URLLesson Introduction
Certain ancient Chinese traditions are more easily assimilated to the Western mind. Five days straight of blowing off firecrackers tends to sit better than 12-course dinners. If you don't join 'em, you aren't gonna beat 'em, so put on your protective glasses and light up your xiaoqu with China's gift to the world. In this podcast, plan your Chinese New Year in Mandarin.
Comments 
To comment, please login.
Comments Policy
Allowed comments do not necessarily represent the views of ChinesePod.com. We also reserve the right to reject personal attacks, false/unsubstantiated allegations, spamming of any kind, and comments that include vulgar language or libelous statements.
New lesson idea? Please let us know at chinesepod@praxislanguage.com.
garry says
Hi. I am very excited to be in Chengdu this New Year's Eve, and definitely Chinesepod.com has helped me to enjoy my time here. It is lucky for me to have Chinese friends here to make my enjoyment and understanding of what is happening around me even greater. I am going to go out now and buy some fireworks!! Happy New Year.February 5, 2008
sparechange says
More singing! Is Jenny working on a new album? Thanks for talking about 了, by the way. You can never have too many examples for that little particle.February 5, 2008
sparechange says
I attended the Chinese New Year festivities at the local university last Sunday. 真厉害！I had no idea there were that many 中国人 in that little town. While I was there, I ran into my Chinese friends who had just returned after a month-long visit to Chengdu. We went to the dinner together afterwards, where I was coerced into speaking Chinese with random strangers (so far, I've been *very* shy about all this, so that was a major step for me). I also saw most of the Chinese people from work, who apparently left their mild-mannered, English-speaking alter-egos at home. Seriously. I was convinced those people were all introverts...until I saw them in a room together with food. Anyway, it was a great night, and I'll probably end up getting involved with the Chinese Students Association (or whatever it's called) as a result of it all. I'm totally stoked. :)February 5, 2008
changye says
My chubby dog, born in China, does not seem to like 春节, just because she fears loud sounds of firecrackers on the street.February 5, 2008
venker31 says
中国有什么放鞭炮的法律? 我住在ST. LOUIS, 比较大的城市 - 在市内, 连七月四号 也不能方鞭炮 (当然大家还要放鞭炮)..中国的大都市跟美国的一样吗? i know from visiting gardens and stuff in China that safety rules are much different than ones in America (where even in Chinese gardens, they never let you climb on rocks and such like they do in China), but like John said - fireworks are dangerous... 对了, 我的中文的语法对不对? 谢谢大家February 5, 2008
jennyzhu says
Several cities including Beijing completely banned firecrackers a few years ago, but it is such an essential part to the celebration that it was reinstituted. But the central business districts and highly populated areas in many cities are firecracker free zones for public safety reasons. Happy new year! 鼠年快乐！February 5, 2008
yase says
Crazy over here in Beijing -firecrckers all day long reverberating over the city. The firehoses have already been run out from our apartment block in preparation of fires tonight !.Tomorrow off to some 'miao hui' 庙会 temple fairs to blow off the bai jiu.February 5, 2008
henning says
Just today my MP3-player chose to play the two old, dumped New-Years/Hong Bao lessons - with the reverberating phrase 恭喜发财 ， 红包拿来 春节快乐 ！February 5, 2008
henning says
By the way: I learned 老爷 for "maternal grandfather". Is 外公 a southern term?February 5, 2008
user13983 says
One sentence doesn't quite seem to make sense: 你们从来都不给我，都拿去自己花了 'you've never given me hong bao- any money that you get, you spend it yourselves' Is that close?February 5, 2008
princeroy says
If not for the crummy Taipei winter, the city would be paradise right now--since so many people aren't from here, they all go home south for the new year holiday, so it's very peaceful. Anyway, at least this new year I'm not sick. 去年過年的時候一直生病，而且病得很厲害。。。 老婆的父母從成都來跟我們一起過年，所以按照成都過年的方式·，天天吃火鍋打麻將，挺好玩的！February 6, 2008
jennyzhu says
henning, Yes, 外公 is used more in the South.February 6, 2008
henning says
Thanks, Jenny! Have a peaceful New Year!February 6, 2008
lester says
请问，“ 热闹嘛”，什么意思？February 6, 2008
aert says
Hi Chinesepod Chinese New Year is a good opportunity to express my great appreciation and warm gratitude for all your work, and I also want to thank all the users who so often provide additional material, interesting questions, details of life in China and last not least jokes (the shortest one was the first reaction to the Hard of Hearing lesson: "shénme?"). It is Chinesepod that makes all this possible and I think you are doing a terrific job. A very Happy New Year to all of you!February 6, 2008
