新年快樂 "Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! 1-1-1 (1/28/2017)"
Chinese New Year, often called the Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in China and Chinese communities around the world.
How do you wish someone "happy new year" in Chinese? It depends on who you're talking to. Many overseas Chinese communities speak Cantonese. "Gung hay fat choy" is how Cantonese speakers wish you a happy new year—literally "wishing you great happiness and prosperity." In China, the offcial language is Mandarin. "Gong xi fa cai" is how Mandarin-speakers wish you a happy new year— literally "wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year."
The two-week celebration includes family and friends, feasting and fireworks, parties and parades.
2017 is the Year of the Rooster which means "being constant", which I would say is being "stable". Not all Roosters are equal - there are five different types, each with different characteristics. This is the year of the Fire Rooster, which last fell in 1957. Fire Roosters are known for being "trustworthy, punctual and responsible (especially at work)".
For more than 3,000 years, Chinese New Year was just what it sounds like—the beginning of a new year in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar is "lunisolar": influenced by the moon and the sun. It is used for the dates of traditional activities in China, East Asia, and many Chinese and East Asian communities around the world.
As a "lunar month" is on average 0.92 days shorter than a "solar month", the lunar calendar is just under a day per month slower than the solar calendar. To prevent the lunar calendar from becoming more than half a month of sync with the solar calandar, an extra "leap month" is added in the Chinese calendar every 32 or 33 months. The next leap month will begin onJuly 23, 2017, when a second lunar month 6 will be observed.