龙年 (lóngnián): n. the Year of the Dragon
本命年 (běnmìngnián): n. one’s year of birth in relation to the Chinese Zodiac

China’s celebration of the lunar New Year, the renowned Spring Festival, is less than a month away. As the zodiac’s limelight shifts to a different animal each year, 2012 has been designated "龙年 (lóngnián) the Year of the Dragon." If your birth year also happens to be in the Year of the Dragon, it is your "本命年 (běnmìngnián). You’ve got quite a few concerns to be conscious of.
In Chinese culture, your "本命年 (běnmìngnián)" will align with one of 12 animals in the "生肖 (shēngxiào) Chinese Zodiac." Your sign will align with the present year’s animal every twelve years, namely at the age of twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six and so on. However, according to traditional Chinese culture, if your animal sign is the same as the current lunar year’s, it’s considered an unlucky year. That’s why people also call it "槛儿年 (kǎnrnián) threshold year," that is thought difficult to get through.

Key Learning Points:
龙年 (lóngnián): n. the Year of the Dragon

Example: 
Lóngnián kuài dào le, zhù dàjiā shìshìshùnxīn, tiāntiānkāixīn.
龙年        快     到 了， 祝  大家  事事顺心,  天天开心。
The Year of the Dragon is coming! I hope everything goes well with you and you find a bit of happiness everyday.

Key Learning Point:
光棍儿 (guānggùnr): n. bachelor
The character “儿” is always added after the phrase in the spoken language.
Examples:
       Hāi, tīngshuō nǐ yào jiéhūn le, gōngxǐ a.
Mike: 嗨，听说     你  要  结婚  了，恭喜  啊。
       Hi, I heard that you are getting married. Congratulations.
       Xièxie. Nǐ ne?
Jim: 谢谢，你呢？ 
       Thanks. How about you?
       Hēhē, wǒ hái shì guānggùnr yí ge ne.
Mike: 呵呵，我 还 是    光棍儿    一个 呢。
       Hehe, I’m just a bachelor.

The top step of this staircase is in the west, where the Himalaya mountains are (India is on the other side of these mountains). Tibet is in this part of China. And Mount Everest is here (it’s the world’s tallest mountain). People call it “the roof of the world.” The tops of the mountains have snow even in the summertime. In winter, the whole area is very cold – it can be as cold as -40 Fahrenheit (that’s the same in Celsius). But in the summer it can get hot, up to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius). Panda bears live mostly in the mountains of south-western China.

Himalaya Mountains

Then in the middle of China is the second step of the staircase. There are still hills, but they are lower and not snowy anymore. Actually, most of this middle part of China is deserts. The most famous is the Gobi Desert. Some of it is grassland where you can graze cattle (mostly yaks) but you can’t farm. Mongolia is in this part of China. Here, too, it gets very cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

Gobi Desert

In Eastern China, nearer to the Pacific Ocean, is the bottom step of the staircase. There are long rivers running all through this part of China, running down to the Pacific Ocean. The two biggest rivers are theYangtze and the Yellow Rivers. Most of the people of China live around here, where they can get plenty of water for farming. In the northern part, they mostly grow wheat, and in the southern part, they mostly grow rice. In this part of China, which people who live there call the Middle Kingdom, it doesn’t get as hot or as cold. But in the spring, when the snow melts in the mountains, these rivers often flood.

Yangtze River, China

Northeastern China has lots of forests and in the forests there are deer and even reindeer, and tigers.

Changbai Mountain

In the very southernmost part of China, there’s one more kind of climate, which is almost a tropical rainforest or jungle. It’s hot and wet there in the summer, and sometimes there are typhoons (tie-FOONS), tropical storms like hurricanes. Even in winter, it never really gets cold. Ginseng, a plant people used for medicine, grows here. There are elephants, wild chickens, leopards, and all sorts of other jungle animals.

Only a few days, we will enjoy the Chinese Spring festival with family and friends.I believe you have to say something for the coming year. Here are some common options with rough English translations for greeting Chinese in Tiger Year.

Nǐ 你 and nín 您 can be interchanged depending how formal you want to be. And you may or may not need a”zhù nǐ/nín” 祝你/您 (“wishing you”) before each of these.

Year of the Tiger Messages

1. hǔ nián kuàilè 虎 年快乐 = Happy Year of the Tiger
2. hǔ nián jíxiáng 虎 年吉祥 = Have a lucky Year of the Tiger
3. hǔ nián xíng dà yùn 虎 年行大运 = May the Year of the Tiger bring you great luck
4. xīhǔ zhù nín hǔ nián wàng 犀 虎祝您虎年旺 = May the rhinoceros-tiger bring you a prosperous Year of the Tiger*

Standard New Year’s Greetings

1. dà jí dà lì 大 吉大利 = Good luck and good profit (see also New Year’s puns)
2. gōnghè xīnxǐ 恭 贺新喜 = Happy New Year
3. gōngxǐ fācái 恭 喜发财 = get rich
4. guò nián hǎo 过 年好 = Happy New Year
5. jiā hé wàn shì xīng 家 和万事兴 = If the family lives in harmony, all affairs will prosper
6. niánnián gāoshēng 年 年高升 = get a promotion every year
7. shēntǐ jiànkāng 身 体健康 = have good health
8. shìshì rúyì 事 事如意 = everything go according to your wishes
9. shìshì shùnlì 事 事順利 = everything go smoothly
10. wànshì rúyì 万 事如意 = all your wishes come true
11. xīnnián kuàilè 新 年快乐 = Happy New Year
12. xīn xiǎng shì chéng = wishes come true
13. xiàokǒu chángkāi 笑 口常开 = always smile