lester says
算了吧，I just read the PDF.February 6, 2008
bazza says
I'll wear red socks tomorrow. :)February 6, 2008
antoinefaure says
I would greatly appreciate some traditional New Year sons in a future lasson.As I am a new very old french student(78 sui !) perhaps may I find such songs on preceding lessons.Thanks.February 6, 2008
bazza says
I thought 鼠年 might have been in the vocab section.February 6, 2008
bazza says
As it's after midnight in Shanghai, 新年快乐。February 6, 2008
jorgeluna says
Thanks Jenny & Ken. I wish you Happy New Year Chinese. Gong xi fa cai!!February 6, 2008
evelyne says
Hi !everybody 新年快乐 Do you know CCTV international? ‘I've just watched the festival for the new year live from China. I can have the British version on my TV set or or the French version (I live in France) on my computer.很好！February 6, 2008
hanyuxuesheng says
新年快樂! 恭喜發財! 健康平安! This podcast in German...February 6, 2008
kien says
Happy new year ChinesePod and community. This is my second CNY as a ChinesePod subscriber.February 6, 2008
jackfrombelgium says
Hi, 你怎么过新年 你怎么过年 Is there a difference? JackFebruary 6, 2008
sebire says
My dad used to make us clean the entire house, and I mean *clean*. Then he used to wander around with incense, which used to smell so strong that I had to hide under the bedcovers. Unfortunately, I always used to find CNY such an alien festival that I never really enjoyed it as a child.February 6, 2008
butterfly29 says
Why do people hang Chinese Characters upside down during the new year celebrations?February 6, 2008
wande says
祝福各位 財源廣進 心想事成 Walter in BerlinFebruary 6, 2008
sebire says
Butterfly29, you should listen to a Dear Amber from a few weeks ago where they explain upside down characters! I can't remember which one it was though.February 6, 2008
calkins says
butterfly29, the character 福 (fú) is always posted upside down during CNY. 福 means "good fortune, happiness, luck, etc." The character for "upside down" is 到 (dào), which also means "to arrive." So when you hang 福 upside down on your door, it means that good fortune will arrive at your doorstep. Pretty cool ! The only reason I know this is because I recently studied the following lesson, and Jenny explains this quite nicely: What Character?February 6, 2008
changye says
The Chinese way to Happiness (福). 1) Upside down 福 2) 倒福 (dao4 fu2) 3) 到福 (dao4 fu2) 4) 福 arrives.February 6, 2008
obitoddkenobi says
春节快乐 ！Happy New Year everybody! Thank You for all of your good work.February 6, 2008
panda2 says
新年快乐。 Happy new year to all Chinese podders May good fortune come your way. @Chinese pod keep up the good work thanks for the past year of dedicationFebruary 6, 2008
auntie68 says
I'd like to wish everybody 新年快乐 too, in the spirit of a particularly heartwarming CNY story which has made this Auntie feel all warm and fuzzy. Last night, the An-Nur Mosque in Singapore cooked and served a Chinese reunion dinner for 100 needy Chinese who didn't have families of their own to spend it with. The food was all halal, of course (which must have been a culinary challenge!), but it was as chinese as the mosque could make it, down to hongbaos and oranges. And earlier in the week, volunteers from that mosque went to the homes of each of these 100 people to spring-clean them and make them nice for the holiday; this last detail just blew me away. So happy new year everybody!February 6, 2008
butterfly29 says
sebrie, calkins, and changye: Thanks for your help!February 6, 2008
lostinasia says
An article in Slate, called "How the Grinch Stole Chinese New Year"... http://www.slate.com/id/2183843/ ... talks about the 20th century history of the festival in China. One point that surprised me: the name 春節, or Spring Festival, is new?! (Well, less than 100 years old.) Is that true?! The article says the festival was re-named because the post-1911 government wanted "New Year" to become the same as western new year. The article talks a lot about how the kitchen god has disappeared in mainland China, but to be honest, there's not much of the kitchen god in Taiwan either. Yesterday was rainy and miserable in Taipei; there were some fireworks and firecrackers around, but nowhere near as many as on December 31st. I've never seen the MRT (=subway) as empty. Like the child in the conversation, I find Chinese New Year pretty dull; Lantern Festival is much more entertaining.February 6, 2008
xiaohu says
祝大家，春节快乐，身体健康， 万事如意! 过年的时候我要和亲戚在一起，吃好，喝好，玩儿得开心! 过年好!February 6, 2008
rich says
大家，祝你们春节快乐！新年快乐！ 恭喜发财，红包拿来！！！ :) -RichFebruary 6, 2008
bazza says
monisha hasn't been terminated yet.February 7, 2008
bingge says
A big thank you to the entire Cpod staff. Thanks for all the hard work you put in this year and for making it so much fun to learn chinese with you. Thank you!! Happy New Year! 新年快乐！February 7, 2008
