Talk:Chinese New Year

Eating duck is considered bad luck

Someone has edited the Bad Luck section of this article. It originally had "The eating of duck is thought to cause heavy misfortune, as ducks are (at least traditionally) eaten in times of funerals or deaths in the family" I have been celebrating Chinese New Years since I was born and believe that this should be put in rather than cut out.

Good luck vs. Bad luck

The article states that doing various things (eg. washing hair, buying shoes etc. is bad luck however my trips to China proved differently. I think they need to be referenced otherwise we could add anything to that list. Tipexcom2 11:10, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Someone has hacked into the page and vandalized it. In the middle of the bad luck section, it contains a profane statement. When I try to edit it, it doesn't appear on the edit screen, so I can't change it. If someone has good Wikipedia skills, please remove the statement, or ask someone else to do so. It's disrespectful. I don't know the Wikipedia guidelines, but it obviously violates a number of them. Thanks! Cliffordrosky 17:27, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

"Japanese and Chinese/Lunar New Year"

The article states:

Chinese New Year is considered to be a major holiday for the Chinese as well as ethnic groups who were strongly influenced by Chinese culture. This includes Japanese, Koreans, Miao (Chinese Hmong), Mongolians, Vietnamese, Tibetans, the Nepalese and the Bhutanese (see Losar).

However, Japanese celebrate the New Year on January 1, as in Western countries. According to the Wikipedia article Japanese_New_Year this began in 1873, which would mean it occurred shortly after the Meiji Restoration (明治維新) during the Meiji Era (明治時代) - a period that marks the modernization of Japan. (Not that this last piece of trivia is of great importance to my point, but it seemed worth mentioning).

Kaizendenki 12:17, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

It's not really relevant to the entry, but Chinese also celebrate western New Year. Japan moved traditional celebrations to a new date (moved it from the lunar calender to the Gregorian calender), while China kept the traditional date, but added new (non-traditional) celebrations in on the second date. Mostly, it's just partying and setting off fireworks, which happens at any kind of celebration in China anyway.

perfectblue 13:11, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

It may be true that fireworks (where its legal) happen all the time, but no other holiday or celebration, including the Gregorian new year, can compare with the Chinese New Year as a pan-Chinese holiday. And for most people, its not "mostly" partying. tess 17:42, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

When I said "mostly partying" I meant the Gregorian new year. Believe it or not, it is just mostly partying. While Japan celebrates western new year with traditional Japanese celebrations like crossover noodles etc, China doesn't do anything much more traditional that let of fireworks (which is a stable of almost any celebration in China) all of the tradition is saved the lunar festival.

perfectblue 18:35, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Sorry I missread your statement. tess 19:23, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Also, the Chinese didn't name the holiday "Lunar" New Year. We went along with it to distinguish it from the Gregorian new year. tess 17:42, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

It's often not referred to as being new year at all. Just "Spring Festival".

perfectblue 18:35, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

"Chinese New Year" vs. "Lunar New Year"

Why don't we really change round the order of the redirects - this page should be called Lunar New Year because that is more general (Korean and Vietnamese communities in the SF bay area are on record as being upset because everyone calls it Chinese New Year, squeezing out their festivities). Anyone see any reason why I shouldn't switch them round? seglea 22:21, 22 Jan 2004 (UTC)

• Do the Korean New Year and Vietnamese New Year always fall on precisely the same date as the Chinese New Year?
• Please keep in mind that the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, not purely lunar. (Please see lunisolar calendar and lunar calendar.) Also, what about the Jewish and Islamic calendars? (The Jewish is lunisolare; the Islamic is lunar.)

The chinese calendar uses the location of Beijing as a reference point (or more correctly, it used Beijing until 1928 and since then 128° East. The traditional japanese calendar used the location of Tokio (but was otherwise identical with the chinese one), and AFAIK the vietnamese one is also the same with only another different reference longitude. I have no idea if it has a different one for the Koreans. But it will have a difference of one day if the new moon occurs around midnight local time at the reference latitudes of the calendars.

