How to Say Merry Christmas & Happy New Year in Chinese

The holiday season brings joy to people worldwide, and if you're celebrating with Chinese-speaking friends, these phrases will help you share your warmest wishes in Chinese.

Merry Christmas

Christmas has become increasingly popular in China over the years. Here's a quick guide to wishing someone "Merry Christmas" in Mandarin 🎄

圣诞节快乐!

Shèngdàn Jié kuàilè!

Merry Christmas!

(lit. "Christmas-happy/merry")

🤓 You can also add a friendly greeting 祝你 (zhù nǐ), which means "I wish you," for a full sentence:

祝你圣诞快乐!

Zhù nǐ Shèngdàn kuàilè!

I wish you a Merry Christmas!

.NOTE.

In China, Christmas Eve is marked by the unique tradition of gifting apples, symbolizing peace and harmony, as "apple" (苹果 píngguǒ) sounds like "peace" (平安 píng'ān) in Chinese.

平安夜

píng'ān yè

Christmas Eve

(lit. "peace-night")

平安果

píng'ān guǒ

Christmas apple

(lit. "harmony/peace-fruit")

Learn the most popular Christmas words with a Daily Chinese video:

Happy New Year

              

Now let's learn how to say "Happy New Year" in Chinese:

元旦快乐!

Yuándàn kuàilè!

Happy New Year!

(lit. "first-daybreak-happy")

.NOTE.For New Year you can also say "新年" (xīnnián) as well, but be aware that this term is also commonly used for the Spring Festival.

新年快乐!

Xīnnián kuàilè!

Happy New Year!

(lit. "new-year-happy")

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