China's Spring Festival

As Christmas is to Westerners, so is Spring Festival to the Chinese. Originally called Yuandan, Spring Festival is the oldest and grandest of all Chinese festivals. With Yuan meaning 'beginning' and dan 'morning', Yuandan, symbolizes the breaking of a new dawn on the first morningof the New Year and represents the end of winter and hope for a good spring. Bidding farewell to the old and ringing in the new is a recurrent theme in the traditions associated with the Spring Festival.During the Spring Festival, family harmony and affection is emphasized and individuals far from home return on the eve of Spring Festival to celebrate with their families. Although it may not be internationally recognized holiday, with Chinese and foreign citizens of Chinese descent accounting for a quarter of the world's population, Spring Festival is becoming increasingly well-known.