Once New Year's Eve had passed, heaven and earth greeted a brand‑new festive air.
At the first faint gleam of dawn, Dragon Tail City shed its old face and donned a bustling, prosperous one.
Along long streets and short alleys, every household had pasted fresh peach charms and bright spring couplets over their door lintels; incense curled from within, drifting straight up toward the sky, praying for abundance and peace in the new year. On the main avenue, passersby stepped over the shredded paper left by spent firecrackers, exchanging "may you prosper" as they went. Even when a scuffle flared up on the road, bystanders hurried to intervene—on such a big holiday, what a bad thing it would be to let it escalate.
Of all the new year's scenes, the first day of the year was the most saturated with festivity.
