Reunion dinner
A reunion dinner is held on New Year's Eve where members of the family, near and far, get together for celebration. The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes chicken. Fish (鱼, yú) is included, but not eaten up completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase 年年有余 (nián nián yǒu yú), which means "may there be surpluses every year", sounds the same as "may there be fish every year", since "yú" is also the pronunciation for 余 ("leftover" or "surplus"). A type of black hair-like algae, pronounced "fat choy" in Cantonese, is also featured in many dishes since its name sounds similar to "prosperity". Hakka will serve kiu nyuk (扣肉) and ngiong tiu fu. Because certain things and/or food sound alike to certain Chinese well-wishes, the belief is that having one will lead to the other.
An illustration of what a Chinese Ancient Gold Nugget might look like.Most Northerners serve dumplings as the main dish in this festive season, although most Chinese around the world would do the same because it is believed that dumplings (饺子, jiǎo zi) are wrapped in the semblance of Chinese gold nuggets (illustrated) used in ancient China. This gold nugget is called 金元宝 (jin yuán bǎo). However, mandarin oranges are the most popular and most abundant fruit during Chinese New Year amongst Chinese simply because of, inter alia, how the name of the fruit is phonetically similar to gold -- jin ju (金橘子) or kam (金) in Cantonese.
Money Given to Children
On the night of Chuxi, or the night before the first day of new years, parents or grandparents usually put "yā suì qián" (压岁钱) or "end of year money" under children's pillows. The most common story of the origin of this tradition is below: