While people around the world celebrate their birthdays every year, we all seem to do so a bit differently—each culture has its own birthday superstitions and traditions. If you’re planning on celebrating a Chinese birthday, there are actually some Chinese birthday traditions and taboos that you should be aware of before you dig into your slice of birthday cake.
In this post, we dive into some of the traditions and taboos that make Chinese birthdays special. We’ve also put together a list of relevant vocabulary for you to prepare your Mandarin skills for celebrating turning one year older.
In Western cultures, children start at age zero when they’re born and turn one the following year. Birthdays in China work a bit differently. Traditionally, children start at the age of one when they’re born. According to Chinese first birthday traditions, when Chinese New Year comes around, these children turn two, and they continue to age one year every Chinese New Year.
This means that when Chinese children celebrate their first birthday party, they’re actually turning two!
However, this counting method is rather a tradition than a rule as in the official documents the age of a Chinese person is indicated the same way as it is in the rest of the world. To differentiate between the two numbers, Chinese people say 周岁, which stands for “one full year of life” and 虚岁 which means the person’s nominal age.
Interesting fact: If you’re curious about someone’s age but don’t want to seem impolite, you can ask them for their Chinese zodiac sign. Since the Chinese zodiac goes through a twelve-year cycle of animals, knowing someone’s sign is an easy way of calculating their age.
According to Chinese birthday celebration traditions, there are two kinds of food that are important to serve on Chinese birthdays: long noodles and red eggs.
Long noodles—or “longevity noodles”—symbolize living a long life. Noodles are left unbroken in bowls, and you should try to eat them as one continuous strand!
As for the red eggs, peeling their shells evokes getting a fresh start.
Interesting fact: Loved ones and family members who can’t make it in person to birthday parties will often eat long noodles themselves. This lets them independently observe the tradition of enjoying Chinese birthday food to wish the celebrating person a long life.
Who doesn’t love birthday presents? Just as it is in the West, gift giving is a part of Chinese birthday traditions. If you’re preparing a gift for a Chinese birthday celebration, make sure you follow these rules:
Interesting fact: If you give a gift, don’t expect to see the other person immediately unwrap it in front of you. Doing so would imply that they care more about the gift than about you.
Is it bad luck to celebrate your birthday early? According to Chinese birthday traditions, the opposite is true. When planning a birthday celebration, you should actually aim for a date that falls on or before the actual date of birth. Belated birthday celebrations are taboo.
The reasoning goes that If you celebrate a belated birthday party, it’ll feel like you’ve had two birthdays, making you feel two years older instead of just one.
Interesting fact: In other cultures - including Russian culture - planning birthday celebrations before the actual birth date is bad luck!
For women, the following birthdays actually go uncelebrated according to Chinese birthday traditions:
For men, on the other hand, 40 is a year of bad luck, so they forgo a 40th birthday celebration and stay 39 for another year. Some men will actually wait until the age of 60 to really celebrate their birthdays.
Back to birthday presents. In Chinese culture, there are also taboos in place regarding what gifts you should give others. Try to avoid these items as birthday presents:
Ready to learn Chinese vocabulary so you can say “Happy Birthday” in Chinese and express your birthday cheer?
Here’s a handy vocab list related to birthdays. These would be great to use with Hack Chinese to build a custom “birthday” vocabulary list.
生日快乐! |
shēngrì kuàilè! |
Happy Birthday! |
祝你生日快乐! |
zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè! |
Wishing you a Happy Birthday! |
生日 |
shēng rì |
birthday |
生日派对 |
shēng rì pài duì |
birthday party |
生日礼物 |
shēng rì lǐ wù |
birthday gift |
生日卡 |
shēng rì kǎ |
birthday card |
滿月 |
mǎnyuè |
full moon; to be one month old |
寿面 |
shòu miàn |
longevity noodles |
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 healthy and happy! |
祝你生日快乐,越来越靓! |
zhù nǐ shēnɡ rì kuài lè, yuè lái yuè jìng! |
Wishing you a Happy Birthday—may your beauty grow! |
心想事成! |
xīn xiǎng shì chéng! |
May all your wishes come true! |
天天快乐! |
tiān tiān kuài lè! |
I hope you’re happy every day! |
你几岁了? |
nǐ jǐ suì le? |
How old are you now? |
你属什么的? |
nǐ shǔ shén me de? |
What is your Zodiac sign? |
你的生日是什么时候? |
Nǐ de shēngrì shì shénme shíhòu? |
When is your birthday? |
谢谢你的礼物。 |
xiè xiè nǐ de lǐ wù. |
Thank you for the present. |
谢谢你来参加我的派对。 |
xiè xiè nǐ lái cān jiā wǒ de pài duì. |
Thank you for coming to my party. |
Now, are you ready to get in the birthday spirit? Check out this video to learn the “Happy Birthday” song in Chinese!
Hopefully after reading through these tips on Chinese birthday traditions, taboos, and vocabulary, you’ve learned something new about Chinese birthdays and feel prepared to wish your friends a happy birthday when the time comes around! For some practice, keep in mind that Hack Chinese is a great tool for listening to and practicing your pronunciation of Chinese birthday vocabulary so you can nail your birthday greetings.