Question

用英语说中国春节习俗简单易懂

Answer 1

The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and also the most important one of the whole year. Through the evolvement of thousands of years， a series of customs are spreading far and wide.

春节是中国的传统节日，也是一年中最重要的节日。经过数千年的演变，一系列的春节习俗正在向四面八方传承。

1、Sweeping the Dust  扫尘 

“Dust” is homophonic with "chen”in Chinese，which means old and past. In this way， "sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life. 

In a word， just before the Spring Festival comes， every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.

“尘”与汉语中的“陈”同音，意思是旧的和过去的。所以春节前的“扫尘”，就是要彻底打扫房屋，扫除过去一年的霉运。这种习俗显示了一种良好的愿望，即把旧东西收起来，迎接新的生活。总而言之，就在春节到来之前，每家每户都要彻底打扫，告别旧年，迎来新的一年。

2、Pasting Spring Couplets  贴春联 

“The Spring Couplet”， also called "couplet” and "a pair of antithetical phrases”， is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription，usually an auspicious phrase，above the gate. 

The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival，every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival. 

In the past，the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them， while nowadays， it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.

“春联”，又称“对联”、“一对对立的短语”，这是中国文学的一种特殊形式。春联是由两边门上的两个对句和一个水平的书卷组成的，书卷上有铭文，通常是一个吉祥的短语。贴在门的右边的句子叫做对联的第一行和左边的第二行。在春节前夕，每户人家都要在门上贴用红色纸张写的春联，营造节日的欢腾气氛。在过去，中国人通常用毛笔写他们自己的春联，或者请别人代他们写，而现在，人们在市场上买印刷的春联是很常见的。

3、 Staying Up Late on New Year‘s Eve  守岁

The tradition of staying up late to see New Year in originated from an interesting folk tale. In ancient China there lived a monster named Year，who was very ferocious. Year always went out from its burrow on New Year’s Eve to devour people. Therefore， on every New Year’s Eve，every household would have supper together. 

After dinner，no one dared go to sleep and all the family members would sit together，chatting and emboldening each other. Gradually the habit of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is formed. Thus in China， "celebrating the Spring Festival” is also called "passing over the year (guo nian)”。 However，now there are less and less people in cities who will stay up late to see New Year in.

熬夜等待新年的传统起源于一个有趣的民间故事。在古代中国住着一只名叫“年”的怪物，它非常凶猛。新年前夕，新年总是从洞穴里出来，吞噬着人们。因此，每逢除夕，每户人家都要一起吃晚饭。晚饭后，没人敢睡觉，全家人坐在一起聊天，相互壮胆。新年前夕熬夜的习惯逐渐形成。因此，在中国，“春节”也被称为“一年过”。然而，现在城市里越来越少的人会熬夜看新年。

