How Does the World Celebrate Chinese New Year?

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January 31 is the first day of the of the celebration of Chinese New Year. The event, celebrated in cities world wide runs for two weeks. All kinds of performances, parties, festivals and incredible fireworks are set to commemorate the year of the Horse. Gifts of money in red envelopes are exchanged and elaborate meals are presented to celebrate the traditions

Performers dance at the 2014 Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade on Jan. 31, 2014 in Hong Kong. -Lam Yik Fei 

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Worshippers burn incense to pray for good fortune on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which welcomes the Year of the Horse, at Dafo temple in Chongqing municipality, Jan. 31, 2014. Shi Tou / Reuters

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Indonesian performers dressed as mermaids wearing  traditional Chinese cheongsam dress perform underwater in a special program celebrating the Lunar New Year at Jakarta’s Ancol park on Jan. 31, 2014

Dancers perform a fire dragon dance in the shower of molten iron spewing firework-like sparks during a folk art performance in Beijing
Dancers perform a fire dragon dance in the shower of molten iron spewing firework-like sparks during a folk art performance to celebrate the traditional Chinese Spring Festival on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which welcomes the Year of the Horse, at the Happy Valley amusement park in Beijing. Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters

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Fireworks explode in a street of Shanghai  turning the sky red. Peter Parks / AFP / Getty Images

HONG KONG-CHINA-LUNAR-TEMPLEWorshipers pray at the Wong Tai Sin Temple to welcome the Chinese New Year of the horse in Hong Kong.

Chinese-New-Year-alex.canadianspecialevents.comflowersRevellers walk past a flower lantern display ahead of the Chinese New Year celebrations at the Marina Bay in Singapore . Edgar Sur Reuters