And yes, the chinese calendar is lunisolar, but it isn't the only lunisolar calendar, there are more additionally to the above variants of the chinese one. Thus a title Lunisolar New Year would be wrong as well. andy 23:21, 22 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Although a late response, the modern meridian of the Chinese calendar is 120°, not 128° (probably just a typo). The meridian for the traditional Japanese calendar, at least before 1873, was that of Kyoto. I suspect that the 'modern' traditional Japanese calendar uses 135°, the meridian of Japanese Standard Time (UTC+9h), not the meridian of Tokyo. I suspect the same for Vietnam (UTC+8h), but don't know. Because Korea was a vassal state of China before it was invaded by Japan in 1905, it accepted the Chinese calendar without making any changes. Indeed, the Korean court accepted the Chinese calendar from the Chinese delegate with elaborate ceremony. I have no idea what its modern incarnation may be. — Joe Kress 18:31, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

Well, if you change it to Lunar New Year, it would still be the same as Chinese New Year... It just, maybe, maybe piss off us china peoples. Your choice. tsyoshi

Please don't use lunar new year. Where I come from "lunar new year" is equivalent to "islamic new year". If Wiki is intended to be international then it would cause confusion. Perhaps Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese New Year is more appropriate, albeit longer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.177.224.164 (talk • contribs)

This article is really about how the Chinese celebrate their new year. As such, the name is fine. There is already a separate article for the Japanese new year. There really should be articles on how Koreans and Vienamese people celebrate their new year, no matter when in the calendar they fall on. There should also be an article for the Islamic New Year. tess 19:27, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Hey what do you know, there's already an article for the Vietnamese new Year: Tết. tess 19:32, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Dates

The dates of the Chinese New Year are listed only until 2019. Can anyone give me the date of Chinese New Year for 2020? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.177.224.164 (talk • contribs)

According to Calendrica it's 25 January. — Joe Kress 00:36, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

"the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar"

Only on the first day? Chinese New Year isn't like New Year's Day, where it lasts for only a day. As far as I know it lasts up to 15 days?

"The New Year's Eve dinner is very large and traditionally includes chicken. However, the New Year's Day dinner is typically vegetarian." Is this true too? Mandel 07:48, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

Although Chinese New Year is technically only the first day of the first month, it is indeed celebrated for at least 15 days, if not longer, considering the earlier preparation activities. Thus the article should be reworded. — Joe Kress 18:31, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

Have reworded it now, as the previous wording was very misleading. Have used "chinese new year" to refer to the whole period, and "new year's day" to refer specifically to the first day. But was unsure how to classify "Spring Festival"; is this a synonym for chinese new year, or new year's day? --Spudtater 15:29, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Indeed, "period" is a good choice of word. This is not unlike the Twelve days of Christmas in the West. --Kvasir 08:49, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Found (and deleted) this in the "festivities" section, just before the "dates" section:

These dates will slowly drift over tens of thousands of years because the Gregorian calendar is a rule-based calendar that only approximates the true astronomical calculations used by the Chinese calendar.

Quite apart from breaking NPOV, is there even any truth to the assertion that the Gregorian and Chinese calendars will drift apart? I would have thought that leap years would keep them in line.--Spudtater 15:35, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

The removed sentence was correct. The Chinese lunar calendar as it is now calculated (since 1913) uses the most modern available astronomical equations. These are now available in two forms, the official discrete time step (or 'digital') method used by the world's astronomical almanacs (since 1984) to which an approximation of ΔT must be added, and a very good polynomial (or 'analog') approximation. The discrete form has only been calculated for a few centuries into the future, whereas the polynomial approximation (to degree four) is valid for about 4000 years from now. In contrast, the Gregorian calendar includes a leap year via a regular linear (or degree one) rule, so the two forms will gradually diverge. Unfortunately, only the degree two (quadratic) term of ΔT can be predicted with any certainty, but it has totally unpredictable short-term variations which are comparable in size at this time. The unpredictable nature of ΔT may cause the first day of a few individual months within the twenty-first century and beyond to differ by one day from the currently predicted calendar (using a quadratic ΔT). Nevertheless, it doesn't matter to me whether the sentence is included or not, since this article is only about a festival. — Joe Kress 18:46, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Can I ask for a clearer explanation on when the New Lunar Year starts? Samnikal 10:55, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

When is Chinese New Year this year?

