Chinese and Lunar New Year - which is which? Buy books in London and Celebrate in Singapore

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year Books  Books in Daunt's book shop in Hampstead featured Chinese new Year. 

A tall man, exclaimed, 'My wife is Korean and she wouldn't like that. She says, "It's not Chinese New Year, it's lunar New Year!" '

I thought it was time somebody wrote a book called lunar New Year. I looked around the bookshop and found several people had.

Also books on an assortment of festivals.

Lunar New Year

I read it up on Wikipedia. There's lunar new year, solar new year, and if that wasn't enough, there's lunisolar new year. 

If you want a simple explanation, go to Simple Wiki or look at a book for children.

Chinese New Year 

Chinese New Year is celebrated in China and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Chinatowns worldwide including London, England, the USA and Canada. 

Singapore Lion Dance

When I was in Singapore all year I would pass building which were the headquarters of Lion Dance groups. The week around Chinese New Year, lion dance groups would perform for free, often sponsored, in public places, outside railway stations, in shopping malls, utside and inside restaurants, at clubs, and in homes for weekend or midweek parties.  

In Singapore the lunisolar festival is also called the Spring Festival and although this year, 2025, it is celebrated at the start, the weekend 29 until the lantern festival. However, I saw orange lanterns all through Chinese New Year in Singapore in shopping malls and hotels.

Lo Hei - Singapore Style

Other features are the Chinese New Year dinner dish, invented in a hotel. In the centre of each round dinner table are placed vegetables of different colours sliced up on a large circular platter, with pink salmon or other fish, condiments, and it all tossed in the air with chopsticks, the higher the better for good luck, whilst shouting good luck messages in Chinese. Lo Hei. You can buy party sets of the vegetables in supermarkets. The price varies according to size, whether chopsticks for all and a platter are included, and whether the fish is included. Occasionally there's a deal such as a discount coupon for fresh fish bought with the vegetables.

Meanwhile, back in the bookshops in London, you can buy books as gifts so you and your family can read all about it.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_New_Year

Update Chinese New Year UK , Saturday

 

Chinese New Year is celebrated enthusiastically in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. One of th largest celebrations in a Chinatown outside these countries is in London. Expect a big parade, decorated pedestriansed streets, and festive dinners. You will see red lanterns and hear lion dances. Although Chinese New Year started  midweek, the big parade in Chinatown will be on Saturday.

In Singapore you will see many lion dances, in pubic places, or in private homes. The lion dancers perform the undulating moving of the dragon to loud drumming and cymbals. They throw items to the crowd.

The Lunar New Year - the Year of the rabbit and cat, and wealth

 

Rabbit motifs for the year of the rabbit at the Tanglin club. Photo by Angela Lansbury. 

This picture shows the rabbit for the year of the rabbit. Other symbols on the table are oranges, which are presented to employees or suppliers, not eaten but passed on to somebody else. Notice the pineapple. The gold covered coins. 

The red packets in which you are supposed to place gifts of money for children and  young, single, unmarried children. Inside you put the gift of money. You get crisp, clean new bank notes from a bank. The money should be in lucky numbers such as multiples of eights, such as eight, or eighty-eight. Avoid four and multiples of four because the sound for four sounds similar to the word for death in Chinese (Mandarin).

The red packets you see contain the money. The gold foil covers chocolate coins.  The rabbit toy is in two sizes for babies, or bigger children.

The lunar New Year is also known as the Spring Festival and as Chinese New Year, in China and countries with large Chinese populations, such as Singapore. 

In Vietnam instead of the rabbit, the animal of the year is the cat. This is because their important crop is rice, and the numbers of rats which eat the rice are reduced by the cats.

The solstice is about the sun, in December, and the equinox is when the days and nights are of equal lengths. 

The lunar new year is not about the sun but about the moon.

Rabbits

I had a soft toy rabbit which I kept on my desk in case I had an opportunity to speak about it during Chinese New Year.

On Saturday 28th January I was in a zoom meeting of a Toastmasters Group for training speakers, Braddell Heights 2. I had been invited to be the Language Evaluator. The table topics (impromptu speeches of 1-2 minutes)  were on the theme of Chinese New Year. The table topics master had pictures of the CNY themes.

I started, "I love Chinese New Year!" 

I held up my puppet.

I thought that I might have inspired everybody else to jump up from their desks, unmute and turn off their picture, whilst they rushed to grab another item connected with CNY. Such as an ang pow (red packet with a gift of money, ideally a multiple of eight, such as 8 or 80 dollars. 9Never the number four which sounds like death.).

No. I was the only one with a CNY prop.

Angela with soft toy white rabbit, used as a prop for speeches. 

. 

Czech White (albino) rabbit.

Well, what do you know! A real rabbit really does have pink ears. (And pink edged eyes.) You learn something every day.

Summary of Symbols

Rabbit - for the Chinese zodiac sign for year of the rabbit

Gold paper covered coins and bars

Mandarin oranges (a pair)

The God of wealth (a person dressed up)

A lion (and a lion dance performed with noise to scare away evil)

Red packets containing money in new notes, adding up to eight which is a lucky number, not four symbolising death

Spring flower blossoms, red, orange, pink and white

Glossary

CNY  - Chinese New Year (abbreviated to the initials)

Solstice - summer

Solstice - winter

lunar New Year

Spring Festival

If you missed the CNY/lunar celebrations, the Tibetan New Year takes place one month later.

Useful Websites

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What is the Difference Between Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year?

 

"Chinese New Year" in Traditional (top) and Simplified (bottom) Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese	春節
Simplified Chinese	春节
Literal meaning	"Spring Festival"
showTranscriptions
"Agricultural Calendar New Year"
Traditional Chinese	農曆新年
Simplified Chinese	农历新年
showTranscriptions
"Chinese New Year"
Traditional Chinese	中國新年
Simplified Chinese	中国新年
hideTranscriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhōngguó xīn nián

CNY stands for Chinese New Year. it is celebrated in Taiwan and Singapore. In mainland china it is called Spring Festival.

LNY is used in Korea. The initials stand for Lunar New Year. Also used by the Vietnamese.

Korea

The Koreans also give gifts of money. 

They wear traditional costume called hanbok.

You might want to check out lunar new year and lunisolar New Year. Lunisolar follows both the sun (solar) and moon (luni) so it stays in the same season.

The Indians also follow New Year.

Other New Year Festivals

Jewish New year falls in the autumn.

Muslim New Year is purely solar and  gradually changes season.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_New_Year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_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:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.