title: Chinese New Year

text: According to tales and legends, Chinese New Year started with a mythical beast called the Nian (a beast that lives under the sea or in the mountains) during the annual Spring Festival. The Nian would eat villagers, especially children in the middle of the night. One year, all the villagers decided to hide from the beast. An older man appeared before the villagers went into hiding and said that he would stay the night and would get revenge on the Nian. The old man put red papers up and set off firecrackers. The day after, the villagers came back to their town and saw that nothing had been destroyed. They assumed that the old man was a deity who came to save them. The villagers then understood that Yanhuang had discovered that the Nian was afraid of the color red and loud noises. Then the tradition grew when New Year was approaching, and the villagers would wear red clothes, hang red lanterns, and red spring scrolls on windows and doors and used firecrackers and drums to frighten away the Nian. From then on, Nian never came to the village again. The Nian was eventually captured by Hongjun Laozu, an ancient Taoist monk. After that, Nian retreated to a nearby mountain. The name of the mountain has long been lost over the years.


title: Chinese New Year

text: There is also a saying that the beast is "Xi", rather than Nian. Spring Festival included New Year’s Eve and New Year. Xi is a kind of faint monster, and Nian is not related to the animal beasts in terms of meaning, it is more like a mature harvest. There is no record of the beast in the ancient texts; it is only in Chinese folklore. The word "Nian" is composed of the words "he" and "Qian". It means that the grain is rich and the harvest is good. The farmers review the harvest at the end of the year and are also full of expectations for the coming year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Before the new year celebration was established, ancient Chinese gathered and celebrated the end of harvest in autumn. However, this was not the Mid-Autumn Festival, during which Chinese gathered with family to worship the Moon. In the "Classic of Poetry", a poem written during Western Zhou (1045 BC - 771 BC) by an anonymous farmer, described the traditions of celebrating the 10th month of the ancient solar calendar, which was in autumn. According to the poem, during this time people clean millet-stack sites, toast guests with mijiu (rice wine), kill lambs and cook their meat, go to their masters' home, toast the master, and cheer the prospect of living long together. The 10th-month celebration is believed to be one of the prototypes of Chinese New Year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The records of the first Chinese new year celebration can be traced to the Warring States period (475 BC – 221 AD). In the "Lüshi Chunqiu", in Qin state an exorcism ritual to expel illness, called "Big Nuo" (大儺), was recorded as being carried out on the last day of the year. Later, Qin unified China, and the Qin dynasty was founded; and the ritual spread. It evolved into the practice of cleaning one's house thoroughly in the days preceding Chinese New Year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The first mention of celebrating at the start of a new year was recorded during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). In the book "Simin Yueling" (四民月令), written by the Eastern Han agronomist Cui Shi (崔寔), a celebration was described: "The starting day of the first month, is called Zheng Ri. I bring my wife and children, to worship ancestors and commemorate my father." Later he wrote: "Children, wife, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren all serve pepper wine to their parents, make their toast, and wish their parents good health. It's a thriving view." The practice of worshipping ancestors on New Year's Eve is maintained by Chinese people to this day.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Han Chinese also started the custom of visiting acquaintances' homes and wishing each other a happy new year. In "Book of the Later Han", volume 27, a county officer was recorded as going to his prefect's house with a government secretary, toasting the prefect, and praising the prefect's merit.


title: Chinese New Year

text: During the Jin dynasty (266 – 420 AD), people started the New Year's Eve tradition of all-night revelry called "shousui (守歲)". It was described in Western Jin general Zhou Chu's article "Fengtu Ji" (風土記): "At the ending of a year, people gift and wish each other, calling it Kuisui (饋歲); people invited others with drinks and food, calling it Biesui (別歲); on New Year's Eve, people stayed up all night until sunrise, calling it Shousui (守歲)." The article used the word "chu xi" (除夕) to indicate New Year's Eve, and the name is still used until this day.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The Northern and Southern dynasties book "Jingchu Suishiji" described the practice of firing bamboo in the early morning of New Year's Day, which became a New Year tradition of the ancient Chinese. Poet and chancellor of the Tang dynasty Lai Gu also described this tradition in his poem "Early Spring" (早春): "新曆才将半纸开，小亭猶聚爆竿灰", meaning "Another new year just started as a half opening paper, and the family gathered around the dust of exploded bamboo pole". The practice was used by ancient Chinese people to scare away evil spirits, since firing bamboo would noisily crack or explode the hard plant.


title: Chinese New Year

text: During the Tang dynasty, people established the custom of sending "bai nian tie" (拜年帖), which are New Year's greeting cards. It is said that the custom was started by Emperor Taizong of Tang. The emperor wrote "普天同慶" (whole nation celebrate together) on gold leaves and sent them to his ministers. Word of the emperor's gesture spread, and later it became the custom of people in general, who used Xuan paper instead of gold leaves. Another theory is that "bai nian tie" was derived from the Han dynasty's name tag, "門狀" (door opening). As imperial examinations became essential and reached their heyday under the Tang dynasty, candidates curried favour to become pupils of respected teachers, in order to get recommendation letters. After obtaining good examination marks, a pupil went to the teacher's home with a "men zhuang" (门状) to convey their gratitude. Therefore, eventually "men zhuang" became a symbol of good luck, and people started sending them to friends on New Year's Day, calling them by a new name, "bai nian tie" (拜年帖, New Year's Greetings).


title: Chinese New Year

text: The "Chunlian" (Spring Couplets) was written by Meng Chang, an emperor of the Later Shu (935 – 965 AD), during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period："新年納餘慶，嘉節號長春" (Enjoying past legacies in the new year, the holiday foreseeing the long-lasting spring). As described by Song dynasty official Zhang Tangying in his book "Shu Tao Wu", volume 2: on the day of New Year's Eve, the emperor ordered the scholar Xin Yinxun to write the couplets on peach wood and hang them on the emperor's bedroom door. It is believed that placing the couplets on the door to the home in the days preceding the new year was widespread during the Song dynasty. The famous Northern Song politician, litterateur, philosopher, and poet Wang Anshi recorded the custom in his poem "元日" (New Year's Day).


title: Chinese New Year

text: The poem "Yuan Ri" (元日) also includes the word "爆竹" (bao zhu, exploding bamboo), which is believed to be a reference to firecrackers, instead of the previous tradition of firing bamboo, both of which are called the same in the Chinese language. After gunpowder was invented in the Tang dynasty and widely used under the Song dynasty, people modified the tradition of firing bamboo by filling the bamboo pole with gunpowder, which made for louder explosions. Later under the Song, people discarded the bamboo and started to use paper to wrap the gunpowder in cylinders, in imitation of the bamboo. The firecracker was still called "爆竹", thus equating the new and old traditions. It is also recorded that people linked the firecrackers with hemp rope and created the "鞭炮" (bian pao, gunpowder whip) in the Song dynasty. Both "爆竹" and "鞭炮" are still used by present-day people to celebrate the Chinese New Year and other festive occasions.


title: Chinese New Year

text: It was also during the Song dynasty that people started to give money to children in celebration of a new year. The money was called "sui nian qian" (随年钱), meaning "the money based on age". In the chapter "Ending of a year" (歲除) of "Wulin jiushi" (武林舊事), the writer recorded that concubines of the emperor prepared a hundred and twenty coins for princes and princesses, to wish them long lives.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The new year celebration continued under the Yuan dynasty, when people also gave "nian gao" (年糕, year cakes) to relatives.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The tradition of eating Chinese dumplings "jiaozi" (餃子) was established under the Ming dynasty at the latest. It is described in the book "Youzhongzhi" (酌中志): "People get up at 5 in the morning of new year's day, burn incense and light firecrackers, throw door latch or wooden bars in the air three times, drink pepper and thuja wine, eat dumplings. Sometimes put one or two silver currency inside dumplings, and whoever gets the money will attain a year of fortune." Modern Chinese people also put other food that is auspicious into dumplings: such as dates, which prophesy a flourishing new year; candy, which predicts sweet days; and nian gao, which foretells a rich life.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In the Qing dynasty, the name "ya sui qian" (壓歲錢, New Year's Money) was given to the lucky money given to children at the new year. The book "Qing Jia Lu" (清嘉錄) recorded: "elders give children coins threaded together by a red string, and the money is called Ya Sui Qian." The name is still used by modern Chinese people. The lucky money was presented in one of two forms: one was coins strung on red string; the other was a colorful purse filled with coins.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In 1928, the ruling Kuomintang party decreed that the Chinese New Year would fall on 1 Jan of the Gregorian Calendar, but this was abandoned due to overwhelming popular opposition. In 1967, during the Cultural Revolution, official Chinese New Year celebrations were banned in China. The State Council of the People's Republic of China announced that the public should "change customs"; have a "revolutionized and fighting Spring Festival"; and since people needed to work on Chinese New Year Eve, they did not need holidays during Spring Festival day. The old celebrations were reinstated in 1980.


title: Chinese New Year

text: While "Chinese New Year" remains the official name for the festival in Taiwan, the name "Spring Festival" was adopted by the People's Republic of China instead. On the other hand, the overseas Chinese diaspora mostly prefer the term "Lunar New Year", while "Chinese New Year" remains a popular and convenient translation for people of non-Chinese cultural backgrounds. Along with the Han Chinese in and outside Greater China, as many as 29 of the 55 ethnic minority groups in China also celebrate Chinese New Year. Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines celebrate it as an official festival.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in some countries and territories where there is a sizable Chinese population. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. In some countries, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day if the New Year (as a public holiday) falls on a weekend, as in the case of 2013, where the New Year's Eve (9 February) falls on Saturday and the New Year's Day (10 February) on Sunday. Depending on the country, the holiday may be termed differently; common names in English are "Chinese New Year", "Lunar New Year", "New Year Festival", and "Spring Festival".


