Is using the term "Lunar New Year" instead of "Chinese New Year" an attack on Chinese culture?

用“农历新年”代替“中国新年”，是对中国文化的抨击吗？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

China Focus

Shawn Xuande Li

Not all.

However, the traditional calendar that is used for picking holidays is recently rebuilt by the government and published as “Compilation and Promulgation of the Lunar Calendar” in 2017. It is in fact the first modification of the Chongzhen calendar which was built 383 years ago. Yet, the work is somehow connected with nationalism by (1) not mentioning the exsting Chongzhen calendar and (2) encouraging the use of a traditional calendar in the “Chinese communities in the world/Chinese world (华人世界”）as stated in its Introduction:

不完全是。

但最近政府恢复了体现节日的传统历法，并在2017年出版了《农历汇编发布》。事实上，这是对383年前颁布的崇祯历法的第一次修改。但在某种程度上，这跟民族主义有一些关系，因为

(1) 没有提及现有的崇祯历法，

(2) 鼓励“全球华人社区/华人世界”使用传统历法，就如导言所述：

“The lunar calendar is the crystallization of the traditional Chinese calendar. It has a long history in Chinese culture. It is not only one of the official calendars in our country but also widely used by overseas Chinese. Therefore, the lunar calendar has an invaluable role in inheriting Chinese culture and maintaining the Chinese world.”

农历是中国传统历法的结晶，具有悠久的华夏文化渊源，目前不仅仍是我国正式沿用的历法之一，也为海外华人普遍使用，因此农历在传承华夏文化、维系华人世界等方面具有无可替代的重要意义。

Considering the fact that the lunar calendar has been abandoned since 1912 and is only used for picking traditional holidays, the effort of the government is clearly an effort of the entire nationalism of the “China phenomenon” the government has been promoting for several decades. So, the accusation of “attacking Chinese culture” is the result of the effort by twisting the truth.

考虑到1912年起农历历法就被弃用，只有传统节日还使用农历来体现，政府的努力显然也是几十年来推动“中国现象”的整个民族主义的努力。所以，对“攻击中国文化”的指责是歪曲事实的结果。

Let me further elaborate on it.

Lunar calendar is not first figured out by the Chinese and has never been fully followed by the Chinese as the official calendar. It is not hard to understand that, as an agricultural civilization, using the lunar calendar would only miss seasons for farmers. But the Chinese didn’t figure out the solar calendar either. So, what the Chinese did in the old days was add one “leap month (闰月)“ every two or three years to correct the error. But, still, the seasons are not accurate according to the Chinese calendar without knowing the solar calendar. So, it had been a problem not only economically affecting agriculture but the Chinese politics as well —- it was very important for emperors to have their servants predict lunar eclipses to know/prove their mandate of heaven.

下面我再展开说明一下。

农历不是中国人最先发明的，中国人也从来没有完全遵循农历，把农历用作官方历法。不难理解，作为当时的农业文明，使用农历只会让农民错过播种季节。但是中国人也没有创立阳历历法。所以，中国人过去采用的是每两三年增加一个“闰月”来纠差。但如果不知道阳历，根据中国历法来计时的话，季节并不准确。所以这不仅是一个影响农业经济的问题，也是一个影响中国政治的问题——皇帝让专人预测月食，以了解/证明他们的天命是一件非常重要的事。

Consequently, emperors had to publish new Chinese calendars periodically to minimize the error. By the time when Matteo Ricci arrived in China in 1600, the Chinese calendar, the Shou-shi li /授时历, meaning the calender (历) that issues time (授时), had been in use for over 300 years. It had accumulated huge errors.

所以中国的皇帝需要定期发布新的中国历法，尽量减少误差。公元1600年利玛窦抵达中国时，中国的历法授时历已经沿用了300多年，也累积了巨大的偏差。

Matteo Ricci brought with him much-advanced knowledge of astronomy and the solar calendar-based Gregorian calendar (published 1582). He started teaching Chinese scholars including Xu Guangqi, one of the high-rank imperial officers, who learned astronomy from Ricci and correctly predicted the moon eclipse in 1626 while the emperor’s astronomy officers failed. It finally convinced emperor Chongzhen to rewrite the old calendar charged by Xu. The Chongzhen calendar was completed in 1634. However, it was held from publication until 1643 before Chongzhen was fully convinced and decided to release it. But his Ming dynasty was replaced by the Qing dynasty the next year and he committed suicide.

