Chinese New Year Traditions and 6 New Year Greetings for the Year of Pig

Happy Chinese New Year! It’s the year of pig this year! As the zodiac cycle repeats every 12 years, if you were born within Chinese Calendar year starting in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, and 2019, then you belong to the Year of Pig.

Cultural Activities

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year (农历新年 nóng lì xīn nián) is seen as the most important time of the year. To celebrate the festival, there’re various rituals and customs that people will follow, and one of them is family and friends visiting. Chinese New Year is a time which gives you the opportunity to reunite with your family and friends, in practice, you’d visit them at their homes, as a custom called 拜年 (bài nián).During the visit, it’s common that people would dress in red colour, as it symbolizes ‘good luck’. Generally, people exchange festive gifts, while senior members of the group will give ‘red envelopes’, which are in fact cash gifts to the junior, unmarried members. This act is considered to be ‘sending good luck’ to others. Furthermore, everyone would greet one another with New Year blessings, wishing each other good fortune, health, and wealth.

Also, be aware that there are some gifts that are taboo, which you shouldn’t bring. Here’s a handy list of gifts to be avoided in ‘6 Gifts to be Avoided in Chinese Business Etiquette’, as giving the right gift is a Chinese cultural part that needs to be paid attention to.

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Greetings During the New Year of Pig

Apart from the traditional New Year greetings, to ride on the ‘Pig (猪 zhū)’s year, let’s see the below 6 Chinese New Year greetings that relate to ‘pigs’, and are suitable for use in this year!

1. 猪年进步 (zhū nián jìn bù)

‘‘May you make progress in the Year of Pig’’

‘猪年’ represents ‘the Year of Pig’, and ‘进步’ means ‘to improve’. This statement is a general greeting and is applicable in different situations in Chinese New Year.

2. 诸事顺利 (zhū shì shùn lì)

“May all things work out smoothly”

‘诸事’ refers to ‘all things, different things’, and ‘顺利’ means ‘smooth’. The phrase can be used to greet people of all ages. As ‘诸 (zhū)’ shares the same sound as ‘pig, 猪 (zhū)’, therefore it’s specifically popular to be used in the Year of Pig.

3. 诸事如意 (zhū shì rú yì)

“May all things go as you wish”

Similar to ‘诸事顺利’, the word ‘诸’ from ‘诸事如意’ takes the exact pronunciation as ‘pig’, which is ‘猪 (zhū)’, therefore is suitable to be used during the New Year of Pig. Yet, ‘如意’ has a slightly different meaning from ‘顺利’, which it suggests ‘as one wishes’.

4. 竹报平安 (zhú bào píng ān)

“May you be peaceful and safe”

The phrase is a traditional idiom that says people used to send mails back home to tell their family everything was well and peaceful , therefore keeping them relieved, after being away from home for a long time. Nowadays, the phrase becomes a nice blessing to wish someone peaceful and safe. ‘竹 (zhú)’ has a similar sound to ‘猪 (zhū)’, which means pig, therefore particularly appropriate to be used this year.

5. 事事胸有成竹 (shì shì xiōng yǒu chéng zhú)

“May you have a well designed plan for all things”

‘事事’ equals to ‘everything’, and ‘胸有成竹’ is a traditional idiom indicating one has a thorough plan in advance before work. This is a nice saying especially between businesses or corporations. Also, ‘竹 (zhú)’, having a similar sound to ‘pig, 猪 (zhū)’, makes it more meaningful for the Year of Pig.

6. 猪笼入水 (zhū lóng rù shuǐ)

“May wealth flow in”

This saying is more often used among Southern Chinese. ‘猪笼’ literally means ‘pig cage’, while ‘入’ and ‘水’ mean ‘enter’ and ‘water’ respectively. ‘Water flowing in a pig cage’ symbolizes wealth flowing in your pocket, therefore it’s a good way to wish one wealth and prosperity. In particular, the phrase consists of the word ‘猪 (zhū), pig’, so this year shall be the right time to use this greeting phrase.