title: Chinese New Year

text: For New Year celebrations that are lunar but are outside of China and Chinese diaspora (such as Korea's "Seollal" and Vietnam's "Tết"), see the article on Lunar New Year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: For other countries and regions where Chinese New Year is celebrated but not an official holiday, see the table below.


title: Chinese New Year

text: During the festival, people around China will prepare different gourmet dishes for their families and guests. Influenced by the flourished cultures, foods from different places look and taste totally different. Among them, the most well-known ones are dumplings from northern China and Tangyuan from southern China.


title: Chinese New Year

text: On the eighth day of the lunar month prior to Chinese New Year, the "Laba" holiday (), a traditional porridge, Laba porridge (), is served in remembrance of an ancient festival, called "La", that occurred shortly after the winter solstice. Pickles such as Laba garlic, which turns green from vinegar, are also made on this day. For those that practice Buddhism, the Laba holiday is also considered Bodhi Day. "Layue" () is a term often associated with Chinese New Year as it refers to the sacrifices held in honor of the gods in the twelfth lunar month, hence the cured meats of Chinese New Year are known as "larou" (). The porridge was prepared by the women of the household at first light, with the first bowl offered to the family's ancestors and the household deities. Every member of the family was then served a bowl, with leftovers distributed to relatives and friends. It's still served as a special breakfast on this day in some Chinese homes. The concept of the "La month" is similar to Advent in Christianity. Many families eat vegetarian on Chinese New Year eve, the garlic and preserved meat are eaten on Chinese New Year day.


title: Chinese New Year

text: On the days immediately before the New Year celebration, Chinese families give their homes a thorough cleaning. There is a Cantonese saying "Wash away the dirt on "nin ya baat"" (), but the practice is not restricted to "nin ya baat" (the 28th day of month 12). It is believed the cleaning sweeps away the bad luck of the preceding year and makes their homes ready for good luck. Brooms and dust pans are put away on the first day so that the newly arrived good luck cannot be swept away. Some people give their homes, doors and window-frames a new coat of red paint; decorators and paper-hangers do a year-end rush of business prior to Chinese New Year. Homes are often decorated with paper cutouts of Chinese auspicious phrases and couplets. Purchasing new clothing and shoes also symbolize a new start. Any hair cuts need to be completed before the New Year, as cutting hair on New Year is considered bad luck due to the homonymic nature of the word "hair" (fa) and the word for "prosperity". Businesses are expected to pay off all the debts outstanding for the year before the new year eve, extending to debts of gratitude. Thus it is a common practice to send gifts and rice to close business associates, and extended family members.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In many households where Buddhism or Taoism is observed, home altars and statues are cleaned thoroughly, and decorations used to adorn altars over the past year are taken down and burned a week before the new year starts on Little New Year, to be replaced with new decorations. Taoists (and Buddhists to a lesser extent) will also "send gods back to heaven" (), an example would be burning a paper effigy of Zao Jun the Kitchen God, the recorder of family functions. This is done so that the Kitchen God can report to the Jade Emperor of the family household's transgressions and good deeds. Families often offer sweet foods (such as candy) in order to "bribe" the deities into reporting good things about the family.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Prior to the Reunion Dinner, a prayer of thanksgiving is held to mark the safe passage of the previous year. Confucianists take the opportunity to remember their ancestors, and those who had lived before them are revered. Some people do not give a Buddhist prayer due to the influence of Christianity, with a Christian prayer offered instead.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The day before the Chinese New Year (Chinese: ) usually accompanied with a dinner feast, consisting of special meats are served at the tables, as a main course for the dinner and as an offering for the New Year. This meal is comparable to Thanksgiving dinner in the U.S. and remotely similar to Christmas dinner in other countries with a high percentage of Christians.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In northern China, it is customary to make jiaozi, or dumplings, after dinner to eat around midnight. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their shape resembles a Chinese sycee. In contrast, in the South, it is customary to make a glutinous new year cake (niangao) and send pieces of it as gifts to relatives and friends in the coming days. Niángāo [Pinyin] literally means "new year cake" with a homophonous meaning of "increasingly prosperous year in year out".


title: Chinese New Year

text: After dinner, some families may visit local temples hours before midnight to pray for success by lighting the first incense of the year; however in modern practice, many households held parties to celebrate. Traditionally, firecrackers were lit to ward evil spirits when the household doors sealed, and are not to be reopened until dawn in a ritual called "opening the door of fortune" (). A tradition of staying up late on Chinese New Year's Eve is known as "shousui" (Chinese: ), which is still practised as it is thought to add on to one's parents' longevity.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The first day, known as the "Spring Festival" ( / ) is for the welcoming of the deities of the heavens and Earth on midnight. It is a traditional practice to light fireworks, burn bamboo sticks and firecrackers, and lion dance troupes, were done commonly as a tradition to ward off evil spirits.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Typical actions such as lighting fires and using knives are considered taboo, thus all consumable food has to be cooked prior. Using the broom, including swearing and breaking any dinnerware without appeasing the deities, are also considered taboo.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Normal traditions occurring on the first day involve house gatherings to the families, specifically the elders and families to the oldest and most senior members of their extended families, usually their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, and trading Mandarin oranges as a courtesy to symbolize wealth and good luck. Members of the family who are married also give red envelopes containing cash known as "lai see" (Cantonese: ) or "angpow" (Hokkien and Teochew), or "hongbao" (Mandarin: ), a form of a blessing and to suppress both the aging and challenges that were associated with the coming year, to junior members of the family, mostly children and teenagers. Business managers may also give bonuses in the form of red packets to employees to symbolize a smooth-sailing career. The money can be of any form, specifically numbers ending with 8, which sounded as "huat" (Mandarin: ), meaning prosperity, but packets with denominations of odd numbers or without money are usually not allowed due to bad luck, especially the number 4 which sounded as "si" (Mandarin: ), which means death.


title: Chinese New Year

text: While fireworks and firecrackers are traditionally very popular, some regions have banned them due to concerns over fire hazards. For this reason, various city governments (e.g., Kowloon, Beijing, Shanghai for a number of years) issued bans over fireworks and firecrackers in certain precincts of the city. As a substitute, large-scale fireworks display have been launched by governments in Hong Kong and Singapore. However, in some cases such as Hong Kong being an exception to do so for the indigenous peoples of the walled villages of New Territories in a limited scale.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The second day, entitled "a year's beginning" (), oversees married daughters visiting their birth parents, relatives and close friends, often renew family ties and relationship. (Traditionally, married daughters didn't have the opportunity to visit their birth families frequently.)


title: Chinese New Year

text: The second day also saw giving offering money and sacrifices to God of Wealth (Chinese: ) to symbolize a rewarding time after hardship in the preceding year. During the days of imperial China, "beggars and other unemployed people circulate[d] from family to family, carrying a picture [of the God of Wealth] shouting, ""Cai Shen dao"!" [The God of Wealth has come!]." Householders would respond with "lucky money" to reward the messengers. Business people of the Cantonese dialect group will hold a 'Hoi Nin' prayer to start their business on the second day of Chinese New Year, blessing business to strive in the coming year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: As this day is believed to be The Birthday of Che Kung, a deity worshipped in Hong Kong, worshippers go to Che Kung Temples to pray for his blessing. A representative from the government asks Che Kung about the city's fortune through kau cim.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The third day is known as "red mouth" (). "Chikou" is also called "Chigou's Day" (). "Chigou", literally "red dog", is an epithet of "the God of Blazing Wrath" (). Rural villagers continue the tradition of burning paper offerings over trash fires. It is considered an unlucky day to have guests or go visiting. Hakka villagers in rural Hong Kong in the 1960s called it the Day of the Poor Devil and believed everyone should stay at home. This is also considered a propitious day to visit the temple of the God of Wealth and have one's future told.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In those communities that celebrate Chinese New Year for 15 days, the fourth day is when corporate "spring dinners" kick off and business returns to normal. Other areas that have a longer Chinese New Year holiday will celebrate and welcome the gods that were previously sent on this day.


title: Chinese New Year

text: This day is the god of Wealth's birthday. In northern China, people eat jiaozi, or dumplings, on the morning of "powu" (). In Taiwan, businesses traditionally re-open on the next day (the sixth day), accompanied by firecrackers.


title: Chinese New Year

text: It is also common in China that on the 5th day people will shoot off firecrackers to get Guan Yu's attention, thus ensuring his favor and good fortune for the new year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The sixth day is Horse's Day, on which people drive away the Ghost of Poverty by throwing out the garbage stored up during the festival. The ways vary but basically have the same meaning—to drive away the Ghost of Poverty, which reflects the general desire of the Chinese people to ring out the old and ring in the new, to send away the previous poverty and hardship and to usher in the good life of the New Year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The seventh day, traditionally known as "Renri" (the common person's birthday), is the day when everyone grows one year older. In some overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Singapore, it is also the day when tossed raw fish salad, yusheng, is eaten for continued wealth and prosperity.


