We wish everyone a very happy Chinese New Year, and wanted to share some traditional methods of celebrating. We hope that you can share in our celebrations online, and all the best wishes to you! – 万事如意 Wànshì rúyì.
Dear students, staff and friends,
12th Feb marks the beginning of the Year of the Ox and the Ox is the second in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac sign.
But, what does that mean? In Chinese zodiac, those born in the year of the Ox are hard-working, honest, determined and reliable. Rarely losing their temper, they think logically and make great leaders.
2021 is going to be a positive and productive year when work will get rewarded.
We hope you will share in our online celebrations below:
So, how to celebrate?
- Hong bao, red envelope with cash
Traditionally, older Chinese distribute money in paper red packets to younger people during the Lunar New Year to pass on good fortune, such as from adults to children, from married adults to unmarried ones in the family, from employers to employees, or simply among friends. Nowadays, sending electronic "Hongbao," or red packets via wechat, has become a "modern tradition".
2. National Spring Gala
This is a must watched show that broadcasts from 8 p.m. till midnight on the Chinese New Year's Eve. It is a mix of comedy acts, songs and dance, acrobatic and magic, represents the highest level of entertainment by top-notch performers.
3. Dumplings
Dumplings for Chinese New Year is like turkey for Christmas. It’s a very festive dish at the reunion dinner on new year’s eve. Making dumplings together is a bonding moment where families catchup and reflect about what happened in the past year.
How to cook traditional dumplings
We wanted to try to cook the traditional dumplings that people share at Chinese New Year. Why don't you try to cook some along with us?
If you want to try to make them there are two options, meat and vegetarian.
You can find all of the recipe information for both options here - Dumpling recipe
You can also watch Cynthia Wang prepare and cook some below:
Once you have made some, why not take a picture and tweet us at @livuni_eeecs so we can see how you have got on? We will be sharing ours on our twitter page here.
Musical performances from Xiaoxiao Hou (Playing the Guzheng)
Guzheng, also known as Chinese zither, is a Chinese plucked string instrument with commonly 21 strings and 64 inches (1.6 m) long movable bridges. It is played with fingerpicks worn on one or both hands.
Guzheng is one of the oldest Chinese instruments with a more than 2,500-year history. It has beautiful timbre, broad range, rich performance skills, strong expressive power, and has been deeply loved by Chinese. Guzheng gives a distinctly Chinese sound to the Chinese orchestra, because it is part of the Chinese orchestra's plucked string section, a section which does not exist in the Western orchestra.
We have invited Ms Xiaoxiao Hou to play a traditional Chinese stringed instrument-Guzheng. Xiaoxiao is a very talented musician and she is also a PhD student at the Department of Music, University of Liverpool.
You can follow Xiaoxiao on Twitter by following @MusicXiaoxiao
This piece has been played specifically for this new year of ox, and has never been played before.
Greetings
Below are some common greetings used during Chinese New Year:
- Happy Chinese lunar new year (most commonly used among Chinese) – 春节快乐 Chūnjié kuàile
- Happy new year – 新年快乐 Xīnnián kuàilè
- All the best wishes to you – 万事如意 Wànshì rúyì
- Wish you a smooth and happy year – 一帆风顺 Yīfānfēngshùn
- Wish you great fortune – 恭喜发财 Gōngxǐ fācái
- Happily smile every day – 笑口常开 Xiào kǒu cháng kāi
- Wish your life full of blossom and good fortune - 花开富贵 Huā kāi fùguì
- Wish you good health – 身体健康 Shēntǐ jiànkāng
Can you spot any being used in our staff greeting video below?
Finally good luck for the year of ox – 牛年大吉 Niú nián dàjí from all of us in the School of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science!