NEW YEAR

新 年

(Xīn Nián)

Could You Distinguish Chinese Word for New Year with Chinese New Year?

The new year is the time at which a new solar calendar year starts. For most countries throughout the world except China, New Year's day is defined as the first day in January in the solar calendar, which is literally written as the Chinese word "新年 (Xīn nián, New Year)".

Literally, the Chinese word "新年 (Xīn nián)" equals the English word "New Year". But it may refer to the two completely different festivals in China from the context. Jump to the right to get more about the "New Year"-related festivals in China.

Extend Readings on Chinese New Year and Chinese Lunar New Year

For the Chinese, due to both the solar and lunar calendric systems working there, the New Year festival refers to two different traditional Chinese festivals: one on January 1st of the Solar Calendar is called "元旦 (Yuán dàn, New Year's Day Festival or YuanDan Festival)", and another falling on the first day of the Lunar January based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar is called "春节 (Chūn jié, Spring Festival or Chinese Lunar New Year, or Chinese New Year for short)".

Keep reading to get more about New Year in China. And enjoy. 😛

? KNOW ABOUT NEW YEAR IN CHINA

The Chinese word for New Year is written as "新年 (Xīn nián)" in Simplified Chinese. Both characters included are easy to understand. The first Chinese character "新 (xīn)" means new, while the other "年 (nián)" here refers to the year. More meanings of the character "年 (nián)" could be found here.

As explained above, the Chinese word for New Year mostly is referring to the very festival in China different from the New Year talked about in Western's. If you heard of it, it's better suggested to make a confirmation on the context and the time period. If the Chinese word for New Year "新年 (Xīn nián)" appears around the end of December or the initial January, it must refer to the celebration of YuanDan Festival "元旦 (Yuán dàn)", the New Year's Day in China. Otherwise, it is more probably considered to the holidays and celebrations of Spring Festival if the word for New Year "新年 (Xīn nián)" appears after the day of YuanDan festival.

  • Happy Chinese New Year, Chinese New Year, Spring Festival

新 年
（Xīn nián）

"New Year"

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Simplified Chinese

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