Gong Xi Fa Cai and 14 More Traditional Chinese New Year Greetings (Meaning & Pinyin)
What 恭喜发财, 年年有余, 岁岁平安 and the other classic Chinese New Year greetings actually mean, where each one comes from, and who to say it to.
Most of what people say to each other at Chinese New Year is not classical chengyu at all. 恭喜发财, the greeting most non-Chinese speakers know, is a folk phrase with no ancient source, and so are 年年有余 and 岁岁平安. A few are genuinely old: 金玉满堂 comes from the Daodejing, where it was a warning rather than a blessing, and the five blessings behind 五福临门 are listed in the Book of Documents. Below are fifteen of the most used, with where each one really comes from. The first half are the everyday wishes for anyone; after them come the ones for business, for family, and the pair 福如东海，寿比南山 that is said to elders.
恭喜发财
gōng xǐ fā cáiWishing you a prosperous New Year
Literal: Congratulations, and may you make a fortune
A folk New Year greeting with no classical source. 恭喜 means 'respectful congratulations' and 发财 'to make a fortune', so the phrase says, roughly, 'congratulations, and may you get rich'. It is young by idiom standards. One early literary appearance is in Wu Jianren's late-Qing novel 《二十年目睹之怪现状》 (cha...
Example
Gung hei fat choi! Wishing you a prosperous New Year.
过年见到长辈，孩子们都笑着说：“恭喜发财，红包拿来！”
年年有余
nián nián yǒu yúMay you have more than enough, year after year
Literal: Every year, a surplus
A folk blessing with no single classical source. In older texts the four characters simply describe a household that has money to spare each year, as in the Qing story collection 《跻春台》. Its force as a New Year wish comes from a pun: 余 (surplus) sounds exactly like 鱼 (fish). That is why a whole fish ...
Example
We always leave part of the New Year's Eve fish uneaten, so there is a surplus to carry into the new year.
年夜饭上一定要有一条鱼，寓意年年有余。
岁岁平安
suì suì píng ānMay you stay safe and well every year
Literal: Year after year, peace and safety
A traditional blessing with no single source text. 岁岁 means 'every year' and 平安 'safe and sound'. It was already a stock auspicious phrase in the Qing dynasty. In 《红楼梦》 chapter 29, Daoist priests send Jia Baoyu a tray of gold and jade trinkets, some inscribed 事事如意 ('everything as you wish') and some...
Example
Don't worry about the broken plate; at New Year we just say it means peace and safety for the year ahead.
不小心打碎了碗，奶奶连忙说：“碎碎平安，岁岁平安！”
大吉大利
dà jí dà lìMay everything be lucky and go smoothly
Literal: Great luck, great benefit
吉 means 'auspicious' and 利 'favourable' or 'profitable'; repeating 大 ('great') makes it an emphatic good-luck wish. Dictionaries trace it to divination. In 《三国演义》 chapter 54, Liu Bei is offered a marriage to Sun Quan's sister, a match Zhou Yu intends as a trap, and Zhuge Liang reassures him: 'Just n...
Example
Wishing you great luck and smooth success in the Year of the Goat.
新店开张那天，大家都祝老板大吉大利、生意兴隆。
五福临门
wǔ fú lín ménMay every kind of good fortune come to your home
Literal: Five blessings arrive at the door
The five blessings come from the Book of Documents. The 'Great Plan' chapter (《尚书·洪范》) lists them: 'The five blessings: first, long life; second, wealth; third, health and peace; fourth, love of virtue; fifth, a natural death at the end of a full life' (五福：一曰寿，二曰富，三曰康宁，四曰攸好德，五曰考终命). The four-charact...
Example
May all five blessings arrive at your door this New Year.
大年初一，家家户户门上都贴着“五福临门”的春联。
花开富贵
huā kāi fù guìMay your life flourish in wealth and status
Literal: Flowers bloom, wealth and honour
A folk blessing with no single classical source, built on the symbolism of the peony. 花开 means 'flowers open' and 富贵 'wealth and rank'. The link between that word and the peony goes back at least to the Song dynasty: in 《爱莲说》, Zhou Dunyi calls the peony 'the flower of wealth and rank' (牡丹，花之富贵者也), t...
Example
May your year bloom like a peony, full of prosperity and honour.
客厅里挂着一幅牡丹图，上面写着“花开富贵”四个大字。
福星高照
fú xīng gāo zhàoMay good luck and blessings follow you
Literal: The star of blessing shines high
A common New Year blessing wishing someone plenty of good luck. 福星 is the 'star of blessing': the Taiwan Ministry of Education dictionary identifies it with the planet Jupiter, whose position was held to bring good fortune, and in folk religion 福 is also the first of the three star gods 福禄寿 (blessin...
