And even when they are abroad during the holiday, traditions are still a vital part of the journey. In 2018, Vincent Wang spent his Chinese New Year’s Eve in the city of Cusco, Peru, and that’s when his craving for the flavours of home kicked in.

‘We searched on [food app] Dazhong Dianping and found a Chinese restaurant near our hotel,’ he recalls. ‘We made it there just before the chef, who’s originally from China, was leaving. He offered to stay and cooked some of our favourites for us – mapo tofu, kungpao chicken and mao xue wang [a classic from Chongqing made with duck blood, tripe, chicken gizzard and heaps of Sichuan pepper and chilli oil] before he headed home. That might have been one of my most memorable Chinese New Year dinners ever.’

This story was originally published in December 2019 and updated in January 2024.

Hero image illustration: Kathleen Fu