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Personalize your custom “Chinese New Year” project by clicking the button next to your favorite “Chinese New Year” title below...
1. Year-In Year-Out Have Abundance
7. Kirin / Giraffe / Mythical Creature
8. Lion Dance
9. Red Envelope
10. Rat / Mouse
11. Monkey
年年有餘 is a common proverb or wish of prosperity you'll hear around the time of Chinese New Year.
Directly translated character by character, it means “Year Year Have Surplus.” A more natural English translation including the deeper meaning would be “Every Year may you Have Abundance in your life.”
On a side note, this phrase often goes with a gift of something related to fish. This is because the last character, “yu” which means surplus or abundance, has exactly the same pronunciation in Mandarin as the word for “fish.”
This is also one of the most common titles for traditional paintings that feature koi fish.
In China, this phrase might make an odd wall scroll - a customer asked especially for this common phrase which is why it appears here. See my other abundance-related words if you want a wall scroll that will seem more comfortable in Chinese culture.
Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly used term.
See Also: Prosperity | Good Fortune
五福臨門 means “five good fortunes arrive [at the] door.”
It is understood to mean “may the five blessings descend upon this home.”
These blessings are known in ancient China to be: longevity, wealth, health, virtue, and natural death (living to old age). This is one of several auspicious sayings you might hear during the Chinese New Year.
Used in modern times for divorced couples that come back together
破鏡重圓 is about a husband and wife who were separated and reunited.
About 1500 years ago in China, there lived a beautiful princess named Le Chang. She and her husband Xu De Yan loved each other very much. But when the army of the Sui Dynasty was about to attack their kingdom, disposed of all of their worldly possessions and prepared to flee into exile.
They knew that in the chaos, they might lose track of each other, so the one possession they kept was a bronze mirror which is a symbol of unity for a husband and wife. They broke the mirror into two pieces, and each of them kept half of the mirror. They decided that if separated, they would try to meet at the fair during the 15th day of the first lunar month (which is the lantern festival). Unfortunately, the occupation was brutal, and the princess was forced to become the mistress of the new commissioner of the territory, Yang Su.
At the Lantern Festival the next year, the husband came to the fair to search for his wife. He carried with him his half of the mirror. As he walked through the fair, he saw the other half of the mirror for sale at a junk market by a servant of the commissioner. The husband recognized his wife's half of the mirror immediately, and tears rolled down his face as he was told by the servant about the bitter and loveless life that the princess had endured.
As his tears dripped onto the mirror, the husband scratched a poem into his wife's half of the mirror:
You left me with the severed mirror,
The mirror has returned, but absent are you,
As I gaze in the mirror, I seek your face,
I see the moon, but as for you, I see not a trace.
The servant brought the inscribed half of the mirror back to the princess. For many days, the princess could not stop crying when she found that her husband was alive and still loved her.
Commissioner Yang Su, becoming aware of this saga, realized that he could never obtain the princess's love. He sent for the husband and allowed them to reunite.
This proverb, 破鏡重圓, is now used to describe a couple who has been torn apart for some reason (usually divorce) but have come back together (or remarried).
It seems to be more common these days in America for divorced couples to reconcile and get married to each other again. This will be a great gift if you know someone who is about to remarry their ex.
福音 is the Chinese, Korean and Japanese word for “Gospel” or “Word of God.”
福音 is a specifically Christian word in Asia (not used for any other religion).
The first character means blessing, good fortune, or good luck. This first character is a special character used throughout China to bring good tidings and fortune - especially during Chinese New Year. The second character means sound, noise, or news.
Together, these characters create a word that means “The Good News” or “The Sound of Good Fortune.”
When read by a Chinese or Japanese person, this word is always perceived as “The Christian Gospel,” “Word of God,” or even “The Voice of God.”
See Also: Christianity | Jesus Christ | God of Abraham
福 is pronounced “fu” in Chinese.
The character “fu” is posted by virtually all Chinese people on the doors of their homes during the Spring Festival (closely associated with the Chinese New Year).
One tradition from the Zhou Dynasty (beginning in 256 B.C.) holds that putting a fu symbol on your front door will keep the goddess of poverty away.
福 literally means good fortune, prosperity, blessed, blessedness, happiness, and fulfillment.
You'll also see this character in Vietnam (where Chinese characters were the written form until a romanization reform) where it is pronounced Phúc - a word commonly used in Vietnamese names because of its good meaning.
See Also: Lucky
If you want to wish someone a happy new year, 新年快樂 is the way.
You can hang this up during Western New Years (Dec 31st - Jan 1st) and keep it up until after Chinese New Year which happens in either January or February of each year (it changes from year to year because China uses a lunar calendar).
