新年好! xīn nián hǎo! or Happy New Year!! means New Year Good!  春节!  or Chūn jié means Spring Festival (or Lunar New Year) literally.  The welcoming of the coming new year - the Year of the Rat.

The rat is seen as a busy, hard working person who pursues personal ambition and goals, always.  Rats will tend to overcome obstacles and setbacks readily through hard work.

The year is also called Wu Zhi in the Stem Branch system of the Chinese.  The earthly branch system has no translation or similar system in English but is a combination of 10 heavenly stems and the five elements of Chinese astrology (earth, water, fire, wood and metal).  The year is also 4705(6) in the Chinese system.

Yesterday we had our staff celebration with fun skits and a huge amount of traditional Chinese food.  We (westerners) believe that the Chinese ALWAYS eat rice at a meal, however there was NO rice at the table and no one missed it either!  Many Chinese friends have told me that rice is only meant as a filler, if you don't have enough other food to eat!  Therefore, often at large festival meals, no rice is present as the food is plentiful and no "filler" is necessary!

From infoplease (we are not able to access Wiki sites from China): "Those born in rat years tend to be leaders, pioneers, and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking."

The Chinese New Year ends with the lantern festival on the fifteenth day of the month - the full moon.  Sometimes the festival is accompanied by dragons (the traditional dragon in the street carried by many men).  Oh, also the New Year's Eve is to be the biggest meal and festival time, as one might expect. 

So the festival period begins and travel is the norm with over 2.3 billion trips by bus, railway and air expected to be made between now and March 2, according to the Chinese government.  The family is expected to visit both sets of parents and all relatives during the Spring Festival period.

ME TOO - as you know!