title: Chinese New Year

text: For many Chinese Buddhists, this is another day to avoid meat, the seventh day commemorating the birth of Sakra, lord of the devas in Buddhist cosmology who is analogous to the Jade Emperor.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Another family dinner is held to celebrate the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven. People normally return to work by the eighth day, therefore the Store owners will host a lunch/dinner with their employees, thanking their employees for the work they have done for the whole year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The ninth day is traditionally known as the birthday of the Jade Emperor of Heaven () and many people offered prayer in the Taoist Pantheon as thanks or gratitude., and it is commonly known as called "Ti Kong Dan" (), "Ti Kong Si" () or "Pai Ti Kong" (), which is especially important to Hokkiens other than the first day of the Chinese New Year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: A prominent requisite offering is sugarcane. Legends holds that the Hokkien were spared from a massacre by Japanese pirates by hiding in a sugarcane plantation between the eighth and ninth days of the Chinese New Year, coinciding with the Jade Emperor's birthday. "Sugarcane" () is a near homonym to "thank you" () in the Hokkien dialect.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In the morning (traditionally anytime between midnight and 7 am), Taiwanese households set up an altar table with three layers: one top (containing offertories of six vegetables (; those being noodles, fruits, cakes, tangyuan, vegetable bowls, and unripe betel), all decorated with paper lanterns) and two lower levels (five sacrifices and wines) to honor the deities below the Jade Emperor. The household then kneels three times and kowtows nine times to pay obeisance and wish him a long life.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Incense, tea, fruit, vegetarian food or roast pig, and gold paper, are served as a customary protocol for paying respect to an honored person.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The fifteenth day of the new year is celebrated as the Lantern Festival, also known as the Yuanxiao Festival (), the Shangyuan Festival (), and Chap Goh Meh ( in Hokkien). Rice dumplings, or "tangyuan" (), a sweet glutinous rice ball brewed in a soup, are eaten this day. Candles are lit outside houses as a way to guide wayward spirits home. Families may walk the streets carrying lanterns, which sometimes have riddles attached to or written on them as a tradition.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In China and Malaysia, this day is celebrated by individuals seeking a romantic partner, akin to Valentine's Day. Nowadays, single women write their contact number on mandarin oranges and throw them in a river or a lake after which single men collect the oranges and eat them. The taste is an indication of their possible love: sweet represents a good fate while sour represents a bad fate.


title: Chinese New Year

text: ("nián yè fàn") is held on New Year's Eve during which family members gather for a celebration. The venue will usually be in or near the home of the most senior member of the family. The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and sumptuous and traditionally includes dishes of meat (namely, pork and chicken) and fish. Most reunion dinners also feature a communal hot pot as it is believed to signify the coming together of the family members for the meal. Most reunion dinners (particularly in the Southern regions) also prominently feature specialty meats (e.g. wax-cured meats like duck and Chinese sausage) and seafood (e.g. lobster and abalone) that are usually reserved for this and other special occasions during the remainder of the year. In most areas, fish () is included, but not eaten completely (and the remainder is stored overnight), as the Chinese phrase "may there be "surpluses" every year" () sounds the same as "let there be fish every year." Eight individual dishes are served to reflect the belief of good fortune associated with the number. If in the previous year a death was experienced in the family, seven dishes are served.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Other traditional foods consists of noodles, fruits, dumplings, spring rolls, and Tangyuan which are also known as sweet rice balls. Each dish served during Chinese New Year represents something special. The noodles used to make longevity noodles are usually very thin, long wheat noodles. These noodles are longer than normal noodles that are usually fried and served on a plate, or boiled and served in a bowl with its broth. Expectedly, the noodles symbolize the wish for a long life. The fruits that are typically selected would be oranges, tangerines, and pomelos as they are round and "golden" color symbolizing fullness and wealth. Their lucky sound when spoken also brings good luck and fortune. The Chinese pronunciation for orange is 橙 (chéng /chnng/), which sounds the same as the Chinese for 'success' (成). One of the ways to spell tangerine(桔 jú /jyoo/) contains the Chinese character for luck (吉 jí /jee/). Pomelos is believed to bring constant prosperity. Pomelo in Chinese (柚 yòu /yo/) sounds similar to 'to have' (有 yǒu), disregarding its tone, however it sounds exactly like 'again' (又 yòu). Dumplings and spring rolls symbolize wealth, whereas sweet rice balls symbolize family togetherness.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Red packets for the immediate family are sometimes distributed during the reunion dinner. These packets contain money in an amount that reflects good luck and honorability. Several foods are consumed to usher in wealth, happiness, and good fortune. Several of the Chinese food names are homophones for words that also mean good things.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Many places in China still follow the tradition of eating only vegetarian food on the first day of the New Year, as it is believed that doing so will bring joy and peace into their lives for the whole year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Like many other New Year dishes, certain ingredients also take special precedence over others as these ingredients also have similar-sounding names with prosperity, good luck, or even counting money.


title: Chinese New Year

text: (Mandarin: ; Hakka: fung bao / Cantonese: ) are passed out during the Chinese New Year's celebrations, from married couples or the elderly to unmarried juniors or children. During this period, red packets are also known as "yasuiqian" (, which was evolved from , literally, "the money used to suppress or put down the evil spirit"). According to legend, a demon named Sui patted a child on the head three times on New Year's Eve, and the child would have a fever. The parents wrapped coins in red paper and placed them next to their children's pillows. When Sui came, the flash of the coin scared him away. From then on, every New Year's Eve, parents will wrap the coin in red paper to protect their children.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Red packets almost always contain money, usually varying from a couple of dollars to several hundred. Chinese superstitions favour amounts that begin with even numbers, such as 8 (八, ) — a homophone for "wealth", and 6 (六, ) — a homophone for "smooth", except for the number 4 (四, ) — as it is a homophone of "death", and is, as such, considered unlucky in Asian culture. Odd numbers are also avoided, as they are associated with cash given during funerals (帛金, ). It is also customary for bills placed inside a red envelope to be new.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The act of asking for red packets is normally called (Mandarin): 討紅包 tǎo-hóngbāo, 要利是 or (Cantonese): 逗利是. A married person would not turn down such a request as it would mean that he or she would be "out of luck" in the new year. Red packets are generally given by established married couples to the younger non-married children of the family. It is custom and polite for children to wish elders a happy new year and a year of happiness, health and good fortune before accepting the red envelope. Red envelopes are then kept under the pillow and slept on for seven nights after Chinese New Year before opening because that symbolizes good luck and fortune.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Taiwan in the 2000s, some employers also gave red packets as a bonus to maids, nurses or domestic workers from Southeast Asian countries, although whether this is appropriate is controversial.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In the mid-2010s, Chinese messaging apps such as WeChat popularized the distribution of red envelopes in a virtual format via mobile payments, usually within group chats. In 2017, it was estimated that over 100 billion of these virtual red envelopes would be sent over the New Year holiday.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In ancient times, there is a monster named "sui" (祟) which comes out on New Year's Eve and touches the heads of sleeping children. The child will be frightened by the touch and wake up and have a fever. The fever eventually will cause the child to be mentally retarded. Hence, families will light up their homes and stay awake, leading to a tradition of "守祟", to guide against "sui" from harming their children.


title: Chinese New Year

text: A folklore tale of "sui" is about an elderly couple with a precious son. On the night of New Year's Eve, since they were afraid that "sui" would come, they took out eight pieces of copper coins to play with their son in order to keep him awake. Their son was very sleepy, however, so they let him go to sleep after placing a red paper bag containing the copper coins under the child's pillow. The two older children also stayed with him for the whole night. Suddenly, the doors and windows were blown open by a strange wind, and even the candlelight was extinguished. It turned out to be a "sui". When the "sui" was going to reach out and touch the child's head, the pillow suddenly brightened with the golden light, and the "sui" was scared away, so the exorcism effect of "red paper wrapped copper money" spread in the past China (see also Chinese numismatic charms). The money is then called “ya sui qian (壓歲錢)”, the money to suppress "sui".


title: Chinese New Year

text: Another tale is that a huge demon was terrorising a village and there was nobody in the village who was able to defeat the demon; many warriors and statesmen had tried with no luck. A young orphan stepped in, armed with a magical sword that was inherited from his ancestors, and battled the demon, eventually killing it. Peace was finally restored to the village, and the elders all presented the brave young man with a red envelope filled with money to repay the young orphan for his courage and for ridding the village of the demon.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In addition to red envelopes, which are usually given from older people to younger people, small gifts (usually food or sweets) are also exchanged between friends or relatives (of different households) during Chinese New Year. Gifts are usually brought when visiting friends or relatives at their homes. Common gifts include fruits (typically oranges, but never trade pears), cakes, biscuits, chocolates, and candies. Gifts are preferred to be wrapped with red or golden paper, which symbolises good luck.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Markets or village fairs are set up as the New Year is approaching. These usually open-air markets feature new year related products such as flowers, toys, clothing, and even fireworks and firecrackers. It is convenient for people to buy gifts for their new year visits as well as their home decorations. In some places, the practice of shopping for the perfect plum tree is not dissimilar to the Western tradition of buying a Christmas tree.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Hong Kong filmmakers also release "New Year celebration films" (), mostly comedies, at this time of year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Bamboo stems filled with gunpowder that was burnt to create small explosions were once used in ancient China to drive away evil spirits. In modern times, this method has eventually evolved into the use of firecrackers during the festive season. Firecrackers are usually strung on a long fused string so it can be hung down. Each firecracker is rolled up in red papers, as red is auspicious, with gunpowder in its core. Once ignited, the firecracker lets out a loud popping noise and, as they are usually strung together by the hundreds, the firecrackers are known for their deafening explosions that are thought to scare away evil spirits. The burning of firecrackers also signifies a joyful time of year and has become an integral aspect of Chinese New Year celebrations. Since the 2000s, firecrackers have been banned in various countries and towns.


title: Chinese New Year

text: ""Happy New Year!"" () is a popular children's song for the New Year holiday. The melody is similar to the American folk song, "Oh My Darling, Clementine". Another popular Chinese New Year song is Gong Xi Gong Xi()


title: Chinese New Year

text: Watching Chinese New Year films is an expression of Chinese cultural identity. During the New Year holidays, the stage boss gathers the most popular actors whom from various troupes let them perform repertories from Qing dynasty. Nowadays people prefer celebrating the new year with their family by watching these movies together.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The color red is commonly worn throughout Chinese New Year; traditional beliefs held that red could scare away evil spirits and bad fortune. The wearing of new clothes is another clothing custom during the festival, the new clothes symbolize a new beginning in the year, and enough things to use and wear in this time.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In some places, the taking of a family portrait is an important ceremony after the relatives are gathered. The photo is taken at the hall of the house or taken in front of the house. The most senior male head of the family sits in the center.


