Double Happiness (simplified Chinese: ??; traditional Chinese: ??; pinyin: shu?ngx?) sometimes translated as Double Happy, is a Chinese traditional ornament design, commonly used as a decoration and symbol of marriage. Outside of China, it is also used in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Video Double Happiness (calligraphy)
Characteristics
Double Happiness is a ligature, "?" composed of ?? - two copies of the Chinese characters ? ( x?) literally meaning joy, compressed to assume the square shape of a standard Chinese character (much as a real character may consist of two parts), and is pronounced as a polysyllabic Chinese character, being read as ?? (shu?ngx?).
Typically the character "?" is written in Chinese calligraphy, and frequently appears on traditional decorative items, associated with marriage. Double happiness symbol also often found all over the wedding ceremony, as well as on gift items given to the bride and groom. The color of the character is usually red, occasionally black.
Since 2017, the version 10 of the Unicode Standard features a rounded version of the character in the "Enclosed Ideographic Supplement" block, at code point U+1F264 (ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR SHUANGXI).
Maps Double Happiness (calligraphy)
In popular culture
Nowadays shu?ngx? (alternative transcriptions, Shuang hsi) is used as a brand names for things like fashion, jewelry, cigarettes, matches, soy sauce, etc. It is also featured as decoration on many items by Chinese luxury brand Shanghai Tang.
Hong Kong lifestyle retail store G.O.D. designs many products themed with the double happiness symbol, including scented candles, accessories and Ming-inspired tableware and tea sets.
Gallery
See also
- Fu character (?), also a common good-luck decorative design boom panes
- Lu character (?), a Chinese character symbolising prosperity
- Shou character (?), a Chinese character symbolizing longevity
References
External links
- The Story of the Chinese Character: Double Happiness
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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