CULTURE DAY | Explore Chinese Culture and Welcome Spring Festival
01 Feb 2024As the Spring Festival is drawing closer, ISA organized the activity of “Explore Chinese Culture and Welcome Spring Festival” on 31st Jan, increasing the great festive atmosphere in HKUST(GZ). International students learned to write Spring Festival couplets under the guidance of members of Calligraphy Club, and experienced the charm of traditional Chinese Spring Festival culture in this special way.
Maymay and Yufan Xiao first introduced the significance and customs of Chinese New Year. After that, Yolandar and Ann, with their exceptional and proficient skills, guided the international students to write the couplets and the character “福”, which means happiness and blessing in Chinese, with blessings and wishes.
Though writing Chinese Calligraphy is very challenging for international students, under the instructions of members of Calligraphy Club in HKUST(GZ), they learned how to master brushes and understood the meaning of words on different couplets.
Many international students accomplished beautiful works and hang these red couplets in front of C2-101, which decorated the Department of International Students Affairs with their creativity.
Legend and History of Spring Festival Couplets
It is said that spring couplets originated from "peach wood charms," door gods painted on wood charms in earlier times. During the Five Dynasties Period (907-960), the Emperor Meng Chang inscribed an inspired couplet on a peach slat, beginning a custom that gradually evolved into today's popular custom of displaying spring couplets. In addition to pasting couplets on both sides and above the main door, it is also common to hang calligraphic writing of the Chinese characters for "spring," "wealth," and "blessing." Some people will even invert the drawings of blessing since the Chinese for "inverted" is a homonym in Chinese for "arrive," thus signifying that spring, wealth, or blessing has arrived.
How to Read the Spring Festival Couplets?
The order in traditional Chinese writing is different from that in western countries or modern China. In the past, people were accustomed to writing in vertical lines from right to left. The traditional couplets followed this rule, but things have changed. Sometimes people don't follow the rules, and they even make mistakes. Here is the way to read Spring Festival Couplets:
First, look at the horizontal scroll. If the four characters are written from left to right, the upper scroll will be on the left and the lower scroll on the right. If the characters of the horizontal scroll are reversed, the two side scrolls should be read from right to left.
Examples of Spring Festival Couplets
①
上联：丹凤呈祥龙献瑞 [dān fèng chéng xiáng lóng xiàn ruì]
下联：红桃贺岁杏迎春 [hóng táo hè suì xìng yíng chūn]
横批：福满人间 [fú mǎn rén jiān]
Upper Scroll: Dragon and phoenix bring the prosperity
Lower Scroll: Peach and apricot blossoms welcome the spring
Horizontal Scroll: Blessing on the Land
②
上联：红梅含苞傲冬雪 [hóng méi hán bāo ào dōng xuě]
下联：绿柳吐絮迎新春 [lǜ liǔ tǔ xù yíng xīn chūn]
横批：欢度春节 [huān dù chūn jié]
Upper Scroll: Red plum’s bud stands the snowy winter
Lower Scroll: Green willow’s catkin indicates the new spring
Horizontal Scroll: Happy Spring Festival
③
上联：春雨丝丝润万物 [chūn yǔ sī sī rùn wàn wù]
下联：红梅点点绣千山 [hóng méi diǎn diǎn xiù qiān shān]
横批：春意盎然 [chūn yì àng rán]
Upper Scroll: Spring rain nourishes the plants
Lower Scroll: Red plum decorates the mountains
Horizontal Scroll: Spring in the Air
④
上联：事事如意大吉祥 [shì shì rú yì dà jí xiáng]
下联：家家顺心永安康 [jiā jiā shùn xīn yǒng ān kāng]
横批：四季兴隆 [sì jì xīng lóng]
Upper Scroll: May you have good luck in everything
Lower Scroll: May you feel content and your family healthy
Horizontal Scroll: Flourishing in Four Seasons
⑤
上联：迎新春江山锦绣 [yíng xīn chūn jiāng shān jǐn xiù]
下联：辞旧岁事泰辉煌 [cí jiù suì shì tài huī huáng]
横批：春意盎然 [chūn yì àng rán]
Upper Scroll: Ring in the spring; landscape is splendid
Lower Scroll: Ring out the past; everything is glorious
Horizontal Scroll: A Refreshed Spring