mcsj007 says
Happy Chinese New Year to all !!February 7, 2008
calkins says
I wonder what language monisha is speaking.February 7, 2008
sebire says
I wondered that too...February 7, 2008
jennyzhu says
鼠年快乐！ I saw the most spectacular display of fireworks last night. It was in the tallest hotel in Puxi of Shanghai, in a bar with panoramic view of the city. Magic and fireworks, literally. The city was lit up by thousands of fireworks going off at the same time or one after another. These 'civilian' fireworks are absolutely beautiful. Besides the spectacle, the joy behind it made it all the mroe special, personal and collective joy. That sight should be live broadcast.February 7, 2008
crazykitty says
Happy New Year!February 7, 2008
sebire says
Anyway, 恭喜发财 everyone!February 7, 2008
urbandweller says
新年好! I have an american friend that is celebrating her first chinese new year in shanghai. I talked to her last night and she said it sounded like WWIII! You guys really know how to party over there!! ha ha!February 7, 2008
sebire says
My 红包 says "心想事成“。Does this mean "may all your dreams come true"? Any better offers?February 7, 2008
cassielin says
Hi Sebire, yes, you are right.心想事成means "may all your dreams come ture". here are many other good wishes for the new year, such as恭喜发财gong xi fa cai万事如意wan shi ru yi节节高升jie jie gao sheng财源滚滚cai yuan gun gun阖家欢乐he jia huan le and so on!February 7, 2008
john says
I'm having a nice CNY vacation... just got a new puppy! 新年快乐, everyone!February 8, 2008
jennyzhu says
John, 鼠年要做狗狗的好爸爸噢！February 8, 2008
dogeatsrat says
Jenny and John, you are such night-owls being up so late. 新年快乐大家！February 8, 2008
channa says
Happy New Year everyone! I have a question about the hong bao. I had assumed that kids could buy whatever they wanted with the money in their hong bao (toys, candy, more firecrackers, etc)... but in this dialogue the parents say they are saving it for the kid. So do kids spend the hong bao money themselves, or is it intended for things like clothes, medical care, higher education, etc?February 9, 2008
billzorn says
i'd like to see a lesson that explored the way in which native mandarin speakers use 'nage' and 'shenme'; not the literal translation but the idiomatic usage. my friends sprinkle their conversations with these and other words that according to them have little or no meaning (much to my literally minded consternation).February 9, 2008
auntie68 says
Hello channa. Ooh, I think you've hit on a delicate topic in Chinese families, even those in the diaspora. My nephew, the Stunt Toddler (aged 2), was forced tocough up his takings this year; poor guy was NOT a happy bunny, because he already understands money well enough to know which notes are more desirable. In Singapore, I grew up enjoying full control over all my CNY loot from a very young age, although my parents usually managed to persuade me allow them to help me bank it into to my personal "Donald Duck" savings account at HSBC (or was that Stanchart?). Usually, the thrill of depositing "a fortune" into my own account was enough to swing it. But I do recall that most of my classmates had to surrender their hongbaos (红包) to their parents at the end of each day of CNY, if not by the end of the short car journey to the next house they were visiting! Ouch. For the luckier ones, this was merely for safekeeping. That is, at the end of the CNY period, the parents would preside over the opening of the hongbaos, adding up the haul, and -- very importantly! -- persuading the siblings who somehow ended up with a hongbao or two (or three) more than the others, to donate enough of the excess cash to the siblings who were "short". But I think that the majority of the kids never saw the hongbaos ever again after the parents got hold of them. I have heard horror stories of parents who would even "recycle" their children's hongbaos, extracting the brand-new notes and stuffing them into the family's official hongbao paper for that year. Ouch. One of my streetwise schoolfriends ratted out her parents to the grandparents for doing just that; the elders actually scolded her parents and banned the practice (it can appear "cheap"; not good for family honour). channa, I hope that answers your question!February 9, 2008
auntie68 says
P/s: It's amazing the way worldly Chinese children -- even Stunt Toddlers like my nephew -- learn so quickly to "work" a roomful of adults in order to collect their full due. Eg., nephew was spontaneously "ching-ching"-ing all the adults, saying "gongxi! gongxi!", and thanking them sweetly. Any person who has ever celebrated CNY before as a family holiday would have seen little kids who know just how to "engage" an adult until a hongbao had been handed over (like a concierge, waiting for the tip). And I've seen little kids bold enough to collect hongbaos on behalf of siblings (wow!), which is how some end up with more than they should. I never had the guts...February 9, 2008
