Update: The promotion link in this article is now live on the Skype site, sometimes news come faster than development it seems.

I just received an email about a new Skype promotion. "As the Chinese New Year is quickly approaching, Chinese ex-pats located in the U.S. and Canada will soon start calling China to wish their family and friends back home a Happy New Year."

This promotion might be so new that their link www.skype.com/YearOfThePig doesn't exist yet, so keep an eye out for it to be working soon hopefully. Anywho here's the lowdown on the promotion thanks Chaim for the heads up.

In celebration of the Chinese New Year, Skype announced that its users in the United States and Canada can make free calls to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, through March 8.

Launching today, the 8-8-8 promotion allows U.S. and Canada-based Skype users to redeem twenty-four minutes of SkypeOut credit to call landlines and mobile phones in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and wish friends and family abroad a Happy New Year. Such calls normally cost $.021 a minute plus a $.039 connection fee. Skype to Skype calls anywhere in the world remain free.

"Chinese New Year is one of the world's biggest celebrations of family, friends and community, and we know many people in the U.S. and Canada rely on Skype to stay connected during this time," said Don Albert, Vice President and General Manager of Skype North America. "We're excited to provide Skype users a way to send New Year's greetings and well wishes to anyone in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, without paying anything for those calls."

Twenty-four minutes worth of credit to calls to China, Hong Kong or Taiwan (including one connection fee) will be added to the Skype account balance of any Skype user taking part in the promotion. Skype users can enroll in the promotion by visiting www.skype.com/YearOfThePig, and logging into the site with their existing Skype user name and password. Those who do not currently have a Skype account can register for one for free at Skype.com.

Chinese New Year, the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays, begins this year on February 18 and runs until March 5.

Skype's 8-8-8 promotion runs through March 8.