Full coverage: 2017 Spring Festival

It's a local Beijing tradition to give dessert boxes as gifts during Spring Festival. That explains the long lines at Daoxiangcun, a time-honored traditional Chinese dessert maker, every year at this time.

"I buy desserts at Daoxiangcun every year. It's like a tradition," said a local resident.

Market on Dihua street in Taipei full of activity. And the buying doesn't stop -- even in Taipei. The Spring Festival market on the famous Dihua Street is bustling, with many making special trips there to buy necessities for the Lunar New Year. Despite low temperatures, housewives made sure to rise early and rush to the market.

"I've come here several times. I come to this market early in the morning every Saturday. Two weeks before, there were many stands that were not opened yet. I think they will open today," said a local resident.

The market is an experience to behold. Tourists, as well as parents who have taken their children to the market, are here to soak up the New Year atmosphere.

"Nowadays, the New Year atmosphere has been fading. That is why I came to Dihua to relive the atmosphere," said a local resident.

Besides shopping and strolling through the market, one can celebrate the New Year in other ways. Spring Festival scrolls, Chinese paper-cutting art. Many elderly in China decorate their houses to welcome the Year of the Rooster in their own traditional ways. And to them, that's perhaps what happiness is all about.