Spring Festival Couplets

The tradition of pasting Spring Festival couplets on doorways originates from around 1,000 years to Later Shun State. It was originally known as “Taofu”, a piece of peach wood defending against evil and misfortune. In the Song Dynasty, people started to write antithetical couplets on the wood to express good wishes. Nowadays, the original peach wood has been replaced by red paper, and people would write or print on it. The Spring Festival couplet usually includes two vertical scrolls on two sides and one horizontal scroll on the top.

The “Fu” Character

The Chinese character “Fu” represents good luck and happiness, which is usually used to express people’s good wishes. During the Chinese New Year, people like to decorate their houses by pasting “Fu” characters on the doors or other furniture. In Chinese culture, pasting the “Fu” upside down means welcome the arrival of fortune and happiness, and it is widely accepted by Chinese people.

Chinese Knots

Among Chinese New Year’s decorations, Chinese Knots is no doubt one of the most popular one. As a traditional knitting handicraft, Chinese knots illuminate the feelings and wisdom of Chinese people. Originated from sewing and knitting in the Paleolithic Period, it now has devolved into an art form of decoration. Used as decorations on traditional Chinese musical instruments, Chinese knots are also popular used to decorate clothes with string jade pendants.

Today, people prefer to send small Chinese knots as gifts or use them as Spring Festival decorations in the house.

Window Paper-cuts

Another time-honored tradition of Chinese New Year’s decoration is to paste window paper-cuts. As an exquisite and skillful techniques, window paper cutting requires time and patience. Auspicious words or patterns are cut on red paper, representing people’s best wishes for the New Year.