Spring Festival couplets

Spring Festival couplets (春联, chūnlián) refer to antithetical couplets written on scrolls which convey people's wishes for peace, fortune and good luck with concise and matching words.

Before the Spring Festival arrives, Chinese people will paste all their door panels with the couplets, highlighting Chinese calligraphy with black characters on red paper. Chinese have always preferred the color red, as it stands for passion and good fortune. Personally, I think the colors for Spring Festival couplets - red and black - classically beautiful.

The content of the couplets varies from house owners' wishes for a bright future to good luck for the year. Also, pictures of the god of doors and wealth will be posted on front doors to ward off evil spirits and welcome peace and abundance.

The custom of writing couplets on peach panels started in the Tang dynasty (618-907), and became popular in the Song dynasty (960-1279). The couplets earned their official name from Zhu Yuanzhang, the emperor who began the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and had become a form of art by the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

People used to paste couplets on doorposts, door panels and lintel, as well as on furniture and screen wall. In the courtyard they had "Spring sunshine bright." In the living room they had "Graceful friends around," "Treasures fill the home" and "Wishes for good fortune." Even over the bed they pasted "Bliss of health." Writing the couplets was in fact a kind of competition in folk wisdom and calligraphy attended by every family.

Nowadays, however, few people write their own couplets, with plenty of choices offered in shops.