On the night of New Year's Eve, Chinese families come together for a celebration dinner. This custom is also called "surrounding the hearth," from the custom in earlier times of eating dinner around the family hearth. Both children and adults eat together and dinner begins only after all of the family members are present at the table. A table setting is placed for those unable to come home for dinner on this day to symbolize their presence though far away. As the nuclear family becomes increasingly common in modern society, this symbol of unity takes on increasing significance. New Year's Eve dinner is best eaten slowly, savoring the flavor of each dish. Several of the dishes served have auspicious meaning and are indispensable to the night's menu: "Long Year Vegetable" (mustard greens) to represent long life ; "Whole Chicken," symbolizing wealth for the whole family (since "chicken" and "family" sound the same in the Taiwanese dialect ); a type of clam called han is eaten since it sounds like the Chinese word for "fat," deriving the sense of "becoming well-off"; and fish balls, shrimp balls, and meat balls are eaten to symbolize the three top scores earned during the civil service examination in ancient China and, by extension, success in educational pursuits. Althouth fish is on the New Year's Eve dinner table it cannot be eaten on New Year's Eve, since the Chinese words for "fish" and "surplus" sound the same and one wouldn't want to eat the next year's surplus.

Some families will also prepare chiao tzu, Chinese dumplings stuffed with meats and vegetables. Since the shape of the dumplings resembles a gold ingot, eating chiao tzu symbolizes the calling of wealth into one's life, and some people stuff real money in dumplings which will bring wealth to the lucky one who finds the coin.

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