福(fú)

Another important part of celebrating the Spring Festival is putting up Spring Festival couplets. These red Spring Festival couplets, on which words are written, are pasted on doors and walls. The Chinese character most commonly found on these couplets is “福(fú)”.

Furthermore, it is pasted upside-down. The oracle bone script for “福” looks like a bottle filled with liquor and an altar. This character was used to denote people using good wine as sacrifice to the gods in prayer for happiness. later, the character “福” came to mean “joy” or “happiness”, and was used to symbolize good luck. In ancient China, there were “five blessings”—五福(wǔ fú): longevity, wealth, health, good moral character, and a peaceful life.

Therefore, when celebrating the New Year, people often pasted the character “福” on doors, hoping that life in the coming year would be happy and joyful. And the character is always pasted upside-down. This is because, in spoken Chinese, the characters “倒(dào) ‘upside-down’” and “到(dào) ‘arrive’” have the same pronunciation. The expression “福倒了fú dào le” (the ‘fu’ character is upside-down), therefore sounds the same as “福到了” (your luck has arrived).