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The Chinese character ‘大 da’ means ‘great’ or ‘grand’, and ‘吉 ji’ means ‘great fortune’ or ‘good luck’. In combination, ‘大吉 da ji’ expresses an auspicious wish of ‘May you enjoy great fortune’.
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-imminent-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy imminent good fortune</a> 大吉
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-everything-fare-fabulously-in-your-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May everything fare fabulously in your family</a> 室上大吉
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Related motif:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rooster</a> 公鸡

May you enjoy great fortune

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This is a legendary story about the birth of Confucius (551 BCE – 479 BCE), the renowned philosopher from ancient China during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BCE – 475 BCE).
According to The Family History of Confucius (孔子家语), Confucius’ father, Shuliang He (叔梁纥), had nine daughters but no sons from his first marriage. His second marriage produced a son, but the child was born with a foot deformity. During that era, based on the prevailing rites and laws, a man without a healthy male heir risked losing his noble status and being reduced to a commoner. In his later years, Shuliang He entered into a third marriage, and from this union, Kong Qiu (孔丘), later known as Confucius, was born.
Folk legends also surround Confucius’ birth. One popular tale tells of how his mother had an extraordinary dream during her pregnancy. In the dream, a qilin, a mythical creature, appeared at her home, accompanied by heavenly music. The qilin spat out a jade book inscribed with the words: “This child is the seed of a noble but born into an unfortunate time. He can only be a ‘king without a throne.’” The next day, Confucius was born, and thus giving rise to the legend of ‘Qilin delivering a child’. In Chinese folklore, the qilin has come to symbolise benevolence and good fortune, and families of virtuous standing often pray to the qilin for the blessing of offspring.
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Literature research by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>
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Related Motifs &amp; Symbols:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/five-supernatural-beasts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Five supernatural beasts</a> 五灵
Research article from Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nibin Yi</a>
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/has-jiang-ziyas-mount-got-anything-to-do-with-the-pere-davids-deer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Has Jiang Ziya’s mount got anything to do with the Père David&#8217;s deer?</a>

Qilin delivering a child

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Pun Design ：
Three + Goat
Punning Details：
&#8211; In an ancient Chinese literature, The Book of Change (I-Ching 易经) that can be traced back to Western Zhou (1046–771 BCE), there are sixty-four different hexagrams (gua 卦) with symbols consisting of long and short lines. For example, the hexagram of ‘Tai’ 泰卦 is ䷊, consisting of a trigram of ☷ (坤 kun) on the top and a trigram of ☰ (乾 qian) on the bottom. The top ☷ three pairs of short yin lines stand for the earth and being receptive and acquiescent. The lower ☰ three long yang 阳 lines stand for the sun, heaven, strength, and power. The hexagram of ‘Tai’ ䷊ is in the transition of having more long yang lines than short yin lines, marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
&#8211; ‘yang 羊’ for ‘goat’, ‘sheep’ or ‘lamb’, makes a pun on ‘yang 阳’ for ‘the sun, or the masculine force in the universe’;
&#8211; The motif combination of three goats (三羊 san yang) makes a pun on ‘san yang 三阳’, the three long yang lines in the Tai hexagram ䷊, expressing an auspicious wish in the new year that after the long winter the beginning of masculine force will flourish the universe.

The return of the Yang force after the long winter will bring us prosperity

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Pun Design:
Five + <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bat </a>+ auspicious character of ‘<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Longevity </a>寿 or 壽’
Punning Details：
&#8211; ‘蝠 fu’, the Chinese name for bats, puns on ‘福 fu’, meaning ‘<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>’.
&#8211; ‘wu fu 五蝠 five bats’, is homophonous with ‘wu fu 五福 five blessings’. More than two millennia ago, the Chinese had their ideals in life summarised as ‘五福 wu fu’, the Five Blessings, and recorded them in the Book of Documents (书经 Shujing) in the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BCE). They are ‘longevity 寿 shou’, ‘wealth 富 fu’, ‘wellbeing and peace 康宁 kang ning’, ‘love of virtue 攸好德 you hao de’, and ‘natural death 考终命 kao zhong ming’.
&#8211; The motif combination of five bats surrounding a Chinese character 壽, meaning ‘longevity’, in the centre expresses an auspicious wish on one’s birthday.
&#8211; Sometimes the image of <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peaches </a>is used instead of the character ‘寿 or 壽 longevity’. Peach has a nickname ‘shou tao 寿桃 longevity peaches’, which, in Chinese culture, is symbolic for ‘long life’ or ‘shou 寿 longevity’.

