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At the New Year, there are some sayings or greetings that are lucky or considered "好听", which are especially fitting since they have to do with the upcoming new year.

For example, at the New Year of the Dragon (or Horse?) one might wish someone "龙马精神".

Are there any that are said when the upcoming year is the Year of the Snake?

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  • Your title is a bit hard to understand.
    – fefe
    Feb 11, 2013 at 9:34
  • I tried to clarify a bit. Please let me know what specifically is hard to understand, if that is still the case.
    – cyanos
    Feb 11, 2013 at 17:00
  • I much easier to understand now. Maybe the mix of Chinese and English made things hard to understand.
    – fefe
    Feb 12, 2013 at 1:11
  • 不是每个年都有的,你就说“恭喜发财”好了,人人都爱听,呵呵。
    – Zhou Heng
    Feb 14, 2013 at 5:57

1 Answer 1

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You can search "蛇年祝福语" online, but most of the results are artificial and aren't as classy as the 龙 ones. If you look up for Chengyu's that contain 蛇, you'll see the majority of them are negative, due to snake's symbolic meaning in Chinese culture. Even novelists complained that it's very difficult to come up with greeting lines with 蛇.

The last link contains some examples of greeting phrases:

  从新春祝词的角度,如“龙蛇飞舞”、“笔走龙蛇”、“灵蛇之珠”等寓意美好的成语也可一用。网友“felix77”还创作出了不少祝福语:“龙蛇共舞三春景、蛇舞九州处处新、蛇步锦程业辉煌、蛇游大泽燕游春、蛇含瑞气报年华 、蛇出山穴喜报春、蛇衔瑞草户迎春。”

  如果实在是想不到跟蛇相关的吉祥话,还有网友剑走偏锋:“只要把蛇称作小龙,一切问题都迎刃而解……”不过,最简单的方法还是用一些万能格式,如“蛇年吉祥、蛇年大吉、金蛇献瑞”。还有网友想出“硬上弓”的法子:“祝新年蛇腾虎跃,蛇飞凤舞,蛇蛇生威,蛇到成功,蛇马精神……”

To explain a few:

  • 龙蛇飞舞 (dragons and snakes are flying): Originally it's used to describe elegant and swift movement in calligraphy. When used as new year greetings, it's blessing the audience an elegant and swift conduct of life/career/business etc.

  • 笔走龙蛇 (dragons and snakes are following one's writing brush): Original meaning is the same as above. Since 笔 (pen) is explicit in this one, it's more appropriate to use it against someone who indeed writes.

  • 灵蛇之珠 (pearl of the snake): Invaluable treasure or unique talent.

  • 蛇舞九州处处新: Snakes are dancing all over China, taking everything to a new start.

  • 蛇步锦程业辉煌: Snakes are stepping towards to a bright future and making outstanding achievements.

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  • +1 Could you explain a few of those please :)
    – jsj
    Feb 12, 2013 at 6:41
  • @trideceth12 added a few. Let me know if you have particular questions towards one of them.
    – NS.X.
    Feb 12, 2013 at 6:58
  • +1 informative and comprehensive answer, thank you
    – cyanos
    Feb 12, 2013 at 7:29

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