Answer 2

过年:celebrate the spring festival
走亲戚:go to the relatives'
给小孩子压岁钱:give money to children as a lunar new year gift
年夜饭:spring festival eve banquet 　　 Chinese New Year Celebration is the most important celebration of the year. Chinese people may celebrate the Chinese New Year in slightly different ways but their wishes are almost the same; they want their family members and friends to be healthy and lucky during next year.
　　春节庆祝活动是一年中最重要的庆祝活动。中国人庆祝春节的方式可能略微不同，但其愿望几乎是相同的，他们希望其家人和朋友来年健康和幸运。
　　Chinese New Year Celebration usually lasts for 15 days. Celebratory activities include Chinese New Feast, firecrackers, giving lucky money to children, the New Year bell ringing and Chinese New Year Greetings. Most of Chinese people will stop the celebrating in their home on the 7th day of New Year because the national holiday usually ends around that day, however celebrations in public areas can last until the 15th day of New Year.
　　春节庆祝活动通常持续15天。庆祝活动包括春节的年夜饭，放鞭炮，给儿童压岁钱，春节钟声和春节问候。大多数中国人将在春节的第7天停止庆祝活动，因为全国性节假通常在这一天结束，但在公共场所的庆祝活动可能最终持续到正月十五。
　　House Cleaning
　　房屋打扫
　　To clean houses on the New Year Even is a very old custom dating back to thousands of years ago. The dust is traditionally associated with “old” so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the “old” and usher in the “new”。 Days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their houses, sweeping the floor, washing daily things, cleaning the spider webs and dredging the ditches. People do all these things happily in the hope of a good coming year.
　　春节打扫房屋这个非常古老的习俗甚至可以追溯到几千年前。灰尘在传统上与“旧”联系在一起，所以打扫房屋和扫除灰尘意味着辞“旧”迎“新”。春节的前几天，中国的各家各户都打扫房屋，扫地，清洗日用品，清除蛛网和疏浚沟渠。人们兴高采烈做所有这些事情，希望来年好运。
　　House decoration
　　房屋装饰
　　One of the house decorations is to post couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed. New Year couplets are usually posted in pairs as even numbers are associated with good luck and auspiciousness in Chinese culture.
　　房屋装饰之一就是在门上贴对联。在春联上，抒发良好的祝愿。春联通常是成对张贴，因为双数在中国文化中是好运气和吉祥的象征。
　　People in north China are used to posting paper-cut on their windows. When sticking the window decoration paper-cuts, people paste on the door large red Chinese character “fu”A red “fu”means good luck and fortune, so it is customary to post “fu”on doors or walls on auspicious occasions such as wedding, festivals.
　　在中国北方，人们习惯于在窗户上贴剪纸。人们既在窗户上贴剪纸，又在大门上贴上大大的红色汉字“福”字，一个红色“福”字意味着好运和财富，因此习惯上在婚礼，节日之类的吉祥场合中，人们都会在门或墙上贴“福”字。
　　Waiting for the First Bell Ringing of Chinese New Year
　　等待春节的第一声钟鸣
　　The first bell ringing is the symbol of Chinese New Year. Chinese people like to go to a large squares where there are huge bells are set up on New Year's Eve. As the New Year approaches they count down and celebrate together. The people believe that the ringing of huge bell can drive all the bad luck away and bring the fortune to them. In recent years, some people have begun going to mountain temples to wait for the first ringing. Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, is very famous temple for its first ringing of the bell to herald Chinese New Year. Many foreigners now go to Hanshan Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.
　　第一次钟声是春节的象征。中国人喜欢到一个大广场，那里有为除夕设置的大钟。随着春节的临近，他们开始倒计数并一起庆祝。人们相信了大钟的撞响可以驱除霉运，带来好运。近年来，有些人开始去山上寺庙等待第一次钟声。苏州的寒山寺就非常著名，它的钟声宣布春节的到来。现在有许多外国人也去寒山寺庆祝春节。
　　Staying up late （“Shousui”）
　　熬夜（“守岁”）
　　Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year's arrival。
　　守岁意味着除夕夜不睡觉。年夜饭后，家人聚坐一起，愉快聊天，等待春节的到来。
　　New Year Feast
　　年夜饭
　　Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. The New Year's Feast is “a must” banquet with all the family members getting together. The food eaten on the New Year Even banquet varies according to regions. In south China, It is customary to eat “niangao” （New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour） because as a homophone, niangao means “higher and higher every year”。 In the north, a traditional dish for the feast is “Jiaozi” or dumplings shaped like a crescent moon.
　　春节是与家人团聚的时间。年夜饭是所有家庭成员聚在一起“必须”的宴会。除夕宴会上吃的食物根据不同的地区各不相同。在中国南方，习惯吃“年糕”（糯米粉制成的新年糕点），因为作为一个同音字，年糕意味着“步步高升”。在北方，年夜饭的传统饭是“饺子”或像月牙儿形的汤圆。
　　Setting Firecrackers
　　燃放鞭炮
　　Lighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Spring Festival celebration. However, concerning the danger and the negative noises that lighting firecrackers may bring, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Right as the clock strike 12 o'clock midnight of New Year's Eve, cities and towns are lit up with the glitter from fireworks, and the sound can be deafening. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully light their happiness in this especial occasion, even though they plug their ears.
　　放鞭炮曾是春节庆祝活动中最重要的习俗之一。然而，担心燃放鞭炮可能会带来危险和烦人的噪音，政府已在许多大城市下令禁止燃放鞭炮。但在小城镇和农村地区的人们仍然坚持这种传统的庆祝活动。除夕夜一旦时钟撞响午夜12点钟，城市和乡镇都被烟花的闪闪光芒映亮，鞭炮声震耳欲聋。一家人熬夜就为这个欢乐的时刻，孩子们一手拿鞭炮，一手拿火机兴高采烈地点放着他们在这个特殊节日的快乐，尽管他们吓得捂着耳朵。
　　New Year Greetings（Bai Nian）
　　春节的问候（拜年）
　　On the first day of the New Year or shortly thereafter, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi （congratulations）， wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. In Chinese villages, some villagers may have hundreds of relatives so they have to spend more than two weeks visiting their relatives.
　　在春节第一天或此后不久，大家都穿着新衣服，带着弓向亲戚和朋友打招呼并恭喜（祝贺），彼此祝愿在新的一年里好运，幸福。在中国农村，有些村民可能有数以百计的亲戚，所以他们不得不拿出两个多星期来走亲访友。
　　On the first day of the new year, it's customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity.
　　春节第一天，按习惯，小一辈人要拜见老一辈，祝愿他们健康长寿。
　　Because visiting relatives and friends takes a lot of time, now, some busy people will send New Year cards to express their good wishes rather than pay a visit personally.
　　因为探亲访友花费大量时间，所以，现在有些忙碌的人就送春节贺卡来表达他们的良好祝愿，而不是亲自去拜访。
　　Lucky Money
　　压岁钱
　　It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters; hence the name “lucky money”。 Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year's Feast or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color. They want to give their children both lucky money and lucky color.
　　这是孩子们的父母和祖父母给他们作为春节礼物的钱。压岁钱据说能带来好运，能驱魔；因此，就有了“压岁钱”的称呼。父母和祖父母先把钱放入特制的小红包里，年夜饭后或当孩子们来拜年时，将红包发给他们。他们之所以要把钱放到红包里，是因为中国人认为红色是个幸运色。他们想给自己孩子既有压岁钱还有幸运色。

