Lucky Charm in China
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Lucky Charm in China

by Tomoko Oyama
(Saitama, Japan)

China and Japan both have something to do with using kanji, so we can often guess the meaning of sentences in both languages. For example, "茶(tea)" has the same pronunciation "cha" in China and Japan.

Let me introduce my experience. When I went to a Chinese restaurant near UEC, I found interesting tapestry that wrote "福" upside-down. "福" means "happiness," so I thought it is related to a prayer for happiness, but I did not know why it was hung upside-down.

After I went back home, I asked my friends from China and Taiwan. It is a kind of lucky charm called "倒福(dao fu)" in Chinese. They said that "倒(dao)" means "upside-down" and this is the same pronunciation of "来(dao)," which means "come" in Chinese. This has the prayer for the coming of the god of happiness and many happy things for people.

I thought it is similar to the play on words which can see in Japanese tanka.

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Jun 28, 2013
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wow! we choose the same subject~
by: TIAN DANYANG

I did not think of foreign people could figure out the issue of the upside down "fu". It was so amazing that you understand it very well and I have discussed the ancient old story about where this custom comes from in my article. Hope you can enjoy the interesting Chinese traditional customs.

Jun 28, 2013
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Meaning-Pronounciation
by: LUMYONG Pichanee

Thank for telling such an interesting story!
I always think that both Chinese and Japanese idea about characters meaning and their pronunciation is very cool. It gave a scene of puzzle's secret. - -b

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