Your Chinese New Year ’23
CNY ’23 is peeking round the corner, so here’s a little knowledge to greet it with!
1) It begins this year on Sunday 22nd January, but main celebrations will take place on Saturday (On the last day of the lunar year, each year different date)
2) China’s official public holiday this year runs from Saturday 21st to Friday 27th, during which the whole country will be “out of office”
3) Your Chinese friends would love if you wished them a Happy New Year: “xin nian kuai le – 新年快乐” or Congratulations, get rich: “gongxi facai – 恭喜发财”
4) 2023 hosts the Year of the Rabbit. Rabbits are born in 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023. If you’re a rabbit, you’re quiet, polite, kind, responsible
5) You may hear CNY referred to as “Spring Festival – 春节” – as is the norm in China. Although its date changes every year, it traditionally symbolises the start of Spring
6) Chinese people celebrate by returning home, uniting with family, gorging on food, unleashing firecrackers, watching the state produced Spring Festival gala – 春晚, and handing out Hongbao – 红包 (red envelopes filled with money)