Dear the Vietnamese community in foreign country, is saying Chinese New Year instead of Lunar New Year offended you in any way?

While I don't care if they use Chinese New Year, I always use Lunar New Year if the message comes from me.

Most of the time, people will follow suit and use Lunar New Year following me. In case they don't, there is still no bad blood between us. If they try to "correct" me, I simply explain "I'm not Chinese, but I celebrate Lunar New Year too." They usually give up after that, and if they insist, others will just tell them off.

A little bit. Cuz we called it Tết Nguyên Đán, Tết Ta, Tết âm lịch. It’s different with Chinese new year. Other Asia countries has lunar new year too, not just China.

There’s some backlash when a Vietnamese celeb use the word happy Chinese new year and netizen was angry at her.

It's better to call Tết.

“Chinese New Year” is a term populated by the Chinese in the US. Obviously they don’t call it “Chinese NY” in China either. So if it gives me the ick whenever non-Chinese uses this term. It insinuates that the new moon festival is only celebrated by the Chinese, while in fact it is also a festive season in Vietnam, South Korea and (was) Japan.

I won't stop you from calling it Chinese New Year, but don't expect Vietnamese people to use it either.

Not if people who calls it for Chinese new year say that accidentally. I usually just call it lunar new year or Vietnamese new year myself when I speak to other non-vietnamese. My Chinese friends call it for Chinese new year or lunar new year as well, and I don't get offended since it is true that Chinese and Vietnamese have their own form for celebration.

CNY is from white people and their ignorance. In china, they just say "New Year." In viet, we say Tết.

I'm not in a foreign country, but I can say, without any bias, it does not offend me in any way.

Here's my opinion about the others, and take it with a grain of salt. There are various regions that use Lunar calender, and calling it Chinese calendar isn't wrong nor offensive. Vietnam was invaded and enslaved by China for more than a thousand years, and getting influenced by Chinese was unavoidable. Maybe some uncultured patriots can take offence, especially the old and hard-headed Vietnamese, but most asians in foreign countries hate Chinese, even Chinese hates other Chinese.

No, but I will correct you "Lunar New Year" instead of Chinese New Year.

Ppl can call it how they want and idgaf. But I still say Lunar New Year and will be offended if anyone try to correct me with CNY

No because it did originate from China. However, I feel like using lunar new year is better as it’s less specific and more ambiguous which suits how people from outside China can celebrate it as well

I don't think so. But I think it's better to say Tet.

Chinese new year is a bit different from lunar new year.

It is offensive to me personally. I know the Lunar New Year we celebrate in Vietnam started from the Chinese New Year but considering all the conflicts between the two countries, I would prefer the term Lunar New Year.

Never apologize for your english.

It’s Tet, and it will always be Tet

Nah. But you mixing them up is like us saying Happy Hanuka or Merry Kwanzaa when you are clearly christian/western. So that is at least silly.

Lunar New Year would be the "Happy Holidays" equivalent.

We Vietnamese celebrate Tết.

Yes. Very.

Does saying "Vietnamese new year" offend anyone?

not offended just annoyed as it’s the new year celebration based on the Moon Calendar and not the Chinese. I call it Lunar New Year and people role with it.

People in VIệt Nam are not as fragile as in other countries like the US. You can call us fat, dark skin or ugly. We don’t give a fuck. Just don’t say bad things about our national heroes or our ancestors.

I have a diverse network, and many say "Chinese" New Year. I usually say "Lunar", or if I know that they are Vietnamese, I will use either Tet or Lunar. However we feel about the Chinese, we did mostly copy it from them. But then again they do not own it. So why make trouble - Lunar is what I use the most. Also a lot of VIetnamese have some Chinese in them :-)

Many years ago when I first came to the foreign country, I felt upset and offensive when people only recognize Chinese culture during Lunar New Year by calling it Chinese New Year and overlook the rest of Asia. Then I realized that they couldn't tell if I'm Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or Japanese etc. Even I have a hard time trying to identify other Asians, I choose to accept whatever they assume, which is mostly Chinese by default until I correct them. It's already so nice enough for them (white, Indian, European,...) to acknowledge the special day so just takes it easy and be thankful.

