Chinese New Year celebrations in London’s Chinatown are the largest outside of China, making it the perfect place to celebrate this year with cultural dishes and festive experiences. Based on the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, the ancient Spring Festival welcomes in the new year and is celebrated across the world.
2025 is the Year of the Snake, which symbolises wisdom, intuition and transformation. It is the sixth animal in the 12-year cycle and represents elegance and thoughtfulness. London’s Chinatown is a great spot to discover East and Southeast Asian culture this Chinese New Year, so why not brush up on your Mandarin before heading out to celebrate?
As the most widely spoken Chinese language, Mandarin is used by over 730 million speakers. But it is notoriously difficult for non-native speakers to learn, given its unique logographic alphabet. Furthermore, as the only modern pictographic language, Mandarin was developed by drawing the things it describes. All-in-all, this makes it a tricky language to master.
However if you would like to dip your toes into Mandarin, learning how to say Happy New Year is a good place to start.
Three ways to say ‘Happy New Year’ in Mandarin
How you say “Happy New Year” depends on who you are speaking to. There is a casual and formal way to say it, depending on your environment.
If you’re informally saying “happy new year” to your family or friends, you would say:
- xīn nián hǎo (phonetically sshin-nyen haoww)
This translates directly to “new year goodness” and is popularly used.
However, in a formal setting you might instead say:
- xīn nián kuài lè (phonestically sshin-nyen kwhy-ler)
This translates to “new year happiness” and is typically used with strangers.
And if you’re feeling especially fancy, you might say:
- gōng xǐ fā cái (phoentically gong-sshee faa-tseye)
This translates to “happiness and prosperity.”
The annual Chinese New Year parade will take place on Sunday 2nd February, starting from East of Trafalgar Square to Chinatown. The full parade route and timings can be found here.
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