The Other China
China Heritage marked the lead-up to the 2026-2027 Bingwu Year of the Horse with a series of essays, a selection of Other People’s Thoughts and a poem by Xu Zhangrun:
- The Little New Year
- On the Cusp of Fire — The Flaming Horse and The Blood-red Ram
- Snakes Retreat with the Advent of The Horse
- Other People’s Thoughts LXXIII
- Who will adjudicate the how’s and why’s? — Professor Xu Zhangrun’s New Year
- Fuck the Year of the Horse! China’s Homophonophobia
Here, we offer an index of and guide to the ways in which we have celebrated Spring Festival 春節 from 2009, first in China Heritage Quarterly, then in The China Story and, since 2017, in China Heritage. My thanks to Lois Conner for permission to include a short video that she made in Beijing on the evening of the First Day of the Year of the Horse and to Catherine Churchman for allowing us to include her New Year’s card, which features the season’s greetings in Chữ Nôm (Vietnamese demotic script), Tai Yo and Romanised Hokkien.
— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
18 February 2026
Second Day of the First Month of
The Bingwu Year of the Horse
丙午馬年正月初二
初一出門拜年，見面一通寒暄。
你好我好他好，再見又得一年。
Visits to others on the First Day of New Year,
meeting up you chat about this and that:
‘You well? I’m good! They’re also all just fine.
see you, then, in another year’s time.’
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China Heritage Quarterly
2009 己丑牛年
The China Story
2013 癸巳蛇年
- Vipers and Beasts in the Year of the Little Dragon, 8 February 2013
2014 甲午馬年
- This year we only produced a greeting card and I was at Harvard University for Spring Festival.
2015 乙未羊年
- Advent of the Sheep 慶迎羊年, 18 February 2015
2016 丙申猴年
- 2016: The Golden Monkey 金猴, a Year to Remember, 5 February 2016
- A Monkey King’s Journey to the East, 1 January 2017
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Beijing street scene, first night of New Year
(17 February 2026), by Lois Conner:
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China Heritage
2017 丁酉雞年
- January 28 – The Year of the Rooster 丁酉雞年, 2017 in three registers
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January 19 – The Year of the Rooster, On Seeing
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January 15 – The Year of the Rooster, On Reading
2018 戊戌狗年
- The Editor, Mondo Cane, The 2018 Year of the Dog 戊戌狗年, 16 February 2018
- Don J. Cohn, A Pride of Pekingese — Dog Days (I), 18 February 2018
- Pu Songling, The Dog Lover — Dog Days (II), 24 February 2018
- Lee Yee and The Editor, The Real Man of the Year of the Dog — Dog Days (III), 2 March 2018
- The Editor, Objecting — Dog Days (IV), 5 March 2018
- Lois Conner, Foo Dog-Lions — Dog Days (V), 16 March 2018
- Pu Songling, The Midget Hound — Dog Days (VI), 11 May 2018
- Frank Hersey, 事兒狗福狸 Bad Dog! — Dog Days (VII), 14 June 2018
- Liu Xiaobo, Yesterday’s Stray Dog 喪家狗, Today’s Guard Dog 看門狗 — Dog Days (VIII), 4 January 2019
- Various Hands, Yapping Hairpiece, Meddlesome Rug, Turbulent Toupee — Dog Days (IX), 26 January 2019
- Liu Xiaobo, My Puppy’s Death — Dog Days (X), 2 February 2019
2019 己亥豬年
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February 19 – Outside the Pigsty Looking In, Two Views
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February 3 – The Year of the Pig Foretold
2020 庚子鼠年
2021 辛丑牛年
- February 12 – Ox Herding & the Xinchou Year of the Ox 辛丑牛年
2022 壬寅虎年
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January 31 – Greeting the Renyin Year of the Tiger 壬寅虎年
2023 癸卯兔年
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January 24 – Rabbiting on with Lao Shu
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January 23 – A Protection Mantra for the Year of the Rabbit
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January 20 – The Tail-end of Tiger Tyranny
2024 甲辰龍年
- February 9 – Embarking upon the Jiachen Year of the Dragon 甲辰龍年
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February 5 – So Starts the Spring
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January 31 – Lao Shu’s Farewell to the Year of the Rabbit
- January 4 – Lao Shu’s New Year
2025 乙巳蛇年
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January 31 – When the Anaconda is the Chandelier
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January 28 – The Dragon Gives Way to the Snake
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January 1 – Sisyphus in 2025 — Lao Shu’s New Year
2026 丙午馬年
- February 18 – Fuck the Year of the Horse! China’s Homophonophobia
- February 17 – Who will adjudicate the how’s and why’s? — Professor Xu Zhangrun’s New Year
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February 12 – The Little New Year
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February 2 – Lao Shu: ‘Giddy-up, Year of the Horse!’
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January 1 – 31 December 2025 — Lao Shu at Year’s End
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