What family meal is traditionally held on Chinese New Year's Eve?

The family meal traditionally held on Chinese New Year’s Eve is the reunion dinner, known in Mandarin as tuányuán fàn or tuánnián fàn. It is one of the year’s most important family gatherings.

Relatives try to return home for this elaborate feast, which is usually held at or near the home of the family’s most senior member. The meal represents family unity and the closing of the old year. In many households, ancestors are also remembered before or during the dinner through offerings, incense, or a prayer of thanksgiving.

Menus vary widely by region. Fish is often served but deliberately left unfinished because the word for fish, yú, sounds like yú meaning “surplus” or “余,” expressing a wish for abundance year after year. Northern families commonly eat jiaozi dumplings, while southern celebrations may feature niangao, cured meats, seafood, or communal hot pot. The reunion dinner is not a mooncake banquet, tea ceremony, or dim sum brunch, although those foods and settings may appear in other Chinese celebrations.