Chinese new year, also known as the Spring festival (春节), is an important holiday for Chinese people. Just as important as Christmas is for westerners. This is the one time of year when everyone goes back to their hometowns.

The most celebrated holiday in China

During the Spring festival almost all restaurants, grocery stores, and convenience stores are closed. And stay closed for about a week. This is also a time for countless traditions like the red envelope (红包) to occur. The elderly and parents give red envelopes to children and unmarried young people in their families. The red envelope symbolizes luck and wards off evil spirits, thus ensuring the receiver a prosperous future.

Many companies use these traditions to come up with new solutions and ways to incorporate their products into the Chinese holiday. An example of this is the digitalization of the red envelope. You can send your red envelopes online through cash apps like WeChat.

How does the Chinese Spring festival affect relations between Chinese and Nordic businesses – Since the Spring festival is one of the few big national holidays in China, you most likely won’t get a response from your Chinese peers this week.

While you’re waiting for the holidays to pass you can book a non-binding meeting and discuss improvements for your company.