Heart Marathon

Sheila also gave me this as an example of a longer message friends might send to each other. This one features the character for “heart” at the end of every line:

hǔ nián zhùyuàn nín: gōngzuò shūxīn, xīnshuǐ héxīn, bèiwō nuǎnxīn, péngyou zhīxīn, àirén tóngxīn, yíqiè shùnxīn, yǒngyuǎn kāixīn, shìshì chènxīn
虎 年祝愿您：工作舒心，薪水合心，被窝暖心，朋友知心，爱人同心，一切顺心，永远开心，事事称心！

Here’s the breakdown:

hǔ nián zhùyuàn nín 虎 年祝愿您… = this Year of the Tiger I wish you…

• gōngzuò shūxīn 工 作舒心 = comfortable work
• xīnshuǐ héxīn 薪 水合心 = suitable salary
• bèiwō nuǎn xīn 被 窝暖心 = warm-hearted bed
• péngyou zhīxīn 朋 友知心 = caring friends
• àirén tóngxīn 爱 人同心 = harmonious marriage
• yíqiè shùnxīn 一 切顺心 = happy everything
• yǒngyuǎn kāixīn 永 远开心 = eternal happiness
• shìshì chènxīn 事 事称心 = everything satisfactory

Anyone else know any other standard New Year’s greetings we can send as text messages? Do share.

*Apparently there are five kinds of tigers in traditional Chinese lore. Here’s Sheila’s explanation:

五 虎给你来拜年，犀虎祝您虎年旺，奶虎愿您体健康，黄虎为您送事业，水虎给您保平安，犛虎伴您游天下。

I think I’ll save a more in-depth look at that (and pinyin transcription) for a later post, unless someone else would like to explicate that and give me the link. That would be even better!

Therefore, enjoy your reading of the best Confucius quotes!

Confucius Quotes – Chapter I (学而篇-xue er pian)

• 学而时习之、不亦说乎。有朋自远方来、不亦乐乎。人不知而不愠、不亦君子乎。（xué ér shí xí zhī 、bú yì shuō hū 。yǒu péng zì yuǎn fāng lái 、bú yì lè hū 。rén bú zhī ér bú yùn 、bú yì jun1 zǐ hū 。）
  • Isn’t it a pleasure to study and practice what you have learned? Isn’t it also great when friends visit from distant places? If you do not know and do not question, can you be called a noble man?

• 巧言令色、鲜矣仁。（qiǎo yán lìng sè 、xiān yǐ rén）
  • Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with true virtue.
  • Variant Someone who is a clever speaker and maintains a ‘too-smiley’ face is seldom considered a humane person.

• 不患人之不己知，患不知人也。（bú huàn rén zhī bú jǐ zhī ，huàn bú zhī rén yě）

  I am not bothered by the fact that I am unknown. I am bothered when I do not know others.

• 主忠信。毋友不如己者。过，则勿惮改。（zhǔ zhōng xìn 。wú yǒu bú rú jǐ zhě 。guò ，zé wù dàn gǎi）
  • Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. Then no friends would not be like yourself (all friends would be as loyal as yourself). If you make a mistake, do not be afraid to correct it.

• 道千乘之国，敬事而信，节用而爱人，使民以时。（dào qiān chéng zhī guó ，jìng shì ér xìn ，jiē yòng ér ài rén ，shǐ mín yǐ shí）
  • If you would govern a state of a thousand chariots (a small-to-middle-size state), you must pay strict attention to business, be true to your word, be economical in expenditure and love the people. You should use them according to the seasons(i.e. You should not enlist farmers during seeding or harvest time).

• 君子食无求饱，居无求安，敏于事而慎于言，就有道而正焉，可谓好学也已。（jun1 zǐ shí wú qiú bǎo ，jū wú qiú ān ，mǐn yú shì ér shèn yú yán ，jiù yǒu dào ér zhèng yān ，kě wèi hǎo xué yě yǐ）
  • When the Superior Man eats he does not try to stuff himself; at rest he does not seek perfect comfort; he is diligent in his work and careful in speech. He avails himself to people of the Tao and thereby corrects himself. This is the kind of person of whom you can say, “he loves learning.”

Confucius

Translation (meaning) of 李白(libai)-子夜吴歌(zi ye wu ge)

A Song of an Autumn Midnight

A slip of the moon hangs over the capital;
Ten thousand washing-mallets are pounding;
And the autumn wind is blowing my heart
For ever and ever toward the Jade Pass….
Oh, when will the Tartar troops be conquered,
And my husband come back from the long campaign!

Translation (meaning) of 李白(libai)-关山月(guan shan yue)

The Moon at the Fortified Pass

The bright moon lifts from the Mountain of Heaven
In an infinite haze of cloud and sea,
And the wind, that has come a thousand miles,
Beats at the Jade Pass battlements….
China marches its men down Baideng Road
While Tartar troops peer across blue waters of the bay….
And since not one battle famous in history
Sent all its fighters back again,
The soldiers turn round, looking toward the border,
And think of home, with wistful eyes,
And of those tonight in the upper chambers
Who toss and sigh and cannot rest.

Translation (meaning) of 王昌龄(wangchangling)-塞下曲(sai xia qu)

Under a Border-fortress

Drink, my horse, while we cross the autumn water!-
The stream is cold and the wind like a sword,
As we watch against the sunset on the sandy plain,
Far, far away, shadowy Lingtao.
Old battles, waged by those long walls,
Once were proud on all men’s tongues.
But antiquity now is a yellow dust,
Confusing in the grasses its ruins and white bones.