利玛窦带来了非常先进的天文学知识和以太阳历为基础的公历(1582年发布)。1626年，皇帝的天文官员未能预测到月食，而师从利玛窦学习天文学的高级官员徐光启等中国学者却预测到了月食现象。崇祯皇帝因此下定决心让徐光启主持重编旧历。崇祯历法最终于1634年完成编制。但崇祯直到1643年才完全信服并下令颁布。可惜他明王朝在第二年就被清朝取代了，崇祯帝自杀。

The Chongzhen calendar was inherited by Qing emperors and officially put into the imperial literature collection, Siku Quanshu. After 1911, the newly established Republic of China began to use the Gregorian calendar (solar system calendar). It continues in PRC to this day.

Except for picking holidays, the lunar system-based calendar has no use in people’s daily life.

清朝皇帝继承了崇祯历法，并将其正式纳入皇家文献藏书《四库全书》中。1911年以后，新成立的中华民国开始启用公历（太阳系历法）并一直沿用到今天。

除了记录传统节日，农历日历在人们的日常生活中没有任何用处。

Jiaquan Huo

Wed

Using either term does not consist of an attack on Chinese culture.

The attempt to replace one with another is an attack on the cultures of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and whoever celebrate their traditional new year related to the Chinese/Lunar new year.

不论使用这两个词中的任何一个，都并非在抨击中国文化。

但试图用其中一个词替代另一个词，是对中国人、韩国人、越南人和所有庆祝与中国/农历新年相关的传统新年的人的文化的攻击。

Look, I've been in Australia for 28 years now. Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year have been interchangeable. This year, Sydney is celebrating “Lunar New Year” with huge rabbits everywhere. All my non Chinese colleagues, friends, neighbours said happy “Chinese New Year” to me. Alright, I have to rant. Whoever is responsible for putting out those white rabbits, the colour white and CYN do not mix. White symbolizes death.

像我，已经在澳大利亚定居28年了。中国新年和农历新年其实就是一回事。今年，悉尼处处可见巨型的兔子，欢庆“农历新年”。我所有的非华裔同事、朋友、邻居都会对我说“新年快乐”。好吧，我是有一点要吐槽的。不管是谁布置的那些白色兔子，白色和中国新年实在是不搭！白色象征着死亡好嘛亲。

The frustrating thing is, my Chinese colleagues organized a “Lunar New Year” celebration in the company. Throughout, they didn't dare to say the phrase “Chinese New Year”. Damn it, it's an exclusively Chinese run event. I would say happy Tet to my Vietnamese friends and Happy Seollal to my Korean friends. To those I don't know their cultural heritage, I would certainly not shy away from saying happy Chinese New Year to them. After all, that's the term for their convenience and I am of Chinese origin. If they have any problem with it, I'd say “suck it up”.

但有件事让我不开心，我的中国同事在公司组织了一次“农历新年”庆祝活动。可从头到尾，他们都没敢说出“中国新年”这个词。该死，这可是中国人的专属庆典呀。我会跟我的越南朋友说一声新年快乐，也会跟我的韩国朋友道一句新年快乐。对那些拥有令我感到陌生的文化传统的人，我会毫不避讳地对他们说中国新年快乐。毕竟，这是为了他们的方便，而我又是中国血统。如果他们觉得有问题，我会直接回复“那就忍着点吧”。

It's not about the term you use. It's about why you use that term. It's not about which term you use or not use. It's about whether you want to impose that term on others.

这跟你用了哪个说法无关。重要的是你为什么要用这个说法。这跟你用不用哪个说法毫无关系。重点在于你是不是想把这个说法强加给别人。

“Lunar New Year”, “Chinese New Year” are for the outsiders. For those who celebrate it, it's just “the New Year” in whatever language we speak. Stop politicising it. And we should ignore those who politicise it. After all, we insiders, regardless of where we are from, we also celebrate Confucius’ teaching: 人不知而不愠不亦君子乎(not getting upset with the idiots is noble).

“农历新年”、“中国新年”都是对外人说的。对于那些共襄盛举的人来说，不管我们说的是哪种语言，它都只是“新年”。不要把它政治化。我们无需理会那些将其政治化的人。毕竟，我们这些中国人，不管来自哪里，我们都在颂扬孔子的教诲：人不知而不愠，不亦君子乎（没有因为笨蛋生气，这种行为是高尚的）。

And for those who are concerned that your culture getting stolen, I'd share with you Laozi's teaching: 后其身而身先外其身而身存不以其无私邪故能成其私 (Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?).

对于那些整日担心自己文化被窃取的人，我想把老子的教诲送给你：后其身而身先；外其身而身存。非以其无私邪？故能成其私（圣人做任何事时，总是先考虑公众利益，而后才考虑自己的好处，反而总能够赢得爱戴；圣人事事不计较利害得失，反而身受其益。这不正是因为他的无私，结果反而成就了他自己吗？）

Minerva Paxton

No, this holiday is called Spring Holiday in Chinese. Many countries most notably Vietnam also celebrate the same holiday, so it’s hard to say that it’s exclusive to China.

