Chinese New Year 2007 - Year of the Pig

Chinese New Year 2007 - Year of the Pig or Boar

 In 2007 February 18th was the first day of the Chinese New Year.  The Chinese have been calculating the New Year for a long time (over 4,600 years), thus it is understandable that their ancestors used the new moon to fix the date of each new year.

• Special Chinese New Year Stamps
• The Chinese Calendar
• Chinese Phrases
• Chinese New Year Jokes
• Chinese New Year 2008
• Chinese New Year 2009
• Chinese New Year 2010

Special Chinese New Year Stamps

These stamps, which celebrate the Year of the Pig have been made to taste of sweet and sour pork.  The stamps are official issue to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

If you scratch the surface of the front or the back, the stamp releases the smell of a popular Chinese dish.  The stamps are on sale in China ahead of their New Year on February 18.

Incidentally, the Royal Mail launched Britain's first scratch 'n' sniff stamp in 2001, the stamp exuded an aroma of eucalyptus.

Here on the left is a Chinese New Year stamp of a pig taken from the previous cycle (1995)

  Also an American Piglet stamp from 2007

More Chinese New Year Stamps
(Monkey, Rooster, Dog and on the right, 1983 pig!)

See more festive stamps

The Chinese Calendar     

2007 is the year of the pig, or to be precise, fire and pig.  This Chinese New Year is also know as Ding Hai.  2007 is considered particularly auspicious as, according to the Chinese zodiac, it is a 'golden pig' year that falls once every 60 years.

Unlike other calendars, the Chinese calendar has names that are repeated every 60 years.  In the Chinese 'Stem-Branch' calendar this is the 8th year of the 60 year cycle.  Within the 'Stem-Branch' system is shorter cycle of 12 years denoted by these animals:

  Rat   Ox  Tiger  Hare Dragon Snake Horse Sheep Monkey Rooster Dog  Pig
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012  2013  2014  2015  (2004) (2005) (2006) 2007

See here for Chinese New Year 2009 - Year of the Ox

Chinese New Year Jokes, Proverbs and Stories

Chinese Proverbs

• Wife who put husband in doghouse soon find him in cathouse.
• War doesn't determine who is right, war determines who is left.
• A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.
• He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.
• Chinese 'Cracked Pot' parable

How To Speak Chinese Funny

• I thought you were on a diet................Wai Yu Mun Ching?
• This is a tow-away zone......................No Pah King
• Our meeting is scheduled for next week......Wai Yu Kum Nao?
• Staying out of sight............................Lei Ying Lo
• See more funny Chinese speak

20 Number 6

It was Chinese New Year.  Bill and Jackson had just staggered back home from a hard night's drinking when they noticed that a menu from the new restaurant next door had come through the letter box.  On a whim they decided to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a take-away.  Jackson, was just off out of the door to fetch their meal when Bill turned to him and said, 'Please get me 20 number 6 while you're at the take-away.

Jackson returned with their chicken Chou Mein, sweet and sour pork and 20 portions of egg fried rice.  Bill said, 'Where's me fags'. Jackson said, 'What cigarettes, you asked for 20 number 6 and that's what you've got, enough egg fried rice to feed a Chinese Junk from Shanghai to Hong Kong'.

Bill said, 'When I was last in England Embassy No 6 was a packet of fags.'

It's a Dog's Life

Meanwhile, Bill and Jackson's wives decided to dine out a new Chinese Restaurant.  Jackson's wife Julie was inseparable from her Pekingese dog called 'Pepe'.  So they took Pepe along with them to the restaurant.   Whenever they went to their usual restaurant the manager's wife looked after Pepe while they ate, and they thought it would be no different this new restaurant.

Julie and her friend Rachel, gave Pepe to the owner and went to their seats.  They ordered their meal, had a few drinks and eventually their meal arrived.  They were mortified when it turned out to be their beloved Pepe surrounded by Chop Suey.

As the owner explained the next day to Bill and Jackson, they thought that Julie and Rachel wanted the chef to cook the dog, not look after it while the women dined.

One-liners

• How did an embarrassed panda get mistaken for a newspaper?  They are both black and white, and red all over!
• What's purple, 10,000 km long and 12m high?
  The grape wall of China.

Traditional Chinese Sense of Humour

Prime Minister Chang was happy enough to write, but he didn't put in a lot of care into his brush strokes. Everybody sneered at his bad handwriting, and the Prime Minister himself really didn't care.

One day Chang thought of a beautiful sentence and at once wielded his writing brush to write it down, indeed, there were dragons flying and snakes dancing all over the paper. Then he ordered his secretary to write it out neatly.

When beginning to copy, his secretary stared tongue-tied and did not know where to start. The young man had to take the manuscript back to the Prime Minister.

'Prime Minister Chang, I can't read your handwriting, please tell me what words they are.'

The Prime Minister read his cursive hand a long time, and did not know what Chinese characters they were, either. He then turned to blame his secretary. 'Why didn't you come earlier to ask me? I myself have forgotten the words which I've written.'

Chinese Phrases

搞笑清洁笑话 in China roughly translates into clean funny jokes.

干净免费笑话,故事图片、视频剪辑 means clean free jokes, stories pictures and video-clips

Chinese Characters

A simple example of Chinese characters showing how the sun symbol can be modified with a line to mean dawn.

• See Chinese New Year 2008
• See Chinese New Year 2009
• See Chinese New Year 2010
• See Chinese New Year 2011

P.S. Please write to Will and Guy if you have any examples of Chinese New Year humor.

See more New Year jokes and funny pictures:

• New Year    • New Year Jokes    • Traditions    • Mari Lwyd    • Funny New Year Resolutions

• Chinese New Year 2010    • Chinese New Year Jokes    • Chinese New Year Stories

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