Many Chinese social media users in China saw red when bubble tea brand Chagee used the term "Lunar New Year". Read more at straitstimes.com. Is it Politically Correct to say Chinese New Year? There is nothing wrong or offensive with saying Chinese New Year. However, if a person is referring to the New Year Celebrations taking place in all Asian countries or Asian communities throughout the world as “Chinese New Year” then this isn’t correct either. Simply put, Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year are not the same. Despite being related, there are a few noteworthy differences between the two. Read on to find out what they are. The Differences between Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year 1. "Chinese New Year" is specific while "Lunar New Year" is more general. State-run news agency Xinhua, for instance, hailed the celebration of “Chinese Lunar New Year” in Myanmar, Malaysia and Japan, emphasizing the use of “Chinese red” in decorations. Tourists wait to board a train at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station to return home for Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in Shanghai on Jan 25, 2025. Photo by CFOTO/ Future Publishing via Getty Images. China wanted to do everything Western, so it celebrated the January 1 New Year. In fact, in 1949, the Communist Party forbade the celebration of the traditional Chinese New Year. However, by the 1980s, new Chinese leaders had a change of heart and allowed the celebration of the traditional Chinese New Year. To this day, the Lunar New Year celebration is centered around removing bad luck and welcoming all that is good and prosperous. Red is considered an auspicious color to ring in the new year. In many Asian cultures, the color symbolizes good fortune and joy. But the bigger issue is that almost every year, the Chinese New Year coincides with the Korean New Year (Seollal), the Vietnamese New Year (Tết) and the Tibetan New Year (Losar). Not to mention that some form of ‘Chinese’ New Year is celebrated in lots of other countries around the world by the Chinese diaspora (an estimated 50 million Saying ‘Lunar New Year’ may be more inclusive to other parts of Asia that celebrate the occasion, but is unnecessary when the context and the people addressed are clearly Chinese. The Chinese in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and the ethnic Chinese outside China are celebrating the Lunar New Year this week. Different countries, however, use different names for the festival, this reflecting the complexities underlying the position of ethnic Chinese across the region amid an ascendant China. When someone says "Happy Chinese New Year," it does not equal to assuming the race of the person they're referring to. People can celebrate Chinese New Year from all over the world without being Chinese, so I don't understand why people are saying the term "Chinese" is insulting to the person celebrating it. If you look up the Wikipedia page for Lunar New Year and compare it to the page for Chinese New Year, the page for Chinese New Year is at least five times longer, despite being the less general event. But generalizing Lunar New Year as Chinese New Year is more than just saying the wrong word and using the wrong name. Hebrew "New Year" / Rosh Hashanah, is marked at 7th new moon of each Lunar Year. etc. Calling Chinese New Year as "lunar New Year" is clearly an exercise of mind-bending lunacy, given how many different kinds of "lunar New Years" are in the world today (and celebrated by people in the West). We called it Chinese new year, and as far as being politically correct today, I think it should be called East Asian New Year. I have a problem with lunar new year because I live in an area with many Muslims and their calendar is also lunar based. Is it politically correct to say Chinese New Year? And the Chinese, being the biggest, and most widespread, ethnic group in the world, tend to be overrepresented among Asians. There’s nothing technically wrong with calling it Chinese New Year. So if we’re basing these festivities on the Chinese calendar, then technically it is Chinese New Year. Posted by u/Chensq312 - 48 votes and 11 comments That is because Chinese New Year goes beyond the commonly-known animal zodiac system and incorporates other cultural and religious elements from ancient Chinese culture.For example, Chinese New Year marks not only the change of the zodiac but the change of the heavenly stems (“天干”) and earthly branches (“地支”) — a unique way of Since the holiday just passed—Jan. 22 was the start of the new year—is celebrated in many countries not just in China and in many Asian communities in countries all over the world, Lunar New Year would seem to be the more appropriate (and politically correct) term as it follows the lunar calendar rather than the solar-based Gregorian calendar. The fact is, the Chinese New Year — or the Lunar New Year — isn’t, strictly speaking, purely lunar. Many parts of the world celebrate the “Lunar” New Year.
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