Just because it started in China doesn’t mean it only belongs to one culture. It’s like how the Chinese words for telephone and hospital were originally Japanese, but they got transferred into the Chinese language over time.

不，这个节日在中国叫作春节。在许多国家，尤其是越南，也会庆祝同样的节日，所以很难说这是中国独有的节日。

春节起源于中国，但并不意味着它专属于某种文化。这就好比中文中的“电话”和“医院”最初是日语，但随着时间的推移，这些词也融入了汉语中。

To say that people celebrating this holiday exclusively after February 4th (like in Mongolia and Tuva) or on the solar date (like in Japan) aren’t celebrating the same holiday is like saying that Greek and Western Christmas are different holidays. First of all, countries like Mongolia probably celebrate it at a later possible date because it’s colder there and spring starts later. Japan solarized its calendar due to modernization.

认为不同地区在2月4日之后（如蒙古和图瓦）或在阳历日（如日本）进行庆祝，庆祝的不是同一个节日的说法，就像在说希腊和西方的圣诞节是不同的节日一样。首先，像蒙古这样的国家庆祝的时间会比较晚，是因为蒙古的气候更寒冷，春天来得比较晚。而日本因为现代化采用了阳历历法。

Different cultures are going to associate different foods and concepts with this holiday as well.

There is also another Asian lunar new year near the begng of summer that’s celebrated in Thailand and India. I’m mostly concerned about confusion with that holiday and what it should be called in English, but that’s out of my wheelhouse.

不同的文化也会将不同的食物和想法跟这个节日联系起来。

泰国和印度也会在夏初庆祝亚洲的另一个农历新年。我很担心人们把这个节日搞混淆了，以及用英语该怎么称呼这个节日，但那已经超越我的能力范围了。

Yonghan Ching

Those who think so are just butt hurt with a fragile heart.

The celebration, although originated from the Lunisolar Calendar created in China, have become distinct once it travels outside of the Han area.

So far, the term “Lunar New Year” covers the following related but distinct celebrations:

会这么想的人太玻璃心了。

虽然这个庆典源于中国创造的阴阳历，但在传播到华夏大地之外后，就变得与众不同了。

到目前为止，“农历新年”一词包括以下相关但不同的庆祝活动：

Chinese New Year (of course)

中国新年

Vietnamese New Year

越南新年

Korean New Year

韩国新年

Sometimes also include the following celebrations:

Mongolian New Year

Tiban New Year

有时候也包含了以下庆祝活动：

蒙古新年

藏历新年

So in places where different cultures comingle. “Lunar New Year” is an inclusive term to include everyone who is celebrating at the same time, much like “Happy Holidays” aim to include different celebrations happening during Winter Solstice.

There is a whole world out there. Stop embarrassing yourselves and your blood-kind.

所以在不同文化融合的地方，“农历新年”是一个包容性的词，覆盖了在同一时间举行庆典的人群，就像人们会在冬至期间用“节日快乐”祝贺所有不同的庆祝活动一样。

井口外有一整个世界。别再让你自己和族人这么难堪了。

Feng ian

Neither the 1st nor the 2nd is an accurate reflection of the words in Chinese.

No one is stupid enough to call it CNY in China, and likewise the X doesn’t follow lunar calender so LNY is also wrong in calling it.

The real cause of that debate was the collapse of the Qing Dynasty and the consequential awakening of nationalism. Period.

第一个词和第二个词都不能准确地表达对应的中文词汇。

在中国，没有人会称其为中国新年，同样的，不使用农历历法的人也不会称其为农历新年。

这场争论的真正原因是清朝的倒台和随之而来的民族主义的觉醒。我说完了。

小狐汔济

For a long time, Korea has been a satellite of China, and they learn Chinese culture, etiquette, and ritual methods. Even their capital was formerly called Han Cheng. Spring Festival is a Korean festival that imitates China. In today's terms, the Chinese Spring Festival has intellectual property rights, and other countries can use it to celebrate the Spring Festival as their own holiday, but you can't change it to your own name, you can't say that this is your own. South Korea has been stealing various ancient civilizations from China, and even the world, which is a manifestation of inferiority because their history is so short that there is nothing to show off. They will steal, rob, and seize by any means!

长期以来，韩国一直是中国的附属国，他们学习中国的文化、礼仪和宗教仪式。就连他们的首都以前也叫汉城。春节是韩国模仿中国的一个节日。用今天的话来说，中国的春节是有知识产权的，其他国家可以用它来庆祝春节作为自己的节日，但不能把它改名换姓，说成是自己的东西。韩国一直在窃取中国乃至世界各国的各种古老文明，这其实是一种自卑的表现，因为他们的历史实在太短暂了，没有什么值得夸耀的。所以他们就不择手段地去偷、抢、占！