Traditional Chinese Festivals and Culture

Author: Zhang Haiying / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features:
Sticking the character "" and inverting it are traditional customs for the Spring Festival in China. During the New Year, households paste large and small characters "" on their doors, walls, and doorframes. The character "" symbolizes "happiness" and carries meanings such as "blessings" and "good fortune." Sticking "" characters during the Spring Festival, whether in the past or present, reflects people's aspirations for a happy life and blessings for a bright future. Interestingly, the tradition of sticking "" characters is also linked to a legend about Empress Ma, the wife of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, who had large feet.
One year during the Spring Festival, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang visited the streets of the capital in disguise. He came to a market in the southern part of the city and saw many people gathered around a New Year print. The print depicted a barefoot woman (unbound feet) holding a large watermelon. This was supposed to be an ordinary print reflecting the joy of farmers after a bountiful harvest, but Zhu Yuanzhang was deeply displeased upon seeing it. He believed the print's hidden meaning was "Huai (holding) West (watermelon) woman has big feet," mocking the large feet of women from Huai'an in Western Anhui, where Empress Ma was from. Without showing his displeasure, he quietly memorized this detail.
After returning to the palace, he ordered his men to investigate who created the print, who had gathered to watch, and to record their addresses and names. For those who had not participated or laughed, he had a "" character pasted on their doors. Then, he commanded his soldiers to arrest people from households without the "" character.
Empress Ma, hearing about this, wanted to prevent the innocent people from suffering unjust execution. She ordered all households in the city to paste a "" character on their doors before dawn. As a result, every household pasted a "" character, except for one that was illiterate and accidentally placed it upside down.
The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to check the streets and found that every household had a "" character, with one placed upside down. Enraged, he immediately ordered the execution of the entire family. In a moment of quick thinking, Empress Ma said to the emperor, "That family knew you were coming today and deliberately placed the '' character upside down—doesn't that mean 'blessings have arrived'?" The emperor, realizing she had a point, ordered them to be released, avoiding a disaster.
From then on, every Chinese New Year's Eve, people pasted a "" character on their doors to show "proper conduct" and ensure safety. This kind of good intention, from "avoiding suspicion" to "blessing," has been passed down to this day. Sometimes, people turn the "" character upside down to fully express their hopes and blessings—to seek good fortune, symbolizing "happiness has arrived" or "blessings have arrived," and to honor Empress Ma.
In folk culture, the "" character is finely crafted into various exquisite designs, such as the White-Browed Old Immortal, a large longevity peach, a carp leaping over the dragon gate, a bountiful harvest, and the auspicious sight of dragons and phoenixes. A simple "" character embodies rich cultural and national significance. P6-7