Kung Hei Fat Choi 恭喜發財!!!! Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Today is the 1^st day on Lunar Calendar which is the Chinese New Year, year of OX.

Here I wish everyone a happy new year 新年快樂 (pronounce "Sun Nin Fai Lok" in Cantonese) and 恭喜發財 (Kung Hei Fat Choi). I learned that Kung Hei Fat Choi is the 1st thing everyone says to each other in Chinese New Year. It translated to "Congratulations and be prosperous", which is a great thing to say especially in Real Estate business. There's also a lot of four word phrase that Chinese say to greet each other.

Like wishing you:

身体健康 Good healthy year.

心想事成　May All Your Wishes Come True

生意兴隆　Business Flourishes

岁岁平安　Peace All Year Round

和气生财　Harmony Brings Wealth

心想事成　May All Your Wishes Come True

吉祥如意　Everything Goes Well

国泰平安　The Country Flourishes And People Live In Peace

招财进宝　Money And Treasures Will He Plentiful

一帆风顺　Wishing You Every Success

The following link will bring you to 年年有餘. (a wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year). Fish in Chinese have the same pronunciation with 餘 (surplus).

Chinese New Year's Eve is like Thanksgiving to us. Everyone gather back at home for a big CNY dinner. Dishes usually include a whole chicken with head, whole fish, dishes contains ingredients that have close pronunciation to good wishes. There's a dish that my girlfriend prepare has ingredients like dried oyster sounds like "good things happen", lettuce sounds like "getting rich" and 髮菜 (Nostoc flagelliforme) a black hair like vegetable has a very soft texture which is like very fine vermicelli which pronounce "fat choi". So you get the idea. Those are things that I never had in my life but it's actually pretty good.

Once again, 恭喜發財 to everyone in year 2009!!!!