The Chinese Lunar New Year also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the Lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with Lantern Festival on the Fifteenth day. According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit. (40 images)
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Fireworks light up Victoria Harbour during Lunar New Year celebrations in Hong Kong on February 4, 2011. Asia rang in the Year of the Rabbit with fireworks, lion dances and prayers that the bunny will live up to its reputation for happiness and good fortune in 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Mike Clarke
Fireworks light the night sky over Beijing on the eve of the Lunar New Year on February 2, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Peter Parks
Chinese folk artists perform a Koreans' dance at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit on February 4, 2011 in Beijing, China. Getty Images / Feng Li
A performer playing the role of emperor takes part in a reenactment of a customary ceremony where the emperor prays for a good harvest during the lunar new year at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. AP / Ng Han Guan
Performers take part in a reenactment of a customary ceremony where the emperor prays for a good harvest during the lunar new year at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. AP / Ng Han Guan
Visitors gather to watch the reenactment of a customary ceremony where the emperor prays for a good harvest during the lunar new year at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. AP / Ng Han Guan
Chinese folk artists dressed in rabbit costume perform at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit on February 2, 2011 in Beijing, China. Chinese people celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit, which will fall on February 3, 2011. Getty Images / Feng Li
Chinese folk artists perform at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit on February 2, 2011 in Beijing, China. Chinese people celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit, which will fall on February 3, 2011. Getty Images / Feng Li
Chinese folk artists perform a dance at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit on February 2, 2011 in Beijing, China. Chinese people celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit, which will fall on February 3, 2011. Getty Images / Feng Li
A young girl burns incense sticks in a temple on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Shanghai on Februrary 2, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Philippe Lopez
A girl burns incense sticks in a temple on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year in Shanghai on Februrary 2, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Philippe Lopez
People pray as a woman offers burning incense at a Taoist temple in Beijing on the first day of the Lunar New Year on February 3, 2011 ushering in the Year of the Rabbit. Asia rang in the Year of the Rabbit with fireworks, lion dances and prayers that the bunny will live up to its reputation for happiness and good fortune in 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Frederic J. Brown
A girl takes pictues of festive decorations beneath red lanterns at the Temple of the Earth (Ditan Park) on the eve of the Lunar New Year in Beijing on February 2, 2011. The Year of the Rabbit, fourth among the twelve-animals of the Chinese zodiac, began on February 3. AFP/ Getty Images / Frederic J. Brown
Lion dancers and musicians perform beneath decorative red lanterns at the Temple of the Earth (Ditan Park) on the eve of the Lunar New Year in Beijing on February 2, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Frederic J. Brown
Chinese people visit a temple fair on Feb. 2, 2011as they celebrate the Lunar New Year in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province. AFP/ Getty Images / Gou Yige
A pedestrian crosses a street under illuminated lanterns on the eve of the start of the Lunar New Year in Shanghai late on February 2, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Philippe Lopez
Cambodian Chinese community people perform a dragon dance on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, in front of the Royal Palace, ahead of Lunar New Year in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. AP / Heng Sinith
Fireworks light up Victoria Harbour during Lunar New Year celebrations in Hong Kong on February 4, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Ed Jones
Performers push a rabbit-shaped decorated float during the night parade in Hong Kong Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 as they celebrate China's lunar new year. AP / Kin Cheung
Worshippers divine by drawing lots during the China's Lunar New Year at the Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. AP / Kin Cheung
Performers dressed as rabbits are seen during the night parade in Hong Kong Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 as they celebrate China's lunar new year. AP / Kin Cheung
People pray and hold incense sticks as thousands throng to Wong Tai Sin temple for the first day of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong on February 3, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Mike Clarke
People perform a Dragon dance at a Chinese temple in Jakarta on February 2, 2011 prior to the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations to welcome the Year of the Rabbit. AFP/ Getty Images / Bay Ismoyo
People visit to pay their prayers over lanterns lit up at Mazu temple during the Lunar New Year celebration in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. AP / Junji Kurokawa
Visitors to Chinatown looks inside a Chinese restaurant during the Lunar New Year celebrations at Chinatown in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. AP / Junji Kurokawa
Pedestrians hold their ears as firecrackers explode in a street at Chinatown during the Lunar New Year celebrations in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011. AP / Junji Kurokawa
Children watch the Lion as the Dutch Chinese community celebrates the start of the Chinese New Year, during a festival in Rotterdam, on February 3, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Anoek De Groot
Dragon dancers perform as they celebrate the Chinese lunar new year at Manila's Chinatown, Philippines, Thursday Feb. 3, 2011. This year is the Year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese calendar. AP / Aaron Favila
Children, wearing rabbit headbands, react to a performance during festivities at Manila's Chinatown district of Binondo to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year in the Philippines Thursday Feb.3, 2011, the year of the rabbit in the Chinese calendar. AP / Bullit Marquez
A dancer spits fire in Manila's Chinatown on February 3, 2011, during Lunar New Year celebrations. From Sydney to Pyongyang, the Lunar New Year was marked by a thundering barrage of firecrackers, family feasts -- and rabbits galore. AFP/ Getty Images / Noel Celis
A vendor arranges a display of gold-plated rabbits at her stall along a street at Manila's Chinatown district of Binondo on Wednesday Feb. 2, 2011, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration in the Philippines. AP / Bullit Marquez
Children are silhouetted as they stand in front of an electronic board during celebrations on the eve of the Chinese lunar new year in Manila, Philippines, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011. AP / Aaron Favila
People walk beneath red lantern decorations on the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 in Singapore. AP / Wong Maye-E
Hundreds of Buddhists rush to place burning incense sticks in an urn at a local Chinese Buddhist temple on Thursday Feb. 3, 2011 in Singapore. Every year, hundreds of Buddhist believers gather at a temple where they vie to place their joss sticks in an urn at midnight marking an auspicious start to the Chinese lunar new year. AP / Wong Maye-E
Buddhists light incense sticks to be placed in an urn at a local Chinese Buddhist temple on Thursday Feb. 3, 2011 in Singapore. AP / Wong Maye-E
A Taiwanese woman smiles under a prayer lantern at the Longshan temple as she brings in the Chinese lunar new year in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011. AP / Wally Santana
A Taiwanese woman offers prayers with candles at the Longshan temple on the eve of the Chinese lunar new year in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011. AP / Wally Santana
A Taiwanese man offers prayers at the Longshan temple to bring in the Chinese lunar new year in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011. AP / Wally Santana
A Taoist follower holds a bunch of incense at a Taoist temple in Taipei on February 3, 2010. Taiwanese traditionally pray for the good fortune on the first day of the Lunar new year to mark their most important annual holiday. AFP/ Getty Images / Sam Yeh
A Thai man (R) places a candle in a water basin where a statue of Buddha is reflected as people gather at a Chinese temple in Bangkok on the eve of the Lunar New Year on February 2, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Christophe Archambault
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