title: Chinese New Year

text: As with all cultures, Chinese New Year traditions incorporate elements that are symbolic of deeper meaning. One common example of Chinese New Year symbolism is the red diamond-shaped "fu characters" (), which are displayed on the entrances of Chinese homes. This sign is usually seen hanging upside down, since the Chinese word "dao" (), is homophonous or nearly homophonous with () in all varieties of Chinese. Therefore, it symbolizes the arrival of luck, happiness, and prosperity.


title: Chinese New Year

text: For the Cantonese-speaking people, if the "fu" sign is hung upside down, the implied "dao" (upside down) sounds like the Cantonese word for "pour", producing "pour the luck [away]", which would usually symbolize bad luck; this is why the "fu" character is not usually hung upside-down in Cantonese communities.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Red is the predominant color used in New Year celebrations. Red is the emblem of joy, and this color also symbolizes virtue, truth and sincerity. On the Chinese opera stage, a painted red face usually denotes a sacred or loyal personage and sometimes a great emperor. Candies, cakes, decorations and many things associated with the New Year and its ceremonies are colored red. The sound of the Chinese word for "red" () is in Mandarin homophonous with the word for "prosperous." Therefore, red is an auspicious color and has an auspicious sound.


title: Chinese New Year

text: According to Chinese tradition, the year of the pig is a generally unlucky year for the public, which is why you need to reevaluate most of your decisions before you reach a conclusion. However, this only helps you get even more control over your life as you learn to stay ahead of everything by being cautious.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Nianhua can be a form of Chinese colored woodblock printing, for decoration during Chinese New Year. Nianhua uses a range of subjects to express and invite positive prospects as the new year begins. The most popular representatives of these prospects take inspiration from nature, religion, folklore, etc., and are portrayed in flashy and lively ways.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Traditionally, families gather together during the Chinese New Year. In modern China, migrant workers in China travel home to have reunion dinners with their families on Chinese New Year's Eve. Owing to a large number of interprovincial travelers, special arrangements were made by railways, buses and airlines starting from 15 days before the New Year's Day. This 40-day period is called chunyun, and is known as the world's largest annual migration. More interurban trips are taken in China in this period than the total population of China.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Taiwan, spring travel is also a major event. The majority of transportation in western Taiwan is in a north–south direction: long-distance travel between urbanized north and hometowns in the rural south. Transportation in eastern Taiwan and that between Taiwan and its islands is less convenient. Cross-strait flights between Taiwan and China began in 2003 as part of Three Links, mostly for "Taiwanese businessmen" to return to Taiwan for the new year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Chinese New Year is also celebrated annually in many countries which houses significant Chinese populations. These include countries throughout Asia, Oceania, and North America. Sydney, London, and San Francisco claim to host the largest New Year celebration outside of Asia and South America.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Chinese New Year is a national public holiday in many Southeast Asian countries and considered to be one of the most important holidays of the year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Chinese New Year's Eve is typically a half-day holiday in Malaysia, while Chinese New Year is a two-day public holiday. The biggest celebrations take place in Malaysia (notably in Kuala Lumpur, George Town, Johor Bahru and Ipoh.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Singapore, Chinese New Year is officially a two-day public holiday. Chinese New Year is accompanied by various festive activities. One of the main highlights is the Chinatown celebrations. In 2010, this included a Festive Street Bazaar, nightly staged shows at Kreta Ayer Square and a lion dance competition. The Chingay Parade also features prominently in the celebrations. It is an annual street parade in Singapore, well known for its colorful floats and wide variety of cultural performances. The highlights of the Parade for 2011 include a Fire Party, multi-ethnic performances and an unprecedented travelling dance competition.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In the Philippines, Chinese New Year is considered to be the most important festival for Filipino-Chinese, and its celebration has also extended to the non-Chinese majority Filipinos. In 2012, Chinese New Year was included in public holidays in the Philippines, which is only New Year's Day itself.(Sin-nî: Chinese new years in Philippine Hokkien)


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Indonesia, the Chinese New Year is officially named "Tahun Baru Imlek" (), or "Sin Cia" () in Hokkien. It was celebrated as one of the official national religious holiday by Chinese Indonesians since 18 June 1946 to 1 January 1953 through government regulation signed by President Sukarno on 18 June 1946. It was unofficially celebrated by ethnic Chinese from 1953 to 1967 based on government regulation signed by Vice President Muhammad Hatta on 5 February 1953 which annul the previous regulation, among others, the Chinese New Year as a national religious holiday, Effectively from 6 December 1967, until 1998, the spiritual practice to celebrate the Chinese New Year by Chinese families was restricted specifically only inside of the Chinese house. This restriction is made by Indonesian government through a Presidential Instruction, "Instruksi Presiden No.14 Tahun 1967", signed by President Suharto. This restriction is ended when the regime has changed and the President Suharto was overthrown. The celebration is conducted unofficially by Chinese community from 1999 to 2000. On 17 January 2000, the President Abdurrahman Wahid issued a Presidential Decree through "Keputusan Presiden RI No 6 Tahun 2000" to annul "Instruksi Presiden No.14 Tahun 1967." On 19 January 2001, the Ministry of Religious Affairs ("Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia") issued a Decree through "Keputusan Menteri Agama RI No 13 Tahun 2001 tentang Imlek sebagai Hari Libur Nasional" to set of "Hari Tahun Baru Imlek" as a Facultative Holiday for Chinese Community"." Through the Presidential Decree it was officially declared as a 1 (one) day public religious holiday as of 9 April 2002 by President Megawati. The Indonesian government authorize only the first day of the Chinese New Year as a public religious holiday and it is specifically designated only for Chinese people.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Indonesia, the first day of the Chinese New Year is recognized as a part of the celebration of the Chinese religion and tradition of Chinese community. There are no other official or unofficial of the Chinese New Year as a public holiday. The remaining 14 days are celebrated only by ethnic Chinese families. In Indonesia, the Chinese Year is named as a year of "Kǒngzǐ" () or "Kongzili" in Indonesian. Every year, the Ministry of Religious Affairs ("Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia") set the specific date of religious holiday based on input from religious leaders. The Chinese New Year is the only national religious holiday in Indonesia that was enacted specifically with the Presidential Decree, in this case with the "Keputusan Presiden Republik Indonesia (Keppres RI) No 19 Tahun 2002" dated on 9 April 2002. The celebration of the Chinese New Year as a religious holiday is specifically intended only for Chinese People in Indonesia ("tradisi masyarakat Cina yang dirayakan secara turun temurun di berbagai wilayah di Indonesia," "dan umat Agama Tionghoa") and it is not intended to be celebrated by Indonesian Indigenous Peoples or "Masyarakat Pribumi Indonesia".


title: Chinese New Year

text: Cities with significant Chinese populations in Indonesia include Jakarta, Medan, Batam, Surabaya, Semarang, Surakarta, Singkawang, Pangkal Pinang, Binjai, Bagansiapiapi, Tanjungbalai, Pematangsiantar, Selat Panjang, Pekanbaru, Tanjung Pinang, Ketapang, Pontianak, Sungailiat, Tanjung Pandan, Manggar, Toboali, Muntok, Lubuk Pakam, Bandung, Rantau Prapat, Tebing Tinggi, Sibolga, Dumai, Panipahan, Bagan Batu, Tanjung Balai Karimun, Palembang, Bengkayang, Manado, and Tangerang always have its own New Year's celebration every years with parade and fireworks. A lot shopping malls decorated its building with lantern, Chinese words and lion or dragon with red and gold as main color. Lion dance is a common sight around Chinese houses, temples and its shophouses. Usually, the Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist Chinese will burn a big incense made by aloeswood with dragon-decorated at front of their house. The Chinese temple is open 24 hours at the first day, their also distributes a red envelopes and sometimes rice, fruits or sugar to the poor around.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Thailand, one of the most populous Chinese descent populated countries. Also celebrated the great Chinese New Year festivities throughout the country, especially in provinces where many people of Chinese descent live such as Nakhon Sawan, Suphan Buri, Phuket etc. Which is considered to promote tourism in the same agenda as well.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Divided into 3 days, the first day is the "Wan chai" (; pay day), meaning the day that people go out to shop for offerings, the second day is the "Wan wai" (; worship day), is a day of worshiping the gods and ancestral spirits, which is divided into three periods: dawn, late morning and afternoon, the third day is a "Wan tieow" (; holiday), is a holiday that everyone will leave the house to travel or to bless relatives or respectable people. And often wear red clothes because it is believed to bring auspiciousness to life.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Observed by Thai Chinese and parts of the private sector. Usually celebrated for three days, starting on the day before Chinese New Year's Eve. Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Satun and Songkhla Provinces. For the year 2021 (one year only) the government declared Chinese New Year a government holiday. It applies mostly to civil servants, financial institutions and private businesses can decide whether or not to observe it.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In the capital, Bangkok in Chinatown, Yaowarat Road, there is a great celebration. Which usually closes the road making it a pedestrian street and often have a member of royal family came to be the president of the ceremony, always open every year, such as Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.