In 2006, the New Year in Chinese lunar calendar is January 29th in solar calendar. It is true that Korea adopts the Chinese lunar calendar as it is, but the New Year tradition is clearly distinguished from that of China. For example, the Korean one does not have the 15-day festivals but emphasizes on the family gathering and some specific rituals for their anscesters. Therefore, it does not seem to be appropriate to call the Korean lunar New Year the Chinese New Year and perhaps the same goes for the Vietnamese lunar New Year. Chinese New Year should be meant limitedly the lunar New Year of Chinese people in Chinese traditions. For a broader naming, Chinese lunar New Year or just lunar New Year should be adopted.

Names

Dragon - Chen  2000 February 5 	2012 January 23
Snake - Si 	2001 January 24 	2013 February 10
Horse - Wu 	2002 February 12 	2014 January 31
Goat - Wei 	2003 February 1 	2015 February 19

Are these the Cantonese names? They don't seem to be putonghua, Long, She, Ma, Shan Ya etc though I'll freely admit my putonghua is dodgy. Could someone explain? -- Conflatuman 15:06, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

These are pinyin romanizations of the putonghua earthly branches assigned to the years beginning on the stated dates — they are not direct translations of the animals. The article should be reworded to make that clear. — Joe Kress 18:31, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

Things to do

1) Add the ten heavenly characters which are conjugated with the 12 animal zodiacs.

2) Add entry for 8th day of new year...birthday of the jade emperor

Icons and Ornaments

Chinese New Year (CNY) or Chinese Spring Festivals are celebrated with many icons, decorative ornaments, symbols and other significant images that are peculiar only during the festive season. I propose a dedicated subtopic explaining what each is and what they mean. e.g. Fish -- often pictures of fishes are found and they symbolise to represent the Chinese idioms of 年年有餘 (nián nián yǒu yú). I'm sure we can come up with many more. Illustrations with its description.Dat789 21:14, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Question for anyone that can help please

We are a family in New England that truly doesn't impart any "traditions" in our house and we are not Asian, but I thought it would be truly wonderful to teach my children to a great extent the cultures of others

well, long story short, the first country we are working extremely hard on is China and I have several questions in regards to Chinese Cultural traditions

when serving the chicken = do I really have to keep all the parts of the bird on it? living in the USA does anyone know where I would get such a chicken?

The chicken is usually boiled, left to cool for a few hours, and half of it is cut into pieces for serving. The other half is saved for they day after. As for all the parts of the bird, there's a Chinese expression that refers to good things having a beginning and an end (literally, 'a head and a tail') -- nobody says you have to eat them, they are generally kept on the platter or with the half of the chicken that gets saved. The Chinatown in Boston has two shops where they sell live chickens. You can buy one live and try to slaughter it yourself (not recommended), or they will do the dirty work for you (you take a number and come back). Don't order anything heavier than 4-5 pounds because the chicken will be old and tough and mostly fat. Don't try to boil a frozen chicken from the supermarket -- it'll taste awful. Yes, boil -- no salt, no herbs(when serving, a saucer of soy sauce is provided for dipping) -- general rule of thumb is 5 minutes per pound.--Bobcat 06:16, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

what is the tradition when children are involved

what do I put into the red envelopes -- do I place real money it them and whom do I dispense them to and when

These are known in Mandarin as hong baos or red packets. Generally it's like the equivalent of a Christmas gifts for kids. Usually they give it to children and the unmarried, and technically speaking only the married are priviledged to hand them out. And yes, they do put real cash inside, almost always paper notes, and the receiver accepts it with some auspicious greetings. Anyone who isn't married can accept them (although sometimes one gives them to the elderly as well). Technically these can be given out on any of the fifteen days of the New Year, and kids almost always receive them with glee (as to be expected). Usually given to visiting relatives and children -- New Year is a time for gathering and visiting, and there are some friends and relatives who isn't seen per year until Chinese New Year's Days.

