Chinese New Year

I recently wrote a blog post on How to say ‘Happy New Year’ in Chinese language. But is that when the Chinese people celebrate New Year? Actually the Chinese New Year this year is on January 23. So how do you say Chinese New Year in Chinese language?

春节 (chūn jié)
春(chūn): spring
节(jié): festival

So in China it is known as the Spring Festival. There is a weeklong holiday during this period, allowing Chinese people to travel home and celebrate the new year with the family. The Chinese new year is also known as the Lunar New Year, because it is the first day of the lunar-solar Chinese calendar.

[Source: Click here]

Each new year is marked by the characteristics of one of the twelve zodiacal animals, and this is the year of the dragon.

龙 (lóng): dragon

Last year was the year of the rabbit and next year is the year of the snake

兔 (tù): rabbit
蛇 (shé): snake