An Evening Banquet is held on the Lantern Festival in Rong Mansion - an illustration of A Dream of Red Mansions by Dai Dunbang. [Photo/sina.com]

Evening Banquet

"When all the men and maid-servants of both mansions had paid their respects according to their degree, there is a distribution of New-Year money, as well as pouches and gold and silver ingots. Then they take their seats for the family-reunion feast, the men on the east side, the women on the west, and New-Year wine, ‘happy-reunion soup,' ‘lucky fruit' and ‘wish-fulfilment cakes' are served, until the Lady Dowager rises and goes into the inner room to change her clothes, whereupon the party ends." (Chapter 53, an English translation of A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Xianyi)

Chinese people attach great importance to the yearly family reunion feast on the eve of the lunar New Year. It is a time for the whole family to get together, enjoy the festive atmosphere and share their gains and loss of the past year. At the banquet, children or the younger generation used to pay their respects to the seniors, usually grandparents, and in response, the elderly distribute Hong Baos and wish them a promising new year. A banquet will also be held on the Lantern Festival, the 15th of the first lunar month, marking the end of the Spring Festival.

Thousands of years later, the Spring Festival remains not only as a custom but also a mutual memory shared by all Chinese descendents. It is a priceless heritage handed down from age to age, reminding the Chinese of their unique cultural roots and conveying their hopeful vision for the future.