Chinese New Year
New Year in China is the equivalent of Christmas and New Year rolled into one, but with a longer holiday. This festival is easily the most important in the Chinese calendar and for many Chinese it offers a once-a-year opportunity to catch up with family and friends.
New Year Greetings – 拜年
During Chinese New Year a typical Chinese person will extend and receive New Years greeting countless time from family, friends, and acquaintances. The simplified Chinese characters for New Year Greetings are 拜年-bàinián. There are a huge number of 拜年， ranging from the simple Happy New Year 新年快乐，to greetings specific to a certain year in the Chinese Zodiac, such as 如虎添翼 which means may you fly like a tiger with wings.
Year of the Tiger greetings 2022
The New Year greetings that we introduce on this page were extracted from a New Year Gala show that appeared on the Chinese state run TV channel CCTV 4. This show aired on the 31st of January 2022 as the world prepared to usher in the year of the Tiger in the Chinese Calaendar.
In 2022 the Chinese New Year fell on the 1st february, therefore this show aired on 除夕 – Lunar New Year’s Eve （31/01/2022). According to Chinese tradition, the New Year celebrations start from New Year’s Eve 除夕Chúxī, when a family will typically get together for a dinner. This dinner is known as 团年版 tuánnián bǎn or 年版 nián bǎn。
After their meal on New Years Eve families across China and the Chinese diaspora in countries across the globe will have sat down to watch the New Year Gala 传奇中国节·春节 on CCTV as they usher in the New Year.
CCTV New Year Gala – 传奇中国节·春节
Fortunately for us the Chinese New Year Gala was uploaded live to YouTube and we will share a link below. This special New Year show gathered together hosts of local CCTV channels from across China. As the show began each chose a New Year Greeting 拜年 to share with the audience.
Some of the greetings were relayed in a Chinese dialect. For example, one of the presenters shared their greeting in Cantonese for viewers in Hong Kong and the Cnatonese-speaking diaspora across the globe.