China Festival ToursYou could enjoy a pleasant Chinese New Year this winter!(February 13 - February 28 )
Although the real origins of China's New Year, the largest and most important festival of the year, have been lost in the mists of time, there are many legends about its origin. These legends explain where the traditions of the New Year's Decorations such as couplets, fireworks, clothing, and visiting relatives come from. They are a fun insight into the Chinese New Year Festivities. Most of the legends center around a monster named Nian who plagued China.
Thousands of years ago there was a monster known as Nian, the Chinese word for "Year", who plagued China. He had a huge mouth filled with razor sharp teeth and a single horn on his head and had a taste for human flesh. Most of the year he lived on the bottom of the ocean and in the evening on New Year's Eve he would climb up on the shore and begin devouring people and livestock. Every New Year's Eve people would flee their villages with their livestock and head to remote mountains to avoid being eaten. On New Year's Day they would climb back down and rebuild their villages which were inevitably destroyed by the fury of Nian when he couldn't find anything to eat.
On one New Year's Eve as the people of a village named Peach Blossom Village where preparing to leave with their livestock an old beggar arrived in the village. In their rush to leave nobody took notice of the old beggar as he went door to door looking for food and lodging. When he arrived at an old run down shack at the back of the village, the old woman living there gave the man some food and advised him to flee to the mountains with her. The beggar refused and informed the old woman that if she allowed him to spend the night in her home he would take care of the monster. The old woman was taken aback because the monster was huge and was capable of devouring thousands of people in a single evening. What was this little beggar going to do against such a powerful beast? She looked at the man who was leaning on his stick and noticed that his eyes twinkled like stars and his beard looked like silver and suspected that he was more than he appeared, yet she pressed him to flee, but he only smiled at her without replying.
Having no choice, she agreed to allow the beggar to stay in her house. At midnight the monster Nian charged into the village and noticed things were different than normal. Normally the village was dark and deserted, but this year at the back of the village a single house was lit up. Licking his chops, the monster charged towards the house smashing houses as he went. As he approached the monster was taken aback because the house was not only brightly lit, but had red paper pasted on the doors. The monster hesitated for a moment and let out a howl. He then charged the house and just as he was about to smash through the main gate, explosions started going off all around him. The monster trembling all over dared not take another step. As it turns out the monster Nian was terrified of the color red, bright lights and loud noises. In an instant the gate slammed open and the beggar in a red robe burst out laughing at the monster. Nian was scared out of his wits and fled in terror.
The next day when the villagers returned home, they noticed that only a few houses had been destroyed and the village for the most part had remained intact. They were quite surprised, when the old woman realized what had happened and told the villagers about the old beggar. The villagers rushed to the old woman's house only to find red paper pasted on the doors, the remains of firecrackers, and many candles, some of which were still lit. The delighted villagers put on new clothing and went door to door to check on their neighbors to make sure everyone was safe. The story soon spread all over China and was the topic of discussion for months. They concluded that the beggar must be an immortal sent from heaven to save the people.
The monster Nian was never seen again and every New Year's Eve since people have worn new red clothing, pasted couplets on their doors, lit firecrackers, and kept their houses lit all night. Early in the morning of the first day, they still go to visit their friends and relatives to wish them a happy New Year.
Another popular legend about the monster Nian tells about how he was born looking very ugly and ferocious. He looked like a combination of a dragon and a jilin, a Chinese unicorn. On the first and fifteenth day of each month Nian would come down from the mountains to hunt people. The local population was terrified of him and would go home early and bar the doors and windows on the days of his arrival. In the village lived an old wise man. He thought that it was panic and fear that emboldened the monster. The old man hosted a town meeting and organized the villagers into groups to try to subdue Nian. Some groups were in charge of beating gongs and drums and other groups were in charge of lighting firecrackers in an attempt to scare the monster.
On a moonless and frigid night the monster appeared again as usual. The people lie in wait throughout the village. When Nian arrived the people burst forward making terrible noises, which startled and terrified the monster who ran. At every turn more people were lying in wait and would burst forward scaring him further. As he ran in terror around the village the villagers continued making loud noises. Soon Nian was exhausted by a combination of fear and running and collapsed. The villagers jumped upon him and killed him. The monster Nian lost his life due to the combined effort of the villagers and one wise old man. This event happened on the evening of the first lunar month and ever since people have celebrated by lighting fireworks and making loud noises at midnight.
