Is it the ‘year of the goat’, or the ‘year of the sheep’? Well let’s ask an expert – smile!
Thanks Debbie, for permission to re-blog any of your posts, and as its the Chinese New Year on Thursday 19 February this year, I thought I’d choose this one, after all as you live in China, its the most appropriate one! If readers are interested in this post, you might also like to look at the previous post on spaceship china “Going Home for the New Year”.
If you do a quick internet search, you’ll find the most popular Chinese New Year expressions are
新年快乐 Xīn Nián Kuài Le, or 年年有余 nián nián you yu.
These expressions are found everywhere on the internet because they are actually used regularly in China. The first one is simply “happy new year” and the second one means “every year have fish” – a way of wishing prosperity for all.
You’ll also hear 过年好 guo nian hao – meaning the old year has passed, and indicating best wishes for the passing of the old year and the beginning of the new.
With the year of the sheep or goat ( 羊 yang can mean both sheep and goat) arriving, expressions with these animals are popular. Whilst expressions relating to goat are common , the cuddly toys which fill shops every Chinese New Year are more likely to be sheep than goats –…
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