How to celebrate Chinese New Year across 7 days

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On the first day of Zheng Yue (the first month of the Lunar New Year), offer New Year's greetings to relatives and friends, and hand out red envelopes containing cash to the younger family members. 

On the second day of Zheng Yue, married daughters return to their parents' home to visit their parents and relatives.

On the third day of Zheng Yue, it's customary to go to bed early and rest at home. This practice is related to the "rat marriage day," a folk belief where people rest early to allow mythical rat weddings to occur undisturbed, symbolizing luck and prosperity.

On the fourth day of Zheng Yue, offer sacrifices and burn incense to worship the Kitchen God.

On the fifth day of Zheng Yue, celebrate the Birthday of the God of Wealth. People eat dumplings and many New Year taboos can be broken on this day, as it is also called the Festival of Po Wu—literally, breaking five.

On the sixth day of Zheng Yue, send away the Ghost of Poverty by discarding ragged clothes, rubbish, and other dirty items.

On the seventh day of Zheng Yue, known as the birthday of humankind, eat noodles to symbolize longevity.

Happy Chinese New Year!

(Ye Jingyi, as an intern, also contributed to this video.)