title: Chinese New Year

text: With one of the largest Chinese populations outside of Asia, Sydney also claims to have the largest Chinese New Year Celebrations outside of Asia with over 600,000 people attending the celebrations in Chinatown annually. The events there span over three weeks including the launch celebration, outdoor markets, evening street food stalls, Chinese top opera performances, dragon boat races, a film festival and multiple parades that incorporate Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese people. More than 100,000 people attend notably the main parade with over 3,500 performers. The festival also attracts international media coverage, reaching millions of viewers in Asia. The festival in Sydney is organized in partnership with a different Chinese province each year. Apart from Sydney, other state capital cities in Australia also celebrate Chinese New Year due to large number of Chinese residents. The cities include: Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne Box Hill and Perth. The common activities are lion dance, dragon dance, New Year market, and food festival. In the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, Victoria a Lunar New Year celebration initially focusing on the Vietnamese New Year has expanded into a celebration of the Chinese New Year as well as the April New Year celebrations of the Thais, Cambodians, Laotians and other Asian Australian communities who celebrate the New Year in either January/February or April.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The city of Wellington hosts a two-day weekend festival for Chinese New Year, and a one-day festival is held in Dunedin, centred on the city's Chinese gardens.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Many cities in North America sponsor official parades for the Chinese New Year. Among the cities with such parades are New York City (Manhattan; Flushing, Queens; and Brooklyn), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Mexico City, Toronto, and Vancouver. However, even smaller cities that are historically connected to Chinese immigration, such as Butte, Montana, have recently hosted parades.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Multiple groups in New York City cooperate to sponsor a week-long Lunar New Year celebration. The festivities include cultural festival, music concert, fireworks on the Hudson River near the Chinese Consulate, and special exhibits. One of the key celebrations is the Chinese New Year parade with floats and fireworks taking place along the streets in Chinatown, Manhattan, the largest Chinese New Year parade outside Asia. In June 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared that the Lunar New Year would be made a public school holiday.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The San Francisco Chinese New Year Festival and Parade is the oldest and one of the largest events of its kind outside of Asia, and one of the largest Asian cultural events in North America.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The festival incorporates Grant and Kearny Streets into its street festival and parade route, respectively. The use of these streets traces its lineage back to early parades beginning the custom in San Francisco. In 1849, with the discovery of gold and the ensuing California Gold Rush, over 50,000 people had come to San Francisco to seek their fortune or just a better way of life. Among those were many Chinese, who had come to work in the gold mines and on the railroad. By the 1860s, the residents of San Francisco's Chinatown were eager to share their culture with their fellow San Francisco residents who may have been unfamiliar with (or hostile towards) it. The organizers chose to showcase their culture by using a favorite American tradition – the parade. They invited a variety of other groups from the city to participate, and they marched down what today are Grant Avenue and Kearny Street carrying colorful flags, banners, lanterns, drums, and firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In San Francisco, over 100 units participate in the annual Chinese New Year Parade held since 1958. The parade is attended by some 500,000 people along with another 3 million TV viewers.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In London, celebrations take place in Chinatown, Leicester Square, and Trafalgar Square. Festivities include a parade, cultural feast, fireworks, concerts, and performances. The celebration attracts between 300,000 and 500,000 people yearly according to the organisers.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Paris, celebrations have been held since the 1980s in several districts during one month with many performances and the main of the three parades with 40 groups and 4,000 performers is attended alone by more than 200,000 people in the 13th arrondissement.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Celebrations have been held officially in The Hague since 2002. Other celebration are held in Amsterdam and in Rotterdam.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Many celebrate the festival in Chinatown, Kolkata, India, where a significant community of people of Chinese origin exists. In Kolkata, Chinese New Year is celebrated with lion and dragon dance.


title: Chinese New Year

text: In Pakistan, the Chinese New Year is also celebrated among the sizable Chinese expatriate community that lives in the country. During the festival, the Chinese embassy in Islamabad arranges various cultural events in which Pakistani arts and cultural organizations and members of the civil society also participate.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Chinese culture in Mauritius is an important component of the multiculturalism in Mauritius. Despite the small size of the Sino-Mauritian community (estimated to be only about 3% of the total population), Chinese New Year (also known as Chinese Spring Festival) is a time where Chinese culture is celebrated on the island and is a public holiday in Mauritius. Mauritius is also the only country in Africa which lists the Chinese Spring Festival as a statutory public holiday. During this period of the year, there is a joyful and festive atmosphere throughout the entire country.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Sino-Mauritians are very attached to Chinese traditions. The Chinese Spring Festival is the biggest celebration for the Sino-Mauritians on the island. The dates of the celebration follows the Chinese lunar calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar. During the week prior to the New Year's Day, spring cleaning in homes is performed.The festival starts on Chinese New Year's Eve by lighting on firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. Traditionalist visit pagodas to offer offerings and prayers on the New Year's Eve.Following Chinese customs, there is a big family dinner on the New Year's Eve. While the family dinner was traditionally celebrated at the house of the oldest family parents, going to restaurants for New Year's Eve is getting more popular; some restaurants may also have special dinners across the island to foster the family reunions of Sino-Mauritians. After the New year's Eve dinner, youths often go to nightclubs. On the day of the Chinese New Year, it is customary for Sino-Mauritian to share niangao to their relatives and friends and to lit firecrackers to ward off evil spirits. Red envelopes are also given. Some families would also visit pagoda on New Year to honor their ancestors. Some families observe a vegetarian diet on the New Year. The main celebration events typically take place in the Chinatown area in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. The Dragon dance and the Southern Lion dance is also customary on that day. The colour red is dominantly used to decorate the streets and houses. Chinese items (e.g. Chinese lanterns) are also used as decorations.


title: Chinese New Year

text: The Chinese New Year is often accompanied by loud, enthusiastic greetings, often referred to as () in Mandarin or (Kat Lei Seut Wa) in Cantonese, loosely translated as "auspicious words or phrases". New Year couplets printed in gold letters on bright red paper, referred to as "chunlian" () or "fai chun" (), is another way of expressing auspicious new year wishes. They probably predate the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), but did not become widespread until then. Today, they are ubiquitous with Chinese New Year.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Numerous other greetings exist, some of which may be exclaimed out loud to no one in particular in specific situations. For example, as breaking objects during the new year is considered inauspicious, one may then say ("Suìsuì-píng'ān") immediately, which means "everlasting peace year after year". "Suì" (), meaning "age" is homophonous with (suì) (meaning "shatter"), in the demonstration of the Chinese love for wordplay in auspicious phrases. Similarly, ("niánnián yǒu yú"), a wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year, plays on the word "yú" that can also refer to (yú meaning fish), making it a catch phrase for fish-based Chinese new year dishes and for paintings or graphics of fish that are hung on walls or presented as gifts.


title: Chinese New Year

text: These greetings or phrases may also be used just before children receive their red packets, when gifts are exchanged, when visiting temples, or even when tossing the shredded ingredients of yusheng particularly popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Children and their parents can also pray in the temple, in hopes of getting good blessings for the new year to come.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Children and teenagers sometimes jokingly use the phrase "" (; Cantonese: ; ), roughly translated as "Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope!". In Hakka the saying is more commonly said as 'Gung hee fatt choi, hung bao diu loi' which would be written as – a mixture of the Cantonese and Mandarin variants of the saying.


title: Chinese New Year

text: Back in the 1960s, children in Hong Kong used to say (Cantonese, Gung Hei Fat Choy, Lai Si Tau Loi, Tau Ling M Ngoi), which was recorded in the pop song Kowloon Hong Kong by Reynettes in 1966. Later in the 1970s, children in Hong Kong used the saying: , roughly translated as, "Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope, fifty cents is too little, don't want a dollar either." It basically meant that they disliked small change – coins which were called "hard substance" (Cantonese: ). Instead, they wanted "soft substance" (Cantonese: ), which was either a ten dollar or a twenty dollar note.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Tanya Roberts (born Victoria Leigh Blum; October 15, 1949 – January 4, 2021) was an American actress. She played Julie Rogers in the final season of the television series "Charlie's Angels" (1980–1981), Stacey Sutton in the James Bond film "A View to a Kill" (1985), Sheena in "Sheena" (1984), Kiri in "The Beastmaster" (1982) and Midge Pinciotti on "That '70s Show" (1998–2004).


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Tanya Roberts was born Victoria Leigh Blum in 1949 (although long given as 1955) either in Manhattan or the Bronx, New York City, to Oscar Blum and his wife Dorothy (née Smith). Oscar Maximilian Blum was born in New York City. Oscar's father, Theodor Blum, has been called "The most outstanding oral surgeon in America" for his pioneering work in local anesthesia and the use of x-rays in dental care. Theodor was born in Vienna, Austria and emigrated to New York in 1904. Oscar earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1934 and was a first year student in the medical college there. In 1940, Tanya's father was working as an assistant manager for a music publishing house in New York City. He married in 1945 in Weymouth, England, Dorothy Leigh Smith from Oldham, England. At age 22 Dorothy arrived in New York City in April 1945. In 1948, Dorothy returned to New York from a trip to England with Tanya's two-year-old sister, Barbara. Tanya's father was of Jewish descent and her mother was of English or Irish descent. It has also been reported that her father was of Irish descent and her mother was Jewish. She had one older sister, Barbara. The 1950 U.S. Census shows that the Blum family with the two daughters lived in the hamlet of Hewlett in Hempstead, NY as of April 1950 and that Oscar Blum was a sales executive for a pen manufacturer. In 1956, Tanya and her sister lived in Scarsdale, New York in a home built in 1950, still standing 70 years later. Tanya's parents purchased the Scarsdale home new in March 1951 and sold it in January 1958 to buy a property in Greenburgh, New York that same month. Tanya's father sold the Greenburgh property on his own in July 1961. Oscar Blum supported the family on a modest income, working as a fountain pen salesman in Manhattan. The sisters were raised in the central Bronx.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: After meeting psychology student Barry Roberts (while waiting in line for a movie), she proposed to him in a subway station and they were soon married. While Barry pursued a career as a screenwriter, she began to study at the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Uta Hagen under the name "Tanya Roberts".


