春节到，贴一副英文春联吧！

English language couplets have become a new and stylish way among Chinese young people to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival.

中国年轻人当中掀起了贴英文春联庆祝春节的新潮流。

On China’s biggest consumer online shopping platform Taobao, there are dozens of shops selling several kinds of couplets in English. A typical one reads "eat well, sleep well, have fun day by day" and "study good, work good, make money more and more".

在中国最大的网络购物平台淘宝网上，有几十家网店都在出售多个版本的英文春联。其中一副典型的英文春联上联是：eat well, sleep well, have fun day by day（吃的好睡的好开心每天），下联是study good, work good, make money more and more（学习好工作好赚钱多多）。

Yu Runrun, who owns a Beijing shop, expects to sell about 600 sets of English couplets during the holiday season.

北京的一位淘宝店主于润润（音）预计在春节假期期间将卖出大约600副英文春联。

I began to sell English couplets four years ago, when I saw a friend from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region hanging couplets hand-lettered in the Mongolian language during Spring Festival, said Yu.

他说：“四年前，我看到一位内蒙古自治区的朋友在春节时贴上手写版的蒙古语春联，于是我开始卖英文春联。”

A set of English couplets in his shop costs 25 yuan, almost double the price of the Chinese couplets.

他的店内一副英文春联售价25元，是中文春联价格的近两倍。

Most of our buyers are young people who want to look cool and are willing to pay extra for fashionable things, Yu said, adding that some send the couplets to foreign friends as gifts.

他说：“大多数买家是年轻人，他们觉得这样看起来很酷，也愿意为时尚产品多掏钱。”他还补充说，一些人买来送给外国朋友当礼物。

Foreigners living in China also buy the English couplets to celebrate the festival, but my English is not good enough to talk with them, said the 33-year-old Beijinger.

33岁的于先生说：“住在中国的老外也会买英文春联庆祝春节，但我英语不好，没法和他们交流。”

Spring Festival couplets, two complementary poetic lines adhering to certain rules, are one of the most common and important customs to celebrate Chinese New Year. They are often used to decorate doors and walls to express hope and happiness for the coming year.

春联是按照平仄规则写成的两句对仗诗句，是庆祝春节时最常见也最重要的习俗之一，通常贴在门两侧和墙上，表达对来年的期盼和迎新年的喜悦之情。

Mo Hao, who teaches English at Guangdong University of Foreign study’s South China Business College, bought two sets of such couplets from Taobao, one for himself and the other for his colleague, Benjamin Wolken, who is from the United States. "It is very special and actually quite good-looking, which will certainly stand out," Mo said.

广东外语外贸大学南国商学院英语教师郝墨（音）在淘宝网购买了两副英文春联。一副自用，一副送给来自美国的同事本杰明-沃尔肯。他说：“这很特别，也很好看，会非常显眼。”

Wolken said, "I would consider buying the couplets for myself, or even make my own set in English, so I can talk more with the people around me to learn Chinese culture and language."

沃尔肯说：“我会考虑自己买英文春联，或者自己用英文写一副，这样我能多和周围的人交谈，学习更多的中国文化和汉语。”

He added, "I like being a part of the Chinese community, so I enjoy being a part of the traditions."

他补充说：“我喜欢融入中国社区中，体验到传统习俗让我很愉快。”

The key to selling more English couplets is that they should consist of really simple words, so that people can easily understand the meaning, said Yu, the shopkeeper.

店主于先生说，卖出更多英文春联的关键是单词尽量简单，这样人们就更容易看懂。

Grammar is not important and ’Chinglish’ is also acceptable. If the sentence is grammatically incorrect, people will like it even more, just like the well-known and popular Chinglish proverb ’Good good study, day day up’, he said.

他说：“语法并不重要，中式英语也可以接受。如果句子有语法错误，人们反而更喜欢，就像人们用Good good study, day day up来表达众人皆知的俗语‘好好学习，天天向上’一样。”

After all, Spring Festival should be a happy reunion, he added.

他补充说，毕竟春节应该是一次快乐的团聚。