Hope this helps. Mandel 21:56, Dec 31, 2004 (UTC)

and if at anytime anyone finds this offensive I humbly appologize -- this is not meant to offend anyone

Not sure who the original poster was but hope you get this. (If you do kindly add it into the article to help others - my edit skills are lacking)

Of serving chicken. A whole chicken is served. Usually in traditional poor China this was the only time of the year a family would see an entire chicken. These days...anyway besides the family celebration there would also be a "corporate" one in traditional Chinese practice. Most typical chinese businesses are family businesses and employees signed on for life (this was in the past) as such this was an extended family dinner known as "sau kong chau" (cantonese) - meaning complete work drinking session (literally). Bosses would give out bonuses in the form of "red packets" to staff. A strange tradition is that the head of the chicken would be positioned to point at the staff member who was on his "to be fired" list. It was a very polite way to give notice to a worker. As such we do not serve the head in our house. The choicest part (the drumstick) would be given to the oldest by the person sitting next to them (yes, you pile food on other peoples plates during chinese dinners - live with it).

As with all Chinese dinners younger people would have to ask their elders to eat (elders are allowed to eat without being asked). Saying Bob or Alice is not allowed. You used the official titles like "wife of the third aunts second son". --Malbear 07:57, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Of giving money. Money is given in red packets. Yes its real money. It used to be required that it was given in multiples. $2 or $1.10 etc. It used to be a token but as families got more affluent the amount given is also grown larger. Such gifts should be declared (discreetly) to your elders when received from family friends to avoid situations where you are seen to be "taking". I am not sure what the exact formula is but there is a complex formula for giving gifts and red packets and receiving gifts in return. As such, I have personally received red packets with amounts higher than the per capita GDP of this country.

Red packets are given to anyone who is unmarried. This includes old aunties. Old unmarried women are a traditional tragic literary device so be sensitive when giving them a gift. --Malbear 07:57, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

"Idolatry" is both patently offensive and a very partisan POV

Re: Food section, nián gao topic, offending sentence: Chinese families who practice idolatry also offer "nian gao" to the kitchen god.

Never forget that one person's "god" is somebody else's "idol".

I do not presume to rush in and edit this article without discussing it first here on the Talk Page. Nevertheless, idolatry—Wikipedia entry or not—is an inexcusably partisan, value-judgement-laden term and, as such, flagrantly violates the Wikipedia directive for Neutrality in Point of View. Certainly we can do greater justice to the the subject of the Lunar New Year, and the traditional offerings made, than this.

Proposed rewording: Families who practice traditional Chinese religion also offer.... with links to either the article on Chinese religion or Chinese mythology. Furthermore, the name of the Kitchen God, Zao Jun (灶君) with a link to His Wikipedia entry should be given for a more informative as well as respectful and Neutral Point of View treatment.

The remaining two sentences of the nián gao paragraph commenting on Chinese Folk Religion is likewise trivializing and should be rewritten.

--User:Ogambear

Ogambear, please sign your comments. I have done so for you above.

And I agree with you. Be bold, and make the changes! —Lowellian (talk) 22:22, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)

Poll

In order to proceed in the discussion at Talk:Chinese New Years greetings, which has been deadlocked, I have started a poll at Talk:Chinese New Years greetings/Poll. Please provide us with your thoughts. enochlau (talk) 14:46, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

年年有余 vs 年年有餘

Just to correct an error in my edit summary. "年年有余" = 190,000 hits [1]. "年年有餘" = a paltry 1,820 hits [2]. I would think it makes far more sense to use the former rather than later term.--Huaiwei 02:35, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

---

Well, 年年有餘 is used for traditional Chinese, 年年有余 is used for Simplified Chinese. Although 余 exists in traditional Chinese, but it is the lesser-used variant in 年年有＿.

Here are my search results, using a Chinese language version of Google: "年年有餘" - 209,000 hits [3], whereas "年年有余" - 3,050 hits [4]

dictionary entry: [5]

Also, the second link you provided (SG Google search for "年年有餘") returned 60,300 hits, not 1,820.

I suggest differentiating 年年有餘 and 年年有余 as Traditional and Simplified versions, just as is done in the rest of the article. --69.237.154.174 00:47, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Not too sure how Huaiwei did the Google test. I got 49 600 and 19 600. — Instantnood 20:21, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Revert edit

I'm wondering could someone check this history [6] It seems that an anonymous user delete everything including picture, caegories, interlanguage links. --manop 16:57, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

The items were removed by 24.43.120.85 at 14:09 on 26 January 2006. Because of exstensive edits since then, I reinserted those items that you did not, rather than reverting to the last edit before his. — Joe Kress 03:44, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Someone vandalized this page; apparently, they were trying to point out that we "suck". For what it's worth, I did some cleanup. Best regards, y'all. Oh, and happy new year.

second day

On the German wikipedia page http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinesisches_Neujahr it mentions that the second day is rather the day where you would visit the family of the wife. Can anybody confirm which is correct? - Bernburgerin 10:00, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

It's true in some places, but I don't think it's universal among all people who follow the festival. — Instantnood 20:22, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Dragon picture wrong

The dragon picture in New York city is actually a Chinese Lion. The Chinese Dragon page also has it mislabeled.

