Chinese New Year Decorations

Chinese New Year has become as commercialized as Christimas, if not more ! From a traditional custom where everything was homemade, nowadays people buy most of what they need for the celebrations, including all the snacks and decorations. 

Traditionally, it is a must to do a Spring clean of the house before CNY. After the Spring cleaning, the house is decorated to create a new year mood. As this is Year of the Ox, decorations related to the ox are very popular.

The two most popular colours for the Chinese are Red and Gold. Red symbolizes happiness, peace and harmony. Gold symbolizes wealth and prosperity. Put the two together and you have everything that most people would ever want. That is why red and gold are used liberally in decorations during CNY.

I think entire villages in China are dedicated to producing different types of new year decorations. These are shipped all over the World, including Kuching. They are really beautiful and irresistable.

Cute ox-shaped decorations abound this year.

Different types of lanterns.

Paper decorations are the most common. They are cheap yet attractive.

Money Gods are ever popular, especially during this economically uncertain times.

Dragons are considered by the Chinese to be auspicious animals. These are really cute.

Many decorations are chosen for their auspicious sounding names. Pineapples are especially popular as the name in some Chinese dialects - "Ong Lai", sounds like "Luck Comes".

Mini pumpkins are very popular in the last few years. Pumpkins symbolizes wealth and abundance - due to their plump shape and golden colour.