Answer 3

过年:celebrate the spring festival 走亲戚:go to the relatives' 给小孩子压岁钱:give money to children as a lunar new year gift 年夜饭:spring festival eve banquet 　　 Chinese New Year Celebration is the most important celebration of the year. Chinese people may celebrate the Chinese New Year in slightly different ways but their wishes are almost the same; they want their family members and friends to be healthy and lucky during next year. 　　春节庆祝活动是一年中最重要的庆祝活动。中国人庆祝春节的方式可能略微不同，但其愿望几乎是相同的，他们希望其家人和朋友来年健康和幸运。　　Chinese New Year... 过年:celebrate the spring festival
走亲戚:go to the relatives'
给小孩子压岁钱:give money to children as a lunar new year gift
年夜饭:spring festival eve banquet 　　 Chinese New Year Celebration is the most important celebration of the year. Chinese people may celebrate the Chinese New Year in slightly different ways but their wishes are almost the same; they want their family members and friends to be healthy and lucky during next year.
春节庆祝活动是一年中最重要的庆祝活动。中国人庆祝春节的方式可能略微不同，但其愿望几乎是相同的，他们希望其家人和朋友来年健康和幸运。
Chinese New Year Celebration usually lasts for 15 days. Celebratory activities include Chinese New Feast, firecrackers, giving lucky money to children, the New Year bell ringing and Chinese New Year Greetings. Most of Chinese people will stop the celebrating in their home on the 7th day of New Year because the national holiday usually ends around that day, however celebrations in public areas can last until the 15th day of New Year.
春节庆祝活动通常持续15天。庆祝活动包括春节的年夜饭，放鞭炮，给儿童压岁钱，春节钟声和春节问候。大多数中国人将在春节的第7天停止庆祝活动，因为全国性节假通常在这一天结束，但在公共场所的庆祝活动可能最终持续到正月十五。
House Cleaning
房屋打扫
To clean houses on the New Year Even is a very old custom dating back to thousands of years ago. The dust is traditionally associated with “old” so cleaning their houses and sweeping the dust mean to bid farewell to the “old” and usher in the “new”。 Days before the New Year, Chinese families clean their houses, sweeping the floor, washing daily things, cleaning the spider webs and dredging the ditches. People do all these things happily in the hope of a good coming year.
春节打扫房屋这个非常古老的习俗甚至可以追溯到几千年前。灰尘在传统上与“旧”联系在一起，所以打扫房屋和扫除灰尘意味着辞“旧”迎“新”。春节的前几天，中国的各家各户都打扫房屋，扫地，清洗日用品，清除蛛网和疏浚沟渠。人们兴高采烈做所有这些事情，希望来年好运。
House decoration
房屋装饰
One of the house decorations is to post couplets on doors. On the Spring Festival couplets, good wishes are expressed. New Year couplets are usually posted in pairs as even numbers are associated with good luck and auspiciousness in Chinese culture.
房屋装饰之一就是在门上贴对联。在春联上，抒发良好的祝愿。春联通常是成对张贴，因为双数在中国文化中是好运气和吉祥的象征。
People in north China are used to posting paper-cut on their windows. When sticking the window decoration paper-cuts, people paste on the door large red Chinese character “fu”A red “fu”means good luck and fortune, so it is customary to post “fu”on doors or walls on auspicious occasions such as wedding, festivals.
在中国北方，人们习惯于在窗户上贴剪纸。人们既在窗户上贴剪纸，又在大门上贴上大大的红色汉字“福”字，一个红色“福”字意味着好运和财富，因此习惯上在婚礼，节日之类的吉祥场合中，人们都会在门或墙上贴“福”字。
Waiting for the First Bell Ringing of Chinese New Year
等待春节的第一声钟鸣
The first bell ringing is the symbol of Chinese New Year. Chinese people like to go to a large squares where there are huge bells are set up on New Year's Eve. As the New Year approaches they count down and celebrate together. The people believe that the ringing of huge bell can drive all the bad luck away and bring the fortune to them. In recent years, some people have begun going to mountain temples to wait for the first ringing. Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, is very famous temple for its first ringing of the bell to herald Chinese New Year. Many foreigners now go to Hanshan Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.
