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Chinese Lunar New Year: Year of the Rooster

China’s main annual holiday attracts crowds at home and abroad in celebration marked by fireworks and lamps.

New Year
Residents set off fireworks on the eve of Lunar New Year in Beijing, China. [Ng Han/AP Photo]
Published On 28 Jan 2017

Chinese people across the globe are celebrating the Lunar New Year.

The New Year, which officially starts on Saturday, is China’s primary annual holiday and is traditionally marked by riotous displays of fireworks and countless firecrackers.

According to the Chinese zodiac, people born in the Year of the Rooster are brave, responsible and punctual.

Millions are expected to attend the festival across the world over the next two weeks, in one of the largest celebrations of the event outside of Asia.

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Thais bring offerings and pray for good fortune to mark the Chinese Lunar New Year at Leng Noei Yi or Dragon Lotus Temple in Chinatown, Bangkok. [Rungroj Yongrit/EPA]
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Cars drive past a street decorated with Chinese lamps to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Yangon, Myanmar. [Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters]
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Filipino Chinese students with rooster hats gesture after tossing a coin in front of a Prosperity Tree display, which is believed to bring good luck and fortune, in advance of the Lunar New Year celebrations in Binondo, Metro Manila, Philippines. [Romeo Ranoco/Reuters]
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Men perform a dragon and lion dance before the Chinese Lunar New Year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. [Samrang Pring/Reuters]
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People pray with incense sticks at a temple as they celebrate the Lunar New Year in Suining, Sichuan province, China. [Reuters]
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Zoo owner Manny Tangco shows different kinds of roosters to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year at Malabon Zoo, Metro Manila, Philippines. [Ezra Acayan/Reuters]
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A woman takes pictures of firework on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China. [Reuters]
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Filipino Chinese students play with Lion dancers after performing a traditional dance before the Lunar New Year celebrations in Binondo, Metro Manila, Philippines. [Romeo Ranoco/Reuters]
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A worker prepares Chinese New Year decorations outside a mall in Beijing, China. Chinese worldwide celebrate the Lunar New Year on January 28 with family reunions, fire crackers and traditional food. [Ng Han Guan/AP Photo]
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Rooster decorations are on sale outside of a restaurant in Chinatown in London, England. [Hannah Mckay/EPA]
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A Malaysian ethnic-Chinese woman places joss sticks in the cauldron on the first day of Chinese Lunar New Year at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [Lim Huey Teng/AP Photo]