C: Yajie, how do Chinese people celebrate chú xī, lunar new year's eve? I'm pretty curious about it because I want to know the difference between this eve and x'mas eve.
Y: Usually a large family dinner is served, and we call it 年夜饭
C: nián yè fàn
Y: and there are two main kinds of food in the southern and northern parts of China.
C: I've heard of 饺子 jiǎo zi before. Where is it more popular?
Y: Usually it's more popular in the north. It's a kind of steamed dumpling. And in the south of China, a kind of sticky-sweet glutinous rice pudding called 年糕 nián gāo is served.
C: I see, 饺子 jiǎo zi for the north and 年糕 nián gāo for the south. Then what else will you have?
Y: Dishes such as chicken and fish cannot be excluded, for in Chinese, their pronunciations, mean auspiciousness and abundance.
C: interesting, what are their pronunciations?
Y: 鸡 ji1 for chicken, which stands for auspiciousness.
C: ji1
Y: 鱼 yu2, fish,
C: yu2, for abundance
Conversation1:
A: 年夜饭你们吃什么?
B: 我们会吃饺子,鸡啊,鱼啊。你呢?
A:差不多, 我们还会吃年糕。
C: what are some other customs on 除夕 chú xī, lunar new year's eve?
Y: the whole family will stay up till midnight to see the new year in, and it's called “守岁” .
C: 守岁 shou3 sui4.
Y: then when it's midnight, you can hear people setting off firecrackers. It's pretty loud. Although such a tradition is completely or partially forbidden in big cities, people still miss this age-long custom.
C: what's the Chinese for setting off firecrackers?
Y: it's 放鞭炮 fàng biān pào . 放鞭炮
C: fàng biān pào .
Y: 放 fang4 means to set off,
C: fang4,
Y: 鞭炮 bian1 pao4, firecrackers,
C: bian1 pao4.
Y: 放鞭炮 fàng biān pào .
C: fàng biān pào . set off firecrackers.
Conversation 2
1)A: 快到十二点了,准备放鞭炮。
B: 好,这里有个五千响的鞭炮。
2)A: 这里不准放鞭炮。
B: 好的。
Y: Cam, I remember when I was a kid, I loved the spring festival
C: Why? Is it because you can get presents from Santa?
Y: haha, not really… because it's the time for me to get gift money.
C: what is that?
Y: it's given by my parents. That's one thing I love about spring festival. The anticipation with which children like me look forward to Spring Festival can only be matched by that of children like you in the West who dream of Santa Claus with presents.
C: then how do you say gift money in Chinese?
Y: it's ya 1 sui4 qian2. 压岁钱
C: yā suì qián.
Y: 压 ya1 means to reduce,
C: ya1
Y: 岁 sui4 means age
C: sui4
Y: 钱 qian2, means money,
C: qian2
Y: yā suì qián. Age-Reduce Money. In this way, parents think it can reduce my age, which is a symbol of love.
C: So they don't want you to grow up by giving you yā suì qián.
Conversation 3:
1)A: 你今年收了多少压岁钱?
B: 不知道,我都交给妈妈了。
2)A: 姑妈,给您拜年了。
B: 好孩子,来拿着,这是给你压岁钱。
