Chinese Language Learning Program
Lesson 66 – Chinese New Year
Hello, everyone. Welcome back. This is Baixue’s Chinese
Language Learning Program. We just had a Solar New Year and the Chinese Lunar
New Year is coming soon. I am not sure how many people know when will be 2014
Chinese New Year and what animal zodiac is this year. So, today, we are going
to talk about Chinese New Year--2014.
Janary 31, 2014 is Chinese New Year. We have already known
that there are 12 zodiac animals in Chinese year. Do you know what animal is
this year? Yes, it is Horse!
mǎ nián
马 年 (Horse Year)
chūn jié
春 节 (Spring Festival, Chinese New Year)
Chinese New Year is the most important festival in
Chinese culture. In Chinese New Year, one of the most important thing Chinese
people will do is to post goalkeepers and couplets on the door and two sides of
the door.
chūn lián
春 联 (Spring festival couplets or New Year scroll)
See more information
about Chunlian at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couplet_(Chinese_poetry)
mén shén
门 神 (Door god)
See more information about Menshen at:
Chunlian and Menshen are used as New Year's decorations
that express happiness, hopeful thoughts and good luck for the coming year.
Chunlian are posted on the two sides of the door, and
Menshen are posted on the door. Nowadays, many people use “fu (福)” to replace
Menshen. All of these Chinese New Year Posters show people’s new year wishes:
happiness, good luck and hopeful thoughts.
There are three parts of the New Year Posters: A shorter horizontal scroll is often pasted across the top of the door. Two vertical scrolls are posted on the two sides of the door. Door gods are usually on the door. Spring Festival couplets were thought to protect the household
from evil.
Besides the Spring Festival couplets, some people also
decorate their house with Papercuts for celebrating the Chinese New Year.
jiǎn zhǐ
剪 纸 (Papercuts)
Papercuts made from lucky red paper are often pasted on
windows and on doors to celebrate Spring Festival. Papercutting is an extremely
popular Chinese folk art. Papercuts features are usually from Chinese legends,
opera, and the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac.
Speak of Chinese New Year, there is one Chinese character
I have to introduce to you.
fú
福(blessing; happiness;
good luck; good fortune)
The character "fu" means happiness and good
fortune. It is as often used as a decoration during Spring Festival, expressing
the hope for good fortune and a bright future in the coming year. In order to
emphasize the significance of this character, it is often pasted on the door
upside down. We call this as:
dào fú fú dào le
倒 福 (or) 福 倒 了(fu is upside down)
fú
dào le
-- is the homophonic of 福 到 了 (Good
luck(Happiness) is coming.)
What people will do
in Chinese New Year?
The most important
thing people will do in Chinese New Year is to have a New Year's Eve dinner
with family or friends on the Chinese New Year Eve. We call this dinner as:
nián yè fàn
年 夜 饭 (New Year's Eve dinner)
jiǎo zi
饺 子(dumpling)
Jiao zi is the most
popular food during the New Year.
For more information
about nian ye fan, please visit the following link:
Another thing Chinese people will do in the Chinese New
Year is to use Firecrackers and / or fireworks to celebrate the festivals.
yān huā pào zhú
烟 花 炮 竹 (Fireworks and Firecrackers)
Speak of Chinese New
Year, I have to introduce you a special show:
chūn jié lián huān
wǎn huì
春 节 联 欢 晚 会 (Spring Festival Gala Evening)
Spring Festival Gala Evening is a Chinese New Year
special show produced by China Central Television. This show is the most
popular show during Chinese New Year and also the traditional New Year show
since 1983. See more information at:
For kids, besides the
new gift and new clothes, there is also one thing they are looking forward to
having:
yā suì qián (hóng bāo)
压 岁 钱 ( ( 红 包) red envelope/money given to children as a lunar New
Year gift, also be called lucky money)
Why red envelope was called Ya Sui Qian? Because the
character “岁”, which means“year”, pronounces similar with the character“祟”, which
means“evil spirit”. The ancient Chinese people believed that kids were weaker than adults and they were easier to
get hurt by the evil spirits. Ya Sui Qian was symbolized as an amulet that could hold
down the evil spirits. People gave Ya Sui Qian to kids in Chinese New Year to hope that the kids could get through the year
and grew up safely and healthily. However, nowadays, the superstitious meaning of Ya Sui Qian does not exist and it is only a new year gift to children.
There is one activity
almost all Chinese people will do in Chinese New Year-----Bai nian.
bài nián
拜 年 (New year greetings)
Usually, family
members or relatives or friends will visit each other or call each other to say
some new year greetings:
xīn chūn kuài lè!
新 春 快 乐！(Happy New Year!)
gōng hè xīn nián！
恭 贺 新 年！(Happy New Year!)
xīn nián kuài lè!
新 年 快 乐！(Happy New Year!)
gōng xǐ fā cái!
恭 喜 发 财！(Wish you a fortune!)
Ok, since this year is the horse year. I will show you several
idioms about horse:
mǎ dào chéng gōng
马 到 成 功 (be successful instantly)
zhù nǐ mǎ dào chéng gōng!
祝 你 马 到 成 功！(Wish you success!)
mǎ mǎ hǔ hǔ
马 马 虎 虎 (Just so so. Or in a perfunctory manner)
Ok, that is all for today. Happy Chinese New Year!
xiè xiè!
谢 谢 ! (Thanks!)
xià cì jiàn
下 次 见! (See you next time!)
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