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| Double Happiness |
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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.
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.
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