The Greetings for Lunar New Year

We say “Happy new year” (Xin nian kuai le) to each other as well for Lunar New Year in China, but at the same time, we also have other greetings. For example, this year is the year of dog, so as for simple greetings, people would say things like “Happy the year of dog” (Gou nian kuai le). I am not sure what people from other regions of China greet with each other during the Lunar New Year. However, people from Beijing usually say Guo nian hao instead of Xin Nian Kuai le. I guess because it is simpler and sounds the relationship between the talkers is closer.

Spring Festival is the biggest celebration for Chinese people. As a result, Chinese people value it heavily and create a number of greetings and wishes for Lunar New Year long time ago. It suggests the culture of how much Chinese value the Spring Festival historically and culturally. The wishes are concentrating on wishing good fortune in health, family, business or study. It shows our identities of what are truly important towards us.

“Happy new year” in English illustrates the social interaction way of Americans. The way American people socializing is to make so-called friends first before getting know with them deeper, yet the real friends of American takes longer time to develop. The socializing culture in China is more implicit and the definition of friend is stricter at the first place. It is why we have a lot of greeting phrases besides a simple “Happy new year” for various meaning because people we greet and give wishes are people we truly wish the best. At this point, according to our culture, the meaning beneath the greetings is much more than the greetings itself but contains love and care.