Traditional festivals are important events in the life of every Chinese, beginning right from childhood. Festivals such as the Chinese New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the Winter Solstice are more or less evenly distributed across the four seasons. In China's traditional agricultural society, festivals served to mark the passing of time. Lifestyles of the people of the Republic of China today have undeniably changed a great deal since those times, and people now function according to a different concept of time, but the importance of traditional festivals in their lives has not faded. Elements common to all Chinese festivals are expression of a desire for happiness and wellbeing, the warding off of misfortune, experiencing a oneness between man and heaven, and family reunion.
Festivals are also an opportunity for rest and relaxation.
The Chinese are a hardworking people, and they have few occasions to rest in the course of a year. The rhythm of China's traditional festivals was set by the sowing and reaping of crops. Many other traditional festivals are observed in China that point to the important place that tradition and longing for times past occupy in the life of the Chinese people. Besides the ethnic, geographic, historic, and linguistic ties that unite the Chinese, traditional festivals are one of the strongest bonds reinforcing the cultural identity of the Chinese people.