China and other countries across Asia welcome the Year of the Dog
Welcome to Plain English, the podcast that goes at just the right speed for English learners. I’m Jeff, and today is Thursday, February 22, 2018. Today we’ll talk about how they celebrate the Lunar New Year in China and across Asia. And in the second half of the program, I’ll show you how to use the phrasal verb “sweep away.”
Like always, a transcript of the show is available on the website, PlainEnglish.com. Today is Episode 23, so just go to PlainEnglish.com/23 to read the complete transcript. I’ve always found it helpful in Spanish to read along as I listen, so I can associate the written words with the sounds I’m hearing. And don’t forget we also have translations of the difficult words and phrases from English to Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and French. All that at PlainEnglish.com/23.
Lunar New Year celebrations
One of the biggest holidays in China is the Lunar New Year, sometimes known as the Chinese New Year; this year, it was celebrated last Friday, February 16th. The date is different each year, but the New Year comes with the first new moon in late January or early February. The celebration lasts about 15 days until the following full moon.
I always wondered where the animal names came from; I thought someone just decided a new animal each year. But that’s not at all how it goes. The years follow the Chinese zodiac and pass in order. Legend has it that a Chinese emperor invited the whole animal kingdom in a race to his castle, and the order of the zodiac is the order in which the animals finished. There are twelve in all, and they are, in order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and (finally) the lazy pig. Last year was the year of the rooster, so this year, the one that just started, is the year of the dog.
The Chinese take their new year seriously. They first start by cleaning their homes—they sweep the floors so as to sweep away all the accumulated bad luck of the previous year and allow good luck in the New Year to come in.
Kind of like in America at Thanksgiving, a lot of people travel. All the trains are sold out (the rail authority says it will carry 390 million passengers) and the highways are packed with cars and motorbikes. It’s the one time during the year that people who have gone to live in cities can travel home to see their families in their home towns.
Like in so many family traditions around the world, the main event at this holiday is the big meal—and in this case, I mean big. It’s eight courses, since eight is a lucky number, and the final course is a whole fish because—you guessed it—fish are supposed to bring luck. It’s also traditional to eat long noodles to symbolize a long life. Some foods are traditionally eaten during this time of year because their names, when pronounced in Mandarin, sound like lucky words. And when the clock strikes midnight, people in the north of China eat dumplings, which happen to be in the shape of old gold and silver coins. To get the year off to a good start, you want to be wearing all new clothes, from head to toe.
You’ll see a lot of red around the New Year, too. People decorate their homes with red lanterns, dress in red clothing, even paint their front doors red. They give gifts in red wrapping paper and money in red envelopes. I even saw a picture of baby pandas playing with red toys to celebrate the New Year.
Big cities have parades and fireworks. Hong Kong had a big parade this year with nine floats and performances from famous singers, including Jackson Wang, originally from Hong Kong, but popular around Asia for being in the band Got7. San Francisco, California has one of the biggest Chinese New Year parades outside of China; they’ve held this parade since the 1860s.
China isn’t the only country that celebrates the Lunar New Year. They’re celebrating in Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore. In Korea, they eat bowls of rice cake soup and play traditional board games. The Koreans got a nice new year’s present this year when one of their athletes, Sungbin Yun, won a gold medal in skeleton, Korea’s first gold medal in that sport.
By the way, speaking of the Olympics, there have been some nice moments this year. Congratulations to Germany. The figure skating pair Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot collapsed on the ice in joy and relief after their gold medal performance. And how about German Madrazo from Mexico? He’s 43 years old and competed in cross-country skiing. He crossed the finish line laughing and carrying the Mexican flag—it was a nice moment. Forty-three years old and never skied until last year; now he’s an Olympian. I’ll put links to both those videos on the web site; they’re fun to watch.
Link: Savchenko, Massot win gold medal free skate with record breaking performance
Link: Mexican cross-country skier German Madrazo crossed the finish line last, but he was all smiles as he did it proudly carrying his nation’s flag.
I want to send special Lunar New Year greetings to Achmad from Indonesia. He sent me a note on Twitter saying he’s a high school student from Jakarta and his dream is to visit the US someday, which is why he’s using Plain English to practice. I’m so happy to hear that Achmad and thanks for listening; I know you’ll make it here soon! And one of my dreams is to go to Bali someday, so maybe we’ll cross paths in the US or in Indonesia.
I love hearing from people in the audience, so if you’re on Twitter or Facebook, look up PlainEnglishPod, send me a note, and tell me where you’re listening from and why you’re learning English.
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