beijing moon-cakes have a thin crust and fillings of bean and jujube pastes. So they are very sweet.

Suzhou moon-cakes have a special people's favorite. Guangdong moon-cakes are perhaps the most delicately made.the fillings are carefully selected and include sesame, almond and walnut kernels, shredded coconut, lotus seeds and egg yolk. So don't forget to taste all the delicious moon-cakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Double Ninth Festival(9th day of 9th lunar month)

The festival is based on the theory of Yin and Yang, the two opposing principles in nature. Yin is feminine, negative principle, while Yang is masculine and positive. The ancients believed that all natural phenomena could be explained by this theory. Numbers are related to this theory. Even numbers belong to Yin and odd numbers to Yang. The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is a day when the two Yang numbers meet. So it is called Chongyang. Chong means double in Chinese. Chongyang has been an important festival since ancient times.

The festival is held in the golden season of autumn, at harvest -time. The bright clear weather and the joy of bringing in the harvest make for a happy, festive atmosphere.The Double Ninth Festival is usually perfect for outdoor activities. Many people go hiking and climbing in the country, enjoying Mother Nature's final burst of color before she puts on her dull winter cloak. Some will carry a spray of dogwood.

The dogwood is a plant with a strong fragrance, and is often used as a Chinese herbal medicine. People in ancient times believed it could drive away evil spirits and prevent one from getting a chill in late autumn. So its history as a medicine goes back many centuries. But the custom of carrying a spray of dogwood during the Double Ninth Festival is slowly dying out and many people, especially young people in the cities, do not even know what a dogwood spray looks like.

Since nine is the highest odd digit, people take two of them together to signify longevity. Therefore, the ninth day of the ninth month has become a special day for people to pay their respects to the elderly and a day for the elderly to enjoy themselves. It has also been declared China's day for the elderly.

China is starting to adopt Christmas celebrations especially in major cities where Christmas festivities are becoming more popular year by year. We love to have a good time and to celebrate with presents, good food and entertainment. Christians in China celebrate by lighting their houses with beautiful paper lanterns and decorating their Christmas trees, which they call "Trees of Light". They decorate the trees with paper chains, paper flowers, and paper lanterns. Many of the large department decorate their shop and Christmas carols can be heard over the noise of the crowds. Chinese “Father Christmas” helps to make the scene complete.