Happy Chinese New Year

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by lllAE86lll, Jan 29, 2006.

  1. lllAE86lll

    lllAE86lll GR Since 2005

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    January 29, 2006 is the first day of the Chinese new year.

    There are three ways to name a Chinese year:

    By an animal (like a mscot). This year is known as the Year of the Dog.
    There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are re-cycled every 12 years. More.

    By its Formal Name (Stem-Branch).
    The new year is the year of bingxu.
    In the 'Stem-Branch' system, the years are named in 60-year cycles, and the Name of the Year is repeated every 60 years.
    2006 is the 7th year in the current 60-year cycle.


    It is Year 4703 by the Chinese calendar.
    [A few Chinese astrological/zodiac websites believe this year should be considered as Year 4704 for zodiac calculations.]



    When is the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2005?
    February 9, 2005 is the first day of the new year.
    There are three ways to name a Chinese year:


    By an animal (like a mscot). 2005 is known as the Year of the Rooster.
    There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are re-cycled every 12 years. More.
    By its Former Name.
    2005 is the year of Yiyou. By this system, the Name of the Year is repeated and re-cycled every 60 years.


    It is Year 4702 by the Chinese calendar.



    When is the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2004?
    January 22,2004. This is the first day in the Year of the Monkey.
    It is Year 4701 by Chinese calendar.




    What's special about the Chinese New Year in 2004?
    It was a Leap Year! Unlike the western calendar, where one extra day is added in February, one whole leap month is added in a Chinese Leap Year.
    Just think. If you get paid by the month, instead of working an extra day for nothing, you would get an extra month's pay !!!

    This time around, the Leap Month comes after the regular 2-nd Month. The "Leap Second Month" begins on March 21, 2004. Read more about this here And here.


    When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2003?
    February 1, 2003. It was the first day in the Year of the Ram (sheep, goat).
    This is Year 4700 by Chinese calendar.



    When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2002?
    February 12, 2002. It was the first day in the Year of the Horse.
    It is Year 4699 by Chinese calendar.
    For those interested in astrology, it is the year of the Black Horse.


    When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2001?
    January 24, 2001. This was the first day in the Year of the Snake.
    This is Year 4698.
    [Some says this is Year 4638, which is also plausible.
    Others claim this year to be either 4699 or 4399, which are almost certainly wrong.]


    What's special about the Chinese New Year in 2001?
    It was a Leap Year! Unlike the western calendar, where one extra day is added in February, one whole leap month is added in a Chinese Leap Year.
    Just think. If you get paid by the month, instead of working an extra day for nothing, you would get an extra month's pay !!!

    This time around, the Leap Month comes after the regular 4-th Month. The "Leap 4-th Month" begins on May 23, 2001. More about this...


    When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2000?
    February 5, 2000. It was the first day in the Year of the Dragon.
    That year ended on January 23,2001.

    When is the Chinese New Year's Day in some other year?
    There is a 160-year calendar which gives all the dates from 1900-2060 written by H. Liang. You can download it free from http://lunarcal.tripod.com/Download.html


    12 Animals

    Each year is also designated by one of the 12 Animals For instance, 2003 is Year of Ram and 2004 is Year of Monkey. 2005 is Year of Rooster.

    2006 is Year of Dog, and 2007 will be Year of Pig.

    This system is extremely practical. A child does not have to learn a new answer to the question, "How old are you?" in each new year. Old people often lose track of their age, because they are rarely asked about their current age. Every one just have to remember that he or she was born in the "Year of Dog" or whatever.

    Since this is the Year of Dog, any one who was born in the Year of Dog is now either 0 or 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84 or 96 years old. More about this.

    New Year's decoration at the front of the house

    Colorful calligraphy called 'chun lian' (Spring couplet) are as popular as those for Halloween or Christmas.