第一次钟声是春节的象征。中国人喜欢到一个大广场，那里有为除夕设置的大钟。随着春节的临近，他们开始倒计数并一起庆祝。人们相信了大钟的撞响可以驱除霉运，带来好运。近年来，有些人开始去山上寺庙等待第一次钟声。苏州的寒山寺就非常著名，它的钟声宣布春节的到来。现在有许多外国人也去寒山寺庆祝春节。
Staying up late （“Shousui”）
熬夜（“守岁”）
Shousui means to stay up late or all night on New Year's Eve. After the great dinner, families sit together and chat happily to wait for the New Year's arrival。
守岁意味着除夕夜不睡觉。年夜饭后，家人聚坐一起，愉快聊天，等待春节的到来。
New Year Feast
年夜饭
Spring Festival is a time for family reunion. The New Year's Feast is “a must” banquet with all the family members getting together. The food eaten on the New Year Even banquet varies according to regions. In south China, It is customary to eat “niangao” （New Year cake made of glutinous rice flour） because as a homophone, niangao means “higher and higher every year”。 In the north, a traditional dish for the feast is “Jiaozi” or dumplings shaped like a crescent moon.
春节是与家人团聚的时间。年夜饭是所有家庭成员聚在一起“必须”的宴会。除夕宴会上吃的食物根据不同的地区各不相同。在中国南方，习惯吃“年糕”（糯米粉制成的新年糕点），因为作为一个同音字，年糕意味着“步步高升”。在北方，年夜饭的传统饭是“饺子”或像月牙儿形的汤圆。
Setting Firecrackers
燃放鞭炮
Lighting Firecrackers used to be one of the most important customs in the Spring Festival celebration. However, concerning the danger and the negative noises that lighting firecrackers may bring, the government has banned this practice in many major cities. But people in small towns and rural areas still hold to this traditional celebration. Right as the clock strike 12 o'clock midnight of New Year's Eve, cities and towns are lit up with the glitter from fireworks, and the sound can be deafening. Families stay up for this joyful moment and kids with firecrackers in one hand and a lighter in another cheerfully light their happiness in this especial occasion, even though they plug their ears.
放鞭炮曾是春节庆祝活动中最重要的习俗之一。然而，担心燃放鞭炮可能会带来危险和烦人的噪音，政府已在许多大城市下令禁止燃放鞭炮。但在小城镇和农村地区的人们仍然坚持这种传统的庆祝活动。除夕夜一旦时钟撞响午夜12点钟，城市和乡镇都被烟花的闪闪光芒映亮，鞭炮声震耳欲聋。一家人熬夜就为这个欢乐的时刻，孩子们一手拿鞭炮，一手拿火机兴高采烈地点放着他们在这个特殊节日的快乐，尽管他们吓得捂着耳朵。
New Year Greetings（Bai Nian）
春节的问候（拜年）
On the first day of the New Year or shortly thereafter, everybody wears new clothes and greets relatives and friends with bows and Gongxi （congratulations）， wishing each other good luck, happiness during the new year. In Chinese villages, some villagers may have hundreds of relatives so they have to spend more than two weeks visiting their relatives.
在春节第一天或此后不久，大家都穿着新衣服，带着弓向亲戚和朋友打招呼并恭喜（祝贺），彼此祝愿在新的一年里好运，幸福。在中国农村，有些村民可能有数以百计的亲戚，所以他们不得不拿出两个多星期来走亲访友。
On the first day of the new year, it's customary for the younger generations to visit the elders, wishing them healthy and longevity.
春节第一天，按习惯，小一辈人要拜见老一辈，祝愿他们健康长寿。
Because visiting relatives and friends takes a lot of time, now, some busy people will send New Year cards to express their good wishes rather than pay a visit personally.
因为探亲访友花费大量时间，所以，现在有些忙碌的人就送春节贺卡来表达他们的良好祝愿，而不是亲自去拜访。
Lucky Money
压岁钱
It is the money given to kids from their parents and grandparents as New Year gift. The money is believed to bring good luck, ward off monsters; hence the name “lucky money”。 Parents and grandparents first put money in small, especially-made red envelopes and give the red envelopes to their kids after the New Year's Feast or when they come to visit them on the New Year. They choose to put the money in red envelopes because Chinese people think red is a lucky color. They want to give their children both lucky money and lucky color.
这是孩子们的父母和祖父母给他们作为春节礼物的钱。压岁钱据说能带来好运，能驱魔；因此，就有了“压岁钱”的称呼。父母和祖父母先把钱放入特制的小红包里，年夜饭后或当孩子们来拜年时，将红包发给他们。他们之所以要把钱放到红包里，是因为中国人认为红色是个幸运色。他们想给自己孩子既有压岁钱还有幸运色。