Did you know our East Sea (biển đông) is called South China Sea ? Yeah that one too

just call it lunar new year- the chinese do not own it

It rubbed me the wrong way initially and I still call it LNY. But my general principle is, you call it whather you want, I call it whatever I want and as long as we stay out of each other's way, we're all good.

It’s okay, and if you want to celebrate, just say happy new year. 

Many guys hate chinese, but it doesnt bother us when you say that, we just dont give a fck

I actually dont give a damn f, however i saw one of my colleagues sending a text to me (she’s Singaporean) as Happy CNY🙏 but edited herself right away to Happy Lunar New Year.

Then all other foreigner colleagues said Happy Lunar New Year after that. It has become a stereotype for us Vietnamese that we hate China to our core. Idk other Vietnamese but I actually don’t care. Either CNY or LNY, they’re both official names internationally.

annoyed, but wont be offended, I understand.

Feel like people who got offended by such thing perceive patriotism in a rather a rigid way and label. At the end of the day it’s a share of culture similarity anyway. Also if a foreign person calls it “Chinese New Year”, it is probably because China has a better culture recognition and exposure. As long as the attention was not motivated by a political polarisation. Who cares right?

What a weird time of year for this question. What are everyone's plans for valentines day?

Not really,

Personally no. It's like, we call Biển Đông, but the international name is South China Sea, which countries around claim to be theirs only

Yes they do, this comment section proves it

Offended isn’t the right word. But you’d be incorrect.

I’m not offended but I automatically judge the person as being insufficiently cultured. Sorry not sorry.

I would not be offended. People get offended too easily.

Why? are you looking to offend anybody? It's a word use by people that don't know any better. In that case, people usually don't really mind, it's just simple ignorance and they mean wells. If you DO know better, and simply looking at antagonizing, then it's just annoying. It's really not that big of a deal, not to the point of mistaking all Asian as "Chinese", it simply betray your level of ignorance. Nobody, not even the Chinese call it Chinese New Year, they even officially only refer to it as Spring Festival.

Intent matters, and usually Asian people can sense whether you intent to annoy them with that kind of things.

nah,im not that sensitive

Depends on the situation, but the majority of the time it's just someone trying to be nice and don't understand the difference. The one that does bother me comes from Chinese ethnics who do know about the nuance and decides to ignore my cultural preference. I mean, it's just rude.

To avoid all this just say happy new year.

ofc. china = communism = bad

You in vietnam not china.

Me personally, no and most likely I couldn’t care less. I use both terms without realizing I may have mixed them up thanks to hearing both from my local Vietnamese and Chinese communities, so my brain may not be aware of the two if the difference isn’t pointed out to me lol. Besides, I use both sayings indiscriminately, so I shouldn’t be offended cause that’d be hypocritical, but it’s whatever.

Too soon to bring up the South China Sea?

I only have a problem with it when some smartass try to "correct" me ,"ackually, it was Chinese New Year".

They won’t be offended. But they’ll try to correct you.

First I dislike the "Lunar New Year", because the whole east asian calender is not LUNAR !!! It is a half solar and half lunar calender.

Then I don't like "Chinese New Year" even it originates from China. It makes people feel we are stealing from China.

So I'd say: Tet is the best. Just say Tet.

nah, i don't give a shjt. I taught them Tết and now my mate call me thằng đầu bò when i did something stupid

I wouldnt say offended but chinese new year is not exactly the same as lunar new year. For example, we have no rabbit year. Tet is not chinese, it is a viet holiday

I agree with whatever the majority said

Nah, don’t really give a sh!t. You can call it whatever you want to call, they’re both correct either way.

I'm also Cantonese so I wouldn't be upset given that they are interchangeable in my family and we do a mix of traditions and rituals. I get that it might not be the same for other people, though.

