Millions of Chinese around the world celebrated the Lunar New Year and considering the problems China faced in 2008 (a massive and destructive earthquake, thousands of infections with tainted powder milk, and several others) its people must be more than happy to enter the new year, the Year of the Ox.

Millions of people in China celebrated the most important Chinese festival in traditional style which features firecrackers, parties, feasts and incense offerings at temples.

In some cases the joy of stepping into the Year of the Ox was overshadowed by incidents. Chinese authorities reported 46 injuries caused by fireworks, which is actually good news considering the fact that the number of injuries has dropped 48 percent since last year.

However, the Chinese authorities were prepared and a fleet of 70 ambulances roamed Beijing overnight.

For China, The Lunar New Year is the most important moment of the year and an occasion to traditionally spend large sums of money on sophisticated meals with the closest friends and to exchange "hong bao," which are red envelopes stuffed with money.

The New Year festival is also celebrated in Vietnam, where it is known as Tet, a festival associated – as in China – with calm, fortitude and success through hard work.

After a tumultuous year during which China battled a killer earthquake that will remain in the country’s history and hosted the Olympics, the country with the most numerous population on earth is concerned about the gloomy economic perspective, at least in the short term. The Chinese Communist Party has already fought back riots and protests caused by job losses and factory closures and will probably see more of those in the New Year.

To end the article with an optimistic tone, it is worth mentioning that there are some businesses that are flourishing. The fireworks sales rose 28% compared to the previous year, with some 230,000 firework packages sold by Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.