One popular modern-day tradition is watching the New Year's Eve television special Chunjie Lianhuan Wanhui, a montage of Chinese folk songs, opera pieces and comedy skits. It used to be that at midnight the sky would light up with fireworks and the air thickened with smoke and the deafening boom and crackle of firecrackers. However, the ban only applies to neighborhoods inside inner-city limits, which means all you have to do is travel outside the Fourth Ring Road to partake in pyrotechnic activities. New Year's Day , gift-exchanging begins. The green and redbacks come in a small red envelope called a hongbao, and can be presented from any elder to someone younger.
Most adults exchange gifts such as fruit, sweets or liquor, rather than money.
Throughout the day, and for several days afterward, people visit one another offering blessings and unloading loot they received from other people. There are generally believed to be only six degrees of separation between all cream cakes in China. It all comes to an end on the fifteenth day, which falls on Saturday February 19 this year. This day is called yuanxiaojie, or the Lantern Festival. The denouement is marked by ice lantern displays throughout the city.