There are three kinds of festival in China: national festival, minority festival and tourism festival.
Since the Han nationality outnumbers the other 55 minority groups and totals up to about 93.3% of Chinese population, Han's festivals are celebrated nationwide and regarded as national festival.
Minority festivals refer to traditional festivals celebrated by certain Minority groups around China.
Chinese Festival - Tourism Festival
Chinese Tourism festivals are the local traditional festivals now supported and held by governments to fully use local tourism resources to attract tourists.
Kite festival Major National Festival of Chinese Festival
Spring festival lantern festival Chinese qingming festival
dragon boat festival mid-autumn festival
Spring Festival - Chinese New Year
Date: The first day of a year in lunar calendar, usually between late Jan and early Feb
Activities: fireworks display, visiting and greeting, Yangke dancing, lion and dragon dancing, holding temple fairs and many other great folklore-inspection events.
Remark: Spring Festival is the most important event in China, known as the Chinese New Year. It is the first day of a lunar year and usually lasts weeks. Before the event, houses are thoroughly cleaned. Everybody gets haircut and purchase new clothes. People burn incense at home or in the temples to pay respects to ancestors and ask Gods for good health, peace and luck in the coming year. Red lanterns are hung everywhere and red scrolls with antithetical couplets are pasted at every gate. On New Year's-Eve, families have a reunion feast of Jiaozi (dumplings) and Niangao (a kind sticky rice cake), and then stay up all through the night, talking about the past and the future.
When the clock rings to indicate the arrival of the New Year, different households let off fireworks almost at the same time to create a thunderous roar. The grand ceremony is meant to send off the old and usher in the new.
Early the next morning and on the following days, everybody wears new clothes and go to pay New Year Calls on relatives and friends to extend new year greetings. Cities, rural towns and villages will present waist drum displaying, Yangke dancing, lion and dragon dancing and other folk dances.
Lantern Festival
Date: 15th of the first lunar month
Activities: Lanterns expositions, garden parties, firework displays and folk dances.
Remark: The festival falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. During the event, various types of delicate and splendid lanterns are exhibited and red lantern can be seen all around. Every family eats yuanxiao (a kind rice ball stuffed with beans, sugar or others sweet things), which is a symbol of family reunion, unity, affection and happiness.
Qingming Festival (Pure Brightness)
Date: 12th of the 3rd lunar month, usually around April 4th or 5th.
Activities: Cleaning ancestors' graves and holding memorial ceremonies, spring outing, and flying kites.
Remark: It was said this festival was set to memorialize Jie zitui, a loyal man in the Spring and Autumn Period, who helped his liege lord when his lord was in jeopardy, and later refused to accept position offer after his lord restored his crown and power. Mr. Jie escaped to a mountain with his mother and died in the fire his lord set to try to force him out to accept his position. In order to commemorate Mr. Jie, his lord set the day he died as original Qingming Festival.
People will clean their ancestors' graves and make offerings to pay their respects. Spring outing and flying kites are popular during the festival.
Dragon Boat Festival
Date: 5th day of the 5th lunar month
Activities: Dragon Boat races and eating Tzungtzu (pyramid shaped rice wrapped in reed or bamboo leaves)
Remark: The Chinese Dragon Boat Festival is a significant holiday celebrated in China, and the one with the longest history. During the event, dragon boat races are held. In thunderous drumbeats, racing teams sprint forward to reach the finish end.
The boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival are traditional customs to attempt to rescue a patriotic poet, Chu Yuan. Chu Yuan drowned himself on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month in 277 B.C because his king did not take his advice and his state was conquered. People drove boats and throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked rice into the water to feed fishes in order to save his body. Later the custom of eating Tzungtzu and rice dumplings came into being.
Minority festival of Chinese festival
China has 55 minority groups and each of them has their festivals, so hereunder only common and influential festivals are introduced.
The Torch Festival Water-Splashing Festival Tibetan New Year
The Great Prayer Festival Noroz Festival Harvest Festival in Tibet
The Torch Festival of the Yi Minority in Liangshan, Sichuan Province
Date: July 23-28
Place: Sichuan Province
Activities: Bullfighting, horse races, cockfighting, sheepfighting, singing contests, Yi minority beauty contest, wrestling, local-style dance contest, torch parade and bonfire party.
Water-Splashing Festival
Date: The Near Year's day on the Dai calendar, usually in the middle April.
Place: Yunnan province
Activities: It is a festival of the Dai people and usually lasts for 3-5 days. Ceremonies are held to pray in Buddhist temples and clean dust off Buddhist statues. Peacock dance is performed, and dragon-boat racing and other sports competitions are organized. People sprinkle water on each other as an expression of good wishes.
Tibetan New Year
Date: January 1st on Tibetan calendar
Place: Tibet
Activities: Special ceremonies are held on the day. On the eve of the festival, every household will paint lucky signs with wheat flour on kitchen walls and gates. Resin is burned on the roof, while painted seedlings of cereal crops and ears of wheat are displayed in the house. The first day of the festival is for family reunion. On the second day, people will go to call on their relatives and friends. The festival is also observed with wrestling, horseracing, archery and other sports competitions. Grand groups dancing and Tibetan operas are performed.
The Great Prayer Festival
Date: January 8th through 14th on the Tibetan calendar
Place: The Jokhang Temple, Lhasa
Activities: It is the grandest religious festival in Tibet. Thousands of monks far and near will gather for prayers, theological debates and examination for Geshe, a doctoral degree in Buddhist theology, at the lamasery. Pilgrims will come from everywhere to listen to sermons.
Noroz Festival
Date: Around March 22nd.
Place: Xinjiang
Activities: The festival is held among the Kazak minority group. As an interesting activity in the festival, a game called Girl-chasing is held. While roaming from the start point to the end on horseback, boys can play jokes with girls or even confide their love. Girls shall not get sulky. While on the way return, girls on horseback will chase after boys. If a girl catches up with a boy, she whips him, while he is not allowed to fight back. If the girl likes the boy, she will just wave her whip in the air.
Horse Race Festival in Qiangtang
Date: The last 10-day period of August (between the end of the seventh month and the early part of the eighth month of the Tibetan calendar)
Place: Nakchu Prefecture, Tibet
Activities: Horse races, archery shooting races, horsemanship performances and material exchange activities will be held.
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