chinese new year is the most importamt festival for chinese people all over the world.it's also called the spring festival or the lunar new year.the exact date of the spring festival on the westerncalendar changes from the year to year.however,chinese new year takes between january one and february nineteenth.on the chinese calendar, every year has an animal's name.these animals are the rat,ox,tiger,rabit,dragon,snake,horse,ram,monkey,rooster,dog and pig.a chinese legend says that the twelve animals had a race.the first year was named after the rat,the winner,the other eleven years were named according to the order in which animals arived in the race.the clever rat jumped onto the oxes' back and then at the end jumped over the oxes' head to arrive the first.the chinese believe that the person born in the particular year has some of characteristics of that animal.