We're going to be following traditions, spending New Year's Eve at home. Our kids are coming back home and we have the grandparents here. We'll all make and cook dumplings together.

I'm from another province so I'll go back to my hometown. When I'm there I'll stay at home, and look after my parents.

I'll spend my New Year holiday with my family. I'm going to buy a train ticket to go back to Jilin soon. I'm bringing a lot of gifts for my family.

Lunar New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. And for many Chinese, it's the only chance to go back home to stay with their parents. But going home does not always make them feel excited.

Here are our poll questions: What are you most afraid of during Spring Festival holiday?
Having little money and being asked by people 56%
Being single and being forced to get married 15%
Can't get tickets 16%
Not afraid of anything 13%

Now to a story that goes back to this time last year …Plans are underway to renovate a building that is part of Beijing's iconic CCTV headquarters complex – and which was gutted by fire during last year's Spring Festival. And now it’s been announced that over 70 people have been held officially responsible – to varying degrees - for the devastating blaze.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Building has stood largely untouched for almost a year now since it was gutted by an inferno on the very last day of last year’s Spring Festival holiday. The cause of the fire was an illegal firework set off during CCTV's New Year celebrations. In addition to the material damage, one firefighter died and several others were injured as they struggled to put out the blaze.  China’s State Council yesterday officially announced that 71 people had been held responsible for the fire. It's said of these, 44 will be referred to the courts for prosecution while 27 others will face disciplinary sanctions. Zhao Huayong, who stepped down as head of the state broadcaster back in May, will receive an administrative demotion.

Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it’s known here, starts on the 14th, and is the most important holiday of the year here in China.

The country has been on the move for several days now, with families anxious to get home in time to celebrate. As a result, tickets of any type are harder to come by.

But two young students decided to make the journey from Changsha to Yongzhou in a much more basic fashion. Foregoing planes, trains, buses or automobiles the intrepid pair made the 250 mile journey - entirely on foot!

Since China reformed its public holiday system in 2008 the traditional (PIC) Mid-autumn festival has become an official one day holiday. This year it fell on a Wednesday, making it awkward for anybody who has to travel to spend the day with family. So how do people manage? Well most of the country uses a system of swapping weekends for work days to ensure a few days off together. This year that meant working the following Saturday and Sunday. And it’s complicated even more because of the upcoming national holiday on October 1st. So are people happy about this system and how did they arrange the holiday? Well, that’s what we went out and asked in today’s Straight for the Street.

This year the Tibetan New Year falls on February 14, the same day as the Chinese New Year, which isn't always the case. Although it's still two weeks away, celebrations are already underway for the province's largest festival of the year.

The streets of Lhasa are buzzing with celebration as Tibetans prepare to see in their traditional new year. Taking part in an annual religious ceremony, pilgrims flocked to the Jokhang Temple to burn incense and take down last year's prayer flags. The coming new year means they will be replaced with new prayer flags, which have wishes for the new year written on them.

A monk from the temple says the ceremony holds special significance for Buddhist believers.