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Roberts began her career as a model in TV ads for Excedrin, Ultra Brite, Clairol, and Cool Ray sunglasses. She played serious roles in the off-Broadway productions "Picnic" and "Antigone". She also supported herself as an Arthur Murray dance instructor. Her film debut was in "The Last Victim" (1975). This was followed by the comedy "The Yum-Yum Girls" (1976). In 1977, as her husband was securing his own screenwriting career, the couple moved to Hollywood. There she was cast in "The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover" (1977) and the following year, participated in the drama "Fingers". In 1979 Roberts appeared in the cult movie "Tourist Trap", "Racquet," and "California Dreaming". Roberts was featured in several television pilots which were not picked up: "Zuma Beach" (a 1978 comedy), "Pleasure Cove" (1979), and "Waikiki" (1980).


title: Tanya Roberts

text: In the summer of 1980, Roberts was chosen from some 2,000 candidates to replace Shelley Hack in the fifth season of the detective television series "Charlie's Angels". Roberts played Julie Rogers, a streetwise fighter who used her fists more than her gun. Producers hoped Roberts's presence would revitalize the series's declining ratings and regenerate media interest in the series. Before the season's premiere, Roberts was featured on the cover of "People" magazine with a headline asking if Roberts would be able to save the declining series from cancellation. Despite the hype of Roberts's debut in November 1980, the series continually drew dismal ratings and was cancelled in June 1981.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Roberts played Kiri, a slave rescued by protagonist Dar (Marc Singer) in the adventure fantasy film "The Beastmaster" (1982), which became a cult film. She was featured in a nude pictorial in "Playboy" to help promote the movie, appearing on that issue's October 1982 cover. In 1983, Roberts filmed the Italian-made adventure fantasy film "Hearts and Armour" (also known as "Paladini-storia d'armi e d'amori" and "Paladins — The Story of Love and Arms"), based on the medieval novel "Orlando Furioso".


title: Tanya Roberts

text: She portrayed Velda, the secretary to private detective Mike Hammer, in the television movie "Murder Me, Murder You" (1983), based on crime novelist Mickey Spillane's iconic Mike Hammer private detective series. The two-part pilot spawned the syndicated television series "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer". She declined to continue the role in the Mike Hammer series to work on her next project, the 1984 fantasy movie "Sheena: Queen of the Jungle," in which she played the main character. The movie was a box-office failure, and garnered her a nomination for "Worst Actress" at the Razzie Awards. The critic Pauline Kael, in a more-balanced review for "The New Yorker", describes her as having "a staring, comic-book opaqueness. ... She's a walking, talking icon".


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Roberts appeared as Bond girl, geologist Stacey Sutton, in "A View to a Kill" (1985) with Roger Moore; the first choice for the role was Priscilla Presley. In the wake of this performance, Roberts was nominated for a second Razzie Award. Roberts's other 1980s films include "Night Eyes", an erotic thriller; "Body Slam" (1987), an action movie set in the professional wrestling world (another cult favorite); and "Purgatory", a movie about a woman wrongfully imprisoned in Africa. Roberts starred in the erotic thriller "Inner Sanctum" (1991) alongside Margaux Hemingway. In 1992, she played Kay Egan in "Sins of Desire". She appeared on the cable series "Hot Line" in 1995, and in the video game "The Pandora Directive" in 1996.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: In 1998, Roberts took the role of Midge Pinciotti on the television sitcom "That '70s Show". In her obituary in "The Guardian", Ryan Gilbey praises "[h]er knowing performance" in this role, "slow on the uptake but growing dissatisfied with her life as a housewife". She left the series after the 3rd season in 2001, because her husband had become terminally ill, returning for a few special guest appearances in the 6th and 7th seasons in 2004. She retired from acting in 2005.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Roberts was married to Barry Roberts from 1974 until his death in 2006. They had no children. Roberts lived in Hollywood Hills, California. Some time after his death, she became the partner of Lance O'Brien. Her sister, Barbara Chase, was married to Timothy Leary.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Roberts wrote the foreword to the book "The Q Guide to Charlie's Angels" (2008). She was described by her publicist as an animal rights activist. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she maintained an active social media presence by hosting video chats on Facebook and Zoom.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: While hiking on December 23, 2020, Roberts developed lower intestinal pain and difficulty breathing. She returned home to rest. Very early the next morning she fell out of bed and found she could not get up. She was taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, where it was determined she had developed a urinary tract infection that had advanced to sepsis. Her illness was complicated by her history of hepatitis C. The body's immune response to her infection resulted in multi-organ failure. She had to be placed on a ventilator to help her with the work of breathing. Her partner, Lance O'Brien, was not allowed to see her due to restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her condition deteriorated, and on January 3, 2021, she was taken off life support. O'Brien was finally then allowed to visit her. She died on the evening of January 4, at the age of 71. In a handwritten will, Roberts left her estate to O'Brien, her common-law husband.


title: Tanya Roberts

text: Roberts' death was notable due to it being announced prematurely by her publicist; moreover, her age of death was incorrectly given as 65 by multiple sources. However, her condition was "dire", and she died at 71 years old within a day of the initial announcement.


title: American Graffiti

text: American Graffiti is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronny Howard), Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Bo Hopkins, and Wolfman Jack. Suzanne Somers, Kathleen Quinlan, Debralee Scott, and Joe Spano also appear in the film.


title: American Graffiti

text: Set in Modesto, California, in 1962, the film is a study of the cruising and early rock 'n' roll cultures popular among Lucas's age group at the time. Through a series of vignettes, it tells the story of a group of teenagers and their adventures over the course of a night.


title: American Graffiti

text: While Lucas was working on his first film, "THX 1138", Coppola asked him to write a coming-of-age film. The genesis of "American Graffiti" took place in Modesto in the early 1960s, during Lucas's teenage years. He was unsuccessful in pitching the concept to financiers and distributors, but found favor at Universal Pictures after every other major film studio turned him down. Filming was initially set to take place in San Rafael, California, but the production crew was denied permission to shoot beyond a second day. As a result, production was moved to Petaluma.


title: American Graffiti

text: "American Graffiti" premiered on August 2, 1973, at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland, and was released on August 11, 1973, in the United States. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Produced on a $777,000 budget, it has become one of the most profitable films ever. Since its initial release, "American Graffiti" has earned an estimated return well over $200 million in box-office gross and home video sales, not including merchandising. In 1995, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. A sequel, "More American Graffiti", was released in 1979.


title: American Graffiti

text: On their last evening of summer vacation in 1962, high school graduates and friends Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander meet two other friends, John Milner, the drag-racing king, and Terry "The Toad" Fields, in the parking lot of Mel's Drive-In in Modesto, California. Curt and Steve are to travel "Back East" the following morning to start college. Curt has second thoughts about leaving Modesto. Steve gives Terry his car to care for until he returns. Laurie, Steve's girlfriend and Curt's sister, arrives. Steve suggests to Laurie that they see other people while he is away to "strengthen" their relationship. Though not openly upset, she is affecting their interactions through the night.


title: American Graffiti

text: Curt, Steve, and Laurie attend the back-to-high-school sock hop. En route, Curt sees a beautiful blonde woman driving a white Ford Thunderbird. She mouths the words "I love you" to Curt before turning. Curt becomes desperate to find her; one of his friends tells him "The Blonde" is the wife of a local jeweler, but Curt does not believe it. After leaving the hop, Curt is coerced by a group of greasers ("The Pharaohs") into hooking a chain to a police car and ripping out its back axle. The Pharaohs tell Curt that "The Blonde" is a prostitute, which he does not believe.


title: American Graffiti

text: Terry and John cruise the strip. Terry picks up flirtatious and rebellious Debbie and tries all night to impress her.John inadvertently picks up Carol, an annoying, precocious 12-year-old who manipulates him into driving her around all night. Bob Falfa is searching out John to challenge him to a race. Steve and Laurie continue to argue and make up through the evening. They finally split and as the story lines intertwine, Bob picks up Laurie.


title: American Graffiti

text: Curt drives to the radio station to ask disc jockey "Wolfman Jack" to read a message for The Blonde on the air. Curt encounters an employee who tells him the Wolfman does not work there and that the shows are pretaped for replay. The employee accepts the message and promises to try to have the Wolfman air it. As he is leaving, Curt sees the employee talking into the microphone and, hearing the voice, realizes it is the Wolfman, who reads the message, asking The Blonde to meet Curt or call him on the pay phone at Mel's.


title: American Graffiti

text: Bob finds John and goads him into racing. Many follow them to "Paradise Road" to watch. As John takes the lead, Bob's tire blows out, causing him to lose control. His car swerves into a ditch, rolls over, and catches fire. Steve and John leap out of their cars and rush to the wreck while Bob and Laurie crawl out and stagger away just before it explodes. Laurie grips Steve tightly as the sun rises and begs him not to leave her. He assures her that he will stay.


title: American Graffiti

text: Curt is awakened in his car by the pay phone's ringing. The Blonde does not reveal her identity but tells Curt maybe they will meet that night. Curt replies that they probably will not because he is leaving town. At the airfield, Curt says goodbye to his parents, Laurie, Steve, John, and Terry. As the plane takes off, Curt gazes out the window and sees the white Thunderbird driving in parallel to his plane. An intertitle epilogue reveals that John was killed by a drunk driver in 1964, Terry was reported missing in action near An Lộc in 1965, Steve is an insurance agent in Modesto, and Curt is a writer in Canada.


title: American Graffiti

text: During the production of "THX 1138" (1971), producer Francis Ford Coppola challenged co-writer/director George Lucas to write a script that would appeal to mainstream audiences. Lucas embraced the idea, using his early 1960s teenage experiences cruising in Modesto, California. "Cruising was gone, and I felt compelled to document the whole experience and what my generation used as a way of meeting girls," Lucas explained. As he developed the story in his mind, Lucas included his fascination with Wolfman Jack. Lucas had considered doing a documentary about the Wolfman when he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, but he ultimately dropped the idea.


title: American Graffiti

text: Adding in semiautobiographical connotations, Lucas set the story in his hometown of 1962 Modesto. The characters Curt Henderson, John Milner, and Terry "The Toad" Fields also represent different stages from his younger life. Curt is modeled after Lucas's personality during USC, while John is based on Lucas's teenaged street-racing and junior-college years, and hot rod enthusiasts he had known from the Kustom Kulture in Modesto. Terry represents Lucas's nerd years as a freshman in high school, specifically his "bad luck" with dating. The filmmaker was also inspired by Federico Fellini's "I Vitelloni" (1953).


