China Focus: China's youth reinvent Chinese New Year traditions

by Xinhua writer Cheng Zhuo

BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- For most Chinese people, especially children, the Spring Festival, China's most important holiday, is a season steeped in tradition, when families reunite at home and mark the Chinese New Year by observing customs passed down through generations. It has always been one of the most eagerly anticipated and joyful events of the year.

It still is, but today's young Chinese prefer to celebrate the festival in their own way. While they continue to honor traditional customs, they also "reinvent" some of them by adding more fun and fashionable elements.

INCREASED FUN

A staple of the Spring Festival is the hanging of spring couplets. Many Chinese families decorate their doorways with these red festive couplets, which consist of two lines of poetry written in black ink, often paired with the Chinese character "Fu," symbolizing good fortune, to usher in a prosperous new year.

Young people still embrace this custom. However, they are increasingly putting their own spin on it. Instead of conventional auspicious phrases, many now favor couplets that showcase personality or a sense of humor.

On one of China's leading e-commerce platforms, Taobao, a seller based in east China's Zhejiang Province is offering creative spring couplets that replace traditional auspicious phrases with more playful and direct expressions, such as "Good progress in everything I do" and "Good appetite for everything I eat." To date, over 10,000 pairs of these couplets have been sold.

This year's Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 17, marks the beginning of the Year of the Horse. As a result, couplets featuring the word "horse," or "Ma" in Chinese, are gaining significant traction.

Rather than simply using the character "Fu" for good fortune, younger generations are opting for couplets with the phrase "Ma Shang You Fu," which translates as "fortune arrives on horseback," and has a pun meaning of "good fortune comes immediately." Some even go for lighthearted phrases like "Ma Shang OK," which means "things will go smoothly right away," or "Horse Fa Sheng," which sounds similar to "good things are happening."

Among all the horse-themed wordplay, an unexpected trend has emerged: the surprising popularity of Draco Malfoy, the antagonist from the Harry Potter series, who is featuring prominently during Chinese New Year celebrations this year.

The Chinese translation of Malfoy -- "Ma Er Fu" -- happens to include the characters for "horse," "you" and "good fortune." Notably, young Chinese people have cleverly twisted the name's meaning to interpret it as "you will have good fortune at once."

As a result, decorations featuring the face of Malfoy, such as couplets, stickers and magnets, have become unlikely holiday bestsellers online.

EXPANDED CHIC

Days before Chinese New Year, families traditionally shop for "nian huo," which means New Year goods, considered essential items for the holiday. These goods are also exchanged as gifts during visits to relatives and friends. Historically, "nian huo" included meat, alcohol, sweets, snacks, toys and festive decorations.

In earlier times in China, when economic conditions were modest and logistics less developed, purchasing such goods in advance was both practical and necessary. For many families, these goods included foods rarely enjoyed at other times of the year. For children in particular, the Spring Festival offered a precious opportunity to indulge.

Today, thanks to economic growth, abundant supply chains and rising living standards, many previously rare items have become part of everyday life. The ritual of buying "nian huo" endures, but has evolved into a practice of more symbolic meaning than practical necessity, as people bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new with hope.

What has also changed is the nature of items filling Chinese New Year shopping carts.

For younger consumers, the likes of electronic gadgets, fashion-forward items and trendy designer toys now rank high on holiday lists.

Toy company Hayidai, located in Guangdong Province in south China, launched several horse-themed designer toys in the latter half of last year, and as the 2026 festival approaches, sales of these items are rising sharply, with sales of some products exceeding 3,000 units per day.

Zhejiang-based toy brand Wentongzi has introduced Year of the Horse dolls incorporating elements of traditional Chinese opera, and sales of these dolls have surpassed 50,000 units.

Meanwhile, major trendy toy brands such as Pop Mart and 52TOYS have also released zodiac-themed collections, some of which sold out shortly after launch.

"These little ponies are so cute! They are both festive and trendy," said a customer surnamed Wei at a trendy toy pop-up store in Dongguan, Guangdong Province. She added that she wanted to buy several more as New Year gifts.

Liang Mei, president of the China Toy and Juvenile Products Association, said the culture of festive blessings and zodiac symbols has been given a new expression aligned with contemporary values, under the influence of modern design and emotional consumption, thereby building a value bridge between traditional culture and contemporary life.

STILL CHINESE

While some traditions have taken new forms, many young Chinese are also rediscovering the enduring charm of authentic Chinese aesthetics.

The Spring Festival is a time when people purchase new clothes and don fresh attire. In recent years, "New Chinese-style" clothing, which blends traditional Chinese elements with modern design, has gained rising popularity among young people.

Zhou Chen, a 21-year-old university student from Shanghai in east China, has chosen a red Mamianqun as her outfit for the 2026 Spring Festival. A Mamianqun is a traditional long pleated skirt that used to be a popular clothing item among Chinese women during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911).

"For this Chinese New Year, I want to refresh my wardrobe with something different," she said. "The Mamianqun, or 'horse-face skirt,' feels especially fitting as its name echoes the Year of the Horse, while it's not only graceful and easy to wear, but also beautifully blends festive tradition with a modern sense of style."

Data shows that the market for clothing featuring traditional Chinese elements, represented by the "New Chinese-style" category, had exceeded 220 billion yuan (roughly 31.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024 and is projected to have surpassed 250 billion yuan in 2025.

E-commerce platform JD.com reports that since last month, sales of Hanfu, which is traditional Chinese attire, have more than doubled on a year-on-year basis, while searches for Ming Dynasty-style garments have increased tenfold.

Zhang Mingxiao, a 25-year-old graduate student, recently visited a Chinese New Year goods fair in Beijing and bought a woodblock New Year print made by an intangible cultural heritage inheritor from central China's Henan Province. "The five-layered multi-colored woodblock printing was ingeniously crafted, and the vivid design of a horse treading on auspicious clouds immediately caught my attention," she said.

Li Dong, a young man from Yulin in Shaanxi Province, northwest China, returns home every year during the Spring Festival and joins a local traditional yangge dance troupe for performances. He also records short videos of these performances, which are then shared online. "Many people think the younger generations don't like the 'old' things, but that's not true -- we just prefer traditions that are more engaging and vibrant," Li explained.

Wang Xiaoyong, an associate researcher at the Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, said the Spring Festival, the most significant traditional festival of the Chinese nation, has maintained its core values: reunion, blessing and renewal.

The evolution of customs, Wang noted, reflects the vitality of the Spring Festival itself, adding that by celebrating in ways that feel authentic to their generation, young people are breathing fresh life into tradition. "In doing so, they ensure that the cultural essence of the festival not only survives, but thrives in rhythm with contemporary life." Enditem

(Xinhua intern Dong Shijie contributed to the story.)