At the stroke of midnight tonight, the world’s biggest party will begin, as more than 1.3 billion people across China pour on to the streets and light fireworks to usher in the Year of the Snake. During the following fortnight they will visit temple fairs, watch dragon dances and make dumplings shaped like silver ingots. They will each, on average, spend a month’s salary on pyrotechnics.

This year’s celebrations will have a serpentine theme. Performances of the Peking opera Madame White Snake will run on repeat, red paper snakes will be pasted on doors, and shops will stock up on traditional snake wine, as well as goods more in keeping with the country’s economic prowess, such as £3,000 Bu lgari Serpenti watches.

With everyone in a holiday mood, New Year is an atmospheric time to visit. But if you cannot make it during this period, there are plenty of other events coming up in China. Here’s a sneak preview of what the Year of the Snake has in store:

The Shanghai International Literary Festival invites leading writers to talk in the delightful setting that is M on the Bund ( m-restaurantgroup.com ), a modern European restaurant with some of Shanghai’s best views. This year’s event takes place from March 1-17 and features the likes of Simon Armitage and A D Miller, alongside the bestselling Chinese-born author Da Chen.

The Hong Kong Sevens (hksevens.com) (March 22-24) is one of rugby union’s premier sevens tournaments. As 24 international teams descend on the island, the whole of Hong Kong takes on a party atmosphere; the streets and the stadium fill with fans in fancy dress.

Mount Kailash

April

While most of the country celebrates New Year in February, in China’s Xishuangbanna region festivities are held from April 13-18. Here the Dai minority, who are culturally closer to Thais than to the Chinese, greet their New Year with a Water-Splashing Festival. Grab a water pistol, balloon or bucket and join in the fun.

From April 12-14 Formula One comes to Shanghai. At the Chinese Grand Prix, you can watch Lewis Hamilton race for under £45 – a quarter of the price of the cheapest Silverstone tickets.

At the end of the month – exact dates to be announced – PhotoSpring brings world-class photography to Caochangdi, the art community in Beijing founded by the dissident artist Ai Weiwei. Elsewhere in the city, the four-day Art Beijing fair (artbeijing.net) from April 30 is given over to classical and contemporary Asian and European art, while Surge (affordableartchina.com) is the perfect place to pick up a bargain – 50 per cent of the works at this fair sell for under £1,500.

May

Mao Tse-tung said you are not a real man until you have climbed the Great Wall. Why not really prove yourself to the Great Leader by running it? In May there are two Great Wall Marathons, the better organised of which takes place on May 18 ( great-wall-marathon.com).

Saga Dawa, the holiest day in the Tibetan calendar, is on May 25. Tibetans celebrate the birth and enlightenment of Buddha through pilgrimages, most notably to Mount Kailash, where a symbolic flagpole is festooned with prayer flags and celebrants toss colourful prayer papers into the wind.

Dragon boat racing at the Duanwu Festival

June

Forget Henley, forget Cowes Week, the ultimate boating event – in terms of sheer spectacle, at least – is the dragon boat racing held during China’s Duanwu Festival. This year, Duanwu falls on June 12; it is celebrated across the country but the grandest boat races are held in Hong Kong and Chengdu, the southern city also known for its panda reserve.

July

Visit China’s Inner Mongolia province during N adaam and you will see how the Mongol nation produced a leader such as Genghis Khan. These traditional ethnic Mongolian games, which run into August, include archery, wrestling and horse-riding competitions involving some of the toughest men you’ll ever meet.

August

From July 31 until August 3, the Torch Festival of the Yi minority groups who live in China’s Sichuan and Yunnan provinces is a thrilling spectacle. Dancers light foot-long torches to drive away evil spirits and then form a chain to create the appearance of a fiery dragon. The terrifying part is when they throw sawdust at each others’ torches to create giant fireballs.

Equally rambunctious, but perhaps less dangerous, the Qingdao International Beer Festival takes place from August 10-25. The local brewery Tsingtao, founded in 1903 by German settlers, is of course well represented, as are international stalwarts such as Carlsberg, Asahi and Heineken. Ganbei (cheers)!

September

Xian, home to the Terracotta Warriors, puts on an Ancient Culture and Art Festival throughout September. Expect drum and dragon processions, shadow puppet shows, and acrobatics. Can be combined with a visit to Pingyao, a 14th-century walled city which stages an International Photography Festival.

October

The Beijing Music Festival (bmf.org.cn) takes place at the atmospheric Forbidden City Concert Hall, with operatic, orchestral and choral concerts, as well as a performance, over seven days, of all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas by the Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder .

Not to be outdone, Shanghai holds a world-class jazz festival in late October.

The Forbidden City

November

The focus in the Chinese capital shifts to the International Dance Festival which in its inaugural year in 2012 featured the likes of the Stuttgart Ballet and Sylvie Guillem. The venue is likely to be the spectacular giant glass and titanium dome that is Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.

December

Despite China’s officially atheist status, services for Christmas are held in cities such as Guangzhou and Beijing, in centuries-old churches and cathedrals built by missionaries. But for most, this is a purely commercial holiday with lots of Santa hats and trees. In Dali, Yunnan province, residents even create their own “white Christmas” by holding a mass shaving-cream fight on Christmas Eve.

January 2014

Harbin’s Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival starts on January 5 and runs throughout the month. Sculptors from China and beyond fashion a winter wonderland with ice palaces reaching several storeys high, slides and even working escalators erected alongside some of their creations. Just make sure you bring your thermals – temperatures can drop as low as -40C.

If Harbin leaves you cold, there’s an International Surfing Festival in Hainan, China’s only tropical island.

February 2014

The next Chinese New Year celebrations, for the Year of the Horse, begin on January 31 and continue for the first two weeks of February.

China guide

For a list of specialist China operators and expert tips on what to see and do, see our guide on China for beginners: telegraph.co.uk/chinaguide

In the magazine

Sara Wheeler and family head off the beaten track in China.

Ask the concierge

Concierges from three of Beijing’s best hotels on what to see and where to celebrate: telegraph.co.uk/ultratravel