fireworks for the new year

Fantastic, JB! Happy Year of the Rooster! Gung Hoy Fet Choy. (Did I get that right?)

that is cantonese.

maybe you are right.

How would you say it in Mandarin?

How would you say it in Mandarin?

Gong Xi Fa Cai.

a bit like?

Great pics JB.
Have a Happy New Year!

:wink: happy

Great photos of a celebration.
Happy New Year, ^JB^

Fantastic, JB.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and all our friends from China, and all Asians who celebrate the same New Year!!

Please tell me, JB, what that expression literally means (a translation in English, word by word).

Hi Bram
Let me have a try....

Kung Hei Fat Choi or Gong Xi Fa Cai or 恭喜发财

well first cut it half:
"Gong Xi" and "Fa Cai"

Fa Cai means having a great sum of money, making a great fortune.

Gong Xi, well, in a wedding, the guests may speak to the couple:"Gong Xi, Gong Xi!". If your neighbor's kid had been matriculated in Harvard or Cambirdge, and you might also say:"Gong Xi, Gong Xi!"

In this case, It is a bit different Because when you say "Gong Xi Fa Cai", It doesn't mean that the people whom you are speaking to has actually made a big sum of money.
It is rather like a kind of good wishes:
"I wish (all of us) can be very rich (in the new year)."

It is a good element to make the atmosphere merrier.

Hi JB

Nice try!

Indeed, it is not easy to translate. Like you said, and from what I understand of the Cantonese version, "gong xi" would ordinarily mean to congratulate usually, "Fa" would mean prosperity, "Cai" would mean a lot, then?

I just can't envision how that would be pronounced in Mandarin, I never heard that expression in our Chinatowns.

Cai must mean "big fortune"
"fa" must be a verb :wink:

No folks in the Chinatowns speak Mandarin?

Cantonese is the most commonly heard language in US Chinatowns, JB. Probably has to do with the fact that so many Chinese-Americans have Hong Kong ancestry.

Or maybe they came from Canton, China?

Thanks for the clarification, JB. I find Mandarin a very beautiful language, it sounds so educated, I guess that's what mandarins used to be. :wink:

yes educated

But I have to clarify that I don't think Mandarin and Cantonese are two languages. They are just two different dialects of the Chinese. Because they share the same characters and grammar.(well, similar)

Mandarin envolved from the languages around the areas around Beijing. You know Beijing has been the capital of our country for almost 700 years from the Monglian-ruled Yuan Dynasty until now!
And it became the official and "educated" language of both Mainland and Taiwan.

I live in Nanijng, I found the dialect of Nanjing is really....rude and ugly.
You know Nanjing is right at the crossroad connecting the east to the west, the south to the north. It just has lost its own characteristics.
That not only represents on dialect but also on many aspects of the culture. For instance, Nanjing folks are famous for eating all styles of food

JB

Please clarify for me. Since when did Mandarin exist and since when did it become the official language in China?

I understand that the characters are all the same as well as the grammar etc., since the language has been unified under the Qin Emperor. :wink:

I don't know where Nanjing is, got to find a map.

Well, that is a good thing to be able to eat all kinds of food. Only the best food though, JB!!

JB

Please clarify for me. Since when did Mandarin exist and since when did it become the official language in China?

I understand that the characters are all the same as well as the grammar etc., since the language has been unified under the Qin Emperor. :wink:

I don't know where Nanjing is, got to find a map.

Well, that is a good thing to be able to eat all kinds of food. Only the best food though, JB!!

well, I am not quite sure

Mandarin might have had its origin more than 2000 year ago when China was before Qin.

It may not have took the prominence in Yuan Dynasty. Because the most discriminated nationality of Yuan is Han (That partly depended on how later the nation surrendered, unfortunately Han was the last one :wink: ).
But I am not sure what the official language at that time. In my point of view, Mongolians had no characters for their language.

After Yuan was Ming.
Originally the capital of Ming was located in the now Nanjing
The city was chosen by the first emperor of Yuan, a peasant, the typical first emperor of China :wink:
Before he died, his oldest son died first.
At the time he was on the verge of the death, he chose his grandson.

His grandson was not a smart one. After he took power his advisors tried to persuade him to kill his uncle, Zhu Di, who was once the rival with him for the reign. But he didn't do that.
He appointed Zhu Di the King of Yan.
Yan was a former name of Beijing. It was an extremely poor place at that time. And the city was continuously being annoyed by the Mongolians who still dreamed of the Genghis Kuan Empire.

the King of Yan didn't give up.
He boosted the economy and trained troops. Soon the Mongolians were no longer a threat. Then he prepared the battle for the reign.

He succeeded at last. And then he moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing.

I think Mandarin became the official language from that time.

btw, In CHinese, Nanjing means "southern capital" and Beijing means "northern capital" :wink:









Bram, you know the Nanjing Massacre?

JB

Thanks for the info, and the photos. Can you give us a little description of each one, please?

No, I don't know about the Nanjing Massacre. Please tell us about it.