Gong Xi Fa Cai – 恭禧發財

Gong Xi Fa Cai – Kung Hei Fat Choi – 恭禧發財 – Happy New Year

In less than 4 hours the Chinese New Year begins. We wish all our friends and visitors “Gong Xi Fa Cai” or “Kung Hei Fat Choi” or more readable “恭禧發財”.

“Kung Hei Fat Choi” is Cantonese. Considering that majority of the Chinese Filipinos here in the Philippines speak the Hokkien dialect, we recommend that we say the greeting in Hokkien, which is pronounced and spelled as “Kiong Hee Huat Tsai.”

Cantonese is one of the 9 other groups of dialects in China and is most commonly spoken in Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Macau.
Hokkien is the dialect spoken in Fujian province where most of the Chinese-Filipinos come from.

Got confused – stay with Confucius: 恭禧發財

For not to get embarrassed with red cheeks when in Hong Kong  or Shenzhen read more here.

If you literally translate “Gong Xi Fa Chai” or 恭禧發財 , it would mean “wishing you enlarge your wealth.”
Gong Xi: means wishing/blessing
Fa: means enlarge(ment)
Chai: means wealth
So a literal translation is that you wish someone will become very rich, but the phrase is generally used as Happy New Year.

[GARD]