Spring Festival Couplets, Chunlian in Chinese, is also known as Spring Couplets or Chinese New Year Couplets. It is the most common and important custom when celebrating Chinese New Year. This tradition is widely kept both in modern cities and rural areas of China. The new couplets are put up, symbolizing swapping out the old for the new, and hoping for good fortune in the new year. Some areas put up the couplets in the afternoon of New Year's Eve, mostly local businesses who then close up shop and rest for the New Year after putting up the couplets. The pasting order is: Shanglian -> Xialian -> Hengpi. Origin of Spring Couplets. Spring couplets originated from "Peachwood Charms" and can be traced back to pre-Qin times. It is said that in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, calligrapher Meng Chang first created couplets on red paper, which gradually developed into today's form of Spring Festival couplets. <iframe src=" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe> Chinese Couplets are an integral part of Chinese New Year. One of the Chinese couplets are Spring Festival couplet, also known as Chunlian in Mandarin. There are two prevalent types of Spring Festival Couplets: handwriting couplets and printed ones. People paste them on the doors to get rid of bad luck in the coming new year. A typical set of Chinese New Year couplets consists of two vertical lines of poetry, which correspond in length, rhythm, and context, accompanied by a horizontal scroll bearing a four-word blessing. The couplets are a celebration of linguistic artistry, encapsulating wishes for prosperity, happiness, and good fortune in the coming year. During this joyous and reunifying festival, couplets, with their unique charm, become an indispensable cultural symbol of the Chinese Lunar New Year. The golden characters flowing on these red papers not only adorn the doorframes of every Chinese household but also carry the good wishes for the coming year and a deep nostalgia for traditional Chinese New Year couplets often follow specific linguistic and thematic patterns. Common themes include: Wishing for Prosperity (财源广进): These couplets express hopes for wealth and abundance in the coming year. Longevity and Good Health (身体健康): Couplet wishes for health and longevity are common, emphasizing the importance of well Hence, the Chinese New Year is the starting time of Three (November, December, and January) Yang. Later, Three Yang (San Yang) also means the Chinese New Year. This couplet is unearthed from Mogao Grottoes and is the earliest extant Spring Festival Couplet. 天泰地泰三阳泰,家和人和万事和。 Learn Chinese - History and Culture Chun lian is a special type of Duilian, or couplet. It is used only during the Chinese New Year as part of its celebration. While duilian is permanent, chunlian is a temporary decoration to be placed on the entrance of the house, somewhat akin to Halloween and Christmas decorations. A duilian is ideally profound yet concise, using one character per word in the style of Classical Chinese. A special, widely-seen type of duilian is the chunlian (simplified Chinese: 春 联; traditional Chinese: 春 聯; pinyin: chūnlián), used as a New Year's decoration that expresses happiness and hopeful thoughts for the coming year. However they are created or wherever they are hung, couplets are considered part of the essential decorating traditions for the Lunar New Year. Have a Go! To write your Chinese couplet, first, pick a theme. Traditionally, Chinese couplets expound upon two subjects: nature and the new year. Characteristics of Chinese Couplets. It's believed that the Chinese couplet evolved from the traditional Chinese metrical poem, and became more flexible. Characteristics of couplets are listed below. The couplet has two equal-length lines, however the number of characters in each line can be from four to seven or more. Seven is most common The Art of Writing Chinese New Year Poems. Writing Chinese New Year poems is a cherished tradition that combines linguistic skill with cultural knowledge. Here are some tips for creating your own Chinese New Year poems: Understanding the Structure. Most Chinese New Year poems follow a specific structure: Couplets: Two lines that complement each Chinese couplets represent a significant part of Chinese traditional culture. It has been continued for thousands of years. In ancient times, people would carve couplets on the surface of bamboo What Is Fai Chun? Fai Chun s the Cantonese or the Mandarin word for the traditional Chinese decoration that is a big part of the Chinese New Year.In most parts of the ancient Chain, Fai Chun was placed on people’s doorways, and it would create a perfectly jubilant festive atmosphere. BEIJING (CHINA DAILY/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - English language couplets have become a new and stylish way among Chinese young people to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival. Read more at Around this time of year, Chinese traditionally liked to post "spring couplets" (chūnlián 春聯 / 春联) — a special type of "antithetical couplet" (duìlián 對聯 / 对联) — on the door posts of their homes or elsewhere as auspicious decorations. Here someone has fashioned a spring couplet from square word English calligraphy. Fai chun (traditional Chinese: 揮春; simplified Chinese: 挥春; pinyin: huīchūn) or chunlian (春聯; 春联; chūnlián) is a traditional decoration [1] that is frequently used during Chinese New Year. Couplets displayed as part of the Chinese New Year festival, on the first morning of the New Year, are called chunlian. These are usually purchased at a market a few days before and glued to the doorframe. During the Spring Festival of every year, all families in both urban and rural areas traditionally handpick a pair of Spring Festival
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.