Answer 4

The Spring Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and also the most important one of the whole year. Through the evolvement of thousands of years， a series of customs are spreading far and wide.

春节是中国的传统节日，也是一年中最重要的节日。经过数千年的演变，一系列的春节习俗正在向四面八方传承。

1、Sweeping the Dust 扫尘

“Dust” is homophonic with "chen”in Chinese，which means old and past. In this way， "sweeping the dust” before the Spring Festival means a thorough cleaning of houses to sweep away bad luck in the past year. This custom shows a good wish of putting away old things to welcome a new life.

In a word， just before the Spring Festival comes， every household will give a thorough cleaning to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new.

“尘”与汉语中的“陈”同音，意思是旧的和过去的。所以春节前的“扫尘”，就是要彻底打扫房屋，扫除过去一年的霉运。这种习俗显示了一种良好的愿望，即把旧东西收起来，迎接新的生活。总而言之，就在春节到来之前，每家每户都要彻底打扫，告别旧年，迎来新的一年。

2、Pasting Spring Couplets 贴春联

“The Spring Couplet”， also called "couplet” and "a pair of antithetical phrases”， is a special form of literature in China. The Spring Couplet is composed of two antithetical sentences on both sides of the door and a horizontal scroll bearing an inscription，usually an auspicious phrase，above the gate.

The sentence pasting on the right side of the door is called the first line of the couplet and the one on the left the second line. On the eve of the Spring Festival，every household will paste on doors a spring couplet written on red paper to give a happy and prosperous atmosphere of the Festival.

In the past，the Chinese usually wrote their own spring couplet with a brush or asked others to do for them， while nowadays， it is common for people to buy the printed spring couplet in the market.

“春联”，又称“对联”、“一对对立的短语”，这是中国文学的一种特殊形式。春联是由两边门上的两个对句和一个水平的书卷组成的，书卷上有铭文，通常是一个吉祥的短语。贴在门的右边的句子叫做对联的第一行和左边的第二行。在春节前夕，每户人家都要在门上贴用红色纸张写的春联，营造节日的欢腾气氛。在过去，中国人通常用毛笔写他们自己的春联，或者请别人代他们写，而现在，人们在市场上买印刷的春联是很常见的。

3、 Staying Up Late on New Year‘s Eve 守岁

The tradition of staying up late to see New Year in originated from an interesting folk tale. In ancient China there lived a monster named Year，who was very ferocious. Year always went out from its burrow on New Year’s Eve to devour people. Therefore， on every New Year’s Eve，every household would have supper together.

After dinner，no one dared go to sleep and all the family members would sit together，chatting and emboldening each other. Gradually the habit of staying up late on New Year’s Eve is formed. Thus in China， "celebrating the Spring Festival” is also called "passing over the year (guo nian)”。 However，now there are less and less people in cities who will stay up late to see New Year in.

熬夜等待新年的传统起源于一个有趣的民间故事。在古代中国住着一只名叫“年”的怪物，它非常凶猛。新年前夕，新年总是从洞穴里出来，吞噬着人们。因此，每逢除夕，每户人家都要一起吃晚饭。晚饭后，没人敢睡觉，全家人坐在一起聊天，相互壮胆。新年前夕熬夜的习惯逐渐形成。因此，在中国，“春节”也被称为“一年过”。然而，现在城市里越来越少的人会熬夜看新年。

Answer 5

The traditions of Spring Festival in China are easy to understand.