Millions of people welcomed the Year of the Monkey on Monday, 8 February, which marks the beginning of the New Year in the Chinese calendar.
Revellers welcomed the Year of the Monkey with prayers, fireworks, dances and fun celebrations. The Chinese community considers New Year to be the biggest and most important festival, and to mark the beginning of the New Year a huge number of Chinese nationals across the world go back to their home country.
The Chinese New Year, which is also called Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, is celebrated for 15 days. The 15-day celebration ends with the Lantern Festival, which is also called the Shangyuan Festival.
People across the country visited temples to mark the first day of the New Year. Thousands of artists performed in Beijing at the opening ceremony of the Chinese New Year. A huge fireworks display in Beijing welcomed the first day of the Year of the Monkey.
Check out the photos below:
