Content about Spring Festival

Zhou Kang relied solely on his Chinese UnionPay card to meet all bills during a seven-day trip to South Korea over the Spring Festival last month.

"Wherever I went I saw the logo for UnionPay and cashiers always asked me if I wanted to settle bills using it," said Zhou, 35.

When I texted "Happy Chinese New Year from Seychelles" to a friend in China, he asked me if Seychelles was the name of the compound I live in. I explained to him that it was a country in the Indian Ocean comprising more than 100 islands, some 1,500 km east of mainland Africa. The country's population of about 86,000 is actually smaller than some compounds in Beijing.

Spring Festival in Seychelles was an enjoyable experience, especially when the Carnaval International de Victoria was kicking off on Lunar New Year's Eve.

Michael Sandel adopts a novel approach to address the age-old question of the moral limits of markets in his bestseller. Chen Yingqun explores further.

Market principles should not be allowed to invade our civic, social and family lives, says Michael Sandel, a political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University's Department of Government. Sandel, author of the bestseller What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, says there is often a misconception that markets represent the public good.

While most were still occupied with happy family reunions during the Spring Festival holidays, Liu Guifang in her medical whites was already making the regular rounds of her patients.

The 44-year-old is a village doctor, and she needs to check on her patients, whether it is a public holiday, or not.

"Many of them are isolated seniors living alone without their children, and suffering from some disease," Liu says as she heads towards the home of Wang Chunjing, 84. It is the first day of the Lunar New Year.

A burden or a benefit? That is the question economists were asking over the Spring Festival about China's current high level of US government debt.

The Treasury International Capital report released by the US Department of the Treasury on Feb 15, a week after Chinese New Year's Eve, showed that China remains the largest foreign creditor of the world's largest economy.

Wan Minmin bought a small Prada Saffiano bag as a Spring Festival gift to herself costing nearly 15,000 yuan ($2,401).

"It's a reward for my whole year's hard work. It's worthy," said the 30-year-old Beijing woman, adding that she plans to buy a Return to Tiffany necklace on her birthday in August.

Wan is among millions of Chinese females who still want to buy luxury items in 2013 despite rising luxury goods prices in China.

After a colorful Spring Festival break, the country is getting back to work.

For Wu Ning, owner of the Shanghai florist Blooming Hour, this year was a bit special as the flower market opened early to cash in on Valentine's Day, which fell on the fifth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, during Spring Festival.

"Usually, vendors open for business after Lantern Festival (Feb 24 this year). There was a big difference this year," she says.

South Africa is ready and looking forward to meeting Chinese leaders at the BRICS summit and pledged to deepen cooperation with China, South African President Jacob Zuma told visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Cape Town on Tuesday.

South Africa wishes to deepen collaboration with China in fields such as infrastructure, which will not only benefit the two nations, but also the African continent, Zuma said.

Vehicles with military and police license plates were parked at tourist sites during Spring Festival, prompting public concern over the misuse of public vehicles.

A car with a plate from the Lanzhou Military Area Command ran on the pedestrian street in front of a temple of the Pingyao ancient city tourism resort in Shanxi province at noon on Feb 13, People's Daily reported on Monday.

Another car with a military plate was found on Feb 13 parked in front of "Wang's House", a tourist attraction in Shanxi's Lingshi county, the report said.

Smog blanketed Beijing and parts of northern China on Sunday, disrupting many passengers' plans of returning to work after the Spring Festival holiday and triggering concern over air pollution.

Beijing Capital International Airport delayed 23 flights and canceled four others because of fog covering the runway on Sunday morning, according to the airport's real-time flight information.

At one point on Sunday morning, visibility in the airport dropped to less than 10 meters, making takeoffs and landings difficult, Xinhua News Agency reported.

It might not be easy to think of a nice wish for this zodiac year, but the reptile is an important part of Chinese culture. Peng Yining provides some insights.