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When people greet you with Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese) or Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) during the Chinese New Year, what do you say?
Simply respond with the same phrase they used. It means "Wishing you a prosperous year, too."
Or, to a close friend or colleague you can say, "Hong Bao Na Lai," which is "May I have the red envelope, please!"
Hong Bao is a red envelope. Red is the luckiest color in China. During Chinese New Year, Chinese parents give cash gifts in red envelopes to their children. So hong bao is lucky money or cash gift. It can also be used to mean bribe money.
Na Lei means "Bring it to me."
So here's your Chinese lesson of the day:
Person A: Gong Xi Fa Cai. May you become rich!
Person B: Hong Bao Na Lei. Red envelope, please. Let me start to become rich by getting money from you.
January 2006
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