Memories of singing Happy Birthday in Chinese with my family
Before college, most of my childhood birthdays were spent in Toronto, Canada with my Chinese relatives. Although our celebrations were simple, I remember my parents, auntie, and grandfather singing 生日快乐 / 生日快樂 Happy Birthday lyrics in Chinese.
Nowadays, I am singing 生日快乐 Happy Birthday in Chinese almost everyday with my 2 children!
During pretend play, my children are often hosting pretend birthday parties and thus singing 生日快乐.
In addition, to ensure my 2-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter are washing their hands long enough (at least 20 seconds), they sing 生日快乐 twice!
Celebrating birthdays in Chinese culture
In this post, I’ll introduce some important features of birthdays in Chinese culture. We haven’t kept up with all of these traditions with my half-Chinese children, but we enjoy learning about traditions that have been upheld through many generations!
The article concludes with printable Happy Birthday lyrics in simplified/traditional Chinese Pinyin, and English. I’ve also created free writing worksheets to help older children practice tracing the birthday song lyrics!
Happy Birthday Cake with Chinese style!
My birthday cakes in Toronto were always from a Chinese bakery. In contrast to American cakes, our Chinese birthday cakes were often adorned with fresh fruit.
The birthday message on the cake was always written in red, a bold color which signifies good fortune in Chinese culture.
For my grandfather’s birthday celebrations, I remember seeing the Chinese character 寿 / 壽 (shòu) on his birthday cake. This word means longevity, which is a positive wish for someone’s birthday.
Special birthday gift in Chinese culture: red envelopes
Chinese 红包 (Hóngbāo / Red Envelopes) are important gifts for all special Chinese occasions, including birthdays.
Ages that end with a 9 for women and 0 for men are considered major milestones.
Cash is usually placed in the Chinese red envelopes. Lucky amounts include:
$88 because 八 (bā / 8) sounds like 发 (fā) as in 发财 / 發財 (fācái / wealth).
$99 because 九 (jiǔ / 9) sounds like 久 (jiǔ / everlasting).
For families who are just starting to learn Chinese, Emma’s YouTube video teaches how to sing the birthday song in Chinese. Start the video at 0:30 in order to skip the intro and see her teaching.
Happy Birthday Song Lyrics in Chinese (Simplified), Pinyin, and English!
祝你生日快乐 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你生日快乐 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你幸福， 祝你健康 (Zhù nǐ xìng fú, zhù nǐ jiàn kāng) Here’s to your happiness, Here’s to your good health
祝你前途光明 (Zhù nǐ qián tú guāng míng) May your future be bright
祝你生日快乐 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你生日快乐 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你幸福， 祝你健康 (Zhù nǐ xìng fú, zhù nǐ jiàn kāng) Here’s to your happiness, Here’s to your good health
有个温暖家庭 (Yǒu gè wēn nuǎn jiā tíng) Here’s to your family!
Happy Birthday Song Lyrics in Chinese (Traditional), Pinyin, and English!
祝你生日快樂 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你生日快樂 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你幸福， 祝你健康 (Zhù nǐ xìng fú, zhù nǐ jiàn kāng) Here’s to your happiness, Here’s to your good health
祝你前途光明 (Zhù nǐ qián tú guāng míng) May your future be bright
祝你生日快樂 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你生日快樂 (Zhù nǐ shēng rì kuài lè) Happy Birthday to You
祝你幸福， 祝你健康 (Zhù nǐ xìng fú, zhù nǐ jiàn kāng) Here’s to your happiness, Here’s to your good health
有個溫暖家庭 (Yǒu gè wēn nuǎn jiā tíng) Here’s to your family!
Happy Birthday song lyrics in Chinese: Download here!
Since I’m learning Chinese with my daughter, I also print out the writing grids for myself. This is why the above photo of the writing worksheets says “妈妈 Māmā” for 名字 (míngzì / name)!
Chinese Happy Birthday Lyrics Word Puzzle
Another fun way to review Happy Birthday song lyrics is by cutting up the writing grid and turning it into a puzzle!
For beginners, I recommend:
Providing a complete copy of the lyrics to serve as a control. This way a young learner can feel relaxed about focusing on the characters without worrying too much about memorizing from the onset
Tracing the Chinese characters before cutting up the lyrics. As you can see, the light gray font is not very easy to see as the purpose is for your writing to stand out. When you or your child writes over each word, the Chinese characters will be easier to read and remember.
Tips for teaching Happy Birthday Lyrics in Chinese
Please note that the font is extra large so that it is easier for young children to read the Chinese characters.
Also, each file has the Chinese birthday song with and without Pinyin/English.
I recommend that you give your child the Chinese song lyrics without Pinyin/English.
This will help him or her learn to read the Chinese characters distraction-free.
I'm a Chinese-American mom who is having fun teaching my children Mandarin Chinese while re-learning the language myself. I love coming up with creative, hands-on, and educational activities, and I hope these ideas help your children have fun learning Chinese!
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