Chinese YuanDan, New Year's Day in Chinese With Yuandan Wishes Suggestion

What Is "YuanDan" In Chinese?

中文里，“元旦”指什么？[Yuán dàn zhǐ shén me]

The word YuanDan in Chinese, written as 元旦 (yuán dàn), refers to the first day of the Year in China, pointing to the date January 1st of the solar calendar in most countries of the world. If the year number is added in front of the word Yuandan, such as 2020 元旦 in Chinese, it usually means the date of January 1st of the year, such as January 1st in 2020.

元旦，在中国指的是每年阳历的 1 月 1 日这一天，即世界上大多数国家的“新年第一天”。若在元旦前面加上年份，如2020 年元旦，则是指这一年的第一天，如 2020 年 1 月 1 日。

Yuandan is a traditional Chinese festival name, also well known as New Year's Day. But Yuandan is different from China's New Year, the latter of which in China has a world-famous name called "Spring Festival" in English or 春节 (chūn jié) in Chinese. Although both means the first day of the year, Yuandan falls on the first day of the year based on the Solar calendar while the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival refers to the beginning of the year based on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar.

元旦是中国传统佳节之一的名称，即新年第一天。但元旦与中国新年是两个不同的节日，后者还有一个全球皆知的名字“春节”。虽然元旦和春节都指的是第一天，但是元旦指向的阳历里的第一天，而中国新年，即春节，是根据中国传统农历里一年之初（正月初一）。

What Does The Word Yuandan Consist of? Chinese Meanings?

“元旦”的组成和含义？ [Zǔ chéng hé hán yì]

The Chinese Word Yuandan is consisting of two simple Chinese characters: 元 and 旦, both several simple strokes on writing. Let's take a view of each below with examples.

中文里元旦一词是由两个了了几笔的汉字“元”和“旦”组成。让我们分别来看看这两个汉字。

A Simple Character "元" in Chinese Yuandan

The character 元 (yuán) in Chinese means the first, initial, or the head. Therefore, there are similar Chinese words like 元年 (yuán nián), 元月 (yuán yuè), respectively indicating the "First Year" and "First Month" in a period.

“元”，在中文里，有第一的、初始的、头一个、首个的含义。所以在中文里有“元年”、“元月” 这样的汉语词语，分别表示“第一年”、“第一个月”。

On the other hand, it's also common to see the character in the currency transaction business because 元 in China is also known of the unit of Chinese currency which is called 人民币 (rén mín bì) or RMB for short, and also the ending character in the Chinese names of some country's currency, e.g.
美元 (měi yuán) for Dollars in Chinese,
日元 (rì yuán) for Japanese Yen, etc.

另一方面，“元”字也常出现在货币交易重，因为“元”也是中国货币人民币的货币单位，同时还是其他国家货币的中文名称尾字，如“美元”、“日元”等。

An Interesting Character "旦" in Chinese Yuandan

The second character 旦 (dàn) initially means a day, especially the first day of a month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar which is usually called 初一 (chū yī) in Chinese.

“旦”，最初的含义指一天，尤其是指中国农历里的初一这一日。

From the glyph perspective, the character 旦 (dàn) is composed of two other basic Chinese characters 日 (rì) and 一 (yī), which seem as if the sun rising from the sea level.

从字形上看，“旦”字由“日”和“一”两个汉字构成，仿佛太阳从海平面上升起的美景。

Moreover, the character 日 (rì) in Chinese is exactly the meaning of the sun. That is probably the reason that 旦 (dàn) in Chinese also indicates the morning, to symbolize the beginningof a day. For example, there is two-character Chinese word 旦夕 (dàn xī), separately specifying the morning and the night in Chinese.

而且，“日”在中文里正好表达的是太阳的意思。或许正是这个原因，“旦”字在中文里也有早晨的含义，象征这一日的开始。比如，在中国有一个词叫“旦夕”，其中两个汉字在中文里分别指的是早晨和晚上。

Consequently, Chinese people combined 元 and 旦 into a new word called 元旦 (yuán dàn) in Chinese, to indicate the first day in January, also extended to the first day of a common Year. And in China, this word symbolizes a new start of the year while everything looks fresh and new again.

因此，中国人将“元”字和“但”字结合起来合成“元旦”一词，指向 1 月里的第 1 天，也就是每年新年开始的第 1 天，象征着新年伊始，万象更新。

When Is Chinese Yuandan Festival or Holidays?

“元旦”及假期的时间？ [Yuán dàn jià qī shí jiān]

The YuanDan Festival Holiday is the first legal holiday held by the Chinese throughout the year. As we know above, Yuandan means the first day of a year, the day of which is usually the start of the festival and leading a three-day holiday including the nearest weekend.

元旦，是中国人全年拥有的第一个法定节假日。如上所述，我们知道元旦指的是阳历新年的第一天，这一天通常是元旦佳节的开始，加上最近的周末两天形成一个长达 3 天的小长假。

However, there are also exceptions. Since the day of YuanDan in 2020 is exactly Wednesday, there is only a one-day holiday available for the public falling on only January 1, 2020.

但也存在特殊情况。比如在 2020 年，元旦日正好是星期三，因此 2020 年的元旦在中国仅在 2020 年 1 月 1 日这一天放假 1 天。

How to Express YuanDan Wishes & Greetings in Chinese?

怎样用中文表达元旦祝福？ [Yuán dàn zhù fú]

The most popular and shortest Yuandan wishes must be the four-character Chinese greeting: 元旦快乐！ (yuán dàn kuài lè). And this has almost become the basic formula for Chinese festival greetings like "XX 快乐", just replacing XX with festivals' Chinese names.

表达元旦祝福最常见也是最简单的句子是“元旦快乐！”。“XX 快乐”这几乎成为了用中文表达节日祝福的万能公式，只要套用上节日的中文名即可。

But to pay serious attention here, this formula is NOT proper to use for some sorrow festivals, e.g. NOT for "Tomb Sweeping Day" 清明节 (qīng míng jié) in China.

但必须强调的是，这个公式并不适用于一些沉痛的节日，比如中国的“清明节”。

In the end, we wish everybody all the best and smiles throughout the whole year.
Happy New Year's Day! 元旦快乐!!!

诚祝大家在新的一年里，心想事成，笑口常开，元旦快乐！！！

To know more Chinese Festivals with cultural customs, or looking for starting Chinese learning entertainingly, keep an eye on our updating at www.chinaclife.com.

想知道更多世界节日的中文表达，了解关于中国的传统节日和文化习俗，或想趣学中文，记得随时关注我们的更新。

Enjoy!