    What's this logo at top right corner of this web page?
    The Chinese word for "Spring." The Chinese calls the New Year's Celebration the "Spring Festival." This particular calligraphy is a reproduction of the work by one of master calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) who wrote it more than 600 years ago.
    More on calligraphy


    Are there Chinese Graphics analogous to Christmas cards?
    There are colorful posters! Traditional.
    New Year's card

    What is the Chinese word for 'luck'?
    Posters with the word 'luck' is often seen around the New Year's. Make one yourself.

    Solar/Lunar calendar

    For monthly calendar of 2006 (designed by Mr. Meng Zhuo of CWR Univ.)

    2006 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
    For monthly calendar (design by Professor Dawei Dong)

    With a printer, you can print these out and make a 12-page desk calendar.
    (Be sure to set page orientation to 'landscape' on you printer for best result.)


    What is the story about the animal of the year?
    In Chinese calendar, one of the scheme for counting years is a 12-year cycle. One counts from Year 1,2,3,... up to 12. Then starts over from Year 1. (In modern mathematics, this is modulo 12.) Instead of inventing 12 special symbols for this purpose, 12 animals are used to represent these 12 years. Rabbit (hare), for example, is the 4-th year of the cycle.


    Chinese dragons
    For more about Chinese dragons, go to the Dragon page


    Fireworks & skywriting
    For a bit of fun, look at this. [Chinese BIG5] [Chinese GB] [English]


    How is Chinese New Year's Day determined?
    In one sentence, the Chinese New Year is the second New Moon after the winter solstice.
    It is based strictly on astronomical observations, and has nothing to do with the Pope, emperors, animals or myths. Due to its scientific and mathematical nature, we can easily and precisely calculate backward or forward for thousands of years.


    One explanation by Rudy Chiang
    Allen Tsai's site has more details: about Year 2004 and here.


    Chinese Zodiac Chinese Zodiac

    Related Websites
    Tet - New Year in Viet Nam A beautifully written page

    The Japanese word for "New Year's Greetings" is Kinga Shinnen.
    2006 is the Year Heisei 18 in Japan. [ƽ³É 18]

    Heisei is the current emperor. Japan is the only country in the world which still number the calender years starting from the ascession of its emperors.
     
  2. .Xander.

    .Xander. Senior Member

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    even tho im not Chinese. but i wish you a happy Chinese new year.
     
  3. lllAE86lll

    lllAE86lll GR Since 2005

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    Well i guess i am the only chinese in GR >.<
     
  4. Parusa

    Parusa Well-Known Member

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    Well, I still wish you happy newyear ^^
     
  5. Ice92888

    Ice92888 Well-Known Member

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    Its the year of the dog this year, and hey, AE86 ain't the only chinese... lol.
     
  6. .Nirvana

    .Nirvana Well-Known Member

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    Woo go China Happy new year to all, big party for tonight ^_^
     
  7. Gunner Paine

    Gunner Paine Well-Known Member

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    thankz :P now i feel all chinese inside :eek:
     
  8. lllAE86lll

    lllAE86lll GR Since 2005

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    Aww more chinese in here amazing ;) Well i am off to celebrate on chinatown :P
     
  9. James

    James Well-Known Member

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    im chinese :P
    happy chinese new year people
     
  10. Fearless&#33;

    Fearless&#33; Well-Known Member

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    Cool info AE86. I'm chinese as well, but I learned some new things =) Happy New Year!
     
  11. Influx

    Influx Well-Known Member

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    i'm chinese :)
    happy chinese new year

    gonna go eat and celebrate
     
  12. Balnazzar

    Balnazzar Well-Known Member

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    Korean/Japanese here.

    For sure, happy chinese new year.
     
  13. .Mc2

    .Mc2 Well-Known Member

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    happy chinese new year people
     
  14. azn_rebel99

    azn_rebel99 Well-Known Member

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    Chinese here. :D. We had a huge party over at my resturant yesterday. it was craaaaaaaaaaaaazy! This one adult got PISS drunk, haha, it was soooooo funny cuz she herself had 2 bottles of wine out of the 10 that were consumed lol. Its sweet getting lai ci (red envolope things with money) every year :D.
     
  15. Koekie

    Koekie Well-Known Member

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    happy chinese new year :)
     

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