happy new year
today i'm going to answer the most asked
questions on my instagram what's the
similarities and differences between
vietnamese new year and chinese new year
and most importantly do vietnamese
people get offended when date is being
called the chinese new year i know it's
a controversial and sensitive topic so
i'm gonna answer these questions with
the best of my knowledge and with my
personal observation and experiences as
a vietnamese person
also if you want to learn more about
vietnamese culture food and travel don't
forget to follow my channel and my
social media at vanvu from vietnam so
for those of you who don't know what
lunar new year is is a celebration of
the arrival of spring and is based on
the lunar solar calendar this is one of
the most important and festive holidays
for many asian countries such as korea
malaysia singapore china vietnam etc fun
fact japanese people don't celebrate
lunar new year anymore since 1873.
basically during this holiday family
members will come home gather to eat
good traditional food visit temples and
pray for good health and good luck for
the new year since china and vietnam are
both agricultural country historically
vietnam was influenced by chinese
culture for one thousand years so that's
why we share a lot in common in terms of
traditions and customs such as giving
lucky money avoid sweeping the floor on
the first day of new year or worshiping
ancestors however
time can change culture so that's why
there are many differences in a way that
chinese and vietnamese people celebrate
the lunar new year first is the duration
in vietnam people officially celebrate
the holiday for the first three days
while in china people celebrate up to
the 15th of the month which lead to the
lantern festival during this holiday
vietnamese people usually eat bang chung
and bangzai which symbolize heaven and
earth while chinese people eat dumplings
which symbolize prosperity long noodles
mean longevity and fish is a symbol of
abundance and for decoration vietnamese
people usually buy peach blossom trees
in the northern part of vietnam and in
the southern part people prefer yellow
apricot trees i have a video about how
vietnamese people celebrate the lunar
new year right here so you can check it
out during this holiday chinese people
would hang the rhyming couplets or the
full chinese character which means good
fortune upside down in front of their
house believing that the good fortune
will pour from the heaven to their house
the fourth fact is actually very
interesting and i just recently learned
that is that the chinese zodiac years
are different than the vietnamese zodiac
gears instead of rabbit vietnamese
people use cat for the fourth zodiac
animal isn't that interesting if it is
don't forget to follow my channel so i
can update with you all the interesting
facts alright moving on to clothing so
chinese and vietnamese both believe that
red is a lucky color and it can ward off
evil spirits so that's why a lot of
chinese people wearing red during the
lunar new year or they can wear chom sam
or kripal
which are the traditional clothes while
in vietnam people are not very strict on
what we're gonna wear during vietnamese
lunar new year
as long as like four more tire and
vietnamese women can wear outside which
i'm wearing right now which is our
traditional clothes we also watch
different tv shows for the lunar new
year in china people watch cctv spring
festival gala while in vietnam people
usually watch dao
which is a comedy show about all the
gods reporting social issues in vietnam
to the jade emperor for oversea
vietnamese i know paris by night is one
of the most popular shows that they
watch okay so the most important
question is that do vietnamese people
get offended when date is being called
the chinese new year yes and no i know
some of my friends can get offended
because of political conflicts which
mainly caused by the battle of paracel
islands in 1974. in addition after
gaining freedom from being colonized for
such a long time vietnamese generally
speaking are very patriotic
so it can be offensive to say chinese
new year to some vietnamese people but
not all vietnamese people though
personally i'm not offended at all but i
just think you're a bit ignorant for me
is equivalent to a stereotype of calling
all asians chinese or naming roman
christmas instead of christmas actually
chinese new year which is english words
created by western countries to
distinguish between the gregorian new
year and lunar new year but it can
create misunderstandings while you
travel so to be safe when you're in
vietnam you can call it date when in
korea you can call it solo and if you're
not sure just call it lunar new year
with cultural awareness we can all enjoy
the holiday and the traditions happy
lunar new year everyone and don't forget
to subscribe to my channel because it
will bring luck to me for the whole year
thank you everyone bye