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.icio(I made a hilarious Chinese new year greeting message tailored for the year of the Pig. Unfortunately it’s hilarious only if you understand Chinese language & a bit of Chinese new year culture. I wished I could translate it into English without losing its hilarity… Sorry about that) 

小弟創作了一段給豬年度身訂做的惡搞版祝福語句，將用於AniGreetings動畫賀卡發給某些親朋戚友。以下是賀卡的預覽 :

我已把這個anigreeting上載YouTube:

若你打算發anigreetings給你的親朋戚友，不妨參考一下。假如你是屬雞，收件人是屬馬，那麼用「雞朋」、「馬友」或會比用「豬朋」、「狗友」更合適！如想個人化此豬年財神AniGreeting動畫賀卡，請按此。

Here’re a collection of popular Chinese new year auspicious greeting and blessing phrases in Chinese along with an English translation for each. Phrases that consist of 4 Chinese characters are most commonly used formats, although there’re phrases that consist of 5 or 7 characters.

4-Character Phrases (吉祥語句)

恭喜發財 : wish you have good fortune

財源廣進 : may there be more sources of income/revenue

年年有餘 : may there be surpluses every year

歲歲平安 : may you live safely and peacefully every year

和氣生財 : harmony brings wealth

招財進寶 : wish you can attract plenty of money and treasures

一帆風順 : wishing you every success

心想事成 : may all your wishes come true

萬事如意 / 萬事勝意 : wish everything works out as you’ve expected

身體健康 : wish you have good health

生意興隆 : may your business flourish and prosper

步步高陞 : may your career grow  

學業猛進 : wish you the best on your study (for students)

年生貴子 : may your family have new gem members this year

To get an idea of how to say any of the above phrases, click here to go to an experimental online Chinese text-to-speech system from MS. Copy the phrase over there, select Chinese, then click “Synthesize”.

Consider sending a Chinese new year AniGreeting, personalized with any of the above phrases, to each of your friends and love ones to show you care! AniGreetings are more than traditional e-cards. You may personalize an anigreeting with not only photos and words entered from keyboard, but also your handwritings and drawings. As your friends and love ones may save a copy of your anigreetings to themselves, you give your recipients a sense of possession of your greetings. They’ll feel that you seriously care about them by sending them anigreetings.

In 2007, 18 Feb marks the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar year. In China, it’s a traditional period for family reunion and blessings just like christmas in other countries. It’s quite a funny period as people suddenly become superstitious on the Chinese new year day and the next few days that follow. It suddenly becomes a taboo to say anything negative to anyone. At the same time, many people suddenly become interested or knowledgeable in feng shui or other fortune-telling subjects. Many “experts” will even come out to the mass media and try to predict what will happen in the next 12 months, pretty much for the sake of gaining visibility among the community…

Anyway, I’ll also follow the tradition and stop saying anything bad from now on. Here comes my Year-of-the-Pig blessings for you in an anigreeting (a 3D animated video greeting card/e-card), with the help from one of the most popular Chinese new year god called the God of Wealth (財神) cast by our best loved pet of the year:

By the way, just a reminder that you may customize the banner shown at the last seconds of this animation. Personalize it with the name of your relatives and friends and send them a copy! Yes, they may save a copy for themselves. You may even add your handwritten words onto the banner. If you’re an expert in Chinese calligraphy, this is a great opportunity to show off your skill to your recipients! Sounds interesting? Click here to learn more, or you may try personalizing this animation right away.

(Edited 16 Feb 2007): I’ve just posted a list of commonly used Chinese greeting words or phrases here. Feel free to use any of the phrases as part of your greeting message.