'Rabbit hands' bounce through Chinese cyberspace

A Chinese New Year gesture has been created for the Year of the Rabbit.

First found on Tianya.com, one of the most popular Chinese online forums, the gesture was introduced by a netizen called “Crazy Little Pomelo” (疯狂小柚子) who posted a series of photos showing people exactly how to do his new version of a typical Chinese New Year greeting.

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The gesture is pretty simple: bring your hands together, tightly interlace your fingers and then stick your thumbs up like rabbit year (see photo above). That’s it.

Some Chinese netizens are getting creative and putting smiley faces on their finger tips as well. Maybe that's for some extra New Year's cheer. 

In his post that’s now plastered across Chinese cyberspace, “Crazy Little Pomelo” also explains that “crossing fingers is to show intimacy, and the thumbs represent the rabbit’s ears.”

The article has spread across online forms with many netizens replying by posting their own Chinese New Year benediction gestures. 疯狂小柚子's post received over 25,000 hits in the first few days it was up.

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As reported by ChinaNews.com, the gesture quickly won the most “geiliable” (hottest) benediction gesture in China and is widely chatted about on Chinese microblogs with many users reporting that they have already texted their friends and relatives this gesture when sending Chinese New Year wishes.

Li Ying, a teacher in Psychology said to the paper that the popular hand gesture reflected the netizens’ wisdom and their hope for a new beginning in the Year of the Rabbit.