Spring Festival
The most important festival in China is the Spring Festival. Since 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.

At this festival, people bring out their bounty from hunting, fishing and the field to thank the gods and ancestors for the blessings.

The first meal in Spring Festival is rather important. Family members will reunion to eat together. According to historical records, people from both north and south ate dumplings on Chinese New Year's Day. Dumpling means midnight or the end and the beginning of time.

To pay a New Year visit is an important event during the Spring Festival. And from the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, ordinary people began to exchange cards.

The recreational activities during the Spring Festival are various and colorful. The traditional performances are Dragon Dance and Lion Dance. On New Year's Eve firecrackers are ubiquitous.

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.

There is a beautiful legend about the moon. A long time ago, a terrible drought plagued the earth. Ten suns burned fiercely in the sky like smoldering volcanoes. The king of Heaven sent Hou Yi down to the earth to shoot down nine suns. A beautiful girl named Chang'e fell in love with him. The two soon married. The Goddess rewards Hou Yi with an elixir. Unfortunately an evil man murdered Hou Yi. Chang'e had to eat the elixir herself and decided to choose living on the moon.

Because the full moon is round and symbolizes reunion, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the festival of reunion. People will eat moon-cakes at this festival for cakes shaped like the moon. So don't forget to taste all the delicious moon-cakes at the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Yuanxiao Festival
The Yuanxiao Festival is on the 15th of the first lunar month. That night there is a full moon, and every household is decorated with colorful lanterns and prepares yuanxiao, a kind of round dumpling made of glutinous rice flour with sweet of salted fillings, which is boiled or fried. When night falls, people go into the street, where exquisite lanterns of diverse designs are hung. Some are pasted with riddles for the passers-by to solve.

Laba and the Eight-Treasure Porridge
Laba is celebrated on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month, because La in Chinese means the 12th lunar month and Ba means eight. The eighth day of that month was considered a day for sacrifice to the gods and ancestors to ensure a peaceful life and a good harvest for the next year.

On this day, people will eat Labazhou--the eight-treasure porridge, referring to the many nutritious ingredients used in this porridge.

The eight-treasure porridge was first introduced to China in the Song Dynasty about 900 years ago. According to written records, large Buddhist temples would offer it to the poor to show their faith to Buddha. In the Ming Dynasty about 500 years ago, it became such a holy food that emperors would offer it to their officials during festivals. As it gained favor in the feudal upper class, it also quickly became popular throughout the country.