It's not Chinese New Year

Provacative title, eh?

But it's true. 

You might see some comments on social media today bemoaning the fact that many people are saying 'Happy Lunar New Year' instead of Chinese New Year. 'It's all gone woke!' they will cry. 

However, Lunar New Year is the correct name. It only became known as Chinese New Year because, here in the West, we associate it with the celebrations of Chinese immigrants.

The fact is that it's actually Lunar New Year in the calendars of Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia .. in fact, most of East Asia except Japan.

China does not own it.

Oh, and the phrase Gong hei fat choy is not the same as saying ‘Happy New Year’. It's actually saying 'I wish you prosperity' and is said differently in Mandarin (Gong xi fa cai) and Cantonese (Gong hei fat choy). 

'Happy Chinese New Year' is actually xin nian (new year) kuai le (happy) in Mandarin (pronounced shin nee-an kwai le) .

New Year is also known as chun jie, or spring festival, so you can also wish your Chinese friends a Happy New Year that way. Instead of saying xin nian kuai le, you say chun jie kuai le (which is roughly pronounced chwen jee-eh kwai le). 

So now you know.

Happy Year of the Dragon!