In pictures: Lunar New Year celebrations

Security guards walk towards a snake sculpture as they gather for the Chinese New Year celebrations at Ditan Park, or the Temple of Earth, in Beijing Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters

Taiwanese shoppers at a traditional market in Taipei on the eve of the Lunar New Year Photograph: Chiang Ying-ying/AP

Performers in traditional costumes before the Lunar New Year celebrations in Beijing, China Photograph: Diego Azubel/EPA

A girl performs an acrobatic show during the temple fair in Beijing Photograph: Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters

A man sells peach blossoms on a street in Hanoi, Vietnam, preparing for Tet, or Lunar New Year, the most important holiday of the year Photograph: Luong Thai Linh/EPA

A vendor waits for customers at her stall at a temple fair in Ditan Park, Beijing Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

A Chinese folk artist prepares to perform during the opening ceremony of the Spring Festival Temple Fair at Dragon Lake Park in Beijing, China Photograph: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Chinese opera performers wait to go on stage for a New Year performance at Seacon Square in Bangkok. Chinese opera is popular in Thailand and is usually performed in the Teochew language Photograph: Jack Kurtz/Corbis

Buddha statues on display at a Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva temple. Buddhists from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore will visit temples to pray and celebrate the Lunar New Year Photograph: Yuli Seperi/Getty Images

Trees decorated with red lanterns for Lunar New Year celebrations Photograph: Feng Li/Getty Images

Performers take part in a traditional Qing dynasty ceremony, in which emperors prayed for good fortune, at the Temple of Earth park in Beijing Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images