Explore one of the three great Buddhist sculptural sites in China at the incredible Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi province. The 200+ grottoes here contain well over 50,000 Buddhas. You’ll have to see it to believe it!

云冈石窟 – yún gāng shí kū
Yungang Grottoes

北魏 – běi wèi
Northern Wei Dynasty

灵岩寺 – líng yán sì
Lingyan Temple

烧香 – shāo xiāng
burn incense

中国文化 – zhōng guó wén huà
Chinese culture

他们也有一家博物馆 – tā men yě yǒu yì jiā bó wù guǎn
They also have a museum.

A few days ago, we introduced a bunch of different ways to say “Hello” in Chinese. Naturally, today we’re going to look at a few different words that can be used to say “Goodbye.”

A simple video on how to say goodbye in Chinese.

Here are ten Chinese goodbyes, with English, Chinese characters, and pinyin transliteration:

Here are some tips for using these:

• The most common way to say goodbye in Chinese is definitely 再见.
• 拜拜 is a casual goodbye that is usually used with friends/on the phone. It’s definitely a Chinese version of the English “Bye bye.”
• If you plan on seeing someone again soon, you can use both 回头见 and 一会儿见.
• I often use 下次见 with my students. Since we just see each other at class time, saying “See you next time” is a good way to say goodbye.
• You’ll often hear 慢走 when leaving a restaurant. It makes sense, seeing as how you’ll already be walking slow thanks to all the food you ate and beer you drank.
• Both 一路平安 and 一路顺风 are ways to say goodbye to someone when they’re going away on a vacation or something. I expect to hear this a lot this fall when I head out of Beijing to travel SE Asia for a few months.

In case you missed it, this is a video I made about Chinese Greetings.

Well there you go… you’re now equipped with over 25 ways to say “Hello” and “Goodbye” in Chinese. You should be able to greet any person in any situation once you’ve got all those down. Don’t forget you can always learn a new Chinese word every day with us!

When learning a language, chances are the first word you will learn is the equivalent of “Hello.” After all, you can’t really start talking to someone before greeting them! Just like in English, where we have a ton of ways to greet someone (Hello, Hi, Hey, What’s up?, How are you?, etc.), there are plenty of options in Chinese as well.

The most common way to say "Hello" in Chinese.

Here are 15 different ways to greet someone in Mandarin Chinese, in an easy-to-follow table with English, Chinese characters, and pinyin transliteration:

A nice and easy YouTube video about saying “Hello” in Chinese.

Ok… do you have those 15 expressions down? Test yourself by choosing the proper greeting for the following situations:

• You greet someone after dinner, at around 7 PM.
• You greet your Chinese teacher before class.
• You see an old friend for the first time in a long time.
• You greet an acquaintance who is your age.
• You greet a potential business partner for the first time.
• You answer your phone.
• You greet an elder.
• You greet someone after breakfast, at around 9 AM.
• You greet a good friend.
• You greet a large group of people.
• You greet someone after lunch, at around 1 PM.
• You greet two of your classmates who you are studying with.

Now that you know 15 common greetings, do your best to try and use them in the appropriate situations. Check back here in the near future for a post about how to say goodbye in Chinese.