Chairman Mao Banned the Chinese New Year, Under His Regime

An interesting tidbit about Chinese New Year is that, to no surprise, Chairman Mao Zedong had the festival banned under his regime. The World Treasures website gives this detail on Mao's banning of the said holiday:

In 1912, the government abolished Chinese New Year and the lunar new year and adopted the Gregorian calendar which made January 1 the official start of the new year. In 1949, under the reign of the Chinese Communist Party leader, Mao Zedong, the government outlawed the celebration of the traditional Chinese New Year. At the end of the 20th century, Chinese leaders became more willing to accept the Chinese tradition. In 1996, China instituted a weeklong vacation during the holiday which took the name of the Spring Festival. During this week businesses come to a halt and people are given the chance to travel home and celebrate the new year with their family.

Chinese New Year was a tradition brought by the Chinese. However, the Lunar New Year festival isn't exclusive to China. It's also celebrated by other East Asians like Vietnamese, Japanese, and South Koreans. It ended up becoming a holiday for significant minorities like ethnic Chinese in the "huan-a" countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It also gets celebreated in Western countries with a significant Chinese population.

Mao's terrible reign of terror caused mass migrations. Fortunately, the Cultural Revolution ended when Mao died. Deng Xiaoping stepped forward and brought revival. Deng may be credited to the blunder called the Tiananamen Square Masacre. However, we can't deny Deng's economic revolution to undo the damage Mao caused economically.

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