Example
Her friends told her the star of blessing was shining on her after she won the raffle and got the job in the same week.
新年到了，祝你福星高照，好运连连！
笑口常开
xiào kǒu cháng kāiMay you always be happy and smiling
Literal: Laughing mouth always open
A folk blessing with no classical source: standard dictionaries define it simply as keeping a happy, cheerful mood, and give no ancient text. 笑口 is 'a laughing mouth', 常 is 'always' and 开 is 'open', so the picture is a face that is always smiling. The image many Chinese speakers connect with it is t...
Example
Wishing you a year full of laughter and good cheer.
新年到了，祝你天天开心，笑口常开！
万象更新
wàn xiàng gēng xīnEverything starts fresh with the new year
Literal: Ten thousand scenes all renewed
A phrase for the fresh start of a new year or a new spring. 万象 is 'ten thousand phenomena', everything in view, and 更新 means to renew. It is best known in the New Year couplet 一元复始，万象更新, 'the first day returns, and everything is renewed.' Some online sources credit the phrase to 《红楼梦》, but it could ...
Example
The first morning of the new year felt like a fresh start, as if everything around us had been renewed.
一元复始，万象更新，愿新的一年一切顺利。
招财进宝
zhāo cái jìn bǎoMay money and valuables flow in
Literal: Beckon wealth, bring in treasure
招 means 'to beckon' and 进 'to bring in', so the phrase invites wealth and treasure into the house. An early recorded use is in the Yuan-dynasty zaju play 《降桑椹蔡顺奉母》 by Liu Tangqing, where the earth god introduces himself with the line 'beckoning wealth and bringing in treasure, I bring fine omens; th...
Example
Wishing your business a year that keeps the money coming in.
老板在店门口贴上“招财进宝”，盼着新的一年生意红火。
财源广进
cái yuán guǎng jìnMay money come to you from every direction
Literal: Sources of wealth come in widely
One of the most common money wishes of Chinese New Year. 财 is wealth, 源 is source (literally a spring of water), 广 is wide or broad, and 进 is to come in, so the image is income arriving from many directions at once. This phrase has no classical source. It does not appear in the major dictionaries (z...
Example
At the reunion dinner, Uncle Lim raised his glass to the shop owners at the table and wished them money flowing in from every direction.
祝您新春大吉，财源广进，生意越做越红火！
金玉满堂
jīn yù mǎn tángMay your home overflow with wealth
Literal: Gold and jade fill the hall
Today a wish for great wealth, but it began as a warning. Chapter 9 of the Daodejing (《老子》) reads: 'When gold and jade fill the hall, no one can guard them; wealth and rank joined with arrogance bring their own ruin' (金玉满堂，莫之能守；富贵而骄，自遗其咎). The chapter closes by saying that stepping back once the wor...
Example
May your home be filled with gold and jade in the Year of the Goat.
祝您新春快乐，金玉满堂，阖家幸福！
阖家欢乐
hé jiā huān lèMay your whole family be happy
Literal: The whole family happy together
A New Year wish for the whole household rather than one person. 阖 originally meant a door leaf and came to mean 'whole' or 'entire', so 阖家 is the entire family; 欢乐 means joy and happiness. There is no single classical source, but the phrase is old. It closes the Yuan-dynasty zaju play 《相国寺公孙合汗衫》, wh...
Example
We ended our video call to Grandma with the usual wish: may the whole family be happy and together this year.
祝您新春快乐，阖家欢乐，身体健康！
福如东海
fú rú dōng hǎiMay your good fortune be boundless
Literal: Blessings like the Eastern Sea
福 is 'blessing' or 'good fortune', 如 is 'like', and 东海 is the Eastern Sea, the ocean off China's east coast. The wish is for good fortune as boundless as the sea. It is an old formula of congratulation: the Hanyu dictionary cites a Dunhuang lecture text of 933 (《长兴四年中兴殿应圣节讲经文》), and later dramas suc...
Example
On Grandma's eightieth birthday we wished her blessings as vast as the Eastern Sea and a life as long as the Southern Mountains.
祝爷爷福如东海，寿比南山！
寿比南山
shòu bǐ nán shānMay you live a long life
Literal: Longevity comparable to the Southern Mountains
寿 is 'long life', 比 is 'to compare with', and 南山 is the Southern Mountains, usually identified as the Zhongnan range south of the old Zhou capital near present-day Xi'an. The image goes back to the Book of Songs (《诗经》), in the ode 'Tian Bao' (《天保》), a blessing for a ruler: 'like the moon growing ful...
Example
Every year the family raises a toast wishing Grandpa a life as long-lasting as the Southern Mountains.
在奶奶的寿宴上，大家一起祝她寿比南山。
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