The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family members get together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back, becoming the busiest time for transportation systems of about half a month from the Spring Festival. Airports, railway stations and long-distance bus stations are crowded with home returnees（返回者）.
The Spring Festival fells on the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, often one month later than the Gregorian（阳历）calendar. It started in the Shang Dynasty （ 1600 BC - 1100 BC） from the people's respect for gods and ancestors （祖先）at the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one.
Strictly speaking, the Spring Festival starts ever）- year in the early days of the 12th lunar month and will last till the middle 1st lunar month of the next year. Of them, the most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese government now promises people to have seven days off for the Chinese Lunar New Year.
| The Traditional Chinese —Spring Festival | |
| important than any other festival for the Chinese people. | People have seven days' |
| When all family members get together. | |
| The busiest time for transportation systems of about half a . | |
| The beginning of Spring Festival. | It started in the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - 1100 BC) |
| The people wanted to be in of gods and ancestors (祖先)on this day | |
