On Sunday, in a deafening blitz of pyrotechnics, more than a billion Chinese rang in the new lunar year – the 4,710th of the Chinese calendar, if you're counting. But the festivities will run over the next 15 days until the first full moon, with ample opportunities for visitors to get in on the action at New Year (also known as Spring Festival) events across the mainland and Hong Kong. Just don't forget your lucky red underwear.
Beijing Temple Fairs
Beijing's temples and parks open their gates at Spring Festival for miao hui, raucous social events that integrate fun, commerce and a smidgen of spirituality. Dongyue Temple Fair in the east of the city dates back to the Yuan Dynasty, with five days of drum troupes, opera singers, storytellers, calligraphers and acrobats. Stilt-walkers and puppet shows will keep the kids occupied, but they'll have more fun at Ditan Park Temple Fair trying to win a cuddly toy at one of dozens of carnival sideshows. Throngs of locals cram Ditan's pathways, scoffing grilled mutton skewers and candied hawberries while sporting the de rigueur novelty accessory of the season. This time it'll probably be a dragon cap – a few years back, the star of the show was, bizarrely, an inflatable poo on a stick.
• Dongyue Temple Fair runs from 23-28 January, 8.30am-4.30pm. Ditan Park Temple Fair takes place from 22-29 January, 9am-5pm. Entry for each is CNY10 (about £1)
Hong Kong Fireworks
In a land where it's normal for husbands, wives and kids to spend months at a time apart because of work ties, Chinese New Year is a time to congregate, cut loose, and blow things up. Fireworks (and firecrackers) are a sort of mass exhale, a collective banishment of the year's tribulations. They're also hugely hazardous – enough to scorch a skyscraper to twisted metal in Beijing in 2009. In Hong Kong, proceedings are rather more orderly, but no less spectacular. Many thousands of revellers lined both sides of Victoria harbour to "ooh" and "ahh" over 23 minutes of fireworks launched against one of the world's great skylines. To mark the Year of the Dragon, the ICC Building, Hong Kong's tallest, has a 1,000-foot long golden beastie garlanded around the walls inside its observation deck.
• The Hong Kong fireworks take place on 24 January at 8pm. To beat the crowds, consider a harbour cruise – Gray Line Tours (+852 2368 7111, grayline.com.hk) operate fireworks cruises starting at HK$800pp (about £66). If you're in town the night before, 23 January, be sure to catch the Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Night Parade running through Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon, starting at 8pm
Harbin Snow and Ice Festival
In China's shivering far north, the city of Harbin has evolved a tradition of ice carving said to originate from fishermen freezing water in buckets to make ice lanterns. Fast forward a few hundred years to a spectacle best described as Narnia on acid: palaces, towers, monuments and statues, all cut from ice, inset with lurid neon lights and laid out on an astonishing scale. Everything from the Eiffel Tower to Lhasa's Potala Palace has been reimagined in frozen form. In 2008, the festival sported a Tower Bridge and a Westminster Abbey. Despite temperatures that can drop as low as 25C below, visitors hurtle down ice slides carved to look like the Great Wall, and try their hands at ice-climbing, skidoo racing and even ice mini golf.
• The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival runs daily from 9.30am-9pm from 5 January to the end of February, or when the ice begins to melt. Adults about £30, children about £16, children under 1.2m free
Shanghai Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival marks the last hurrah of the New Year celebrations, where Chinese eat sticky sweet orbs of rice flour called tangyuan, guess riddles inscribed on paper lanterns and explode any remaining munitions. In Shanghai's Yuyuan Garden, it's a press of crowds, chaos and colour as themed lanterns of various shapes and styles are paraded through the grounds. It's especially loved by kids – expect dancing, music and, of course, stack-loads of snacks. Grilled spicy squid, fried pork with rice cakes and little trays of deep-fried "stinky" bean curd are all consumed with gusto. Throughout the park there are opportunities to admire poetry and brush up on your Chinese mythology, but commercialism is never far away. Expect Mushu, the dragon from Disney's film Mulan, to make an appearance ahead of the planned opening of Disneyland Shanghai in 2016.
• The Lantern Festival takes place on the 15th day of the lunar New Year – 6 February in 2012. Like most New Year events, human congestion is a given – word is entry will be for ticket-holders only, so arrive early. Tickets cost in the region of £8. Call +86 21 6355 999 for details
Horse Racing in Hong Kong
Introduced by the British in the 1840s, horseracing remains the principal sporting passion in Hong Kong. The Lunar New Year Race Day kicks off on the third day of the New Year, when punters of all persuasions descend on Sha Tin Racecourse in the New Territories, north of Kowloon, to try their luck, pick a winner and, this year, hope to be one of 1,000 visitors to win a 24K gold-plated "fortune horse". As well as large mammals dashing about, the Hong Kong Jockey Club puts on a feng shui display in the forecourt and a variety show in the parade ring, featuring dragon and lion dances, and live appearances by TV personalities. In the track food court, a menu of auspicious dishes has been dreamed up for the occasion, including Rags to Riches, a fish maw and sea cucumber stew.
• The Lunar New Year Race Day takes place on the third day of Chinese New Year – 25 January in 2012. Gates open at 10.30am, first race 12.30pm. Tickets from the Hong Kong Jockey Club (hkjc.com) about £10
