Say 'Happy Birthday' in Chinese: Best Wishes, Great Quotes and Messages
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Birthdays are probably the most celebrated days across the world. It’s a day to give thanks, spend time with family and friends. Like the rest of the world, birthdays are highly celebrated in China.
There are lots of different ways you can wish a Chinese person a happy birthday. Before we get into birthday wishes, let’s go over some of the key cultural differences between birthdays in China and elsewhere.
A Bit of Background on Chinese Birthdays
Traditionally, Chinese people don't attach much attention to their birthdays until they reach a certain age. However, they do celebrate birthdays for newborns and elderly people by inviting relatives and close friends to banquets that feature various activities. It’s a sign of respect for the elderly, while infants’ birthdays are celebrations of the succeeding generation.
Nowadays, young people in China will celebrate their birthdays every year, although the celebrations for newborns and the elderly are still more elaborate.
When they celebrate birthdays for newborns, family members bring newborns special food and present them with gifts of clothing or toys decorated with tigers. Because Chinese people believe that tigers protect children. Also in China, a baby's birthday is celebrated at the age of one year and thirty days. Birthday guests bring colored eggs and good-luck pieces to the new baby.
| And the important thing in Chinese gift-giving is the taboos. Chinese people believe that candles are used as offerings to the dead. Handkerchiefs and towels are often used as return gifts to mourners who give a gift of money at funerals. These three things reminds people of funeral, so they are not suitable as a gift. Moreover, shoe is pronounced as “xié” in Chinese, which is of the same pronunciation as “邪(xié)”. “邪(xié)” means evil and demo. So don’t give shoes to anyone other than your family. |
How to Say “Happy Birthday” in Chinese?
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The easiest way to say “happy birthday” in Chinese is 生日快乐, or “shēng rì kuài lè” in pinyin. The first part of this expression is 生日 (shēng rì) which means “birthday,” and the second is 快乐 (kuài lè) which means “happy.”
Thus, the expression 生日快乐 can be translated literally as “birthday happy.” Flip it around and you get “happy birthday!” You can’t go wrong by saying “生日快乐” to someone on their birthday.
At times, you might also hear Chinese people wishing each other a happy birthday by saying “祝你生日快乐” (zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè). This slightly more complex expression, which makes use of the characters 祝 (zhù) and 你 (nǐ), meaning “wish” and “you,” is just another way to say “happy birthday.” Translated literally, it says, “Wish you birthday happy.”
Other Ways You Can Say “Happy Birthday” in Chinese
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If you are hoping to say something a bit fancier than just “happy birthday,” you have a variety of expressions to choose from. Often, which expression you use depends on the age and gender of the person you’re addressing. Some of the more common ones are listed below:
Best Wishes for the Older people in Birthday
“祝您福如东海，寿比南上。” (zhù nín fú rú dōng hǎi, shòu bǐ nán shàng) - “May your fortune be as boundless as the East Sea, and may you live a long and happy life.”
祝您生日快乐，长命百岁！(zhù nín shēng rì kuài lè, cháng mìng bǎi suì!) - “Happy birthday! May you live to be a hundred years old!”
“祝您身体健康，越活越年轻。” (zhù nín shēn tǐ jiàn kāng, yuè huó yuè nián qīng) - “May you be healthy, and get younger and younger.”
Best Wishes for Young Women in Birthday
祝你生日快乐，青春永驻！(zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè, qīng chūn yǒng zhù!) - “Happy Birthday! May you stay young forever!”
Best Wishes for Men (any age) in Birthday
祝你生日快乐，事业有成！(zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè, shì yè yǒu chéng!) - “Happy birthday! Wishing you professional success!”
Best Wishes for Friends Around Your Own Age (any gender) in Birthday
祝你生日快乐，天天开心，幸福美满！(zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè, tiān tiān kāi xīn, xìng fú měi mǎn!) - “Happy birthday! Hope you will be happy every day! May you achieve perfect happiness!”
