The Lunar New Year is a traditional festival in China. Purchasing festival items, family reunions, watching the Spring Festival Gala on TV and setting off fireworks are the traditional ways people spend the holiday. Nevertheless, new ways to celebrate the festival have become popular among the public, including travel, meeting with friends, fitness, shopping and watching movies. People now prefer to spend the holiday in their own way.

Sending New Year’s greetings has shifted from traditional methods such as letters, telegraphs, paper cards, phone calls and short messages to new platforms like microblogs, WeChat and videocalls.

International video

Extending festival greetings via video is a popular activity among the youth due to the platform’s innovative technology and vividness.

Lu Yu, whose son, daughter-in-law and grandchild have settled down in Canada, received a video greeting from her son. Lu often chats with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchild via video. Many photos and videos of her grandchild are recorded in her computer.

Spring Festival tour

A Taicang citizen surnamed Chen chose to spend Spring Festival in Sanya, experiencing a festival filled with sunshine, sand and sea. The hotel that Chen stayed at provided a festival feast and performances on New Year’s Eve.

The trip gave Chen boundless pleasure. "Getting together with relatives provides a warm feeling, while traveling can offer physical and mental relaxation," Chen said. He added that he will take his parents on a trip during Chinese New Year in the future.

According to Taicang’s travel agencies, more than 700 citizens booked tourist packages to travel during Spring Festival, a slight increase compared with last year.

Meeting with friends

A lot of citizens went outside to enjoy their leisure time due to the warm weather during the holiday. They gathered with friends, shopped and watched movies.