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Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is commonly called "Lunar New Year", because it is based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as chú xī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.

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The Beijing Television Cultural Center fire was a massive blaze on 9 February 2009, in the centre of Beijing, involving the uncompleted Television Cultural Center (TVCC) building. The building was adjacent to the CCTV Headquarters, is owned by China Central Television, and was scheduled for completion in May 2009. Currently, the BTCC is being rebuilt.

At 8:27 p.m. on 9 February 2009, the entire building caught fire on the last day of the festivities marking the Chinese new year and was put out six hours later. A nearby unauthorised fireworks display caused the fire.

The incident, and its coverage by Chinese state media, caused a furore in China. CCTV officials had authorised the powerful pyrotechnics, carried it out without the required permit from local government, and ignored repeated police warnings not to hold them. The authorities' attempts to limit damaging direct coverage of the blaze was criticised by citizens and the international press.

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videos of the fire