After that, the old man disappeared riding the beast Nian. He turned out to be an immortal god. Now that Nian is gone and other beasts of prey are also scared into forests, people begin to enjoy their peaceful life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end to scare away Nian in case it sneaked back again, because red is the color the beast feared the most.

　　之后，老人骑着年兽消失了。他原来是一位不朽的神。现在年兽已经走了，其他的猛兽也被吓到了森林里，人们开始享受他们平静的生活。在老人离开之前，他告诉人们在每年年底的时候在窗户和门上贴上红纸装饰来吓跑年兽，以防它再次偷偷溜回来，因为红色是野兽最害怕的颜色。

　　From then on, the tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which may mean "Survive the Nian" becomes today "Celebrate the (New) Year" as the word "guo" in Chinese having both the meaning of "pass-over" and "observe". The custom of putting up red paper and firing fire-crackers to scare away Nian should it have a chance to run loose is still around. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, except that they feel the color and the sound add to the excitement of the celebration.

　　从那时起，“年”被征服的传统就代代相传。“过年”一词，可能意味着“熬过年”成为今天的“庆祝(新的)一年”，因为“过年”这个词在汉语中既有“传递”的意思，也有“观察”的意思。贴红纸和放鞭炮吓跑年的习俗仍然存在。然而，今天的人们早已忘记了他们为什么要做这一切，除了他们觉得颜色和声音增加了庆祝的兴奋。