Best Wishes for Children in Birthday
“希望你健康快乐地长大！。(xī wàng nǐ jiàn kāng kuài lè de zhǎng dà) — “I hope you grow up to be happy and healthy!”
Now you have finished reading this article about how to say happy birthday in mandarin. Are you clear about all this? If you see this article useful or would like to share with us how your birthday is celebrated in your culture, welcome to follow us or comment below.
Happy Birthday Quotes and Message in Simplified Chinese
(Pronunciation –Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè
wǔ yuè de shēnghuó dǎozhì nǐ mòdà de xìngfú
chénggōng hé xīwàng
nǐ suǒyǒu de yuànwàng chéng zhēn!
Xiǎngshòu nǐ de yītiān.)
(English Translation–Happy Birthday to you
May you get lot of happiness with success
All your desires come true!
Enjoy your day)
生日快乐的人谁是永远年轻。
(Pronunciation– Shēngrì kuàilè de rén shuí shì yǒngyuǎn niánqīng)
(English Translation -Happy Birthday man who is forever young )
Chinese Taboos on Giving GiftsIn addition to verbal wishes, we also give birthday gifts to the birthday person. There is a Chinese saying that “礼轻情意重(lǐ qīng qíngyì zhòng)”. In English, it means that it’s not the gift that counts , but the thought behind it. Before giving someone a birthday present, we should make clear the taboos in Chinese gift-giving. Some things must not be given away casually. Clock or bell The Chinese names of clock and bell are “钟(zhōng)”. “钟” is the homophonic of the Chinese character “终(zhōng)” which has the meaning of end or death. If you give someone a clock, it means you want him to die soon. Pear Pear is “梨(lí)” in Chinese. It shares the same pinyin with the Chinese character “离(lí)”. “离(lí)” means departure or abruption. Giving away pears means that you want others to be separated. Candles, handkerchief and towel Candles are used as offerings to the dead. Handkerchiefs and towels are often used as return gifts to mourners who give a gift of money at funerals. These three things reminds people of funeral, so they are not suitable as a gift. Umbrella and fan In Chinese, the pronunciation of umbrella is “sǎn” and the pronunciation of fan is “shàn”. Both words sound a lot like “散(sàn)” which also indicates separation. Thus, it’s best not to give umbrellas or fans as gifts. Shoes Shoe is pronounced as “xié” in Chinese, which is of the same pronunciation as “邪(xié)”. “邪(xié)” means evil and demo. So don’t give shoes to anyone other than your family. Other taboos In addition to the above, something that makes people think of bad things, such as white chrysanthemums, wind-bells, or green hats, should also not be used as birthday gifts. Besides, 4 is a taboo number in the eyes of Chinese people because it sounds like “死(sǐ)” which means death. So avoid the number 4 when you give a gift. And it is also best to avoid white and black when choosing the color of the gift. |
Birthday Greetings in Chinese
Here we also list some commonly-used greeting words that you can use not only on birthdays, but also on festive occasions such as New Year’s greetings.
身体健康
shēn tǐ jiàn kāng
To be in good physical condition
万事如意
wàn shì rú yì
I wish you every success
心想事成
xīn xiǎng shì chéng
Get what you want
一帆风顺
yī fān fēng shùn
plain sailing
事事顺利
shì shì shùn lì
Everything is going smoothly
年年有今日，岁岁有今朝。
nián nián yǒu jīn rì ， suì suì yǒu jīn zhāo
Wish you many happy returns of the day
天天开心
tiān tiān kāi xīn
Wish you happy every day
Chinese Happy Birthday Song
Apart from saying birthday wishes in Chinese, you can also sing the Chinese version of the birthday song for the birthday person. The Chinese version of the birthday song shares the same tune with the English one, so you just need to be familiar with the lyrics.
祝你生日快乐
zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè
Happy birthday to you
祝你生日快乐
zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè
Happy birthday to you
祝（名字）生日快乐
zhù (míng zì) shēng rì kuài lè
Happy birthday, dear
祝你生日快乐
zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè
Happy birthday to you
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