.svg) "Chinese New Year" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters | |
| Traditional Chinese | 春節 |
|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 春节 |
| Literal meaning | "Spring Festival" |
The most common auspicious greetings and sayings consist of four characters, such as the following:
- 金玉滿堂 Jīn yù mǎn táng – "May your wealth [gold and jade] come to fill a hall"
- 大展鴻圖 Dà zhǎn hóng tú – "May you realize your ambitions"
- 迎春接福 Yíng chún jiēf ú – "Greet the New Year and encounter happiness"
- 萬事如意 Wàn shì rú yì – "May all your wishes be fulfilled"
- 吉慶有餘 Jí qìng yǒu yú – "May your happiness be without limit"
- 竹報平安 Zhú bào píng 'ān – "May you hear [in a letter] that all is well"
- 一本萬利 Yī běn wàn lì – "May a small investment bring ten-thousandfold profits"
- 福壽雙全 Fú shòu shuāng quán – "May your happiness and longevity be complete"
- 招財進寶 Zhāo cái jìn bǎo – "When wealth is acquired, precious objects follow"[141]
I recognized a couple of these characters such as one 一 ; and big 大 . So I decided to translate each character in Google translate and see what I got with a literal translation.
I shall come back to this later.
Useful Websites
Wikipedia Chinese New Year
About the Author
Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.
Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore.
She has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:
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