Reunion dinner

The section discussing Reunion dinner refers to New Year's Eve. Is this the Chinese New Year's Eve or the Gregorian New Year's Eve. If it is the first, the link is simply wrong... --Sophroniscus 18:35, 10 February 2006 (UTC) In fact, we have the Reunion dinner on Chinese New Year's Eve, not on the Gregorian New Year's Eve.

CNY concludes with Lantern festival?

Can somebody well versed in Chinese customs confirm that CNY celebrations are concluded with Lantern festival? This is so as I recall that the 15th (last day of CNY) is "Chinese Valentines' Day" or 元宵节. I stand to be corrected. - p 0 r + z 10:50, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Here's the relevant link in Mandarin: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E8%8A%82 -- traditionally it's concluded with the Lantern Festival, but many regions have the custom of celebrating what can be literally translated as "the small new year" ( http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%B9%B4 ). As the article states, "大年从腊月最末一天开始，一般认为到正月十五日元宵节为止，亦有未出正月就是年的说法。"

Oh yeah, please don't perpetuate that the Lantern Festival has anything to do with Qi Xi, Chinese Valentines day! They are two completely seperate holidays.Jeffyboy 04:48, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Delisted GA

This article did not go through the current GA nomination process. Looking at the article as is, it fails on criteria 2b of the GA quality standards. Only two references are provided, but one is mainly an article on activities to do for Chinese New Year. Please improve the citation of your sources, reexamine the article against the GA quality standards, and submit the article through the nomination process. RelHistBuff 11:41, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

They misspelled

They used "an" instead of "a" when not needed!!!Cowloverdude 23:19, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Fifteenth day

I removed the sentence about an old woman with a basket of celery as it didn't make sense and I was unable to find any references or sources that supported its relevance. If there is some reason the old woman and the celery should be in there, please provide a citation. Meiruo 00:40, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Here's the Chinese link for the 15th of Chinese New Years -- http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%83%E5%AE%B5%E7%AF%80 -- it's not celery that's being used, but green onions (scallions). "在台灣早期，有在元宵節夜裡未婚的女性要偷得蔥來討個吉兆的說法。俗語說：「偷挽蔥，嫁好翁；偷挽菜，嫁好婿」（台灣話發音)". Jeffyboy 04:38, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Pinyin for 除夕

The pinyin for 除夕 should be Chúxī not Chúxì.--M.H. 05:20, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

It is chúxī in mainland China and chúxì in Taiwan. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cgkm (talk • contribs) 05:01, 13 February 2007 (UTC).

But which way is "pinyin"? Or are both pronounciations "pinyin"? --tess 18:25, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Both are Hanyu pinyin, the disagreement is over the tone of xi 夕. It would be interesting to look into why (speaking in traditional tonal categories), xi is level in one case and oblique in the other. Apeman 06:36, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

San Francisco

I do not see it mentioned in the article, but I have noticed that the parade here is held a couple of weeks after the New Year starts, so presumably it is set to coincide with the Lantern Festival? It also seems to occur on the weekend, as do most parades here. This year it is scheduled for Saturday, March 3. Past years were February 11, 2006, February 19, 2005, and February 7, 2004, all Saturdays. --Nike 05:38, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

I can see why SF is singled out since it was the first such parade, but other cities now hold parades too (NYC for one). I'm going to change the heading to the more generic "Chinatown parades" if nobody objects. Wl219 21:33, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

"Honorability"

Under the 'Reunion Dinner' heading, the article says that the red packets 'often contain money in certain numbers that reflect good luck and honorability.' There is no such word as 'honorability'; and I'm not sure what was intended and, therefore, whether 'honour' (or 'honor' if you insist on American spelling) is an appropriate substitute. Any suggestions? --Zoe Ocean 01:55, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

I think "respect" may be a better term. --tess 18:58, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Boar, not pig ?

