Thursday, 3 February 2011

How do you say happy new year in Chinese, it's Kung Hei Fat Choi?

It's time of the year to celebrate new year. Again? Indeed, around the world where there are Chinese there will be a new year celebration. How do you say happy new year in Chinese?

Chinese folk-lore tales

First let's answer How do you say happy new year in Chinese, according to some news websites it's Kung Hei Fat Choi from a Chinese Cantonese but doesn't exactly mean "Happy New Year" at all. While China's official language pronounce the greeting as "Kong Xi Fa Tsai".

Chinese language experts recommends "Kiong Hee Huat Tsai" which is greeting in Hokkien. Added by experts, “Kung Hei Fat Choi” means it’s like saying "Good morning".

Since "Kiong Hee Huat Tsai!" is highly recommended and suggested to use in lieu of what Filipino used to "Kung Hei Fat Choi".

Meanwhile, as the Chinese new year arrives they are also welcoming the animal symbol of the new year which is Metal Rabbit.

Metal Rabbit according to Wikipedia says,
The Rabbit ( 兔 ) (also translated as Hare) is the fourth animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. The Year of the Rabbit is associated with the earthly branch symbol 卯.
In the related Vietnamese zodiac, the cat takes the place of the rabbit.[1][2] The Chinese character 卯 for the Rabbit sounds like (mão, mẫu, méo, mẹo, mẻo); the word "mèo" is cat in Vietnamese. Therefore, cat was translated from Chinese to Vietnamese as fourth zodiac sign instead of Rabbit.

Now you know how do you say happy new year in Chinese,it's Kiong Hee Huat Tsai!

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