Shanghai is located in the south of the lowest reaches of the Yangtze River, and its customs have much in common with those of other places in that area. Ever since Shanghai was opened as a port for foreign trade, its water communication gradually became busy. Shanghai has become a densely-populated city in which people from many other provinces and countries live in harmony. The customs there have been enriched and Shanghai has developed its own characteristics.

Lunar New Year's Eve

Lunar New Year's Eve, or "the 30th of December," means the last day or night of the lunar year, and that night is also called the Great New Year's Eve. The character in (lunar New Year's Eve) means "to eliminate," therefore that night also means "to eliminate a year." The 23rd of December of lunar calendar is the Kitchen Day, and people offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God. 24th is the "Minor New Year's Day," and from that day through the lunar New Year's Eve, every household has a general cleaning. They will also do Spring Festival shopping. Pigs and sheep are butchered in the countryside, and people will thresh and polish glutinous rice, make all kinds of dim sum and cured meat. New Year pictures are also put up in and out of the houses. People in town often buy some flowers like narcissus, wintersweet or nandina, and put them in vases so as to add to the atmosphere of the festival. When night falls, all family members gather together and eat New Year's Dinner, or the "Family Reunion Dinner," in which a big variety of dishes are served.

Staying up all night, citizens usually watch TV at home and wait "to see the Old Year out and the New Year in."

When the bell tolls for the New Year, firecrackers are let off to welcome the new spring. For security's sake, firecrackers are banned in town.

The Spring Festival is the most important traditional festival for Chinese people. January 1st of the lunar calendar is the Chinese New Year. Early that day, people are well dressed and the whole family pays a visit to the elder generation. Peers send New Year greetings to each other. The senior members of a family will give money in a red envelope to the children as New Year gifts to congratulate on their growth. In the afternoon of the New Year's Day and the following two days, people will visit their relatives and friends, and many people have made use of modern technologies: they send regards to each other through videophones and the Internet. Nowadays, videophones have entered people's lives. When sending greetings to your acquaintances, you will see them smile and hear them talk on the line, as if you are chatting face-to-face with them.

On the 4th day of the New Year, many people buy fresh carp to welcome the God of Wealth, since the character 鲤(carp) sounds similar to 利(wealth), and a red carp with its head and tail lifted up look just like a gold ingot. All streets are busy during the first five days of the New Year, and people go on pilgrimage to the temples in an endless stream.

Stores are closed in the first three days of the New Year, and some are even closed till the fifth day, the only day for relaxation in a year for the staff. The God of Wealth is received on the fifth day, and people have a big meal that night.

The Lantern Festival

January 15th is the Lantern Festival. People eat wontons in the day and rice dumplings in the evening. During the festival, large awnings are set up in old districts of Shanghai, and all kinds of lanterns together make a splendid view. Sailing boats with lanterns float in great numbers in the Huangpu River. Lanterns are also put up in the fields to anticipate a golden harvest. "Lantern Dragon Show" is a wonderful performance for the festival in western suburbs and Jiading Nanxiang. The performance is accompanied by gongs and drums, and sometimes there are dozens of lantern dragons pursuing a dragon ball.

During the Lantern Festival, women were supposed to cross three bridges. It is said that the family would get rid of all diseases if the women go across three big bridges at a night with bright moonlight. This could be easily done since there were quite a few bridges in old Shanghai, among which the Lu Stone Bridge usually drew more attention.

Tomb-Sweeping Day

On the Tomb-Sweeping Day in March, people will go for a walk in the countryside and commemorate the dead by sweeping their tombs.

People often go to offer incense in Longhua Temple on March 15th, a big fair will be held in Longhua Town. Many people go to watch peach blossoms and the traffic becomes very busy-----as described by Li Xingnan in his A Bamboo Poem written in Qing Dynasty: "A beautiful spring day on March 15th, and travelers gather in an ancient pass; The waves carry away the ringing of bells, and the boats go past the eighteen coves of Longhua." The "Evening Bell in Longhua" used to be one of the eight scenery spots in Shanghai.

On March 23rd, people celebrate the birthday of the Queen of Heaven. Merchants from Fujian province offer sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pray for their safety and wealth. At that time, devotees would also invite theatrical troupes to give performances.