Why does it say BOAR and not PIG, pig is the correct translation Potaaatos 16:40, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Maybe we could vote and what ever side gets the more votes that will be the used word, I vote for pig because that is the correct translation Potaaatos 17:30, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

"Pig" in Chinese refer to both wild boar and domestic pig because of the difference in language structure. For example, we would say "DomesticPig (家猪)" or "WildPig (野猪)" as one word; this is perfectly normal in Mandarin, however it might seem silly in English. So theoretically both are correct. There's really no need to change it. So I oppose. Yongke 20:57, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

"boar" is just stupid. when was the last time you saw a boar in China? This is like saying we should translate 龍 ("dragon") as "dinosaur" because in Chinese it's also called a "dragon" (恐龍, "terror dragon") --Sumple (Talk) 01:36, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Please avoid injecting personal opinions into the debate. The word "boar" is commonly used where the term "pig" is considered slightly derogatory and informal, such as in media events or other stage performances. Please read Boar before assuming they are entirely different animals from pigs. In actual fact, they are the same. Also note Pig (zodiac), which routinely refers to the Boar.--Huaiwei 01:48, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Kindly note that Wikipedia is not censored. It is wrong to pervert the natural translation of a term because of the hypersensitivity of certain peoples or groups. The fact that the article is at Pig (zodiac), not "Boar (zodiac)", I think, is highly persuasive if not conclusive.

I do know what a boar is, thank you very much, having read Asterix comics in my youth.

They are not the same - which is why we have two words for them in English - boar, and pig. Likewise, there are two words for them in Chinese: 猪 and 野猪.

Look up "pig" in any English-Chinese dictionary, and I warrant you that the first definition is "猪". Likewise, look up "猪" in any Chinese-English dictionary, and I warrant you that the first definition is "pig". --Sumple (Talk) 02:18, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

If they are not the same, would you mind telling us what the differences are, and if the article boar supports your assumptions? If 野猪 is not a 猪, then I suppose 男人 is not a 人 too? Kindly note that this is not a censorship exercise, and does not reflect "hypersensitiveness". It reflects actual usage, while you are attempting to deny the use of one of the two terms.--Huaiwei 03:35, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

No, 野猪 is a 猪. But that does not mean that a 猪 is a 野猪. An apple is a fruit, that does not mean a fruit is an apple. As you said, a man is a person, but a person may not be a man!

It's very simple: 猪 means pig, and 野猪 means boar. As for the difference between them, just read boar and pig! Why are there two articles if they are the same thing?

To censor "pig" into "boar" is hypersensitivity, it does not reflect actual usage. Google [7] returns 1.62 million results for "year of the boar", but [8] 7.39 million results for "year of the pig".

Here are some examples of the official usage of "Year of the Pig":

by the Sydney City Council;

by Australia Post;

by New Zealand Post

by the People's Daily

by the Royal Mint.

Before this goes on, let me make it clear that I agree with you that people do call it "Year of the boar" - my contention is that (1) it is not the most common usage and (2) it is inaccurate. "Year of the pig" is more common and more accurate. --Sumple (Talk) 04:09, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

If you concur that both terms are indeed used, than why are you the one attempting to censor the use of these terms? I am arguing that both can be used, while you are insisting only one. So just who is doing the censorship exercise here? Secondly, I find it intriguing that you consider the term "pig" more accurate. From where did you actually garner evidence to say that the ancient Chinese are refering only to the domesticated female pig?--Huaiwei 04:25, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm impressed by your chocolate-vanilla-free choice argument. If you read the article pig, you will notice that the "Pig" genus covers both domestic pigs and wild pigs. It's entirely redundant to say "Pig/Boar" if you want to include male and female, domesticated and wild pigs. "Pig" is a bigger concept than "boar". So "pig" does not mean the domesticated female pig (don't know where you are getting that idea from. Those are called sows.

