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Red and gold lanterns are back on display. So too are the flowers, fruits and auspicious calligraphy. It is that time of the year again and a time when every Chinese indulges in lots of harmless superstition.
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It isn't often that the world of the Chinese global diaspora is united but the Lunar New Year is such a moment because everybody yearns for a year laden with bountiful good fortune and plenteous good health.
The dragon, say the experts, has the power to cast aside all the present gloom.
With the property market and the wider economy in such a bad shape, the feng shui geomancers and the economic prophets are out in force. Can the economy get any worse? Are property values at the bottom? Will the dragon make us all richer? These are questions on everybody's minds.
I have read that in normal times the year of the wood dragon should bring economic growth and affluence but out on the streets of Mong Kok and listening to our ever-talkative taxi drivers I sense that the pessimists easily outnumber the optimists and there is a lot of gloom out there.
After all, Hong Kong is all about money and it's about time we had some good news to cheer us up financially.
Anyway, the new year is when we should all smile, be optimistic and look on the good side of life. This is when the traditional values of family togetherness, mutual happiness and outright optimism for the year ahead should prevail.
My library contains a faithful and trusty book on the Chinese zodiac, which I always refer to at this time of year.
It says "The Dragon is a creature of myth and legend. A symbol of good fortune and sign of intense power, the Oriental Dragon is regarded as a divine beast - the reverse of the malicious monster that Westerners felt necessary to find and slay. In Eastern philosophy, the Dragon is said to be a deliverer of good fortune and a master of authority. Therefore, those born in Dragon years are to be honored and respected."
Dragons, being the only mythical animals in the Chinese zodiac, are famed for being uninhibited, colorful, flamboyant, energetic and fearless, which is why Dragon year people make such excellent lawyers!
Dragons are such famously courageous and intrepid beasts that they appear in the folklore of many nations. Well over 2,000 years ago the legends of many places in Europe mentioned dragons.
The ancient Greeks believed they like to gaze at their prey. Because dragons laid eggs, the peoples of what is now Germany said they were serpents. In Norway they were called "fire-snakes."
The art of many cultures depicted dragons as having wings and living in caves. The link with snakes may be because cultures such as that of Egypt believed snakes were divine creatures and had to be worshipped. However, in Europe they were always viewed as evil, which is why the Saint George Saint George is often depicted as the knight on horseback who slew the wicked, winged, fire-breathing dragon.
Indonesia has its Komodo dragons, which are in fact giant monitor lizards, descendants of dinosaurs, that live to this day on the tiny island of Komodo island. Weighing 70 kilos and measuring three meters long they are exceedingly dangerous.
In China, on the other hand, dragons were not seen as evil but were associated with power and prestige and as a result five-clawed dragons became the symbol of impregnable imperial strength.
In old imperial China Dragon years were thought to be especially propitious for their association with the emperor and that sense of superior authority and strength still resonates with today's Chinese.
You could say that if you are a Chinese you should be optimistic about the year ahead. After all who is brave enough to argue with the supernatural power of a dragon.
Happy New Year in advance, as my next column, which will be a monthly from now on, will only appear after the new year.
Cheng Huan is an author and a senior counsel who practices in Hong Kong
