China prepares to welcome the year of the Snake
China is preparing to celebrate the Spring Festival, also known as "Chunyun", which falls on January 29th this year, Xinhua News Agency reports.
People across China are engaged in various preparations, including purchasing New Year goods, making or buying decorations, ornaments, artistic products, and more.
2025 marks the first celebration of the traditional Chinese New Year according to the lunar calendar since its inclusion in UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In connection with the nationwide celebrations for the traditional Chinese New Year according to the lunar calendar, one of the world's largest seasonal migrations, "Chunyun" ("Spring Travels"), commenced two weeks before the Festival. Residents will visit their close relatives residing in other regions of the PRC.
During this period, a surge in tourism and an increase in interregional passenger traffic are observed. The "Spring Travels" season will last until February 22nd of this year.
According to forecasts by the Chinese authorities, residents will make a record 9 billion interregional passenger trips within the country. The majority of travel will be by road transport (7.2 billion), with over 510 million people using rail transport and 90 million passengers using air transport.
During the festive week, residents and guests of the PRC capital can visit parks and other open-air tourist attractions free of charge, as well as travel free of charge on express highways to the suburban areas of Beijing.
During the "Chunyun" celebrations, "temple fairs" are popular among Chinese residents, where traditional dances (lion and dragon dances) can be seen.
In 2025, the New Year holidays in China begin on January 28th and will last for 8 days. Preparations for the Lunar New Year celebration begin a week earlier, with the so-called "Little New Year," and the sequence of actions before the celebration itself is strictly scheduled by day.
This year, the Spring Festival in China is taking place against the backdrop of a significant easing of the visa-free transit policy for foreign citizens. According to the new regulation, the duration of stay for foreigners eligible for visa-free transit (applicable to citizens of 54 countries) on the territory of the PRC has been extended from 72 and 144 hours to 10 days.
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