The Significance of Gifting at Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is getting close, so don’t forget to bring some gifts! | Credit: RODNAE Productions from Pexels

It’s the year of the tiger in 2022’s Chinese New Year! Also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, it’s the most important celebration in China that has lots of cultural and historical importance. It's a signal that spring has just arrived, hence it’s also known as the Spring Festival, and the start of a new year according to the Chinese lunar calendar, hence it’s also called the Lunar New Year. Historically, it’s also a holiday that’s meant for workers across China to take a break from their year long work, and it’s no surprise that there’s often a long holiday associated with it. As many Chinese families may be separated due to their work, education, and many more factors, Chinese New Year is the holiday where they typically come back home and gather with their friends, colleagues, and family members. With that, gifting itself has a big significance when talking about Chinese New Year celebrations, as it allows you to not only build new relationships, but also strengthen pre-existing ones.

The Power of Gifting

Gifts hold a big influence towards relationships | Credit: Studiokado

Gifts are often seen as an expression of appreciation towards another person and often function as a way to build a close relationship with others; it creates a sense of connection to the giver, which in this case is you, and can create positive associations towards you with the receiver, whether it be friends, colleagues, or family members. It’s also widely accepted that the act of giving and receiving gifts can help people form a strong emotional connection with each other, invoking many positive emotions for both the giver and the receiver; it can make someone feel like they’re loved, that they’re a special person in someone’s life, or make people feel appreciated for their hard work. Gifting is a versatile and special activity that’s almost always worth doing for someone important to you.

Why Chinese New Year Gifting is Important

On the 2nd day of Chinese New Year, people visit their family, relatives, and friends | Credit: Angela Roma from Pexels

Traditionally speaking, on Chinese New Year’s, people visit their family, relatives, and friends on the 2nd day. When that happens, people also give out gifts as a token of appreciation and as a sort of ‘coming back home’ gift. Of course, with the significance of gifting as a form of expression of appreciation towards another person and as a way to build close relationships, in addition to helping people form a strong emotional connection with each other, invoking many positive emotions for both the giver and the receiver, it’s no surprise that it has a big significance to the holiday. Chinese New Year is a holiday where people gather and bond after a long year of work, and gifts help that process of bonding with friends, colleagues, and family, hence the importance of it.

We hope this brief explanation has explained the significance of gifting at Chinese New Year and help you make a decision on whether you should give some gifts to your friends, colleagues, or family members this Chinese New Year. If you ever need some help picking out some custom gift boxes for this year’s Chinese New Year, feel free to reach out to us for help!