The Chinese believed that he had the power to control the life span of mortals, so offerings were given to him to ensure a long life with happiness and good health. Legend has it that Shouxing lives at the South Pole, as the South is the region of life while the North is the region of death. The Chinese character is also associated with Shouxing, the god of longevity. Sometimes, it’s featured on embroidery, ceramics, jewelry, furniture and so on. Shòu – LongevityĪ character for longevity, shòu is commonly used at birthdays to wish the celebrant a long life. Today, the symbol is still believed to bring monetary fortune, so people use it as decoration for attracting wealth.
Therefore, it also meant wealth and prosperity during the era. In feudal China, lu literally meant the salary of government officials who had the highest social status next to the emperor. However, the words good luck and bat are written in different characters even though they have the same pronunciation. In fact, a group of five bats is a traditional Chinese symbol for blessings-love of virtue, long life, health, wealth, and peaceful death. Interestingly, the pronunciation of fu for good luck has the same pronunciation as the word bat, which makes the creature a lucky symbol. Since then, the upside down fu became associated with luck. Empress Ma, in consternation, quickly intervened, saying that the family had intentionally pasted the fu upside down, as they had known that the emperor would be coming there on that day – didn’t it mean that they thought fu (blessings) was coming? Luckily, this logic appealed to the emperor and he spared the family. In anger, the emperor said to kill the family with the upside down fu. When the soldiers went searching for the marked family, they found the character on all the doors and didn’t know which family to kill. One illiterate family displayed the character upside down. He marked their door with the Chinese character fu, but in order to avoid bloodshed, the empress instructed every family in the region to display the same character on their doors. In a legend, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty planned to kill a family who had insulted his wife, Empress Ma. In modern times, the character is also displayed upside down, because the reversed fu is homophonic with fu comes, or blessing comes. The tradition of displaying the symbol on walls and doors originated from the customs of the Song dynasty, which stretched from 960 to 1127 CE. One of the most popular characters used in Chinese New Year, fu means blessing, good luck, and good fortune. Today, it’s also a popular motif used during anniversaries, and regarded as a feng shui cure for love and marriage. By the time of the wedding of Emperor Guangxu, the symbol was being depicted on royal robes and ruyi scepters as a symbol of love and good luck in imperial ceremonies. The double happiness symbol became popular during the Qing dynasty, when the wedding area of Emperor Tongzhi was decorated with it. In traditional Chinese weddings, the double happiness symbol (囍) is commonly featured on the red bridal gown, called cheongsam or qipao, wedding cakes, chopsticks, and invitations. The Chinese character xi means joy or happiness, but it’s typically written twice, which becomes shuangxi or double happiness. In Chinese, the expression translates as “Wo ai ni,” though some families rarely express these words. In the West, “I love you” is a popular expression of love. In its traditional form, it includes the character xin, meaning heart, suggesting that the symbol means to love from your heart. Pronounced as aye, ài is the Chinese character for love in all aspects, such as the love between lovers, friends, siblings, as well as a patriot’s love for his country. In Chinese culture, it’s a tradition to give gifts decorated with symbols.
Since some Chinese characters have unfortunate homophony, they’re also avoided in gifts, such as pears that sound like separation, or clock that sounds like the phase that means attending a funeral. For instance, in Chinese the number eight is a lucky number because the word eight sounds like the word for wealth. Much of the symbolism of Chinese characters is derived from homonyms-words with the same sound but different meaning. By the Han dynasty, from 206 BCE to 220 CE, they had lost most of their pictorial quality, and later transitioned into the modern-day script we know today. Some Chinese characters evolved from pictures, as evident from the oracle bone inscriptions during the Shang dynasty. Even though these characters are a system of symbols used to write, they’re richer in nuances and meanings. Unlike an alphabet that represents only sounds, Chinese characters express a concept.
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