"Gongxi Gongxi" (), mistranslated in public as "Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity" (which is the meaning of ''gōngxǐ fācái''
恭喜發財
), is a popular

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

song and a

Chinese Lunar New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

standard. Other English titles for the song include "Congratulations" and "Happiness To You".

History

The music and words of the song are both by Chen Gexin (under the pen name Qing Yu). It was written in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

in 1945 to celebrate the defeat of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and liberation of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

at the end of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

(

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

). The final lines of this song replicate the typical beat of the Chinese drum. An early popular recording of the song was by

Yao Lee Yao Lee (; 10 September 1922 – 19 July 2019), also credited as Yao Li, Yiu Lei and Hue Lee, was a Chinese singer active from the 1930s to the 1970s. She was the sister of Yao Min, also a famous singer and songwriter. She was considered one o ...

and her brother Yao Min. Because its Mandarin title is also a common Lunar New Year greeting and the song celebrates the arrival of spring, it quickly became associated almost exclusively with New Year celebrations and remains a part of the season's musical canon. Contemporary versions of the song frequently appear on Chinese New Year musical collection

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

s, sometimes as

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

performances and occasionally also feature lyrics in

Taiwanese Hokkien Taiwanese Hokkien ( , ), or simply Taiwanese, also known as Taigi ( zh, c=臺語, tl=Tâi-gí), Taiwanese Southern Min ( zh, c=臺灣閩南語, tl=Tâi-uân Bân-lâm-gí), Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively ...

and even English. A more modern rendition of the song appeared on the 2002

China Dolls China Dolls (; ; ) are a pop duo from Thailand. The group is composed of Pailin "Hwa Hwa" Rattanasangsatian and Supachaya "Bell" Lattisophonkul. Career The duo has released several albums since their formation in 1999 and performed at the A ...

album 多一點點 – 小調大風行. This song was included in the

Pink Martini Pink Martini is an American band founded in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale in Portland, Oregon. Group members call it a little orchestra that crosses several styles, such as Classical music, classical, Latin music, Latin, traditional pop, and ...

Christmas album ''

Joy to the World "Joy to the World" is an English hymn and Christmas carol. It was written in 1719 by the English minister and hymnist Isaac Watts. It is usually sung to the American composer Lowell Mason's 1848 arrangement of a tune attributed to George Fride ...

'' released in 2010, under the title "Congratulations - A Happy New Year Song" with vocals by

China Forbes China Forbes (born April 29, 1970) is an American singer and songwriter who has been the lead singer of the band Pink Martini since 1995. In 2022 she was the Ella Fitzgerald award winner at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Life and care ...

and Timothy Yuji Nishimoto. Khởi My sung a Vietnamese adaptation called ''Chúc Tết'', and Xuân Mai also sung another Vietnamese adaptation called Chúc Xuân 1.

Lyrics

References

External links

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcMGcT6gByM A rendition of the song in YouTube Chinese songs Chinese patriotic songs Mandarin-language songs New Year songs 1945 songs 1945 compositions {{China-music-stub

History

Lyrics

See also

References

External links