Chinese communities across the UK will celebrate Chinese New Year next week with traditions thought to guarantee good luck for the year ahead. Here are the traditions of Chinese New Year, as well as how to wish someone a happy new year in Cantonese and Mandarin.
Next week marks Chinese New Year, as celebrations begin on Tuesday February 1.
The reason Chinese New Year falls a few weeks after the start of the new calendar year, is because it marks the Lunar New Year, when there is a new moon.
Celebrations last for 16 days and are designed to usher out the last year and invite good luck and prosperity for the next one.
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The tiger is considered a symbol of power, often associated with emperors and kings.
People born in the year of the tiger are thought to be confident, competitive, brave and strong-minded.
What Chinese New Year events are happening in the UK?
London normally holds the flagship Chinese New Year celebrations in the capital, but unfortunately these have been cancelled again due to coronavirus.
However, many Chinese communities across the UK will find other ways to celebrate.
If you want to wish someone a happy Chinese New Year, you might say the well-known phrase “gong hei fat choy”.
This is a Cantonese greeting used around the new year, but it doesn’t actually mean “Happy New Year”.
“Gong hei fat choy” is a more formal greeting, it translates as “wishing you great happiness and prosperity”.
In Mandarin, the more common language in China, you can say “xin nian kuai le”, which is pronounced “shin nee-an kwai leh”.
