So you've gone to all the Temple fairs and made enough lopsided dumplings to last you for a year, what next? Well, if you've got Chinese friends in town, consider paying them a visit – after all, that's technically what the holiday's for! The custom of visiting loved ones during Chunjie is a long and well-established one, known as 拜年 (bainian). If you'd like to do some of your own doorhopping, read on for a few simple guidelines. 

1) 拜年 starts on the first day of the new lunar year, known as 初一 (chuyi). Don't go triapsing around on Jan 22 unless you've been invited – Chinese New Year's Eve is very family-oriented.

2) Go to the most important people first. Customarily, after wishing one's own family a happy new year, one should go to his/her spouse's family. If this is not possible, keep going down the list and save casual friends and acquaintances for last.

3) Bring a gift. If you're not celebrating Chunjie in Beijing, consider purchasing some local specialities for the families you visit. Yes, this may mean buying duck-in-a-bag. Hopefully you won't have to eat the duck-in-the-bag yourself.

Basically, stick to edible gifts – candies, seasonal fresh fruits, flowers, nicely-packaged snacks. Cooking something yourself is generally inadvisable unless you are sure the recipient will appreciate it. Money is also appropriate, in the requisite red paper hongbao. These will be for the children of the family, or older, unmarried teenagers that aren't in full-time work. However, if you're not a close friend of the family, just the edible gifts will suffice.

4) Make pleasant conversation. A bit of a no-brainer, but especially important to open the year in an auspicious fashion. Your plans and hopes for the new year are always a safe topic, unless you're planning something particularly hazardous.

5) Consider sending a text message. Definitely appropriate for work friends and other distant acquaintances you wish to acknowledge. Expect also to receive a whole bunch of these, usually with a dragon pun or three. Here are some dragon-related 70-character-or-less messages you can sling back, or just Baidu "新年贺词".

Please also use common sense – make sure that you're expected, allow your hosts time to visit their own families, remember that custom varies slightly across the country and defer to your own judgement in any special circumstances. Have fun!

Photos: Flickr Users Vpickering, tobze and Wilter