It is a Chinese custom to go visit the family relatives when a Chinese new year comes. They visit to close relatives in the first day of a year or in the first two or three days. As for those distant relatives visits are welcome in any day of the first fifteen days. And those visits are called Zou Qinqi, with Qinqi standing for relatives and Zou for visiting.
Chinese would take gifts to relatives and the visited family would give gifts in return. Gifts include everything that symbolizes good luck. The exchange of gifts is just nominal and courtesy. When visiting relatives, people would recall everything in the past year and wish everyone good luck in the upcoming new year.
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Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Hongbao – lucky money
On the Chinese New Year’s Eve or anytime during the spring festival holidays, the aged would give Chinese kids money, known as lucky money, which is put in small, red packets called Hongbao in Chinese language with Hong for red the color and Bao for packet. In southern China, not only Chinese kids or Chinese teens can be presented with Hongbao, but also young adults as long as they are not married.
The lucky money in the Hongbao is called Ya Sui Qian. Ya means suppress; one Chinese character with pronunciation of Sui means devils; Qian is the word for money in Chinese language. To put together, Ya Sui Qian means the thing that can suppress devils and maintain kids in peace and safety for a whole year.
In some southern area, particularly in Guangdong province, Hongbao is called Lishi. And there is a saying that kids would say when asking for a Hongbao, Gong Xi Fa Cai Hongbao Na lai, wish you make plenty of money in the new year and please hand me a Hongbao.
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The lucky money in the Hongbao is called Ya Sui Qian. Ya means suppress; one Chinese character with pronunciation of Sui means devils; Qian is the word for money in Chinese language. To put together, Ya Sui Qian means the thing that can suppress devils and maintain kids in peace and safety for a whole year.
In some southern area, particularly in Guangdong province, Hongbao is called Lishi. And there is a saying that kids would say when asking for a Hongbao, Gong Xi Fa Cai Hongbao Na lai, wish you make plenty of money in the new year and please hand me a Hongbao.
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Bainian - Chinese New Year Greetings
When the first day of a new year comes, the first thing Chinese would do is Bainian, Chinese New Year greetings.
As Chinese would stay up on the New Year’s Eve till the early morning of the first day of the new year, when the very moment of the new year arrives people would say ‘Bainian, Bainian’to everyone around and some auspicious phrases, known as Chinese wishing, such as Gong Xi Fa Cai (wish you make plenty of money), Ji Xiang Ru Yi (wish you be lucky and everything goes as wished), He Jia Huan Le (wish your family is harmonious and every family member is happy), and Shen Ti Jian Kang (wish you healthy).
On the first day after getting up, kids should go Bainian to their grandparents and everyone to his/her parents. In the ancient times, the gesture that kids would make to their grandparents is Ketou, falling on kneels and placing palms and forehead downward onto the ground. And the wishes to the aged family members are always related health and longevity. When greeting people of the same age, Chinese would Zuoyi, making a bow with hands folded in front and also say something sounding auspicious.
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As Chinese would stay up on the New Year’s Eve till the early morning of the first day of the new year, when the very moment of the new year arrives people would say ‘Bainian, Bainian’to everyone around and some auspicious phrases, known as Chinese wishing, such as Gong Xi Fa Cai (wish you make plenty of money), Ji Xiang Ru Yi (wish you be lucky and everything goes as wished), He Jia Huan Le (wish your family is harmonious and every family member is happy), and Shen Ti Jian Kang (wish you healthy).
On the first day after getting up, kids should go Bainian to their grandparents and everyone to his/her parents. In the ancient times, the gesture that kids would make to their grandparents is Ketou, falling on kneels and placing palms and forehead downward onto the ground. And the wishes to the aged family members are always related health and longevity. When greeting people of the same age, Chinese would Zuoyi, making a bow with hands folded in front and also say something sounding auspicious.
If you are interested in learning more about this or related Chinese Greetings topics, take a FREE one-on-one live online lesson with a professional teacher in Beijing! (www.eChineseLearning.com)
The Year of Niu - Chinese Ox Year
Chinese new year 2009 falls on January 26, 2009 when Chinese twelve-year circle will roll into the year of ox. In Chinese language, ox is pronounced as Niu. Niu, as an animal in general, was playing the role of dragging a plough in field before the invention of modern industrialized farm tools in Chinese history. The image of Niu in Chinese culture is hard-working and down-to-earth so that it is highly respected by Chinese.
