Fú Jiàn

The Chinese character ''fu'' (), meaning 'fortune' or 'good luck' is represented both as a Chinese ideograph and, at times, pictorially, in one of its homophonous forms. It is often found on a figurine of the male god of the same name, one of the trio of "star gods" , , and .

Mounted ''fu'' are a widespread Chinese tradition associated with Chinese New Year and can be seen on the entrances of many Chinese homes worldwide. The characters are generally printed on a square piece of paper or stitched in fabric. The practice is universal among Chinese people regardless of socioeconomic status, and dates to at least the Song dynasty (960 – 1279 CE).

When displayed as a Chinese ideograph, ''fu'' is often displayed upside-down on diagonal red squares. The reasoning is based on a wordplay: in nearly all varieties of Chinese, the words for and are homophonous. Therefore, the phrase 'upside-down ''fu'' sounds nearly identical to the phrase 'good luck arrives'. Pasting the character upside-down on a door or doorpost thus translates into a wish for prosperity to descend upon a dwelling.

Another story states that posting the character upside-down originates with the family of a 19th-century prince of the Qing dynasty. The story states that on one Chinese New Year's Eve, or , the prince's servants played a practical joke by pasting ''fu'' characters throughout his royal dwelling. One illiterate servant inadvertently placed the characters upside-down. The prince was said to have been furious upon seeing the characters, but a quick-thinking servant humbly calmed the prince by saying that the occurrence must have been a sign of prosperity "arriving" upon his household by using the above wordplay.

Bats () are among the most ubiquitous of all Chinese symbols, with the same symbolic meaning as the phono-semantic compound of ''fu''. A less common match is , not only because, according to Welch, "depictions of grain have been used throughout Chinese history to represent fecundity", but also in concert with other grains with related homophonous wordplay—for example, is a syllable that can refer either to or .Welch, ''Chinese Art'', p. 52.

Usage of ''fu'' in various forms, such as in calligraphy, seals, paper crafts, and posters, represents the desire that one's good luck will be expansive and multifaceted. Chinese textiles and ceramics often found transcribe this felicitous message by portraying random numbers of bats in flight, sometimes more than a hundred.

Since 2017, the version 10 of the Unicode Standard features a rounded version of the character in the "Enclosed Ideographic Supplement" block, at code point .

Gallery

File:Chinese - Pair of "Famille Verte" Wine Pots in the Form of the Characters - Walters 492347, 492393 - Group.jpg, Pair of "Famille Verte" wine pots in the form of on the left and the character on the right
File:HK Mid-levels 匯豪閣 Winsome Park lobby hall 農曆新年 Chinese New Year 裝飾 decoration 吉祥 Lucky words Jan-2012.jpg, Chinese New Year decorations in Hong Kong, with ''fu'' on the Chinese knotting on the right
File:Mu Mansion small inner courtyard mosaic.JPG, A pebble mosaic in a small inner courtyard of the Mu Mansion, Old Town of Lijiang, Yunnan, with ''fu'' in the center
File:Nouvel an chinois Paris 20090201 034.jpg, Chinese New Year celebration in the 13th arrondissement of Paris in 2009, with ''fu'' in the front of the float
File:Singapore River Hong Bao 2006 27, Feb 06.JPG, Fu lantern at the Singapore River Hongbao Carnival during the Chinese New Year in 2006
File:Chinese New Year decorations 2005.jpg, Chinese New Year decorations at Western Union's headquarters in Englewood, Colorado, with the center character, ''fu'', displayed upside-down

See also

* Shou (character) (), symbolizing longevity
* Double Happiness (calligraphy) (), symbolizing good-luck and happiness
* Homophonic puns in Standard Chinese, of which upside-down ''fu'' is one

References

{{Chinese New Year, state=collapsed

Chinese culture
Chinese words and phrases
Chinese traditions
Korean traditions
Vietnamese traditions