Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity

"Wishing You Happiness and Prosperity" (Chinese: 恭喜恭喜; pinyin: Gōngxǐ gōngxǐ; literally "congratulations, congratulations") is a popular Mandarin Chinese song and a Chinese Lunar New Year standard. Other English titles for the song include "Congratulations" and "Happiness To You."

The music and words of the song are both by Chen Gexin (under the pen name Qing Yu) and it was written in Shanghai in 1945 to celebrate the defeat of Japan and liberation of China at the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (World War II). 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 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 albums, sometimes as electronic dance music performances and occasionally also feature lyrics in Taiwanese Hokkien and even English.

A more traditional rendition of the song appeared on the 2002 China Dolls album 多一點點 - 小調大風行. This song was included in the Pink Martini 'Joy to the World' Christmas album released in 2010, under the title "Congratulations - A Happy New Year Song" with vocals by China Forbes and Timothy Yuji Nishimoto.

Lyrics

First verse lyrics.

• Mandarin Chinese lyrics

1. Pinyin transliteration
2. English translation

• 每條大街小巷　每個人的嘴裡

1. Měitiáo dà jiē xiǎo xiàng, měige rén de zuǐ lǐ,
2. On every street and in every lane, on everyone's lips,

• 見面第一句話　就是恭喜恭喜

1. Jiànmiàn dì yī jù huà, jiù shì gōngxǐ gōngxǐ.
2. Whenever anyone meets, the first thing they say is "Congratulations."

• 恭喜恭喜恭喜你呀　恭喜恭喜恭喜你

1. Gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ ya, gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ .
2. Congratulations, Congratulations, Congratulations to you...

See also

• Chinese New Year
• Music of China