Secondly, listing both pig and boar everywhere is redundant and does not accord with Wikipedia's Common Names policy. We don't go around listing all names of things - we refer to them by their most common name. If you feel that the "pig/boar" confusion requires explanation, that is best done under Pig (Zodiac), which would greatly benefit from such an explanation. --Sumple (Talk) 06:03, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

First, I suggest all you people to first read the entire article on Wikipedia:Naming conflict#How to make a choice among controversial names. It will then become apparent that the most preferred choice is to settle on the most common name or usage of the term in dispute. To identify the common name, I have resorted to the Google Test or Search Engine test. The number of results yielded represents the factor of common usage.

Search Engine results

Search	Year of Boar	Year of Pig
Google	16,800	310,000
Yahoo	2,500	685,000
ask.com	486	10,900
BBC.co.uk	0	4

In consideration of the above results, it is proven beyond all shadows of doubt that the most common usage is "The Year of Pig".

Further, the term boar by definition is a "a member of the pig's species" by zoological's definition. Naming the specis is the order of choice in the Chinese zodiacs, not a-member-of-something. Just as Rat, which is a name for over 650 species of mammals in a number of different families of the order Rodentia. There is no such thing as Hamster in the Chinese zodiac, because hamster is a member of the order Rodentia.

For the reasons above, I have therefore changed to the use of Pig instead of Boar--Dat789 13:31, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

I do not want to rain on your parade, but you did not change it, you need to change both words into pig not just the first one Potaaatos 13:52, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Ehh?

More interurban trips are taken in mainland China in this 40-day period than the total population of China. Can someone please explain to me what this sentence is saying? It doesn't make sense. More than the total population...what? Smokes cannabis in one day? Tourskin 01:26, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

more trips than people. how hard is that to understand? --Sumple (Talk) 01:37, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Simmer down, took me a couple of goes to get it. The wording is a little hinky - something like "more trips are taken than there are people in China" would be easier to parse. Leobrien 06:55, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Hmm you're right. --Sumple (Talk) 06:58, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Greetings

The "Happy New Year" subsection of "Greetings" is sort of a mess. "Guo Nian Hao" is listed as pinyin, yet lacks tones, and is preceeded by simplified characters and succeeded by traditional characters with no reference to their commonality...with another phrase (without pinyin transliteration) in-between. Sadly my Mandarin isn't good enough to fix this, can someone please intercede?

Please revert History section

I really don't care if someone likes potatoes and cheese, and that he/she/it cannot spell. I just want some history. ^_- --72.177.71.189 05:52, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

already done, but you're well able to do it yourself if neccessary. we can always use more help. Leobrien 06:57, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

If you want more history, you should really put in more efforts to fill up the history section. Not come here and wail for one to appear. By the way, you do know that Wikipedia is a charity organisation that strive to keep this as The Free Encyclopedia, dont' you? Nobody works for you in here.--Dat789 13:36, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Bad Luck

Please decide if it is the buying of shoes or of socks is the bad luck. It has been changed back and forth countless of times. And would you please state your reasons as to why you think the change is justified. Please sign in and then edit!

Take a look at http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E8%8A%82 , under 習俗, it clearly states that 不買鞋。廣東民間習俗，指農曆一月不應購買鞋（因為「鞋」與廣東話的「唉」聲相似）。 For those less familiar with Mandarin, it states that "People do not buy shoes. In Cantonese tradition, people do not buy shoes on the first month due to "shoes" sounding very similar to "sigh" in their dialect. I do not see any citations for socks, nor do I personally know of this practice being applied to socks amongst my friends and family in the region. Jeffyboy 04:55, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm Cantonese. Its shoes, not socks. So whoever is changing it to socks, if they don't quote another dialect, then they're vandalizing. Also, books are not given because it sounds like the word for "lose" (as in not win). There's a similar issue with "clock" because it sounds like one of the words for "end". tess 22:13, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Discussion board clean up

Anybody in favor of cleaning up this discussion board for entries dating earlier than January 2006?

• Support. This board is getting too cluttered up. --Dat789 22:44, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
• Support. --tess 18:32, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

semi-protection

I requested semi-protection from IP vandalism several days ago. It was granted, but another admin took it off and we ended up back where we were before. Do people here think vandalism is manageable without semi- or full protection or should we try to bring it back to the admins' attention again? Wl219 22:47, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

• Support. I have noticed several vandalism on this article. Most were changes made by those who did not sign-in. You have my vouch for semi-protection.--Dat789 10:22, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
• I concur. --tess 18:42, 22 February 2007 (UTC)