:)

现在这个时间也可以问大家 ”新年过得怎么样?"

you'd better say "你好吗？" instead of "你怎么样？"

At my university "你好吗" is a common use when the teacher speak to us. From your explanation it seems like a psy consultation lol.

Anyway now i'll just say 最近怎么样.

B.t.w: My language exchange partner also uses 马马虎虎， which is, as I learned from cpod lessons, a phrase that foreigners like but Chinese don't really use.

Oh boy - back to the drawing board

I mean when you want to say " how are you", you should say "你好吗？“ instead of ”你怎么样？“.

a lot of Chinese teachers like to use this to help the beginners.

if u want to learn some thing from a stranger,you can use this sentence to begin with

过年好　guòniánhǎo

新年快乐　xīnniánkuàile happy new year

你放炮了没？　nǐfàngpàolemei? Did you let off some firecrackers?

If the person did not, usually they were so excited to hear these questions that they would reply.

没有就看别的人放了 méiyǒujiùkànbiéderénfàngle No, I just watched allow people let off firecrackers.

I would reply, 好玩儿吗？hǎowánma? Was that fun?

The reply was, 好玩！hǎowán! Good fun!

The exclaimation mark really means something, because after this short dialogue, the person I am talking to is usually very happy and excited that you are concerned about how they enjoyed they Chinese New Year. 

I did not bother ask if they received red bags of money or who they enjoyed their time with, for a college or stranger that would be too much to 打扰 dǎrǎo (disturb or trouble)

During 2009, Beijing went through the "Kaixin001.com craze" and many local chinese were busy "growing" "electronic" vegetables. A common way of starting conversation during that time was "今天你偷了没？" jīntiānnǐtōulemei? Meaning have you stolen vegetables from your friends "electronic vegetable patch" today?

Besides compliments on a person's beauty the best next thing to really start conversation is to understand what is it that the person wants to talk about, and then knowing how to say it. During that time, everyone wanted to talk about how they were "stealing" vegetable product in a web based game.

If at eating time i.e. breakfast, lunch or dinner time, then 你吃了吗？is a common greating because it is common sense that what is on the mind of someone during that time is the act of eating, the thinking about eating soon or the satisfaction of eating after the meal. You can choose how to answer, in order to to have a long or short conversation.

 All the best

so, what's the best way?

It goes both ways. I have tried to start up conversations by saying something like, "The weather is nice today," and usually they just say "yes."

I think if one really wants to get a conversation going with an open sentence, perhaps 你最近忙吗？ pretty much equates to "how's it going?" And if they don't take the bait, perhaps something more direct would suffice, such as 你最近忙什么呢？

That's my 2 cents.

I think I will use it.  Thanks.

不吃早饭不行。早饭是一天三顿饭中第一重要的， 最有营养的。

我可以证明。 一天不吃早饭就会有严重的头疼！ 抛弃早饭的健康材料(浓缩咖啡加上浓缩咖啡)对身体不好。

你好吗？is the Chinese translation of the first English phrase we learn, so young people who have received English education can accept this way of greeting. However, if you greet my parents or my grandparents by asking 你好吗, they would be puzzled. They may figure it out and then asnwer you 我很好, but it's just not a typical way they greet each other.

Ｉuse a lot of 马马虎虎 with my students too because I know they like this phrase a lot. I usually tell them we use more often 还好／还可以 in its place, but most students tend to remember only 马马虎虎。It really takes a long time for them to transfer to 还可以, so to facilate daily conversation, I use 马马虎虎 before they are used to understand 还好。

I'm a Chinese, and a green hand in English. so if I do wrong in speak English, please teach me.

thanks

Thanks for the feedback.

Though each time I asked this question to all of the chinese people I spoke to, of which were not over the age of 50 years all opened up to this type of conversation continued to speak with me. They enjoyed my level of communication and interest in them, so they continue to speak with me. And as they smiled, they at times did speak about their families' children; and to see on the faces of what those children enjoyed doing too, made the person was speaking with happy aswell.

Just as interesting, in my personal experience this last week in Beijing, I and my non-chinese colleges have seen Chinese people of all ages, children and adults, enjoying themselves letting off firecrackers.

All the best

I personally don't use “马马虎虎” very often because I'm not so sure about the usage of the phrase. To me, “还可以” is a safe bet when I want to say "passable". Of course "马马虎虎" can also be used in the sense of "passable", but the phrase has another meaning "careless, sloppy".