Chinese New Year, also called the Spring Festival, begins on the first day of the traditional lunisolar calendar, which falls on a new moon between 21 January and 20 February. It marks the end of winter and runs from New Year's Eve until the Lantern Festival on the 15th day. Families gather for a reunion dinner, and traditionally every household cleaned thoroughly beforehand to sweep away bad luck. Homes are decorated with red paper-cuts and couplets wishing for fortune, happiness, wealth and long life. Red envelopes of money are given, and firecrackers are lit for good luck.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.