{"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

1. \u201c<\/span>\u997a\u201d (ji\u01ceo , dumpling) and \u201c<\/span>\u4ea4\u201d (ji\u0101o, meet, at)<\/span><\/h2>\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

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2. \u201c<\/span>\u9c7c\u201d (y\u00faFish) and \u201c<\/span>\u4f59\u201d (y\u00fa, Surplus)<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ni\u00e1n ni\u00e1n y\u01d2u y\u00fa \u2013 \u5e74\u5e74\u6709\u4f59 \u201cThere will be an abundance every year\u201d homophonous with \u5e74\u5e74\u6709\u9c7c \u201cThere will be fish every year\u201d As a result, fish are eaten and used as typical decorations during Chinese New Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

3. \u201c<\/span>\u5e74\u7cd5\u201d (ni\u00e1n g\u0101o , Year Cake) and \u201c<\/span>\u5e74\u9ad8\u201d (ni\u00e1n g\u0101o, Year Higher)<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u5e74\u7cd5 (Ni\u00e1n g\u0101o) and \u5e74\u9ad8 (Ni\u00e1n g\u0101o) from \u5e74\u5e74\u9ad8\u5347 ni\u00e1n ni\u00e1n g\u0101osh\u0113ng or \u201craised higher each year\u201d leading to the belief that those who eat \u5e74\u7cd5 should have greater prosperity with each coming year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

4. \u201c<\/span>\u6c64\u5706\u201d (t\u0101ng yu\u00e1n, Dumpling thingys) and \u201c<\/span>\u56e2\u5706\u201d (tu\u00e1n yu\u00e1n, Reunion)<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u6c64\u5706 (t\u0101ng yu\u00e1n) \u2013 \u00a0At times of reunion, such as Spring Festival, it is customary to eat sweet round dumplings called tangyuan (\u6c64\u5706). It’s a tradition to eat \u6c64\u5706 during the Lantern Festival, which is the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The round shape of \u6c64\u5706 and the bowls emphasizes unity, in addition to the similarity of their name with the word for the reunion, \u201c\u56e2\u5706\u201d (tu\u00e1nyu\u00e1n). So they eat \u201ctangyuan\u201d to get together with classmates and family. Also, as students were quick to point out, \u201cTangyuan are round, and money is round, so it means more money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

5. \u201c<\/span>\u751f\u83dc\u201d (sh\u0113ng c\u00e0i, Lettuce) and \u201c<\/span>\u751f\u8d22\u201d (sh\u0113ng c\u00e1i, Make Money)<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u751f\u83dc \u2013 Traditionally, the first meal of the New Year is vegetarian with a variety of ingredients. The meal is served with lettuce (\u751f\u83dc, sh\u0113ngc\u00e0i) because the word is near homophonous to \u201c\u751f\u8d22\u201d (sh\u0113ng c\u00e1i), \u201cto make money.\u201d The Lettuce shows up in other New Years’ customs as well. In the traditional New Year\u2019s Day, lion dance lettuce and red envelopes of cash are offered to the lion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

6. \u201c<\/span>\u53d1\u83dc\u201d (f\u00e0c\u00e0i, Long Thread Moss) and \u201c<\/span>\u53d1\u8d22\u201d (f\u0101c\u00e1i, Get Rich)<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u53d1\u83dc, thin black hair-like algae, is a feature of Spring Festival cuisine because its name is a near-homophone of \u201c\u53d1\u8d22\u201d (f\u0101 c\u00e1i), meaning \u201cprosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

7. \u201c<\/span>\u6854\u201d (j\u00fa, Tangerine) and \u201c<\/span>\u5409\u201d (j\u00ed, Lucky)<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So the Chinese like to give and eat tangerines as a way of bringing good luck (and money). \u5927\u5409\u5927\u5229 (D\u00e0 j\u00ed d\u00e0 l\u00ec) means \u201cbig luck big profit,\u201d so the bigger, the more tangerine, the more the luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Besides the food which is derived from puns of Chinese words with luck, there are also many other homophonic puns in the Chinese Spring Festival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

F\u00fa d\u00e0o le \u2013 \u798f\u5230\u4e86 \u201cfortune has arrived\u201d and \u798f\u5012\u4e86 \u201cfortune is upside down,\u201d the latter referring to the ubiquitous character \u798f, which when displayed upside down denotes one\u2019s good fortune has arrived. It is common practice to hang the character upside-down on doors during the Spring festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, in the new year, people are forbidden to mention anything with unlucky meanings. For example, when someone breaks some glasses or dishes on the floor (which is regarded as a bad thing in the new year), we will have to quickly say something nice to accompany it, such as \u5c81\u5c81\u5e73\u5b89(su\u00ec su\u00ec p\u00edng\u2019\u0101n; means harmony and safely year-round). It is because in Chinese \u788e \u201cto break\u201d has a similar pronunciation as \u5c81 (su\u00ec) \u201cyear.\u201d So if something unlucky happens to break, you can say \u5c81\u5c81\u5e73\u5b89 at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charming customs, aren\u2019t they? Since there many characters or words that sound the same or similar in Chinese, the art of clever wordplay and use of homophonic puns in Chinese is seen quite frequently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":12394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[86,122,96,84],"post_series":[],"yoast_head":"\n8 Common Homophonic puns in Chinese Spring Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We have compiled a list of 8 interesting and common homophonic puns in Chinese that are used in spring festival. 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