The first day of the lunar calendar, celebrated by billions as Spring Festival, a name younger than the telephone.
Documented
The 1914 memo
When the Republic of China adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1912, two new years collided. In January 1914 the Interior Ministry petitioned President Yuan Shikai to fix four seasonal festivals; he approved only one: the lunar first day became Chunjie, Spring Festival, a term that had previously meant the Lichun solar term. The People's Republic codified the name again in 1949.
Assessment: Documented: the petition text survives and is quoted in Chinese state media histories.
Stories
The failed abolition
The Nationalist government tried to erase the lunar new year outright in 1928 to 1930: no holiday leave, police forcing shuttered shops open, smashing offering displays. People ignored it, and by 1934 Nanjing conceded it would not interfere with folk custom.
Assessment: Documented: the directives and their collapse are in the period's records.
Interesting claims
The Nian beast
Legend says a beast called Nian feared red, flame, and noise, hence the couplets, lanterns, and firecrackers. A perfect just-so story: it does not appear in early texts, and scholars treat it as modern folklore. Claims of an unbroken 4,000-year lineage to sage-king sacrifices are traditional historiography, not documentation.
Assessment: Stories: the monster is younger than the fireworks it explains.
Sources and further reading
Beijing government Interior Ministry petition to Yuan Shikai, January 1914: 'the lunar first day shall be Spring Festival'
CCTV historical feature (2009): the 1914 renaming, the 1928-1930 abolition campaign, and the 1934 retreat
Nanjing government directives (1930): forcing shops open and banning lunar new year leave
PRC State Council holiday regulations, December 1949: Chunjie codified as the official name
Early Chinese textual record: Yuandan (元日) as the name of the first day for two millennia; the Nian beast absent from early texts
Worth asking
The world's biggest annual festival got its current name from a government form in 1914; which ancient traditions in your life have a paperwork birthday?