The Monster on Chinese New Year’s Eve A Legend Retold in English and Chinese

Chinese New Year’ s eve is the most important day of the year for the Chinese people. The whole family sits around the table to celebrate the reunion. However, a long time ago, on this day, people were used to running away from their homes and hiding in the mountains and forests. It turns out that on this day, a huge monster called Xi who lives at the bottom of the ocean comes to the shore to look for food. People are scared that they will be killed by him. There is a little immortal named Nian living in the sky. He is small but mighty. He hears about the worrisome of the people on the earth and decides to come down to protect them from Xi. Nian comes down to the earth and tells everyone that their homes are safe, and he will protect them, but nobody believes that this little immortal can defeat the huge monster. Everyone leaves their home except one disabled blind old lady. Nian helps the old lady decorate her house and cooks a big meal for her. At midnight, Xi comes to the village to look for food. It walks towards the old lady’ s house as it is the only lit place in the village. What can Nian do to force Xi out of the village? Can he save the old lady and all the villagers?

Lin Xin specializes in the design and drawing of illustrations for children’s books. He has had over ten books published.