Prince William on Tuesday wished a happy Chinese New Year in Mandarin. A video of his greeting, where he says, “Zhu ni men chun jie kuai le, yang nian da ji,” was recorded and can be seen here:
“I wish you a happy Chinese New Year and good luck in the Year of the Sheep,” he said, according to a translation. William, the Duke of Cambridge, will come to Beijing on March 1.
There has been some confusion as to if this year is the Year of the Goat, Year of the Sheep, or Year of the Ram. First, a ram is just a male sheep. The Chinese character “yang” describes any of the ruminating animals, including goats, rams, and sheep. Goat is “shanyang” and sheep is “mianyang,” according to the CBC.