Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and people in Hainan are already busy shopping and getting everything ready for the celebrations.

Qilou Old Street in Haikou is all decked out with festive decorations for Chinese New Year — it’s glowing with color!

Over the years, the way Hainan folks celebrate Spring Festival has really changed from one generation to the next. Let’s take a look through some old photos and see how they used to get ready for the holiday back in the day.

If you were born in the 50s or 60s, you probably remember how Spring Festival shopping back then meant lining up with precious ration coupons. Back in the day, every family got special Lunar New Year tickets for things like meat, sugar, veggies, and grain. Queues stretching outside supply centers were just part of the holiday vibe.

1956 Wenchang coupon for five jin (2.5 kg.) of grain.

1957 coupon from Hainan District, Guangdong Province for one jin (0.5 kg) of grain. (Hainan Island was part of Guangdong Province until 1988.)

Back then, stocking up for the Lunar New Year would run you 30 to 40 yuan – and that was a pretty big chunk of money! For most families, it was their single biggest expense of the year. But the joy those goods brought to everyone, young and old? That was priceless. To that generation, preparing for the Spring Festival wasn’t just about celebrating – it was also about making sure the family was well-fed and taken care of.

Come the 1970s, things in China had shifted dramatically – and so had the way people born in the ’70s and ’80s got ready for the Lunar New Year. The dinner table started groaning with all sorts of goodies: chickens, ducks, pork, fruit, veggies, candy, melon seeds… you name it. Getting all that ready? Meant there was a whole lot of shopping to do!

The CNY atmosphere in Wenchang

The Spring Festival Gala has always been “must-watch TV” across the country. The whole family sits together to enjoy it, and the jokes from the show keep getting repeated all year long. Back then, buying a color TV was actually a pretty common Spring Festival purchase for many households. To that generation, celebrating Chinese New Year meant not just having enough to eat and use, but also sharing those laughs and moments together – it was about filling up both the home and the heart.

Previous generations gathered around to watch tv on black and white screens.

For the ’90s and 2000s generation, getting ready for Chinese New Year is less about stocking up on stuff and more about creating experiences. To celebrate, they might book the whole family a relaxing trip to the hot springs, pick out some premium rainforest tea, and order a sleek new smart tea maker to brew it in style.

Spring Festival holidaymakers at Betel Nut Valley

Growing up with the internet and e-commerce boom, the ’90s and 2000s generation want their Lunar New Year prep to be as hassle-free as possible – for themselves and the whole family.

Back in the day, hitting the market was the best part of getting ready for the New Year. You’d squeeze through packed stalls, picking out a few strings of sausages, a roll of lucky couplets, some bright door god posters, and maybe even some fabric to make the kids new clothes. Everything had to be chosen just right – and you always haggled till you got the lowest price.

These days, the internet and global shipping have totally erased distance. With just a few taps on a phone, Norwegian cod, Chilean cherries, and French wine can travel across oceans and land right on your table—right next to Hainan’s own white-cut chicken and stewed veggies. The “shopping list” for Lunar New Year has gone from the neighborhood market to the whole wide world.

The annual Flower Exchange Festival in Fucheng, Haikou.

Spring Festival is almost here… Got everything set? What have you picked up for the celebrations already?

A very Hainanese CNY dinner