When there are different terms, such as ox, bull, cattle, etc., to refer to different species of one kind, there is only one, Niu, for all those terms. And in Chinese there is no special term for beef but just the addition of a word, Rou which means meat in general, to Niu that forms a phrase of Niu Rou. Bull market in Chinese is called Niu Shi with shi standing for market. Niu is also a family name in China and a commonly used one.
Thanks to the shape of Niu, being strong and muscular, and its powerful moos, Niu has become a new slang frequently used by Chinese young and more and more Chinese of all ages. It, functioning as an adjective, is used to praise a capable person. And in most cases it is used humorously. Particularly, when the year of ox is coming around, Chinese are saying greetings mixing Niu the symbolic animal of the year and Niu the popularly used slang, such as wish you be Niu in the year of Niu, which means wish you a success in the year of ox.
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When there are different terms, such as ox, bull, cattle, etc., to refer to different species of one kind, there is only one, Niu, for all those terms. And in Chinese there is no special term for beef but just the addition of a word, Rou which means meat in general, to Niu that forms a phrase of Niu Rou. Bull market in Chinese is called Niu Shi with shi standing for market. Niu is also a family name in China and a commonly used one.
Thanks to the shape of Niu, being strong and muscular, and its powerful moos, Niu has become a new slang frequently used by Chinese young and more and more Chinese of all ages. It, functioning as an adjective, is used to praise a capable person. And in most cases it is used humorously. Particularly, when the year of ox is coming around, Chinese are saying greetings mixing Niu the symbolic animal of the year and Niu the popularly used slang, such as wish you be Niu in the year of Niu, which means wish you a success in the year of ox.
If you are interested in learning more about this or related Chinese new year topics, take a FREE one-on-one live online lesson with a professional teacher in Beijing! (www.eChineseLearning.com)
Jiaozi – Chinese dumpling
As a symbol of Chinese food, Jiaozi, Chinese dumpling is a must at a lot of Chinese festivals, especially on the occasion of Chinese New Year’s eve. A story says Jiaozi was invented by doctor Zhang Zhongjing, a famous Chinese doctor in ancient China, to save poor people from frostbite as filling dough with meat and traditional Chinese medicine.
The pronunciation of Jiaozi came from the tradition of eating dumplings on Chinese New Year’s Eve, which became a tradition later after Zhang Zhongjing, the famous doctor, invented it. In Chinese ancient timing system, the time named Zi is twelve o’clock in the midnight. When this moment comes on the eve of the last day of a year the New Year is coming in time. And in Chinese, the whole process is called Geng Sui Jiao Zi that means the change of years and Jiao Zi means that the change happens at the very moment of Zi.
The shape of Jiaozi is like that of Yuanbao, a Chinese ancient silver currency, Chinese think that the shape is quite auspicious. Northern Chinese eat Jiaozi more while Southern Chinese eat less and don’t call it Huntun in stead of Jiaozi. And there were other names for Jiaozi in Chinese history, Jiao’er, Bianshi, boiled Momo, and etc.
There are sayings about Jiaozi, such as chu men jiaozi jin men mian, which means one needs to eat Jiaozi when leaving home for a long time and eat noodle when coming back home.
If you are interested in learning more about this or related Chinese culture topics, take a FREE one-on-one live online lesson with a professional teacher in Beijing! (www.eChineseLearning.com)
The pronunciation of Jiaozi came from the tradition of eating dumplings on Chinese New Year’s Eve, which became a tradition later after Zhang Zhongjing, the famous doctor, invented it. In Chinese ancient timing system, the time named Zi is twelve o’clock in the midnight. When this moment comes on the eve of the last day of a year the New Year is coming in time. And in Chinese, the whole process is called Geng Sui Jiao Zi that means the change of years and Jiao Zi means that the change happens at the very moment of Zi.
The shape of Jiaozi is like that of Yuanbao, a Chinese ancient silver currency, Chinese think that the shape is quite auspicious. Northern Chinese eat Jiaozi more while Southern Chinese eat less and don’t call it Huntun in stead of Jiaozi. And there were other names for Jiaozi in Chinese history, Jiao’er, Bianshi, boiled Momo, and etc.
There are sayings about Jiaozi, such as chu men jiaozi jin men mian, which means one needs to eat Jiaozi when leaving home for a long time and eat noodle when coming back home.
If you are interested in learning more about this or related Chinese culture topics, take a FREE one-on-one live online lesson with a professional teacher in Beijing! (www.eChineseLearning.com)
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