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A dragon-shaped art installation in Yichang, Hubei Province, China. Photo: Getty Images

Lifestyle Arts & Culture

Year of the Dragon 2024 - a complete guide: from zodiac predictions and traditions to what to wear and lucky foods, 10 essential reads to see you through Lunar New Year

The Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar but following all the different traditions and keeping track of your fortune is not easy
Fear not – these 10 articles cover the most important things to know, and will have you impressing friends and relatives in no time

Chinese culture

SCMP Reporters,Audrey ChanandJason Wordie

Published: 5:15pm, 8 Feb 2024

Why you can trust SCMP

The Lunar New Year is the biggest holiday in the Chinese calendar. It is a time for family gatherings, feasts and temple visits, and people are eager to know the fate predicted for them in the coming lunar year according to the zodiac sign they were born under.

Read on to learn details of Chinese traditions surrounding the festival, and to find out your lucky number, stone and colour, and what fortune holds for you at work and home in the Year of the Dragon.

1. Year of the Dragon 2024: is your luck in? All 12 Zodiac sign predictions

How will your Chinese zodiac animal fare in 2024? Your luck could be helped by the presence of lucky stars and the intervention of bringers of good luck, or could fall victim to the presence of cursed stars.

Feng shui master, author and television host Tong Pik-ha gives her predictions for all 12 zodiac signs for the coming Year of the Dragon, which starts on February 10. Read the full story.

2. What to wear for Chinese New Year? The clue is in one of those 3 words

To ensure good luck in the year to come, wear red clothing that’s new at Chinese New Year, like this family. Photo: Shutterstock

What to wear for Chinese New Year? You can’t go wrong with a new set of clothes that are red or gold in colour.

The key word here is “new”. In Chinese culture, buying and wearing new clothes to welcome the Lunar New Year symbolises a fresh start. New clothes are representative of a clean slate and help usher in plenty of good fortune in the coming year. Read the full story

3. Why you should wear your lucky red underwear for Lunar New Year

Wearing red underwear is one way people can bring themselves good luck in the Year of the Dragon 2024 - especially if their Chinese zodiac animal faces predictions of bad luck. Photo: AFP

Columnist Luisa Tam says she burst out laughing when she saw the words “bright red underwear for Chinese New Year” in a promotional email she received. It was as if a divine power from above was reminding her that it was time to prepare for the Lunar New Year, she wrote.

In Chinese culture, red symbolises life and its many positive aspects. Therefore, it is often associated with the vitality of life and happiness, as well as wealth, luck and success. Read Luisa’s column in full

4. Chinese Lunar New Year traditions we rarely observe – like not showering

Traditionally, people would not wash their hair during the first two days of the Lunar New Year because they believed it would wash away their prosperity for the coming year. Photo: Shutterstock

Many around the world celebrate the Lunar New Year with traditions such as giving lai see – paper envelopes filled with “lucky money” – and snacking on melon seeds to represent a bountiful harvest.

But there are other folk customs that we have largely abandoned in modern times. Read the full story

5. Year of the Wood Dragon: predictions, personalities, wood element’s meaning

Craftsmen make dragon-shaped lanterns for a Lunar New Year lantern fair in Shenyang, China. Photo: Getty Images. Photo: Getty Images

Enter the Year of the Dragon. Or, to be more precise, the Year of the Wood Dragon.

In Chinese astrology, the 12 zodiac animals are each affiliated with an element – metal, wood, water, fire, earth – as they move around the zodiac cycle, and when an animal reappears after 12 years its elemental affiliation will shift. So what does the Wood Dragon mean? Read the full story

6. What Chinese animal am I? Their characteristics and when their years fall

The roots of the Chinese animal signs are still debated, but one widely accepted legend tells of how the Jade Emperor sought 12 animals to guard time’s cycles. A race to the Heavenly Gate ensued, crowning the Rat, followed by the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig in that order.

Ready to find your place among the 12 Lunar New Year animals? Read the full story

7. The top 10 ways to say Happy New Year in Chinese – Cantonese and Mandarin

From “happy new year” to “may you be prosperous” to “wishing you good health”, there are many traditional greetings to say to people during Chinese New Year. Photo: Shutterstock

How do you say Happy New Year in Chinese? The most common way in Cantonese is to say san nin faai lok, and in Mandarin, xin nian kuai le.

If you plan to attend a Chinese New Year gathering in February and are looking to expand your repertoire of greetings for family and friends, look no further. We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 Chinese New Year greetings in Chinese and how to say them. Read the full story

8. Why you should pay your debts before Chinese New Year

The rear entrance of the Standard Chartered Bank Building, in Central, was daubed with red paint in 2005, allegedly by debt collectors chasing payment from an employee of the bank. Photo: SCMP

When Lunar New Year rolls around, so does the customary Chinese practice of paying off one’s debts, columnist Jason Wordie writes.

In part, this reflects a traditional symbolic wish to “close the books” at the end of the year and start life afresh on another, hopefully more fortunate, page of the celestial ledger. But what happens when personal debts have mounted beyond the capacity to pay? Drastic remedial action will follow. Read Jason’s column in full

9. Lunar New Year lucky foods: everything you need to know

Lunar New Year pudding cakes. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Chinese people are practical food lovers.

The dishes and ingredients served over Chinese New Year are meant to bring wealth, health and happiness in the coming year (along with some babies, too) – but they’re also delicious. Read the full story

10. How long is Chinese New Year and what does each day hold?

Worshippers offer incense at Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong on Lunar New Year’s Eve in 2019. Photo: Edmond So

Chinese New Year celebrations last 16 days, from the eve of the first lunar month to the Lantern Festival marking the first full moon of the new lunar year.

Different traditions are attached to each day of the new year, from offering greetings and family feasts to honouring Taoist deities and dos and don’ts at home. Read the full story