About Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is a big festival celebrated by the Chinese communities all over the world as well as London. It is based on the lunar and solar calendars with the actual date of Chinese New Year being different every year. However, it always falls between late January and mid-February. What is also interesting is that each year in the Chinese calendar is represented by one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. This year, 2016, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated on the 8^th of February and will be the Year of the Monkey.

Chinese New Year 2016 in London Event Programme

If you would like to attend the Chinese New Year in London, they will be held in Trafalgar Square, Chinatown and the West End area on the 14^th February from 10am till 6am. The celebrations this year will start with a grand parade with ten lion teams that will perform lion dances. The lion dance will start at 10am and go through West End ending in Chinatown. The firecrackers will pre-amp the stage performances which will include traditional dance, dragon and flying lion dances, opera and martial arts performances. At 5.20pm monkey dancers and acrobats will be on stage to celebrate the Year of the Monkey with a pyrotechnic display illuminating Nelson’s Column.

The most common words and expressions

The most common expression is wishing someone a Happy Chinese New Year which sounds this way: chūn jié kuài lè. Now let me explain this phrase in detail. Chun is spring. ‘Jie’ is ‘festival’, ‘kuai le’ is ‘happy’ and literally means ‘Spring festival happy’ which sounds like Chinglish. Therefore, it can be translated in English as ‘Happy spring festival’. Also, we say some words of blessing. So one of the most common phrases used for wishing New Year during the Chinese New Year is ‘wan shi ru yi’. ‘wan’ is ten thousand, ‘shi’ means ‘things’ and ‘ru yi’ basically means something you wish. So ‘zhu ni chu jie kuai le, wan shi ru yi.’ Ok, hope you enjoy it and can use it to your Chinese friends during the Chinese New Year.

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春节快乐

 春节快乐chūn jié kuài lè

春（chūn） spring

节（jié）festival

快乐（kuài lè）happy

万事如意 wàn shì rú yì

万（wàn）ten thousand

事（shì）thing

如意（rú yì）a wish

祝你春节快乐，万事如意（zhù nǐ chūn jié kuài lè，wàn shì rú yì）

祝你 （zhù nǐ）means ‘Wish you…’

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