麒麟 is the title of a mythical beast of Asia.
The animal is thought to be related to the giraffe, and in some ways, it is a giraffe. However, it is often depicted with the horns of a dragon or deer and sometimes with the body like a horse, but many variations exist.
In Japanese, it is pronounced “Kirin” as in “Kirin Ichiban” beer.
Notes:
1. This is sometimes spelled as “kylin.”
2. In Japanese, this is the only Kanji word for giraffe. Therefore in Japan, this word needs context to know whether you are talking about the mythical creature or the long-necked giraffe of Africa.
3. Apparently, this was the first word used for regular giraffes in China (some were brought from Africa to China during the Ming Dynasty - probably around the year 1400). Though the mythical creature may have existed before, the name “qilin” was given to the “new giraffe.” This is because, more than 600 years ago, giraffes somewhat matched the mythical creature's description when Chinese people saw them for the first time. Later, to avoid such an ambiguous title, a three-character word was devised to mean a “giraffe of Africa.” The characters for “qilin” shown here are only for the mythological version in modern Chinese.
4. More information about the qilin / kirin from Wikipedia.
5. This creature is sometimes translated as the “Chinese Unicorn,” although it is generally portrayed with two horns. I think this is done more for the fantasy aspect of the unicorn and because most westerners don't know what a qilin or kirin is (this avoids a long explanation by the translator).
6. In Korean, this can mean kirin or simply giraffe (usually, the mythological creature is what they would think of when seeing these characters alone on a wall scroll).
紅包 literally means “red treasure.”
Depending on the context, it can also mean “money wrapped in red as a gift,” “a bonus payment,” “a kickback,” or “a bribe.”
However, most of the time, this is an innocent gift of money in a red envelope that is given from an elder relative to a youngster. This usually happens during the Chinese New Year. It can also happen in preparation for or during a wedding in China.
紅包 is pronounced “Hong Bao” (with an “oh” vowel sound on hong) in Mandarin Chinese. Filipino Chinese call it “Ang Pao.” There are a few other variations.
Year of the Rat / Zodiac Sign
鼠 is the character for rat (and sometimes mouse) in Chinese, old Korean, and Japanese.
If you were born in the year of the Rat, you . . .
Are sensitive and smart.
Easily adapting to new environments.
Have a curious nature.
Are good at using the opportunities that are presented to you.
In some contexts, this character could mean “mouse.”
See also our Chinese Zodiac page.
Year of the Monkey / Zodiac Sign
猴 is the monkey character in Chinese.
猴 means ape in Japanese due to an error made long ago as Japan absorbed Chinese characters.
If you were born in the year of the monkey, you . . .
Are smart, brave, active, and competitive.
Like new things.
Have a good memory.
Are quick to respond
Have an easy time winning people's trust.
Are, however, not very patient.
See also our Chinese Zodiac page.
Note: This character does have the meaning of monkey in Korean Hanja but is not used very often.
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Year-In Year-Out Have Abundance | 年年有餘 年年有馀 | nián nián yǒu yú nian2 nian2 you3 yu2 nian nian you yu niannianyouyu | nien nien yu yü niennienyuyü |
|
Blessings on this Home | 五福臨門 五福临门 | wǔ fú lín mén wu3 fu2 lin2 men2 wu fu lin men wufulinmen | ||
Broken Mirror Rejoined | 破鏡重圓 破镜重圆 | pò jìng chóng yuán po4 jing4 chong2 yuan2 po jing chong yuan pojingchongyuan | p`o ching ch`ung yüan pochingchungyüan po ching chung yüan |
|
Word of God The Gospel | 福音 | fukuin | fú yīn / fu2 yin1 / fu yin / fuyin | |
Good Luck Good Fortune | 福 | fuku | fú / fu2 / fu | |
Happy New Year | 新年快樂 新年快乐 | xīn nián kuài lè xin1 nian2 kuai4 le4 xin nian kuai le xinniankuaile | hsin nien k`uai le hsinnienkuaile hsin nien kuai le |
|
Kirin Giraffe Mythical Creature | 麒麟 | kirin | qí lǐn / qi2 lin3 / qi lin / qilin | ch`i lin / chilin / chi lin |
Lion Dance | 舞獅 舞狮 | wǔ shī / wu3 shi1 / wu shi / wushi | wu shih / wushih | |
Red Envelope | 紅包 红包 | hóng bāo / hong2 bao1 / hong bao / hongbao | hung pao / hungpao | |
Rat Mouse | 鼠 | nezumi | shǔ / shu3 / shu | |
Monkey | 猴 | hóu / hou2 / hou | ||
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
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