New Year's Day is the first day of the lunar calendar. It is the day when the earth has circled the sun for one round and is beginning another circling. It represents a new beginning when people send off the old days and welcome the new ones. As the first day of the year, yuandan has been considered to be the most important festival since the ancient times.
元旦是农历的第一天。这天地球绕着太阳转一圈，正在开始另一个循环。当人们送走旧的日子，并欢迎新的朋友的时候，它代表了一个新的开始。作为一年的第一天，元旦已被认为是自古以来最重要的节日。
In ancient China, Yuan Dan was not on January 1st, as regulated in the Gregorian calendar. The date of Yuan Dan had been changed many times from the 1st of the 12th lunar month in Yin Dynasty to the 1st of the 1st lunar month in Han Dynasty. When Sun Yat-sen took office as the temporary President in Nanjing at the beginning of January of 1912, he set the 1st of the 1st lunar month as the Spring Festival while the 1st of January was set as the New Year, which was also called Yuan Dan. After liberation, the Central Government of China issued a National Festival and Memorial Day Holiday that set January 1st as Yuan Dan, which was a one-day holiday for the whole country.
在古代，按公历来说，元旦不仅仅是一月一号这一天。元旦的日期从殷朝腊月初一改到汉朝的正月初一。公元1911年，孙中山领导的辛亥革命 ，推翻了满清的统治，建立了中华民国。各省都督代表在南京开会，决定使用公历，把农历的正月初一叫做“春节”，把公历的1月1日叫做“元旦”。新中国成立后，中国出台了关于全国假日和战争纪念日的放假规定时，定1月1号为元旦，全国放假一天。
In order to distinguish the two New Years of both the lunar calendar and solar calendar, and as the "spring beginning" of the Lunar Calendar was always around the lunar New Year, the 1st of the 1st lunar month was called the Spring Festival. Yuan means the beginning, the first. The beginning of a number is Yuan. Dan, which is a pictographic character in the Chinese language, means the day rises from the horizon, symbolizing the beginning of a day. When Yuan and Dan are combined, it means the first day of a New Year. Yuan Dan is also called Three Yuan, the beginning of a year, the beginning of a month and the beginning of an hour. The word Yuan Dan was first used during the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns era.
为了区别农历和阳历的两个新年有鉴于农历二十四节气中的“立春”恰在农历新年的前后，因此便把农历正月初一改称为“春节”。“元”意为开始，第一，数字的第一个称元。“旦”在中国文字里是象形文字，其意思为太阳从地平线上圣骑，意为一天的开始。当“元”和“旦”相结合，意思就成了一年开始得第一天。元旦又称“三元”，即岁之元、月之元、时之元。 元旦最早可以追溯到“ 三皇五帝时期”。
In Jin Shu, compiled by Fang Xuanling in the Tang Dynasty, the first lunar month was called Yuan and the 1st day was called Dan.
元旦一词始于三皇五帝，唐房玄龄等人写的《晋书》上载，把正月称为元，初一为旦。
Kaisui(beginning of the year): According to the chinese traditional custom, starting from haishi(9p.m. to 11p.m.) of the last evening of the twelfth lunar month, each family must prepare offerings to deities at the altar. At the same time, they too prepare food for the new year day: the whole family will then stay awake together to attend to the year(called shou sui). After haishi, zishi(11p.m. to 1a.m.)will come, and this is the arrival of new year(yuandan). At this moment, people begin the celebration with fireworks. Vegetarian and sweet foods will then be placed are the altar for offerings, and incense be burned to welcome the deities. In the ancient times, it was believed that haishi connected the two years and thus was called kaisui.
开岁：根据中国传统习俗，从亥时(21点到23点)的阴历第十二个月的最后一个晚上，每个家庭必须给神的祭坛准备供奉。同时，他们也为新的一年准备了食物：整个家庭在一起保持醒着以参加新年 (称为守岁)。亥时之后，子时(23：00-1：00.)到来，这是新的一年的来临(元旦)。在这一刻，人们开始用烟火庆祝。素食和甜食被放置在祭坛，香被点燃以欢迎神。在古代，人们认为亥时连接两年，因此被称为“开岁”。
What is special during the new year is that parents or elders will distribute red packets(ya sui qian)to the children. People in the ancient times were more particular in giving away the red packets: the distribution took place on the eve of new year so that the kids could suppress the past year and enter the new year. Ya sui has the meaning of overcoming the unpredictable future. Representing the wishes for the healthy psychological growth of the children, ya sui qian symbolises the elders' hope to see their children overcome all the unpredictable elements brought by the "year".
新的一年里有什么特殊的是，父母或长辈会把红包(“压岁钱””)分发给孩子们。古代的人们特别在意红包：分发发生在除夕之夜，使孩子们能度过过去的一年，进入新的一年。“压岁”的意思是克服不可预知的未来。表达了对儿童心理健康成长的愿望，压岁钱象征年长者希望看到自己的孩子克服“年”所带来的各种不可预知的因素。
