articles
China Elevator Stories
Happy Chinese New Year of the Rooster
We glue couplets onto our doors for Chinese New Year.
27/01/2017
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Year of the Rooster. If you’ve ever been to China, you might have noticed red paper strips with couplets (对联) and red signs with the Chinese character for happiness (福) on the doors of many homes. Quite often, the characters are upside down. I learned years ago that putting the characters upside down is a wordplay – when you say “fu (happiness) is upside down (福倒了)” in Chinese, it sounds like “happiness has arrived (福到了)”.
But I learned something new today from my husband: You should only put the sign upside down if it is placed on a window facing water, such as a well. He couldn’t explain exactly why this is.
To me, celebrating the arrival of spring is a welcome festivity up here in Northeast China, where it will still be cold for a few more months to come. The monkey will make way for the rooster at midnight tonight. Here’s to a Happy New Year of the Rooster!
Do you celebrate Spring Festival?