title: American Graffiti

text: After the financial failure of "THX 1138", Lucas wanted the film to act as a release for a world-weary audience:


title: American Graffiti

text: After Warner Bros. abandoned Lucas's early version of "Apocalypse Now" (during the post-production of "THX 1138"), the filmmaker decided to continue developing "Another Quiet Night in Modesto", eventually changing its title to "American Graffiti". To co-write a 15-page film treatment, Lucas hired Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who also added semiautobiographical material to the story. Lucas and his colleague Gary Kurtz began pitching the "American Graffiti" treatment to various Hollywood studios and production companies in an attempt to secure the financing needed to expand it into a screenplay, but they were unsuccessful. The potential financiers were concerned that music licensing costs would cause the film to go way over budget. Along with "Easy Rider" (1969), "American Graffiti" was one of the first films to eschew a traditional film score and successfully rely instead on synchronizing a series of popular hit songs with individual scenes.


title: American Graffiti

text: "THX 1138" was released in March 1971, and Lucas was offered opportunities to direct "Lady Ice", "Tommy", or "Hair". He turned down those offers, determined to pursue his own projects despite his urgent desire to find another film to direct. During this time, Lucas conceived the idea for a space opera (as yet untitled) which later became the basis for his "Star Wars" franchise. At the 1971 Cannes Film Festival, "THX" was chosen for the Directors' Fortnight competition. There, Lucas met David Picker, then president of United Artists, who was intrigued by "American Graffiti" and Lucas's space opera. Picker decided to give Lucas $10,000 to develop "Graffiti" as a screenplay.


title: American Graffiti

text: Lucas planned to spend another five weeks in Europe and hoped that Huyck and Katz would agree to finish the screenplay by the time he returned, but they were about to start on their own film, "Messiah of Evil", so Lucas hired Richard Walter, a colleague from the USC School of Cinematic Arts for the job. Walter was flattered, but initially tried to sell Lucas on a different screenplay called "Barry and the Persuasions", a story of East Coast teenagers in the late 1950s. Lucas held firm—his was a story about West Coast teenagers in the early 1960s. Walter was paid the $10,000, and he began to expand the Lucas/Huyck/Katz treatment into a screenplay.


title: American Graffiti

text: Lucas was dismayed when he returned to America in June 1971 and read Walter's script, which was written in the style and tone of an exploitation film, similar to 1967's "Hot Rods to Hell". "It was overtly sexual and very fantasy-like, with playing chicken and things that kids didn't really do," Lucas explained. "I wanted something that was more like the way I grew up." Walter's script also had Steve and Laurie going to Nevada to get married without their parents' permission. Walter rewrote the screenplay, but Lucas nevertheless fired him due to their creative differences.


title: American Graffiti

text: After paying Walter, Lucas had exhausted his development fund from United Artists. He began writing a script, completing his first draft in just three weeks. Drawing upon his large collection of vintage records, Lucas wrote each scene with a particular song in mind as its musical backdrop. The cost of licensing the 75 songs Lucas wanted was one factor in United Artists' ultimate decision to reject the script; the studio also felt it was too experimental—"a musical montage with no characters". United Artists also passed on "Star Wars", which Lucas shelved for the time being.


title: American Graffiti

text: Lucas spent the rest of 1971 and early 1972 trying to raise financing for the "American Graffiti" script. During this time, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Columbia Pictures all turned down the opportunity to co-finance and distribute the film. Lucas, Huyck and Katz rewrote the second draft together, which, in addition to Modesto, was also set in Mill Valley and Los Angeles. Lucas also intended to end "American Graffiti" showing a title card detailing the fate of the characters, including the death of Milner and the disappearance of Toad in Vietnam. Huyck and Katz found the ending depressing and were incredulous that Lucas planned to include only the male characters. Lucas argued that mentioning the girls meant adding another title card, which he felt would prolong the ending. Because of this, Pauline Kael later accused Lucas of chauvinism.


title: American Graffiti

text: Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz took the script to American International Pictures, who expressed interest, but ultimately believed "American Graffiti" was not violent or sexual enough for the studio's standards. Lucas and Kurtz eventually found favor at Universal Pictures, who allowed Lucas total artistic control and the right of final cut privilege on the condition that he make "American Graffiti" on a strict low budget. This forced Lucas to drop the opening scene in which the Blonde Angel, Curt's image of the perfect woman, drives through an empty drive-in cinema in her Ford Thunderbird, her transparency revealing she does not exist.


title: American Graffiti

text: Universal initially projected a $600,000 budget but added an additional $175,000 once producer Francis Ford Coppola signed on. This would allow the studio to advertise "American Graffiti" as "from the man who gave you "The Godfather"". The proposition also gave Universal first-look deals on Lucas's next two planned projects, "Star Wars" and "Radioland Murders". As he continued to work on the script, Lucas encountered difficulties on the Steve and Laurie storyline. Lucas, Katz, and Huyck worked on the third draft together, specifically on the scenes featuring Steve and Laurie.


title: American Graffiti

text: Production proceeded with virtually no input or interference from Universal since "American Graffiti" was a low-budget film, and executive Ned Tanen had only modest expectations of its commercial success. However, Universal did object to the film's title, not knowing what "American Graffiti" meant; Lucas was dismayed when some executives assumed he was making an Italian movie about feet. The studio, therefore, submitted a long list of over 60 alternative titles, with their favorite being "Another Slow Night in Modesto" and Coppola's "Rock Around the Block". They pushed hard to get Lucas to adopt any of the titles, but he was displeased with all the alternatives and persuaded Tanen to keep "American Graffiti".


title: American Graffiti

text: The film's lengthy casting process was overseen by Fred Roos, who worked with producer Francis Ford Coppola on "The Godfather". Because "American Graffiti"'s main cast was for younger actors, the casting call and notices went through numerous high-school drama groups and community theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area. Among the actors was Mark Hamill, the future Luke Skywalker in Lucas's "Star Wars" trilogy.


title: American Graffiti

text: Over 100 unknown actors auditioned for Curt Henderson before Richard Dreyfuss was cast; George Lucas was impressed with Dreyfuss's thoughtful analysis of the role, and as a result, offered the actor his choice of Curt or Terry "The Toad" Fields. Roos, a former casting director on "The Andy Griffith Show", suggested Ron Howard for Steve Bolander; Howard accepted the role to break out of the mold of his career as a child actor. Howard would later appear in the very similar role of Richie Cunningham on the "Happy Days" sitcom. Bob Balaban turned down Terry out of fear of becoming typecast, a decision he later regretted. Charles Martin Smith, who, in his first year as a professional actor, had already appeared in two feature films, including 20th Century Fox's "The Culpepper Cattle Co." and four TV episodes, was eventually cast in the role.


title: American Graffiti

text: Although Cindy Williams was cast as Laurie Henderson and enjoyed working with both Lucas and Howard, the actress hoped she would get the part of Debbie Dunham, which ended up going to Candy Clark. Mackenzie Phillips, who portrays Carol, was only 12, and under California law, producer Gary Kurtz had to become her legal guardian for the duration of filming. For Bob Falfa, Roos cast Harrison Ford, who was then concentrating on a carpentry career. Ford agreed to take the role on the condition that he would not have to cut his hair. The character has a flattop in the script, but a compromise was eventually reached whereby Ford wore a Stetson to cover his hair. Producer Coppola encouraged Lucas to cast Wolfman Jack as himself in a cameo appearance. "George Lucas and I went through thousands of Wolfman Jack phone calls that were taped with the public," Jack reflected. "The telephone calls [heard on the broadcasts] in the motion picture and on the soundtrack were actual calls with real people."


title: American Graffiti

text: Although "American Graffiti" is set in 1962 Modesto, Lucas believed the city had changed too much in ten years and initially chose San Rafael as the primary shooting location. Filming began on June 26, 1972. However, Lucas soon became frustrated at the time it was taking to fix camera mounts to the cars. A key member of the production had also been arrested for growing marijuana, and in addition to already running behind the shooting schedule, the San Rafael City Council immediately became concerned about the disruption that filming caused for local businesses, so withdrew permission to shoot beyond a second day.


title: American Graffiti

text: Petaluma, a similarly small town about north of San Rafael, was more cooperative, and "American Graffiti" moved there without the loss of a single day of shooting. Lucas convinced the San Rafael City Council to allow two further nights of filming for general cruising shots, which he used to evoke as much of the intended location as possible in the finished film. Shooting in Petaluma began June 28 and proceeded at a quick pace. Lucas mimicked the filmmaking style of B-movie producer Sam Katzman ("Rock Around the Clock" and "Your Cheatin' Heart") in attempting to save money and authenticated low-budget filming methods.


title: American Graffiti

text: In addition to Petaluma, other locations included Mel's Drive-In in San Francisco, Sonoma, Richmond, Novato, and the Buchanan Field Airport in Concord. The freshman hop dance was filmed in the Gus Gymnasium, previously known as the Boys Gym, at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley.


title: American Graffiti

text: More problems ensued during filming; Paul Le Mat was sent to the hospital after an allergic reaction to walnuts. Le Mat, Harrison Ford, and Bo Hopkins were claimed to be drunk most nights and every weekend, and had conducted climbing competitions to the top of the local Holiday Inn sign. One actor set fire to Lucas's motel room. Another night, Le Mat threw Richard Dreyfuss into a swimming pool, gashing Dreyfuss's forehead on the day before he was due to have his close-ups filmed. Dreyfuss also complained over the wardrobe that Lucas had chosen for the character. Ford was kicked out of his motel room at the Holiday Inn. In addition, two camera operators were nearly killed when filming the climactic race scene on Frates Road outside Petaluma. Principal photography ended August 4, 1972.


title: American Graffiti

text: The final scenes in the film, shot at Buchanan Field, feature a Douglas DC-7C airliner of Magic Carpet Airlines, which had previously been leased from owner Club America Incorporated by the rock band Grand Funk Railroad from March 1971 to June 1971.


