{"id":2300,"date":"2014-08-25T06:56:57","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T06:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/?p=2300"},"modified":"2020-01-22T03:31:47","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T03:31:47","slug":"8-common-homophonic-puns-in-chinese-spring-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digmandarin.com\/8-common-homophonic-puns-in-chinese-spring-festival.html","title":{"rendered":"8 Common Homophonic Puns in Chinese Spring Festival \u2013 The Must-eat Lucky Food Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Chinese New Year, known in China as the Spring Festival, has an abundance of unique traditions associated with it. Some of these traditions are more widespread than others. Among the many New Year\u2019s customs are a few whose meaning is derived from puns of Mandarin words. Here is a list of 7 must-eat food which is also homophonic puns in the Chinese spring festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is first in the list of homophonic puns in Chinese. In China, people in the north used to eat \u997a\u5b50(ji\u01ceo zi, dumpling) at midnight on the last day of the Lunar Year. Eating \u997a\u5b50(ji\u01ceo zi) is a family activity that has the meaning of good luck, happiness, and fortune.
The pronunciation of \u997a\u5b50 is similar to that of \u4ea4\u5b50; \u4ea4 means \u201cmeet, at.\u201d \u5b50 means \u5b50\u65f6, the first of the 12 two-hour periods. It starts at 23:00 and ends at 01:00. In the traditional time system, one day is divided into 12 equal parts, each of which lasts two hours. They are named after the 12 Earthly branches (\u5730\u652f). The first starts at 23:00 of the 24-hour system used today. It is the beginning of one new day. So \u4ea4\u5b50 means that the new year replaces the old one at the beginning of the first hour (when the time meets the first hour).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Besides, \u4ea4 and \u5b50 together is just right a word \u4ea4\u5b50. It is a kind of currency used in the Song dynasty, and therefore it means money. And the shape of \u997a\u5b50(ji\u01ceo zi) looks like old Chinese gold or bronze made coin. Therefore, \u997a\u5b50 symbolizes richness and abundance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n