| Double Happiness | |
In the ancient Tang Dynasty, there was a student who was on the way to the
capital to attend the national final examination, in which the top learners
would be selected as the ministers in the court. Unfortunately, he fell
ill halfway when he passed through a mountain village. Thanks to a herbalist
doctor and his daughter, he was taken to their house and treated well. He
recovered quickly due to the father and the daughter's good care. Well,
when he had to leave, he found it hard to say
good-bye to the pretty girl, and so did she. They fell in love. So
the girl wrote down the right hand part of an antithetical couplet for the
student to match:
"Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the sky
set off the spring trees in the obscuration."
"Well, I can make it though it is not easy.
But you'll have to wait till I have finished the examination." replied
the student. The young girl nodded in significance.
In the examination the young man won the first place, who was appreciated by the
emperor. Also the winners were interviewed and tested by the emperor.
As luck would have it, he was asked by the emperor to finish a
couplet, which would need a right part as the answer. The emperor wrote:
"Red flowers dot the land in the breeze's chase while the land colored up in red
after the kiss."
The young man realized immediately the right part of the couplet by the
girl was the perfect fit to the emperor's couplet, so he took the girl's
part as the answer without hesitation. The emperor was delighted to see the
matching half of his couplet was so talent and harmonious that he authorized the
young man's identity as Minister in the court and allowed him to pay a visit to
his hometown first before holding the post. The young man met the girl happily
at home and told her the emperor's couplet. They soon
got married. For the wedding, the couple DOUBLED the Chinese character, HAPPY, together,
on a red piece of paper and put it on the wall to express the happiness
for the two events. And from then on, it has been taken on and
became a social custom.
A large Chinese character, Double Happiness, on a red piece of paper or in paper cut is
always put where it must strike the eyes on a young couple's wedding. It has a
story behind it.
A list of articles about Chinese wedding and traditions.