Beginning of Summer

The day marking the beginning of summer is in April, and peasants living in the countryside make cakes with sugar and wheat flour, which is said to be able to prevent heatstroke. They also make fried pancakes with fresh grass and rice, a very popular food in Shanghai and Pudong. "The Three Freshenings," namely sweet plums, rice wine, and salted duck's eggs, are also the food in season.

The Buddha Washing Day

On April 8th, the birthday of Sakyamuni, people will sweep the dust on the Buddha and chant prayers. Big temple fairs will be held in some temples such as Jing An Temple and Guang Fu Temple, and all kinds of local specialties are traded and exchanged.

Dragon Boat Festival

During the Dragon Boat Festival in May, people eat zongzi, a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. Calamus and garlics are hung on the doors to avoid evils. Realgar wine is served at noon and Chinese herbs like rhizome, Dahurian angelica roots and rue are burnt to fumigate the room. Realgar is powdered on children's forehead to avoid heatstroke and other diseases. Zongzi, loquat, yellow croaker and garlic are among the popular food in season. Watching dragon boat races is a popular program favored by most people.

Birthday of Guanyin

June 19th is the birthday of Guanyin (Avalokitesvara), and the temples become crowded again with Buddhists.

July 7th Meeting

The seventh evening of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the time for two legendary figures, the Cowherd and the Weaver Maid, to meet again on a bridge over the galaxy. All kinds of fruits are served in that evening.

Zhongyuan Festival

During Zhongyuan Festival on July 15th, Buddhist rites are performed in temples and lotus lanterns are placed in pools.

Birthday of the God of the Land

July 30th is said to be the birthday of the God of the Land, and people used to light candles and incense in the yard, and that is called "Land Light."

Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is the time to watch the moon. In old Shanghai many people loved to see the reflection of the moon in the river, and "Shiliang Night Moon" was counted as another one of the eight sceneries in Shanghai. When the great tide comes on the 18th, many people go to see it in Dongcheng or Haining in Zhejiang province. In recent years, quite a few people have enjoyed various shows in the Shanghai Osmanthus Festival.

Double Ninth Festival

On September 10th, people make steamed Chongyang cakes with sugar and glutinous rice, and pine cakes are specially made in Jiading and Chuansha. People also drink Chongyang wine and climb up high mountains to celebrate the festival.

Chrysanthemum Festival

During this festival in mid-September, men of letters gather together and compose poems on a variety of beautiful chrysanthemums.

Winter Solstice Festival

The day before winter solstice in November, people used to make flower cakes and dumplings with threshed rice, and sent them to relatives and friends just like on New Year's Day.

Sakyamuni's Enlightenment Day

December 8th is said to be the day when Sakyamuni attained the highest state of spiritual enlightenment. People eat laba porridge made of walnuts, date, bean and other vegetables. In temples, the porridge will be enshrined in front of the Buddha before being distributed to the monks and Buddhist devotees.

Seeing Off the Kitchen God

During the second half of December, people are busy sending New Year gifts to each other. On the 24th, wine, fruits, dumplings and fake gold ingots are offered as sacrifices to the Kitchen God. The ingot candy is a gummy sweet presumably used to seal the mouth of the Kitchen God, in case he would report the human sins to the God of Heaven.

The above customs are still preserved in some villages near Shanghai, whereas inside the city, many of them have disappeared with the development of modern science and technologies, and some were inherited with changes. Generally speaking, customs in Shanghai are in a process of constant change. In areas south of the Yangtze River, folk customs such as dumplings for New Year's Day, green cakes for Tomb-Sweeping Day, zongzi for Dragon Boat Festival, mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival, steamed cakes for Double Ninth Festival, and special dumplings for New Year's Eve, etc. have become characteristics of Shanghai.

With the development of civilization in the city, citizens have suggested that firecrackers be banned during the Spring Festival since they are very likely to cause fires, damages and pollution. Hence, the municipal Public Security Bureau has prohibited firecrackers within the Inner Ring Road.
In recent years, many parents have begun to send toys or books instead of money to their children as Spring Festival gifts, and many people have also changed the custom by sending courteous telegraphs with flowers rather than gift boxes to their relatives and friends.