Another year of good fortune is beginning in China.
Fireworks pop high in the sky, dragons dance in the streets, and the cities close down to celebrate Chinese New Year and Chinese culture.
It's the most important time of the year, rules and traditions and customs passed down through the ages.
The celebration lasts for 15 magical days full of family togetherness, delicious food and good fortune.
Today Chinese New Year is filled with happiness. But according to legend it didn't start out that way.
A long long time ago in China, there was a big scary nasty beast named Nian, whose name means year.
He had razor-sharp teeth, giant claws, and really mean growl.
Most of the time he lived in the wilderness, but in the darkest night of the year, when the new moon was in the sky, he would sneak into the village and scare everyone inside, even the animals.
People dreaded the new moon for many many years until a wise man taught them the three things Nian was afraid of, loud noises, fire and the color of red.
The next time Nian came, the villagers fought back, they hit their drums as loud as they could, lit every firecracker they had and wore the color red from head to toe.
