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Subscribe to RSSChinese people celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit, which falls on February 3, 2011. The Chinese Lunar New Year also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the Lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with Lantern Festival on the Fifteenth day. See more on the celebrations here.
Feng Li / Getty Images
Rabbits in little cages wait to be given away as prizes at a temple fair to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit on February 2, 2011.
Feng Li / Getty Images
A Chinese artist dressed in rabbit costume poses at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit on February 2, 2011 in Beijing, China.
Ng Han Guan / AP
Residents watch fireworks outside a restaurant on the eve of Chinese new year in Beijing Wednesday, on Feb. 2, 2011.
Feng Li / Getty Images
Chinese folk artists perform at a temple fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Rabbit on February 2, 2011 in Beijing, China.
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Great time to celebrate, however not too keen on captive animals being offered as prizes. Poor little things.
I guessed you never been to a pet store or the zoo.
Ok I get the year of the rabbit, but how did the green bird get roped into this situation? :-)
most of those rabbits will be mixed into szechuan sauce by morning. the feet are drying in some guys basement waiting to be painted pink n sold to your daughter.
Wow, that picture of the rabbits in tiny cages is so sad. Rabbits need a space 4x their laying down body size at minimum. These rabbits can't even lay down or stretch their legs. They have no food or water, and are going to be given away as prizes by people who have no idea how to care for them - rabbits need to constantly be eating hay or their GI system will shut down and they die within hours, and there is no hay in those cages. You are looking at a photo of doomed rabbits. This photo makes me so sad, I am ashamed that MSN would distribute these photos in a celebratory context - this is animal cruelty.
I really enjoyed the article and the photos. Am anxious to learn which animal is mine. Thanks for sharing this.
The picture of the poor rabbits in tiny cages really makes me feel so sad. Animals should not be "given away as prizes", even our fairs have done away with such practices for the most part. Their fate is very depressing -- improper food, tiny cage to live in, no hay to keep their digestion moving, resulting in a slow and painful suffering until they die a week or two later. The children will quickly forget about them and move on, what a sad life and disgusting tradition to "celebrate" with. Celebrate rabbits and treat them with respect.