The phrase "Lunar New Year" doesn't give me any connotations for what I grew up with and so I prefer either Chinese New Year or Tet, personally.

Nope

as an adult, i do not give a s* about whatever it called. It's just Tết for me

It does not offend me in any way. If we can accept that Nam in Viet Nam means to the south of China, why would we be offended in such a small thing?

No, i still call it chinese new year everytime someone ask, it's hillarious tosee that persone trigger up, lmao

better to use lunar new year.

it doesn’t offend me I would prefer if people said lunar new year but i don’t necessarily get offended

As long as you aren't Vietnamese, nothing is gonna happen, at most the one heard what you said will explain to you that we don't call it like that here. If you are Vietnamese then it's another story.

Not really. I don't mind if other people greet me with Chinese New Year while I always use Lunar New Year. I find people aren't too fussed irl but online however, it's a totally different story.

Every year on twitter or some other social media, there's heated "debates" or wank about the use of Chinese New Year vs Lunar New Year. It's almost as if all the nationalists come out to play and both sides are equally as ugly. Eg. Some Vietnamese believe that LNY originates from VN while you have some people accusing VN of copying Chinese traditions and culture.

Last year we had the Year of the Cat vs the Year of the Rabbit and man, that was just face palm.

Original Luna new year: let put new year on the 11st, in a 12 months calendar
China new year: let put new year in 1st months cuz we doen't know sht.
China invade us and force us to celebrate in 1st month.
Vietnamese: feel offended to be called Chinese new year while celebrating in 1st months

Not directed specifically at OP but more commenters here.

Why are Americans so obsessed with Vietnam thinks about China all the time here? It’s honestly like that girl who talks about her ex bfs to her current bf non stop. Kinda cringe.

You are already in Vietnam why still so wrapped up in your old country’s geopolitics?

i used to say chinese new year because I didn't know better, then I got to learn "the world", now I call it lunar new year when talking to my western friends, Tet when im in VN, Sonkran in Thailand (thought, different time line), etc...and learn what its called wherever I go to.

there are so many ways to call it, I don't think anyone should be offended if someone calls it differently. what you know defines what you call it...

im cn vn,... should I call it chinese tet?

someone mentioned "bad intentions" - if someone on purposely calls it chinese new year to upset a Vietnamese, then I'd just categorize it as "uneducated" instead.

who cares what you call it, as long as you get lots of lucky envelopes and are healthy for another year

lol redditors saying theyre not offended here but i can tell you, a lot of other people feel that way. in recent years, i do see this debate whenever the new year starts lmao. personally, when i lived abroad, i felt a little weird at first hearing cny. but in the end, it really is cny for them bc they are somewhat chinese lol, so i went along and said cny to them too. almost no one gives a f about this other than vietnamese lmao.

I am not Vietnamese but I always make a point to remind anybody that it is lunar new year.

In Chinese you call it Spring Festival.

In Vietnamese, you call it Tet.

In English, you call it Chinese New Year in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, etc.

If you really want to be historically precise, the Chinese new year is based on both solar and lunar calendars.

The unprovoked question is…is Lunar New Year short for Lunar and Solar New Year? 😂

To all the people down there keep saying China gave Vietnam New Year: There are many aspects need to be addressed here.

First, one need to acknowledge that ancient Viet already had a tradition to celebrated the new year. This is the predecessor of nowsaday Tết. We know this because BaiYue people celebrated the passing of time which is New Year, because the bronze drums signify New Year in their carving, and because Chinese historical record told us that cultures outside of China also celebrated In the north, Ancient Chinese also celebrated new year with their own tradition. The two traditon developed independently.