sebire says
My mum told me that it was bad luck to spend the money at once, and that you should keep it until there was an emergency.February 9, 2008
john says
billzorn, That's a good idea. We'll put something together!February 9, 2008
john says
auntie68, Thanks for sharing! I am vaguely reminded of a Halloween experience when I was 8 or 9. After a long night of trick-or-treating, I went to sleep, dreaming of all the candy I had earned. I woke up the next day to learn that my mom had thrown it all out, "to protect my teeth." I felt so betrayed.February 9, 2008
channa says
thanks auntie68, I had no idea about all the drama surrounding the hong bao!February 10, 2008
klin10 says
i dont get this lession it's not so good i give it a .5 out of 100February 10, 2008
mayue says
There is one pattern with 是 that I am having trouble with in the dialogue, for example in this sentence: 你不是很喜欢放鞭炮吗? I think the same pattern may also be at work further down in the dialogue: 我们是帮你存钱. Any help out there to help me understand this pattern? :)February 10, 2008
jennyzhu says
channa, Regarding hongbao, my observation is that 1)parents don't trust kids under a certain age with money. It is common for them to save on their behalf, as in my case. They'd give the kid some as pocket money or buy a wishlist item. But the bulk goes to the savings account. 20 years of hongbao amount to quite a small wealth. 2) We have a culture of saving money for rainy days. This might have changed with time. But in my family, my cousins are still custodians of their kids' hongbao.February 11, 2008
baomaijin says
NI hao mayue, The pattern here is not 是, but rather 不是...吗, which is used to ask a rhetorical question, to show one's surprise. Here the translation could also have been something like: You do like to set off firecrackers, don't you? Hope that helps... 包迈金February 11, 2008
mayue says
Thanks for the explanation, Baomaijin! But then, what about the second sentence (我们是帮你存钱.)? What is the pattern there?February 11, 2008
baomaijin says
Ni hao again, mayue :-) What's happening here (我们是帮你存钱) is part of the infamous 是。。。的 pattern used for emphasis. The tricky thing is that both parts of that pattern can be used simultaneously (是。。。的) or separately (是 or 的, alone). In the case of the sentence you are inquiring about, the verb 是 is used (alone) to stress the predicate (AKA the part of the sentence that is not the subject, here : 帮你存钱) in order to convey certainty or confirmation. In English, we would say "We save it for you" and we would use some sort of tonal emphasis while saying the word "save". Cheers! 包迈金February 11, 2008
mayue says
Thanks again, baomaijin! ...I am looking forward to that grammar guide that ChinesePod is (hopefully) still planning to release....February 13, 2008
mayue says
I just had an idea:) how about a Qing Wen on this "infamous" 是。。。的 pattern and its variants?February 13, 2008
adamsummers1 says
Going back to the hongbao topic, I live in malaysia, and it seems to be given to anyone who is not yet married -- for example, my friends who are in their early thirties! (It sort of reminds me of a tooth fairy that would visit for wisdom teeth..) From hearing this podcast and the recent Ask Amber, I don't think this is the case in China -- In general, what is the cutoff age for hongbao in china?February 16, 2008
excalibur says
November 10, 2008
英文说的时候，我想“寒假作业”是矛盾或者反论，不是矛盾修饰法。真的矛盾修饰法需要用两个对面的词做另外的意思。比如：idiot-savant。 其实，英语有很少的 oxymorons. 对不对？
helandou says
December 2, 2008
Why do the chinese call new year's eve 年三十 when it is on the 31st? If it is because it refers to the chinese newyear than it still isn't accurate, since january has 31 and february 28 days! ??
changye says
December 2, 2008
Hi helandou,
大年三十 indicates the last day (三十日) of the last month (腊月, la4 yue4) according to the lunar calendar.
rjberki says
December 2, 2008
lunar months alternate between 29 and 30 days?
changye says
December 2, 2008
Hi rjberk,
You've got me there, haha. As you pointed out, 腊月 sometimes has 29 days, instead of 30 days, as well as other lunar months.
2008 - 30
2009 - 30
2010 - 30
2011 - 30
2012 - 29
2013 - 29
2014 - 30
2015 - 30
2016 - 29
2017 - 30
2018 - 30
2019 - 30
2020 - 30
tvan says
December 2, 2008
Isn't there also a "leap month" in the lunar calendar?
rjberki says
December 2, 2008
yes there is a leap month now and then.
helandou says
December 2, 2008
hmm, this is all new to me. I thought the chinese calendar (the lunar calendar) just started after spring festival, so in january or february. Could have known that the LUNAR calendar stood for something related to the moon, but no, didn't go that far..