American Festivals in Chinese

Nowadays, the celebration of western and American festivals is not limited within the western countries and North America, but becoming more and more popular all across the world including China. Take the Christmas Day (sheng4 dan4 jie2) for an instance. Christmas is more popular in China than other western countries. You can learn in details how to say happy Christmas in Chinese on the website of ichineselearning, an online mandarin school for you to learn skype Chinese.

Today, we will make a summary of the main western festivals besides Christmas that are also being celebrated in nowadays China, and learn how to say these festivals in mandarin Chinese.

1. Valentine’s Festival on February 14^th, is called 情人节(qing2 ren2 jie2) in Chinese. 情人 in Chinese means “the lover”. As its name can tell, it is a festival that belongs to those that are in love. However, there is another day that is regarded as the Chinese Valentine’s Day or the “Qixi Festival”, which falls on the July 7^th in Chinese lunar calendar.

2. April Fool’s Day which is on April 1^st is called 愚人节(yu2 ren2 jie2) in Chinese. Even though some people in China would play tricks on others to celebrate it, it is not as crazy as it is in western countries. Most people would live this day as a normal one.

3. Halloween is called 万圣节 in Chinese. China has a long history with ghosts. Although most Halloween products are made in China, Chinese themselves don’t celebrate it widely as those in America. The idea of having a costume party is being imported to the larger towns and cities by Western influence, and so far it’s almost exclusively an "adult" thing.

4. Thanksgiving Day is called 感恩节(gan3 en1 jie2) in Chinese. In China, there is not a festival like it, but learning about this festival reminds us to cherish those who are around you and what you've got.

Festivals tell a lot about a country’s culture, history and customs. They can also help us better learn its language. So, if you are learning mandarin Chinese, you are also recommended to learn about the traditional Chinese festivals.