The people took the monster's name, Nian, and used it to mean "year" so people would never forget the difficult times they went through. The Chinese name for the New Year's festival is "Guo Nian", which means the monster Nian passing over.
A Chinese New Year legend found in Lijiang is very different from the previous ones. They do not talk about the monster Nian, instead they talk about a Taoist Master and his student.
In ancient times there were two Taoists, a master and his student. They had studied for many years and had attained knowledge of all things. The teacher was dismayed with the state of the country. The people were poor and starving, while the government officials were getting rich and fat off of corruption, so he decided to go to the capital to instruct the emperor, and if he wouldn't change his ways, overthrow the emperor as a last resort. The master and his student lived very far from the capital and had to make the journey on foot, which took a long time. The student wanted to pack many material things, but the master said that they only need to take the clothes on their backs. Everything they would need they would find on the way. As they climbed down the mountain in which they lived, they passed a dirty rag and the master asked the student to pick it up. The student didn't want to touch the dirty rag and did not see any reason to pick it up, so he refused.
The master picked up the rag and put it into his basket. After they had hiked for almost six weeks they passed a piece of rope, which the master asked his student to collect. Again, the student didn't see any reason to pick up the rope and didn't want to waste his time, so he refused. The master picked up the rope and put it into his basket. Weeks later they passed a cracked, lidless teapot lying on the side of the path. The master asked his student to pick it up. The student got angry and shouted at his master. He said that he was planning to be an emperor, why should he lower himself to pick up garbage. The master picked up the teapot himself.
The next day a heavy rainstorm hit and the teacher took the piece of rope and used it to tie the teapot high up in a tree. The master then turned himself into a fly and flew up into the teapot to get out of the rain. The student didn't want to lower himself into becoming a fly, so he turned himself into a rabbit, which was his zodiac sign. After much effort, the student turned rabbit, managed to climb up the tree and into the teapot, but because the teapot was too small and the student refused to turn himself into a smaller animal, he hurt his feet. The rain poured for several days flooding the area they had been hiking in. Once the rain ceased and the flooding subsided the master and his student climbed out of the teapot and down to the ground. After being crammed into the small teapot for over a week the student could not walk, so the teacher bound his feet using the dirty rag that he had picked up at the beginning of his journey.
After seeing the students conceit and lack of modesty the teacher knew that the student would not be a good emperor and feared what would happen if they had to make the current emperor abdicate his throne, so he told the student that the journey was too hard for him and they had better turn back. The student told the master that he was welcome to go back if he wanted, but he intended on becoming emperor. The master insisted that he needed to go back and couldn't make the journey on his own, but the power hungry student refused, so the master had little choice but to accompany the student to the capital. Once they reached the capital the master met with the emperor and attempted to instruct him in the error of his ways, but the emperor would not listen to the master's teachings because he wanted to have fun and continue living a debauched life.
The master had no choice but to remove the emperor from his throne. When he tried to take his place, his student grabbed the throne for himself. The master pleaded with his student saying that he was not humble enough to be the emperor, but the student simply laughed at him and would not heed his warning. The master carried on him a special local green tea that had camellia blossoms in it and told the student that they would each brew a pot of the tea and the one who had a flower in his teapot would become the emperor. The student agreed to the arrangement, and when the tea was brewed the student looked into his teapot and realized that there was no flower in it, so he distracted the master and stole the flower from his teapot. The master, seeing that the camellia flower was in his student's teapot assumed it must be fate, and relented. The student was crowned emperor and ruled.
After one year the country was in worse shape than it had been under the former emperor's rule and the master feeling it was his fault wished to teach his former student how to rule. The student just wanted to live a life of debauchery and was annoyed with his minister's constant nagging, so he said that his master could become emperor for fifteen days. The student had no intention of learning from his master, but instead just wanted to be free to have fun. By the end of the master's fifteen days of rule the master managed to turn the whole country around. The people were happy, they had food, and unemployment was at an all time low. The people called the fifteen days the "New Year", and ever since then the New Year's festival was celebrated for fifteen days.
These are just a few of the hundreds of New Year's origin legends known in China. The true origins of the Chinese New Year may be long forgotten, but it doesn't take away from the most important Chinese festival. It is an amazing time of the year and one that is greatly anticipated by the Chinese people.
If you are interested in this tour program and if you want to modify the itinerary in any way, please feel free to contact us.