In ancient time, Chinese called people outside of Proper China "barbarian", lesser, stupid, savaged people, and consider themsevles civilzed and wise. Then, they considered it was their mission to spread civilization to the "barbarian." The narrative evovled into something along the line: these people were stupid people with no custom and tradition. It was China that gave them custom and tradition. This could not be further from the truth. These "barbarian" already had their own culture, but were subjugated and forced to adopt the Chinese way. So, many customs or at least the surviving concept of the customs predates Chinese influence, but the way people practice after Chinese subjugation up till modern time is influenced by them to various degree.

Let's go back to Việt Nam, Ancient Viet already celebrated New Year which is Tết, and this practice predates China domination. The surface of some Đông Sơn Bronze Drums is understood to be a calendar. We also know that Ancient Viet was an agricultural society. All evidence suggest that Ancient Việt knew how to tell and keep time. New Year marks the time to start breaking ground and sowing, to begin a new planting season. Any agricultural society will celebrate this day automactically, no need for outsider to teach them. It is absurd to say that Ancient Việt did not celebrate new year until the Chinese taught them to.

So, Tết has existed for a long long tim in Vietnamese culture, long before the Chinese came, but many practices that we perform during Tết was influenced by Chinese like lucky money, firework due to the periods of domniation and shared border.

It also worth pointing out that Chinese culture had a hard time penertrating Vietnamese culture in the first 200 years of the first domination. Not until the reign of emperor Guangwu of Han did we began to see influences of Chinese culture on Vietnamese culture. We can also observe this through linguistic lense. A majority of Sino - Vietnamese words have traces of Eastern Han (25 -220) dialect, while the influence of Western Han (202BC - 9) dialect is insignificant. This also lead to a theory that the uprising of the Trung sisters was a response to halt Chinese assimition. If you're saying that Vietnamese did not celebrate Tết until Chinese taught us how to, you're also saying that Vietnamese has only practice Tết for less than 2000 years.

Okay, so what's wrong with Chinese New Year. This name feeds into the narrative of Ancient China which is continued by modern Chinese and the CCP. They're aggressively labelling anything Eastern "Chinese", see how Chinese culture became prevelent globally after the 2000s. It feeds the notion that China gave the lesser people these custom while in fact, East Asian cultures developed many similar tradition and practices independently. It continues the narrative that we're stupid barbarian and we only got better thanks to China.

And if you look close enough, you'll begin to see the many differences between our way to celebrate and theirs.

Read some history and archeology findings before giving your informed opinion.

Obviously representation and voices has a strong impact on marketing/branding and foreigners association with China and other Asian citizens. Do not normalize westerners misconceptions of rich Asian cultures vs Asia = China. So, yes, say Lunar new year to educate the ignorant people.

Not at all, and I always smile at them and explain that we use the word "Lunar new year" and they always say "Oh, I did not know that :)". Please do not offended by people who just don't know about your culture. Just explain to them.

Call it tet in Vietnam. As you probably know china and Vietnam have a checkered past.

I understand why saying Chinese New Year can cause some to be offended, but to go out of your way to harass and even death threats is beyond me.

Here is my two cents. I used Lunar New Year when translating for my Vietnamese friend and relatives. Chinese New Year for foreigners cus it's more well-known.

A bit offended and I always correct ppl when they say “chinese” new year. And I make it a point to use Lunar new year and if other ppl correct me with CNY, I’m gonna argue till they get my point.

White people are the only people this hyper concerned with being unoffensive and offended over everything

Among Vietnamese, we call it "Tết." I have no issue with "Chinese New Year." There are many lunar calendars; e.g., Hebrew, Islamic, etc. So, people use Chinese Calendar, which was invented by the ancient Chinese, to identify a lunar calendar used (for farming, cultural, and religious purposes) in China and the region around it. Japan used to celebrate it, but stopped in 1873 after the Meiji Restoration.

We are not easily offended like some people Call it whatever but Tet is better as it’s the name here

kind of. saying "happy lunar new year" is the best way. you could say something like "ăn tết vui vẻ" if you have a conversation with vietnamese

Offend me, no.

Make me think you're one of those ignorant/uncultured people who think every East Asian looking person is Chinese, yes.

