Chinese New Year
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97 free Chinese New Year trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
60 free Chinese New Year trivia questions with answers. Chinese New Year is the biggest celebration on the planet, with billions of people honoring traditions that stretch back thousands of years. From the terrifying legend of the Nian monster to the precise art of red envelope etiquette, this quiz covers zodiac lore, festival foods, family customs, and the holiday's reach across Asia. Think you know your dumplings from your tangyuan? Let's find out.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many animals are in the Chinese zodiac cycle?
12
12 animals make up the cycle, one per year, but the animals came second: they were attached to the twelve Earthly Branches, an older Chinese system for counting years and hours.
Q 02The eighth zodiac animal's Chinese name, yang, covers goats and which other animal?
Sheep
Sheep: the Chinese word yang covers sheep and goats alike, so the same zodiac year turns up in English as the Year of the Goat, the Ram or the Sheep.
Q 03In the best-known telling of the zodiac legend, which deity called the race that ranked the animals?
The Jade Emperor
The Jade Emperor, ruler of heaven in Chinese folk belief, usually calls the race and hands out places in finishing order; other tellings give the job to the Buddha, or swap the race for a banquet.
Q 04The Chinese name for firecrackers, baozhu, literally means what?
Exploding bamboo
Baozhu literally means 'exploding bamboo': the earliest firecrackers were hollow bamboo stalks thrown on a fire until the air inside burst the segments; gunpowder versions kept the name.
Q 05In 1967, official Chinese New Year celebrations were banned during which political campaign?
Cultural Revolution
During the Cultural Revolution old customs were targets: official celebrations were banned in 1967, and it was the 1990s before the holiday became the week-long break it is today.
Q 06What are the red envelopes given during Chinese New Year called in Mandarin?
Hong bao
Hong bao means 'red packet'; givers fill them with crisp new notes, because handing over worn or wrinkled bills is considered bad form.
Q 07Which Chinese New Year food stands for wealth because it is shaped like the old ingots once used as money?
Dumplings
Dumplings (jiaozi) are folded to look like yuanbao, the boat-shaped silver and gold ingots of imperial China; some families hide a coin in one for extra luck.
Q 08On the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year always falls in which two months?
January or February
January or February: the festival lands on the new moon between 21 January and 20 February, usually the second after the winter solstice, so the Gregorian date shifts from year to year.
Q 09What Chinese New Year dance features a long puppet operated by many people?
Dragon dance
The dragon dance sends a long dragon puppet snaking along on poles held by a line of dancers; the longer the dragon, the more luck it is believed to bring, so communities compete to build the longest.
Q 10What is the family meal held on Chinese New Year's Eve called in English?
Reunion dinner
The reunion dinner on New Year's Eve is the year's most important family meal, and getting home in time for it is the main reason for China's huge holiday travel crush.
Q 11Which mythical creature is said to have inspired the Chinese New Year celebration?
Nian
The Nian was said to come out at each year's end to prey on livestock and villagers; the everyday phrase for celebrating, guo nian, 'passing the year', is popularly read as surviving the beast.
Q 12Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year because it follows which kind of reckoning?
Lunisolar
Lunisolar calendars count months by the moon but add a leap month about every three years to stay in step with the sun, so the festival drifts by weeks yet never leaves late winter.
Q 13In the New Year's Eve custom of shousui, what do Chinese families traditionally do?
Stay up past midnight
Q 21In one telling of the zodiac race, which animal did the Rat push into the water, costing it a place?
Cat
The Cat, in this telling, was shoved into the river and missed the cut, which is said to be why cats have chased rats ever since.
Q 22In legend, how did the Rat win the zodiac race?
It rode on the Ox and jumped off
It rode on the Ox and jumped off at the last second, the legend says, leaving the animal that did all the swimming to settle for second place.
Q 23What is the traditional greeting 'Gong Xi Fa Cai' wishing someone?
