Chinese Lunar New Year greetings in Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese and Hokkien dialects

From auspicious horse-themed phrases and couplets to whether your luck is in, check out our Year of the Horse 2026 series to discover all you need to know about the coming Lunar New Year.\nLunar New Year is approaching, which means China will soon be abuzz with auspicious New Year greetings. From north to south, east to west, people will exchange warm wishes for health, prosperity and happiness in the year ahead.\nIn Hong Kong, kung hei fat choi is perhaps the most common New Year greeting, but there are many others, spoken in many different Chinese dialects.\nChina’s linguistic landscape is as rich as its culinary one, with Chinese generally categorised into 10 major dialect groups. These include Mandarin, Yue (which includes Cantonese), Wu (which includes Shanghainese), Min (which includes Chiuchow and Hokkien), Hakka and Jin.\n\nWhile New Year greetings may sound entirely different depending on the dialect, they all convey the same heartfelt wishes.\nBelow, we explore how to wish someone well during this festive season in four distinctive Chinese dialects: Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien and Shanghainese. How many do you know?\nCantonese\nKung hei fat choi (“may you be prosperous”)\nThis is one of the most frequently used greetings among Cantonese speakers. Reflecting the region’s vibrant commercial culture, where business success and good fortune are highly valued, it is considered extremely auspicious.\nMore than just a wish for increased wealth, this phrase conveys one’s hope for the person they are greeting to enjoy a good life.\nMan si yu yee and sum seung si sing (both mean “may your every wish come true”)\nAfter kung hei fat choi, these two phrases are probably the next most popular greetings among Hong Kong people during the Lunar New Year.\nThere is nothing more auspicious than to wish someone a smooth, trouble-free year ahead. Man si yu yee literally means “the thousands of things you have planned or are planning will all go well”, while sum seung si sing is a wish for the recipient to get everything their heart desires.\nWhat makes these greetings so popular is that you can say them to practically anyone, no matter their age or gender. After all, who doesn’t want good fortune and success?\nZyu lung jap seoi (“may water flow into the pig cage”)\nWithin traditional Cantonese culture, water is a symbol of wealth. Just like how a pig cage would quickly fill if submerged, this saying conveys a wish for money to pour in from all sides.\nThe greeting is especially popular on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, which is believed to welcome the god of wealth. Some people even keep a pitcher plant (named “pig cage” in Chinese) at home to represent the expression.\nMandarin\nGong xi fa cai (“wishing you wealth”)\nThe Mandarin equivalent of the popular Cantonese New Year greeting kung hei fat choi, this saying conveys a wish for wealth and happiness.\nXin nian hao (“a good year”)\nA bit more casual than xin nian kuai le (another way to convey “Happy New Year” in Mandarin), xin nian hao is usually the first phrase said to others at the start of the Lunar New Year.\nAlthough this phrase is quite simple, it still includes the most genuine blessing: the word hao means “goodness”.\nWan shi ru yi (“a thousand things shall go well”)\nThis is a classic and comprehensive Lunar New Year greeting used to express the wish for everything in the recipient’s life – from their career to their family life and their personal development – to go smoothly in the coming year.\nHe jia xing fu (“a family blessed with happiness”)\nThis phrase is often used during formal occasions, expressing the best wishes for happiness, harmony and contentment for the recipient’s household.\nNotably, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung also used this exact phrase in his New Year greetings to the Chinese people during his visit to China earlier this month.\n\nHokkien\nNi ni wu chun (“may there be surplus year after year”)\nThis common greeting, which literally means “have surplus every year”, is a wish for continuous prosperity and wealth.\nA custom in China’s Fujian province brings this phrase to life, as families place handcrafted “spring branches” on their New Year’s Eve table.\nIn addition, within the Hokkien dialect, the word “spring” (chun) sounds similar to an alternative word for “surplus” (tsun), making the spring branch a direct symbol of the wish for a thriving and abundant new year.\nDua taan ji (“hope you make big money”)\nLess poetic and more direct than many Chinese Lunar New Year greetings, this one simply means “make a lot of money”, expressing a straightforward wish for financial prosperity in the coming year.\nJiak ba ji (“eat 120”)\nThis greeting literally means “live to eat until 120 [years old]”, therefore wishing longevity upon the recipient.\nIt shows the ultimate wish for people’s health and happiness in Hokkien, or Minnan, culture, where eating well is closely connected to life and vitality.\nShanghainese\n\nSen ti ji khang (“a body in good health”)\nThis straightforward Lunar New Year greeting is common in Shanghai, and expresses wishes for health and enjoyment of life. It is often used alongside wishes for prosperity such as gong xi faq se.\nChinese culture places a lot of importance on health. Only with a healthy body can everything else in life go smoothly.\nZsy mo khe ho jie jie kau (“may the sesame flowers bloom tall”)\nJust as sesame flowers (zsy mo ho in Shanghainese) bloom from the bottom to the top of the stalk in sequence, this phrase conveys the wish for the recipient’s life or career to improve step by step, leading to ever greater prosperity.\nSoe soe bin oe (“may every year be peaceful”)\nThis classic greeting expresses the wish for peace and safety in every year to come. It is commonly uttered during Spring Festival, especially when a dish or cup is accidentally broken.\nBecause the words “break” and “year” in Chinese are alike, people believe that this phrase can transform a small misfortune into good luck.\n