F orce and Power are the symbols attributed to the Dragon, and are characteristics that will influence the coming year. With the ascendance of such strength, it is important that the Dragon not to be lulled into believing that he is infallible - since a lack of realism can lead to excess. C hinese astrologers predict that this Year of the Dragon will be particularly auspicious for great international events, particularly because this New Year's Day coincides with the First Day of Spring in the Chinese lunar calendar. E ven though the climax of the Chinese New Year, Nian, lasts only two or three days including the New Year's Eve, the New Year season extends from the mid-12th month of the previous year to the middle of the first month of the New Year. A month from the New Year is a good time for business.
People buy and share many presents, decorations and clothing.
Transportation, especially the railroad, is nervously waiting for swarms of travelers who take their days off around the Chinese New Year to rush back home for a family reunion from all parts of the country. D ays before the New Year, every family is busy giving their house a thorough cleaning, hoping to sweep away all the ill fortune there may have been in the family to make way for the wishful incoming good luck. People give their doors and windowpanes new paint, most often red in color. They decorate the doors and windows with paper decorations and couplets with the very popular themes of Happiness, Wealth, Longevity, and Happy Marriages with More Children. P aintings of the same theme are put up in the house on top of newly mounted wallpaper.