Mastering Chinese Poetry Ep.8: Chinese New Year’s Day

Spring Festival or Chinese New Year is a Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. This year, Chinese New Year falls on January 25, 2020, ushering in the Year of the Rat.

Literary figures have composed many articles and poems describing this traditional Chinese festival. The poem "Chinese New Year's Day" (《元日》王安石), written by Wang Anshi from the Song Dynasty, is among the classics. Wang Anshi was a poet and political reformer and the poem paints a picture of how Chinese people welcomed the New Year back in the day.