Be prosperous
Gong xi fa cai wishes someone 'be prosperous': gong xi is congratulations and fa cai is to get rich, so the greeting never mentions the new year, though many say it in place of 'Happy New Year'.
Stay up past midnight: shousui means keeping watch over the year. Families once sat up until sunrise; most now call it a night when the midnight firecrackers die down.
Q 14Which event marks the final day of Chinese New Year celebrations?
Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month closes the celebrations; families hang lanterns under the year's first full moon and solve the riddles written on them.
Q 15What is the Chinese character commonly displayed upside-down on doors during Chinese New Year?
Fu (blessing)
The character fu, meaning fortune or blessing, is often hung upside-down because the word for upside-down (dao) sounds like the word for arrive (dao). So an inverted fu symbolizes that fortune has arrived.
Q 16Which sticky rice cake eaten at Chinese New Year stands for rising higher each year?
Nian gao
Nian gao, a sticky glutinous-rice cake, sounds like 'higher year' (nian gao), so eating it is meant to bring promotions and better fortune year after year.
Q 17Which fruit is a Chinese New Year favourite partly because one way of writing its name contains the character for luck?
Tangerines
Tangerines are often written with a character, ju, that contains ji, 'luck'; their round shape and golden colour add a wish for fullness and wealth, so they are displayed and eaten through the festival.
Q 18Which instrument sets the beat for a Chinese lion dance, backed by cymbals and gongs?
A big drum
A big drum leads: the lion's steps and pounces follow its beat while cymbals and gongs crash in, and many of the moves themselves come from Chinese martial arts.
Q 19If a floor must be swept during Chinese New Year, which way is the dirt supposed to go?
From the outside in
From the outside in: sweeping outwards is thought to send the family's luck and savings out with the dust, and for the same reason the rubbish is not carried out on New Year's Day either.
Q 20In 1928 China's Kuomintang decreed Chinese New Year be celebrated on which date instead?
1 January
1 January was the Nationalists' choice: in 1928 they ordered the festival moved to the Gregorian New Year and tried to stamp out the lunar one, but people kept celebrating and the policy was dropped.
Q 24Families offer sticky sweets to which deity before burning his paper image, hoping for a kind report to heaven?
The Kitchen God
The Kitchen God (Zao Jun) leaves each home before New Year to report on the family to heaven; the sweets are meant to sweeten his words or, some say, to stick his lips together.
Q 25The Chinese word for fish, yu, a must at New Year's Eve dinner, sounds like the word for what?
Surplus
Surplus: the fish is deliberately left unfinished at the New Year's Eve dinner, so the wish 'may there be surpluses every year' is acted out on the table.
Q 26What are the red-paper strips of calligraphy hung either side of a door at Chinese New Year called?
Spring couplets
Spring couplets (chunlian) carry two matching lines of good wishes, one on each side of the door; they replaced the wooden charms once hung there against evil spirits.
Q 27Which country calls its Lunar New Year celebration 'Tet'?
Vietnam
Vietnam's Tet is short for Tet Nguyen Dan; the 1968 Tet Offensive took its name from the holiday, launched during the truce called so that both sides could celebrate it.
Q 28What is the Korean name for the Lunar New Year celebration?
Seollal
Seollal is the Korean Lunar New Year: children bow deeply to their elders (sebae) and are rewarded with pocket money, and the day's main dish is tteokguk, a rice-cake soup.
Q 29What food is traditionally eaten on the 15th and final day of the Chinese New Year period?
Tangyuan
Tangyuan, sweet glutinous rice balls served in broth, are eaten on the fifteenth night that closes the period; the name echoes tuanyuan, a family coming together, so they also appear at weddings and the winter solstice.
Q 30Which two colours do many people avoid wearing during Chinese New Year?
Black and white
Black and white are the colours of mourning in Chinese tradition, so they are thought to invite bad luck at the turn of the year; festival clothes are bought in bright shades instead.