Double Happiness () sometimes translated as Double Happy, is a Chinese traditional ornament design, commonly used as a decoration symbol of marriage. Outside of China, it is also used in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

Characteristics

Double Happiness is a

ligature Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...

, "囍" composed of 喜喜 – two copies of the

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

(') literally meaning joy, compressed to assume the square shape of a standard Chinese character (much as a real character may consist of two parts), and is pronounced simply as ''xǐ'' or as a

polysyllabic Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...

, being read as 双喜 (''shuāngxǐ''). Typically the character "囍" is written in

Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held in high est ...

, and frequently appears on traditional decorative items, associated with marriage. Double happiness symbol also often found all over the wedding ceremony, as well as on gift items given to the bride and groom. The color of the character is usually red, occasionally black. Since 2017, the version 10 of the

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...

Standard features a rounded version of the character in the "

Enclosed Ideographic Supplement Enclosed Ideographic Supplement is a Unicode block containing forms of characters and words from Chinese, Japanese and Korean enclosed within or stylised as squares, brackets, or circles. It contains three such characters containing one or more ...

" block, at code point .

In popular culture

Nowadays ''shuāngxǐ'' (alternative transcriptions, ''Shuang hsi'') is used as a brand names for things like fashion, jewelry,

cigarettes A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

, matches, soy sauce, etc. It is also featured as decoration on many items by Chinese luxury brand

Shanghai Tang Shanghai Tang () is a Hong Kong luxury fashion house founded in 1994 by Hong Kong businessman David Tang. The brand is known for its luxury homeware collection and fine bone china. In 1998, Richemont acquired David Tang's controlling stake i ...

. Hong Kong lifestyle retail store

G.O.D. Groove Over Dose, known by the acronym g.o.d (), is a South Korean boy band formed by SidusHQ. Debuting in 1999, the group became one of the most popular boy bands of the early 2000s in South Korea. The members had gone on to solo careers in th ...

designs many products themed with the double happiness symbol, including scented candles, accessories and Ming-inspired tableware and tea sets.

Gallery

File:宋氏祖居 02.jpg, A double happiness character on the door ring of

Soong Ching-ling Rosamond Soong Ch'ing-ling (27 January 189329 May 1981) was a Chinese political figure. As the third wife of Sun Yat-sen, then Premier of the Kuomintang and President of the Republic of China, she was often referred to as Madame Sun Yat-sen. ...

's ancestral home in

Wenchang Wenchang ( postal: Mencheong; ) is a county-level city in the northeast of Hainan province, China. Although called a "city", Wenchang refers to a large land area in Hainan - an area which was once a county. The urban center and the seat of govern ...

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

File:Hall of China 04.JPG, A porcelain vase from the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

with double happiness characters File:Blue and White Yi Bowl.png, Rice bowl cover decorated with a medallion of the double happiness and longevity ( Shou) symbol in the center, from

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

Korea File:Vietnamese wedding decoration.JPG, A Vietnamese wedding decoration, with a double happiness character File:Traditional chinese wedding 003.jpg, Traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, with a double happiness character in the background File:Forbidden City art collection pic 6.jpg,

Palace of Earthly Tranquility The Palace of Earthly Tranquility (; Manchu: ''kun ning gung'') is the northernmost of the three main halls of the Inner Court of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. The other two halls are the Palace of Heavenly Purity and Hall of Union. The ...

(坤宁宫) of the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a Chinese palace, palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples includ ...

, with traditional Chinese wedding decorations and a double happiness character in the foreground File:Wedding-invitation-cards.jpg, Chinese wedding invitation cards with double happiness characters File:Red bomb.jpg, Chinese wedding invitation card with a double happiness character in the center File:Songhy.jpg, Double happiness decorations File:HK 海怡半島 South Horizons 住戶俱樂部 Residents Club Chinese 囍 wedding teawave Jan-2013.JPG, Chinese wedding ceremony teaware, with double happiness characters on them File:Chinese wedding tea.jpg, Chinese wedding ceremony teaware File:HK TST night Nathan Road Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard Sept-2012 Chow Sang Sang gold.JPG, Gold jewelry with double happiness character, Hong Kong File:Chinese Restaurant Wedding Reception.jpg, A traditional Chinese wedding reception, with double happiness decoration in the middle

References

External links

{{wiktionary, 囍
The Story of the Chinese Character: Double Happiness
Chinese calligraphy Korean traditions Chinese traditions Vietnamese traditions

Characteristics

In popular culture

Gallery

See also

References

External links