All About Gong Xi Fa Cai

Kian Ming and myself will like to wish our Chinese readers a very Happy New Year of the Dog - 新年快乐 (Xin Nian Kuai Le!). We hope that you will enjoy success in everything you venture - 万事如意 (Wan Shi Ru Yi).

For all you young students out there, old man Tony here would like to wish you leaping improvements in your studies - 学业进步 (Xie Yan Jin Bu) and taking bigger steps to achieve greater heights - 步步高升 (Bu Bu Gao Sheng)

And for all pursuing their careers as well as budding businessmen (and women), we'd like to wish you a prosperous and wealthy year - 恭喜发财 (Gong Xi Fa Cai) and enjoy fruitful successes in all your ventures - 大吉大利 (Da Ji Da Li).

And of course, for non-Chinese readers out there, we'd like to wish you happy holidays as well as happy visiting and feasting on your Chinese friends.

I'll leave you here with a note from Uncle Yap of BeritaMalaysia with regards to using the right terminology for the Chinese Lunar New Year :-)

The correct hanyu pinyin spelling for the Lunar New Year greeting is Gong Xi Fa Cai, but every year without fail, someone will make the boo-boo and I blame the advertising agencies for not doing their homework.

More than 25 years ago, one of my duties as Admin Manager was to order corporate greeting cards and that was about the time Hanyu Pinyin was first introduced to this part of the world following its adoption by the Singapore Govt. I took the trouble to buy a dictionary, got the correct spelling and used Gong Xi Fa Cai on our corporate greeting cards.

Carlsberg made thousands of banner two years ago with the last word misspelled as Chai. Today, more than 25 years after the introduction of Hanyu Pinyin, DBKL is using the same advertising agency to perpetuate the same error on hundreds of lamppost in KL. The RHB Bank had a full-page colour ad in today's Sun using the same misspelling.

So, here you go, Gong Xi Fa Cai!