The term "Lunar New Year" (LNY) is used as a general name for the New Year celebrations in various countries that observe it. "Chinese New Year" (CNY) is often used in other countries to refer specifically to the Chinese celebration, but this term has been generalized to include all countries that celebrate LNY, due to a lack of awareness. As another contributor mentioned, Chinese people do not call it CNY; similarly, Vietnamese people refer to their celebration as Tet, which means "festival" or "holiday." It seems that the term "CNY" was created in the West and has become a part of common usage, unfortunately.

Ignorance cultivates hate. Education cultivates understanding.

nah i dont mind

I think no one care that much

My experience is that In USA most simply say Tet for Vietnam New Year, although there is a struggle by some Chinese to correct it to CNY generally speaking (of course as a matter of national pride). Lunar New Year seems to be the politically correct alternative that is inclusive to all communities. It really depends where you are coming from & how your community celebrates.

Fun fact: Chineses long time ago, tried to assimilate Vietnameses anyway. But our Vietnamese ancestors did not like that. Nowadays, we have our own culture and our own language🇻🇳. However, some words that we use is loan words from China, very much. NGL, after 1000 years Vietnam were a China colony, we do have our speaking

I would say it is a good idea to use 'Lunar New Year', 'New Year' or maybe even 'Spring Festival' but that last one does have a kind of chinese feel to it.

The Vietnamese, in general, are not going to pull you up on it, but they will appreciate your sensitivity and show of respect to their cultural traditions. And, OF COURSE, why not just say TET :)

It's not a sensitive topic but in general Vietnamese don't say Chinese or Lunar. It's generally Tet, what the celebration is called. However, when meeting and greeting others during this occasion they generally say Chúc Mừng Năm Mới, which translates to Congratulations (Chúc Mừng) New Year (Năm Mới). So, just New Year, not really specifying Lunar or Chinese.

Allways lunar new year or tet. Vietnam is not china!

Don’t think people care that much

Normal people will feel fine with it but nationalists (or keyboard heroes) don't. They are a bunch of sensitive fucks

CNY, or Tet. same shit different pile.

It is weird. Nobody calls January first American new year.

Reminded me of Bao and Shoto, two american that have no vietnam nationly said like that and they got super offended just because they(the vtuber) have parent that are vietnamese

I dont really care. Just the name

Despite what everyone said here, some Vietnamese really hated it when others said Chinese New Year.

Proof: https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/15cv43o/harassment_against_vtuber_how_baos_biggest_fans/ 

I will gladly explain to them why it is Lunar New Year. I don't get offended by these things, can't say the same thing for every Vietnamese I know though.

Yes, it bothers me very much!!!

The Lunar New Year is not exclusive to China; it is celebrated by many other Asian cultures and communities around the world, such as in Korea, Vietnam, and other countries with significant populations of people of East Asian descent.

Referring to the Lunar New Year as solely the Chinese New Year is ignorant because it overlooks the rich cultural diversity of the celebrations and the various traditions and customs associated with the holiday in different countries.

Not offended but really annoyed bcs LNY (neutral term) and CNY are different holiday/festival. Similar yes but theyre not the same

I'm not in a foreign country, but I can say, without any bias, it does not offend me in any way.

Here's my opinion about the others, and take it with a grain of salt. There are various regions that use Lunar calender, and calling it Chinese calendar isn't wrong nor offensive. Vietnam was invaded and enslaved by China for more than a thousand years, and getting influenced by Chinese was unavoidable. Maybe some uncultured patriots can take offence, especially the old and hard-headed Vietnamese, but most asians in foreign countries hate Chinese, even Chinese hates other Chinese.

CNY is not an offensive term to me, it’s where this tradition originated after all. When I speak to non-Viets, I do call it LNY. However, with Viets, I use Tết.

I wouldn't really mind that much, but it'd be more correct to say LNY

Though I remember a couple of years ago when Bao the Whale said CNY some people were very upset and held onto it for months, so yeah