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If you have ever dined in a Chinese restaurant or attended a Chinese wedding, you have probably seen this symbol. This symbol means “double happiness.” If you look at it closely, you can make out the image of two people walking arm in arm. The long horizontal line in the center represents the arms. The two “boxes” at the bottom of the kanji are the two sets of legs of the couple. The two “boxes” in the middle of the Chinese character are the heads of the couple. And, on top of each head is a “hat.”
This Chinese character “Double Happiness” is a very important symbol in the Chinese culture. It represents a certain outlook and philosophy on life. Namely, it conveys the idea that man and woman are meant to go through life together. Every person, in effect, has a soul mate in this world. The story about how this symbol was created reinforces this theme.
During the Tang Dynasty, a young man set out from his village on a journey to the capitol city to take a national examination. On his way, he fell ill and had to stop at another village. There, he was cared for by an herbalist and his young daughter. The young man lamented the fact that he had to continue on his way to the capitol. The man and woman had fallen in love. As a sign of her affection, the young woman wrote down the right hand portion of a couplet for the man to keep until his return to her.
“Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the sky set off the spring trees in the obscuration.”
Bolstered by her love, the young men continued to the capitol, where he scored the highest marks on the examination. As reward for his achievement, he was brought before the emperor. wedding_red_dress1.jpgDuring the meeting, the emperor decided to test the intellectual prowess of the young man. He wrote down a portion of a couplet and asked the young man to recite the complement.
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“Red flowers dot the land in the breeze’s chase while the land colored up in red after the kiss.”
The young man immediately realized that the match to the emperor’s couplet was the right hand portion that his beloved had given him. After hearing the young man recite the couplet, the emperor was so impressed that he appointed the young man court Minister.
The young man returned to his beloved’s village to deliver the good news and to marry the young woman. At the wedding ceremony, the young woman wrote down on a red piece of paper the symbol for happiness and “doubled” it in recognition of the two auspicious events. To this day, newlyweds make sure that the Double Happiness is prominently displayed at their weddings. It is truly a symbol of love and destiny.
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From: http://blog.chinesehour.com
