Your ultimate guide to Chinese New Year flowers

_{Header image courtesy of Zenny Yuen (via Shutterstock)}

If you’re serious about getting into the floral side of Chinese New Year, then you better go in prepared. Hong Kong’s famed flower markets are a crazed (but very lovely) frenzy, and flowers can lose their cathartic edge when people are embroiled in screaming matches and others are lying on the ground in the fetal position, adorned with rotten petals from an ill-advised purchase. All right, maybe it’s not quite that intense, but still, flowers play a huge role during Chinese New Year, so it’s best to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible so you know what you’re buying. With our guide to Chinese New Year blossoms, you will no longer be asking, “What do I buy?,” “Is that an orange or a mandarin or a kumquat?,” or even “What even is a kumquat?” Good luck!