This Wonder-ful Life: Fú (福)

Friday 21 February 2020

Fú (福)

The character Fú (福) meaning "fortune" or "good luck" is represented both as a Chinese ideograph, but also at times pictorially, in one of its homophonous forms. - Wikipedia

It is a traditional custom to display the Chinese character during the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival. Mounted Fu can be seen on the entrances of many Chinese homes worldwide. The inscription was meant to bring about luck and blessings and to subdue evil. The bigger, the more displays, the more luck, or that's the hope anyway.

This display of the Fú (福) character was at the entrance to the Flower Dome during the recent Chinese New Year.

This is the flip side of the display with the Fú (福) written in many styles, and you find the Fú (福) in the center upside down.

When displayed as a Chinese ideograph, Fú is often displayed upside-down on diagonal red squares. The reasoning is based on a wordplay: in nearly all varieties of Chinese: the words for "upside-down", ( 倒, Pinyin: dào ) and "to arrive" ( 到, Pinyin: dào ) are homophonous. Therefore, the phrase an "upside-down Fú" sounds nearly identical to the phrase "Good luck arrives". Pasting the character upside-down on a door or door post thus translates into a wish for prosperity to descend upon a dwelling. - Wikipedia

Fú (福) is generally printed on a square piece of paper or stitched in fabric. Usage of the character Fú (福) in various forms of calligraphy and seal characters as papercuts or posters represents the desire that one's good luck will be expansive and come in many forms. The practice is universal among Chinese people regardless of socioeconomic status.

Here are a few more examples of Fú (福)

This is a plain Fú (福) - black ink on red paper. Not all can afford the more creative and expensive works of Fú (福). Still, the significance of it is not lost. As long as the word is mounted in the household, one version is as good as the other.