title: American Graffiti

text: Lucas considered covering duties as the sole cinematographer, but dropped the idea. Instead, he elected to shoot "American Graffiti" using two cinematographers (as he had done in "THX 1138") and no formal director of photography. Two cameras were used simultaneously in scenes involving conversations between actors in different cars, which resulted in significant production time savings. After CinemaScope proved to be too expensive, Lucas decided "American Graffiti" should have a documentary-like feel, so he shot the film using Techniscope cameras. He believed that Techniscope, an inexpensive way of shooting on 35 mm film and using only half of the film's frame, would give a perfect widescreen format resembling 16 mm. Adding to the documentary feel was Lucas's openness for the cast to improvise scenes. He also used goofs for the final cut, notably Charles Martin Smith's arriving on his scooter to meet Steve outside Mel's Drive-In. Jan D'Alquen and Ron Eveslage were hired as the cinematographers, but filming with Techniscope cameras brought lighting problems. As a result, Lucas commissioned help from friend Haskell Wexler, who was credited as the "visual consultant".


title: American Graffiti

text: Lucas had wanted his wife, Marcia, to edit "American Graffiti", but Universal executive Ned Tanen insisted on hiring Verna Fields, who had just finished editing Steven Spielberg's "The Sugarland Express". Fields worked on the first rough cut of the film before she left to resume work on "What's Up, Doc?". After Fields's departure, Lucas struggled with editing the film's story structure. He had originally written the script so that the four (Curt, Steve, John, and Toad) storylines were always presented in the same sequence (an "ABCD" plot structure). The first cut of "American Graffiti" was three and a half hours long, and to whittle the film down to a more manageable two hours, many scenes had to be cut, shortened, or combined. As a result, the film's structure became increasingly loose and no longer adhered to Lucas's original "ABCD" presentation. Lucas completed his final cut of "American Graffiti", which ran 112 minutes, in December 1972. Walter Murch assisted Lucas in post-production for audio mixing and sound design purposes. Murch suggested making Wolfman Jack's radio show the "backbone" of the film. "The Wolfman was an ethereal presence in the lives of young people," said producer Gary Kurtz, "and it was that quality we wanted and obtained in the picture."


title: American Graffiti

text: The choice of music was crucial to the mood of each scene; it is diegetic music that the characters themselves can hear and therefore becomes an integral part of the action. George Lucas had to be realistic about the complexities of copyright clearances, though, and suggested a number of alternative tracks. Universal wanted Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz to hire an orchestra for sound-alikes. The studio eventually proposed a flat deal that offered every music publisher the same amount of money. This was acceptable to most of the companies representing Lucas's first choices, but not to RCA—with the consequence that Elvis Presley is conspicuously absent from the soundtrack. Clearing the music licensing rights had cost approximately $90,000, and as a result, no money was left for a traditional film score. "I used the absence of music, and sound effects, to create the drama," Lucas later explained.


title: American Graffiti

text: A soundtrack album for the film, "41 Original Hits from the Soundtrack of American Graffiti", was issued by MCA Records. The album contains all the songs used in the film (with the exception of "Gee" by the Crows, which was subsequently included on a second soundtrack album), presented in the order in which they appeared in the film.


title: American Graffiti

text: Despite unanimous praise at a January 1973 test screening attended by Universal executive Ned Tanen, the studio told Lucas they wanted to re-edit his original cut of "American Graffiti". Producer Coppola sided with Lucas against Tanen and Universal, offering to "buy the film" from the studio and reimburse it for the $775,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) it had cost to make it. 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures made similar offers to the studio. Universal refused these offers and told Lucas they planned to have William Hornbeck re-edit the film.


title: American Graffiti

text: When Coppola's "The Godfather" won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 1973, Universal relented and agreed to cut only three scenes (amounting to a few minutes) from Lucas's cut. These include an encounter between Toad and a fast-talking car salesman, an argument between Steve and his former teacher Mr. Kroot at the sock hop, and an effort by Bob Falfa to serenade Laurie with "Some Enchanted Evening". The studio initially thought that the film was only fit for release as a television movie.


title: American Graffiti

text: Various studio employees who had seen the film began talking it up, and its reputation grew through word of mouth. The studio dropped the TV movie idea and began arranging for a limited release in selected theaters in Los Angeles and New York. Universal presidents Sidney Sheinberg and Lew Wasserman heard about the praise the film had been garnering in LA and New York, and the marketing department amped up its promotion strategy for it, investing an additional $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) in marketing and promotion. The film was released in the United States on August 11, 1973 to sleeper hit reception. The film had cost only $1.27 million (equivalent to $ million in ) to produce and market, but yielded worldwide box office gross revenues of more than $55 million (equivalent to $ million in ). It had only modest success outside the United States, but became a cult film in France.


title: American Graffiti

text: Universal reissued "Graffiti" on May 26, 1978, with Dolby sound and earned an additional $63 million (equivalent to $ million in ), which brought the total revenue for the two releases to $118 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The reissue included stereophonic sound and a couple of minutes the studio had removed from Lucas's original cut. All home video releases also included these scenes. Also, the date of John Milner's death was changed from June 1964 to December 1964 to fit the narrative structure of the upcoming sequel, "More American Graffiti". At the end of its theatrical run, "American Graffiti" had one of the greatest profit-to-cost ratios of a motion picture ever.


title: American Graffiti

text: Producer Francis Ford Coppola regretted having not financed the film himself. Lucas recalled, "He would have made $30 million (equivalent to $ million in ) on the deal. He never got over it and he still kicks himself." It was the 13th-highest-grossing film of all time in 1977 and, adjusted for inflation, is currently the 43rd highest. By the 1990s, "American Graffiti" had earned more than $200 million (equivalent to $ million in ) in box-office gross and home video sales. In December 1997, "Variety" reported that the film had earned an additional $55.13 million in rental revenue (equivalent to $ million in ).


title: American Graffiti

text: Universal Studios first released the film on DVD in September 1998, and once more as a double feature with "More American Graffiti" (1979) in January 2004. The 1978 version of the film was used, with an additional digital change to the sky in the opening title sequence. Universal released the film on Blu-ray with a new digitally remastered picture supervised by George Lucas on May 31, 2011.


title: American Graffiti

text: "American Graffiti" received widespread critical acclaim. Based on reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, of the critics enjoyed the film with an average score of . The consensus reads: "One of the most influential of all teen films, "American Graffiti" is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence." Metacritic calculated a score of 97 out of 100, indicating “universal acclaim”. Roger Ebert gave the film a full four stars and praised it for being "not only a great movie, but a brilliant work of historical fiction; no sociological treatise could duplicate the movie's success in remembering exactly how it was to be alive at that cultural instant". Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, writing that although the film suffered from an "overkill" of nostalgia, particularly with regards to a soundtrack so overstuffed that it amounted to "one of those golden-oldie TV blurbs," it was still "well-made, does achieve moments of genuine emotion, and does provide a sock (hop) full of memories."


title: American Graffiti

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" wrote, ""American Graffiti" is such a funny, accurate movie, so controlled and efficient in its narrative, that it stands to be overpraised to the point where seeing it will be an anticlimax." A.D. Murphy from "Variety" felt "American Graffiti" was a vivid "recall of teenage attitudes and morals, told with outstanding empathy and compassion through an exceptionally talented cast of unknown actors". Charles Champlin of "The New York Times" called it a "masterfully executed and profoundly affecting movie." Jay Cocks of "Time" magazine wrote that "American Graffiti" "reveals a new and welcome depth of feeling. Few films have shown quite so well the eagerness, the sadness, the ambitions and small defeats of a generation of young Americans." Pauline Kael of "The New Yorker" was less enthused, writing that the film "fails to be anything more than a warm, nice, draggy comedy, because there's nothing to back up the style. The images aren't as visually striking as they would be if only there were a mind behind them; the movie has no resonance except from the jukebox sound and the eerie, nocturnal jukebox look." She also noted with disdain that the epilogue did not bother to mention the fates of any of the women characters. Dave Kehr, writing in the "Chicago Reader", called the film a brilliant work of popular art that redefined nostalgia as a marketable commodity, while establishing a new narrative style.


title: American Graffiti

text: "American Graffiti" depicts multiple characters going through a coming of age, such as the decisions to attend college or reside in a small town. The 1962 setting represents nearing an end of an era in American society and pop culture. The early 1960s musical backdrop also links between the early years of rock 'n' roll in the mid- to late 1950s (i.e., Bill Haley & His Comets, Elvis Presley, and Buddy Holly), and mid-1960s, beginning with the January 1964 arrival of The Beatles and the following British Invasion, which Don McLean's "American Pie" and the early 1970s revival of 1950s acts and oldies paralleled during the conception and filming.


title: American Graffiti

text: The setting is two months before the Cuban Missile Crisis, and before the outbreak of the Vietnam War and the John F. Kennedy assassination and before the peak years of the counterculture movement. "American Graffiti" evokes mankind's relationship with machines, notably the elaborate number of hot rods—having been called a "classic-car flick", representative of the motor car's importance to American culture at the time it was made. Another theme is teenagers' obsession with radio, especially with the inclusion of Wolfman Jack and his mysterious and mythological faceless (to most) voice.


title: American Graffiti

text: "American Graffiti" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, but lost to "The Sting". Further nominations at the 46th Academy Awards include Best Director (George Lucas), Best Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Produced or Published (Lucas, Willard Huyck, and Gloria Katz), Best Supporting Actress (Candy Clark) and Best Film Editing (Verna Fields and Marcia Lucas). The film won Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) at the 31st Golden Globe Awards, while Paul Le Mat won Most Promising Newcomer. Lucas was nominated for Best Director and Richard Dreyfuss was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical. Additional nominations include Cindy Williams for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Lucas for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film, and Lucas, Huyck, and Katz for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen.