Talk:Chinese New Year

"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.

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.

"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

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)

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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)

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Happy Chinese New Year on Jan 29, 2006. It's 18:17 on Thur Jan 26, 2006 in Santiago(City NE of Cordon),Isabela,Philippines. My site is at http://www.michaelmanalolazo.vstore.ca Just Surfing. Thanks.

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)

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)

Bad article

Cluttered with all sorts of irrelevant info with no flow. Some editors think adding all info makes an encyclopedia. Someone do something about it. Mandel 08:43, 17 April 2006 (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)