Countries across Asia have been celebrating the Lunar New Year in spectacular style.

Dance performances, elaborate decorations, red lanterns and food marked the occasion as people welcomed the year of the pig with hopes of happiness and fortune.

On the eve of the new year, people gathered for reunion dinners, gave red packets of pocket money to youngsters and lit firecrackers at midnight.

Early on Tuesday, the first day of the year of the pig, hundreds lined up outside famous temples to burn the first joss sticks of the year, expecting it to bring them good luck.

China Lunar New YearA performer dressed as an emperor participates in a Qing Dynasty ceremony in which emperors prayed for good harvest and fortune at a temple fair in Ditan Park in Beijing (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Myanmar Lunar New YearParticipants take part in a flame-breathing lion dance during the Lunar New Year celebrations in the Chinatown area of Yangon, Myanmar (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Myanmar Lunar New YearDragon dances and other colourful festivities in Yangon, Myanmar (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
China Lunar New YearPerformers arrive during a Qing Dynasty ceremony in Beijing (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Malaysia Lunar New YearA boy lights a joss stick at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AP Photo/Yam G-Jun)
Cambodia Lunar New YearMembers of Cambodia's Chinese community perform a traditional lion dance in front of Royal Palace, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Indonesia Lunar New YearIndonesian ethnic Chinese people pray during the Lunar New Year's eve at a temple in Jakarta, Indonesia (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
China Lunar New YearA woman holds a flower-shape candle as she prays on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year at the Tanzhe temple in the Mentougou District of Beijing (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Hong Kong Lunar New YearYoung vendors call out for customers at a New Year market in Hong Kong's Victoria Park (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
Philippines Chinese New YearFilipino dancers perform a dragon dance at Manila's Chinatown district (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Malaysia Lunar New YearVisitors gather under red lanterns at a temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AP Photo/Yam G-Jun)