If you find yourself in China in December you maybe surprised how eagerly stores and shops embrace the “Christmas Spirit”. However, their commercial enthusiasm is always somewhat awkwardly cute. This photo of bearded lady Santa’s kind of sums it up for me. These ladies are from Shenyang in the NE of China. They are actually warming up before their polar bear swim.
Micro-lesson
Here is how the conversation would go in Mandarin.
| Audio | Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|
| 祝你圣诞节快乐! | Zhù nǐ shèngdàn jié kuàilè! | Wish you a Merry Christmas |
Vocabulary
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|
| 祝 | zhù | wish/offer
|
| 你 | nǐ | you
|
| 圣诞节 | shèngdàn jié | Christmas
|
| kuàilè | miào | happy/joyful |
This is a very typical pattern: “Zhù nǐ [holiday] jié kuàilè!” The [holiday] part can be replaced with any event: birthday, Chinese New Year, etc.
