Chinese Couplets for New Year: Spring Festival Couplets/Chunlian Examples
Chinese Couplets are an integral part of Chinese New Year. One of the Chinese couplets are Spring Festival couplet, also known as Chunlian in Mandarin. There are two prevalent types of Spring Festival Couplets: handwriting couplets and printed ones. People paste them on the doors to get rid of bad luck in the coming new year.
What are Spring Festival Couplets
Spring Festival couplets consist of three parts: the top scroll, the left scroll and the right scroll. It is a literal form and an important custom in China. It also describes a beautiful scene to express best wishes for the coming New Year. People pasting red couplets on the doors means Chinese New Year is coming soon.
During Spring Festival, hosts buy couplets to paste in the doors to welcome the new year and enhance the atmosphere of the festival whether in the city or the countryside.
Meanings of Spring Festival Couplets
It is said that there is a horrible monster. It comes every new year to destroy crops and even capture children. People were frightened to hide in their homes, but later they discovered this monster was afraid of red color.
So people will paste Spring Festival couplets on the doors to repel the monster. Nowadays, Spring Festival couplets are given the significance of warding off bad luck and blessing good luck.
How to Write Chinese Couplets
Many rules should be conformed when writing Chinese couplets. It should be written on red paper with a brush. The length of the right and left scrolls should be the same, and the top scroll is usually two characters or four characters. In addition, part of speech in the corresponding position of the scrolls should match.
Besides, the tones are important for a fluent rhythm. There are four tones in the Chinese phonetic alphabet. The first tone (ā) and the second tone (á) should fall on the last character of the right scroll, while the left scroll is the third tone (ǎ), the fourth tone (à).
How to Stick Chinese Couplets
The most suitable time to paste Spring Festival couplets is between 6 am and 12 am on Chinese New Year's Eve.
In ancient China, people attached great importance to the direction, especially the left. Someone should stand with their back to the doors to distinguish the direction when sticking the couplets. The left scroll should be pasted on the left of the doors.
How to Read Chinese Couplets
In the past, people wrote characters from the right to the left. So the spring festival couplets should be read from the right scroll when facing the doors.
At present, people do not follow the rules but read the couplets according to personal habits because of developed society.
Famous Chinese Couplets Examples in English
Chinese couplets are easy to read and catchy. Some couplets both in Chinese and English are as follows:
Interesting Chinese Couplets
- In Chinese
上联：长寿如美国队长
下联：财富比钢铁大侠
横批：棒呆了
- In English
The left scroll: Live as long as Captain America.
The right scroll: Earn as much as Tony Stark.
The top scroll: Marvel
- In Chinese
上联：等了一年又一年
下联：年年结婚没有咱
横批：再等一年
- In English
The left scroll: I have been waiting year after year.
The right scroll: Each year lots marry but not me.
The top scroll: Wait one more year.
- In Chinese
上联：吃的不错睡得不错天天都开心
下联：努力学习努力工作钱越挣越多
横批：给力
- In English
The left scroll: Eat well sleep well have fun day by day.
The right scroll: Study hard work hard make money more and more.
The top scroll: Gelivable
- In Chinese
上联：新年好
下联：钱来到
横批：一切安好
- In English
The left scroll: Happy New Year
The right scroll: Money Runs Here
The top scroll: Everything Goes Well
Classical Chinese Couplets
- In Chinese
上联：红梅含苞傲冬雪
下联：绿柳吐絮迎新春
横批：欢度春节
- In English
The left scroll: Red plum’s bud stands the snowy winter.
The right scroll: Green willow’s catkin indicated the new spring.
The top scroll: Happy Spring Festival
- In Chinese:
上联：迎新春事事如意
下联：接鸿福步步高升
横批：好事临门
- In English
The left scroll: Everything goes well as you expect.
The right scroll: Career rises steadily as you want.
The top scroll: Luck Knocks on the doors.
- In Chinese
上联：事事如意大吉祥
下联：家家顺心永安康
横批：四季兴隆
- In English
The left scroll: May you have good luck in everything.
The right scroll: May you feel content and your family healthy.
The top scroll: Flourishing In Four Seasons.
- In Chinese
上联：万事如意展宏图
下联：心想事成兴伟业
横批：五福临门
- In English
The left scroll: Expand blueprint with everything accomplished.
The right scroll: Achieve success with ambition fulfilled.
The top scroll: Luck Rings In.