Yuan" has the meaning of beginning, "Dan" refers to the time of daybreak, but also refers to the daytime. It is the first day of the year." The term "New Year's Day" was first used in the Chinese language. The term "New Year's Day" first came from a poem by Xiao Ziyun (萧子云) in the Southern Dynasty, which reads, "The new New Year's Day is the first day of the year, and the first day of all life is the present day." Song Dynasty Wu Zimu "Meng Liang Record" Volume 1 "first month" entry: "the first day of the first month of the first day of the month, called the new year's day, commonly known as New Year's Day.

A year of festival order, this is the first." ; Han Dynasty Cui Yuan "three hairpin inscription" called "Yuanzheng"; the Jin Dynasty Yu Emanuel "Yang Du Fu" called "yuan Chen"; the Northern Qi Dynasty, a "yuan will enjoy the song of the Royal Summer Rhetoric" in the call for "Yuan Chun"; Tang Dezong Li Shi, "the new year's day out of the dynasty to see the military battles to return to the camp," the poem is called "yuan Shuo".

Traditionally, New Year's Day refers to the first day of the first month of the summer calendar (lunar calendar, lunar calendar). There are different dialects in different parts of the Chinese language called "Dainianchuyi", "Daitianchuyi", called "the first day of the year", generally called "the first day of the first month".

China's successive New Year's Day month and day is not consistent. Xia dynasty in the first day of the first month, the Shang dynasty in the first day of December, the Zhou dynasty in the first day of November, Qin Shihuang united the six countries, and the first day of October for the New Year's Day, and since then the successive generations have not been changed ("Records of the Grand Historian").

The first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian created the "Tai Chu Calendar", which is the first day of the first month of the New Year's Day, and the same provisions of the Xia Dynasty, so it is also known as the "Summer Calendar", which has been used until the Xinhai Revolution. The establishment of the Republic of China, Dr. Sun Yat-sen in order to "line Xia Zheng, so along with the farming season; from the Western calendar, so the statistics", the first day of the first month (New Year's Day) for the Spring Festival, and the Western calendar on January 1 for the New Year.

September 27, 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted the use of the "Western calendar chronology", the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar called "Spring Festival", the Western calendar January 1 as "New Year's Day". New Year's Day, people in various ways to bless each other, New Year's card is one of the main forms.