I wonder why all Chinese New Year signs and greetings here say “Kung Hei Fat Choi”. This is the Cantonese way of saying “Happy New Year”!!!!!
In a country where the majority of Chinoys hail from the southern Chinese province of Fujian, we should be greeting each other the Fookien way, which is Gong Xi Fa Cai (pronounced kong-si-fa-chay). Or maybe we should even greet using the internationally used Mandarin, which is Xin Nian Kuai Le (pronounced sin-nien-kway-leh).
The commercialism of Hong Kong seems to have influenced us so much that it is the Hong Kong greeting that prevails over that of the dialects most spoken in the Philippines.
Call me conservative, call me what not, but I would much rather greet and be greeted in Fookien or Mandarin. So to one and all….
GONG XI FA CAI !!!