Ten thousand years
East Asian phrase used to wish long life
In various East Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese, the phrase wànsuì, banzai, manse, and vạn tuế, respectively, meaning myriad years is used to wish long life, and is typically translated as "long live" in English. The phrase originated in ancient China as an expression used to wish long life to the emperor. Due to the historical political and cultural influence of Chinese culture on the East Asian cultural sphere, in the area, and in particular of the Classical Chinese language, cognates with similar meanings and usage patterns have appeared in many East Asian languages and Vietnamese. In some countries, this phrase is mundanely used when expressing feeling of triumph, typically shouted by crowds.
China
In Chinese, ten thousand or "myriad" is the largest numerical order of magnitude in common usage, and is used ubiquitously as a synonym for "indefinitely large number". The term wansui (萬歲), literally meaning "ten thousand years", is thus used to describe a very long life, or even immortality for a person.
Although the First Emperor of Qin also wished "ten thousand generations" (万世) for his imperial rule, the use of wansui was probably coined during Han dynasty. In 110 BC, Emperor Wu of Han was addressed by the phrase "Wansui" during a heaven ritual on Mount Song. According to legend, Mount Song itself called out the phrase to address the emperor. During the Tang dynasty, it came to be used exclusively to address the emperor as a prayer for his long life and reign.
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