第82章 福禄寿好运锦鲤

Chinese Lucky Symbols

In Chinese celebrations， whether it is important birthday or traditional festivals， one of the most quintessential elements is the lucky or auspicious symbols. Whether in the design patterns， in traditional art forms， or in the dishes and New Year banquet， they are simply numerous auspicious symbols.

?福禄寿三星

To most Chinese， when it es to lucky symbols， the top three are definitely fu (福)， lu (禄) and shou (寿). They are sometimes called the three Stellar Gods.

①福

Let's start with fu (福) which means fortune in general. During Chinese New Year， we would put up Red Squares with the character fu (福) on them. According to one interesting custom， some people would put their fu (福) character upside down based on a word play. In Chinese when you say the fu (福) character is upside down， it sounds like fortune has arrived.

One little reminder for you though according to tradition， you're actually not supposed to put the upside down fu (福) on your main door or main gate， otherwise you're just keeping the good fortune outside.

In traditional art and design， one rather unlikely animal traditionally associated with fortune is bat. That is because the character for fortune and the character for bat are homophones. Traditional art and design from architecture to clothing， from tapestries to toys， many things were decorated with auspicious bats.

②禄

Then let us move on to lu (禄). In ancient China， the Chinese character lu (禄) referred to salary and ranks. And as a result， lu (禄) is often associated with one's career and wealth. In traditional art， Luxing (禄星)， the god who is in charge of this aspect is often depicted carrying either a ruyi (如意) which is a symbol of authority and higher social status or a pile of golden ingots that make it a wealth symbol.

福禄寿好运锦鲤

Again， based on our favorite word play， gourds or hulu (葫芦) are seen as something related to lu (禄) because hulu (葫芦) sounds like hulu (护禄) literally mean protecting lu (禄). So traditionally， gourds were used as charms for scaring away evil spirits and diseases and guarding prosperity.

③寿

And then we have shou (寿) which means longevity. Even nowadays when someone is having their birthday celebration， we would call this person shouxing (寿星)， which was the original name of the stellar god in charge of longevity.

There are many longevity symbols in Chinese culture. Perhaps the one that you see most frequently at birthday parties for an elder person is the peach. That's because according to the legend， the Queen Mother of the West grows the peaches of immortality in her own orchard， and whoever gets to eat these peaches will live forever.

其他好运符号

①松柏与仙鹤

Apart from peaches and peach blossoms， other longevity symbols might include long lived evergreens like pines and cypresses and also cranes which are usually ridden by the immortals.

②鱼

In addition to the big three， lucky and auspicious symbols can easily be found in our daily life. Look at food for example， especially during some of our major traditional festivals. For the Chinese New Year banquet， most families would have fish because the character fish sounds like surplus. And in many regions， people would intentionally avoid finishing the fish dish just so that they could have surplus in the ing new year.

③年糕

In southern China， niangao (年糕) or glutinous rice cake is a lucky food eaten on Chinese New Year's Eve because in Chinese， niangao (年糕) sounds like getting higher every year. So with this auspicious food， you're likely to achieve more and bee more prosperous.

④汤圆

And for lantern festival， we have tangyuan (汤圆)， the glutinous rice ball or rice dumplings. They are eaten for two auspicious reasons. Both are round shapes and the pronunciation of the food symbolizes reunion and being together.

⑤龙；凤；丹顶鹤；鹿

Many auspicious animals are embroidered on traditional clothing. Apart from the very well-known dragons and phoenix， which were reserved for the imperial family， other animals which have made frequent appearance on clothing include red-crowned crane， symbol of longevity and high ranking officials; deer， which was also believed to be the carrier of immortals， on top of that， it has the same pronunciation “lu“ as in prosperity and happiness.

⑥鸳鸯

Another quite unique animal often seen on traditional clothing is the mandarin duck. They are the representatives of a loving couple and eternal love in Chinese culture.

⑦玉

Before we wrap up this episode， I would like to add one more auspicious symbol， something quite uniquely Chinese. This is jade. When it es to stones that are both valuable and auspicious， jade is the obvious choice. It is believed to be a heavenly stone that brings longevity and prosperity. In the Beijing Olympic Games， the gold medals were made of gold and had an inlay of white jade on the back.