Spring Festival is one of the biggest celebrations for Chinese people and is celebrated all around China and other parts of Asia.

And in addition to China, Spring Festival is celebrated in many other parts of the world including England, Austrlia, and the United States.

One particular place that goes all out for the Chinese Lunar New Year is in the US city of San Francisco in the state of California.

Our reporter Simone Cote spoke with Karen Eng who is a director for the Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco, California about how people ring in the Lunar New Year.

Named one of the world's top ten parades, the Chinese Lunar New Year Parade in San Francisco has been named the largest celebration of its kind outside of Asia.

Karen Eng is the coordinator for the Chinese New Year parade.

She says Chinese New Year is still celebrated with many of the traditional elements in San Francisco's China Town:

"I think it's very traditional. The families here still have a dinner to close out the year, you know the whole family gets together, and they have a dinner a few days later to open the New Year. And of course the house is cleaned, we all get new clothes, we all get haircuts before the actual new years day, and we celebrate I think like I said traditionally with passing out red envelopes to children on new year's day. And the businesses here in China town, I notice that they do have lion dancing and they set out the firecrackers to not just ward off the evil spirits, but also to bring good luck and prosperity for the new year."

Karen says the events town during the Lunar New Year in China Town San Francisco, similar to New Years celebrations in China lasts for a couple of weeks:

"We're starting the flower market, and what it is, is it's a place its in China town and they close the whole streets and have lots of vendors and booths and they sell fresh plants, flowers, new years candy, everything for people to buy for the new years so that they can decorate their homes. It's really, also in China town we're going to have a mini procession parade, its like a kick off, so we're just going to have a teaser to the big parade. Also we're going to have ribbon cutting ceremonies and entertainment in China town, so the flower fair is what kicks it off."