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Braised pork

During less economically developed times, people often had to wait a full year to enjoy a meat dish. Braised pork, or "hongshaorou" in Chinese, is part of a mouthwatering memory of New Year's Eve dinner for many Chinese of the older generation.

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Buddha jumping over the wall

This is a soup that is popular in South China. It uses luxury ingredients, such as sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin, dried scallops, ham and more. Its name comes from the tantalizing scent of the soup, enough to lure a Buddha, who is vegetarian, to want to jump over the wall and drink it.

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Rice cakes

Most people in South China will have rice cakes for Spring Festival due to its auspicious meaning: Wishing to be elevated (in whatever area one desires) in the New Year.

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Lettuce

Lettuce, or "shengcai" in Chinese, sounds similar to the Chinese phrase "gaining fortune". It is not hard to see why people across the nation would opt for this vegetable dish.

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A dish of tofu

The Chinese pronunciation for tofu sounds similar to "luck for all" – "Tofu, Tofu, mouthful of 'Fu' (happiness)". Tofu is also winning over people's hearts and stomachs for its health benefits.