May five blessings come your way on your birthday

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The figures of Three Star Gods are personified representation of <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Good Fortune</a>, Prosperity, and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Longevity</a>. They originated from Chinese people’s worship of the stars in the southern sky. During the time of Lichun 立春 (the Beginning of Spring), there are three stars that are close in distance and form a straight line. These three stars are commonly named as ‘福’ (Fú), ‘禄’ (Lù), and ‘寿’ (Shòu). They are personified as auspicious star immortals who respectively govern one’s blessings, official career, and lifespan.
‘福’ fu primarily represents five types of blessings (五福 wu fu). According to the Book of Documents (书经 Shujing) in the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE), the Five Blessings are ‘longevity 寿 shou’, ‘wealth 富 fu’, ‘wellbeing and peace 康宁 kang ning’, ‘love of virtue 攸好德 you hao de’, and ‘natural death 考终命 kao zhong ming’. The Fu Star Fuxing 福星 is represented in human form of a star deity holding objects like a ruyi (如意, a symbol of good fortune) or a yuanbao (元宝, an ancient Chinese currency).
The ‘禄’ Lu Star Luxing 禄星 is in charge of literary success and official salary. In ancient China, scholars took imperial examinations to become officials. Once a scholar passed exams, he could hold an official position and receive a salary. Therefore, attaining a high-ranking official position with a substantial income became the aspiration of many scholars. The Lu Star was revered for his governing of success, fame, official position, and emolument, as well as his blessing of having many descendants. He is often signified by holding a child.
The ‘寿’ Shou Star is also known as the Old Man of the South Pole (南极仙翁), or Shoulao (寿老, elderly man of longevity). His features are white whiskers as well as a high and protruding forehead. He usually holds a long cane in one hand, and sometimes a peach in the other. He is often accompanied by a deer and/or a crane, both being symbols of longevity. There may also be lingzhi (灵芝, fungi or mushrooms) and longevity rocks in the surrounding, emphasising the good wish of a long life.
In traditional Chinese decorative art, there are various methods to portray the theme of Good Fortune, Prosperity, and Longevity. Apart from depicting the three deity figures directly, using a combination of other motifs to infer the three stars is a clever way to express the auspicious wishes. Homophonic images such as <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bats </a>(蝠 fu) and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/deer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deer </a>(鹿 lu) are applied to pun on Fu and Lu Stars, and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/crane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cranes</a>, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peaches</a>, lingzhi, pine trees, or longevity rocks are used to symbolise ‘longevity’.

Three Star Gods

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Pun Design ：
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/gourd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourd </a>+ <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bat</a>
Punning Details：
&#8211; hu lu (葫芦 gourd) in Chinese is pronounced similar to ‘fu (福 <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>)’ and ‘lu (禄 official emolument)
&#8211; ‘fu 蝠’ in ‘bian fu 蝙蝠’ (meaning ‘bat’) is a pun on ‘fu 福’ (also meaning ‘good fortune’ or ‘happiness’). It is added to the image of gourd to emphasise the good wish.
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画面要素: 葫芦 + 蝙蝠
谐音详情: ‘葫芦’与‘福禄’谐音；取‘蝙蝠’ 中 ‘蝠’ 与 ‘福’ 谐音，以加强祝愿。

May good fortune and ample official income come to your doorstep

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Pun Design ：
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bat</a> + <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Peach</a>
Punning Details：
&#8211; ‘fu 蝠’ in ‘bian fu 蝙蝠’ is a pun on ‘fu 福’ which means ‘<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>’, ‘luck’, or ‘happiness’;
&#8211; Peach has a nickname ‘shou tao 寿桃’ meaning ‘<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a> peaches’, is symbolic for ‘long life’;
&#8211; The Chinese character ‘shou 寿’ literally means ‘long life’
The combination of the images of the bat and the peach fruit (or the Chinese character 寿) expresses the good wish for great happiness and longevity.
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-inexhaustible-good-fortune-and-longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have inexhaustible good fortune and longevity</a> 万福万寿
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-good-fortune-descend-from-heaven/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May good fortune descend from heaven</a> 福从天降

May you enjoy great happiness and longevity

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Guo Ziyi (郭子仪 697–781), a native of Huazhou 华州 (a county near present-day Xi’an 西安), was the most prominent general-statesman of the Tang dynasty. For the great part of nearly thirty years and under a succession of four different emperors, he played a key role in maintaining the stability of the country. He helped to <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/guo-ziyi-deterring-the-enemy-without-armour/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">keep the nomads in the northern frontier at bay</a> and managed to subdue the rebellion led by two powerful warlords An Lushan (安禄山 703–757) and Shi Siming (史思明 703–761).
Guo Ziyi is considered to have had an ideal personal life because he had eight sons and seven daughters and all of the male adults in his extended family served as high-ranking officials at the imperial court. In imperial China, officials went to court to have an audience with the emperor carrying an elongated tablet hu (笏) for taking notes. With the increasing popularity of paper, the hu tablet evolved into a status symbol for court officials. Whenever Guo Ziyi had a birthday party in his mansions, he had to set aside a large bed to accommodate the large number of hu tablets or sceptres brought by his distinguished guests and family members. So the coined phrase ‘a bed piled with hu sceptres (满床笏 man chuang hu)’ describes a scene associated with a powerful personality.
Guo Ziyi safely left his political and military career at the age of seventy-two and passed away at eighty-five, regarded posthumously in the Chinese society as an epitome of the Three Abundant Blessings (三多 san duo). He enjoyed all of them: great <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>, and abundant offspring, the apogee of a person’s life-long achievements.
In artistic depictions of the scene, the bed piled with ivory or bamboo sceptres is usually highlighted but often misunderstood. Sometimes, the artist may omit the bed with piled hu sceptres on it but the scene remains a welcome gift for a respected person’s birthday.
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image identification and literature research by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a> 
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More stories about Guo Ziyi:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/interesting-findings/how-did-guo-ziyi-deter-the-colossal-enemy-army-without-fighting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How did Guo Ziyi deter the colossal enemy army without fighting?</a>

A Bed Piled with Hu Sceptres (Guo Ziyi’s Grand Birthday Party)

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The ‘five supernatural beasts’ include the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dragon</a>, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/phoenix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phoenix</a>, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tiger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tiger</a>, the qilin and the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tortoise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tortoise</a>. This notion was found to be first mentioned by Du Yu 杜预 (222–285), a third-century Confucian scholar. He annotated the ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋 Chunqiu) with The Commentary of Zuo (左传 Zuo zhuan), a collection of historical events ranging from 722 to 468 BCE. In his preface to his new book (杜预《春秋左氏传》序), Du Yu noted, ‘The “Five Supernatural Beasts (五灵 wu ling)” including the qilin unicorn and the feng phoenix are good omens for the king and the powerful (麒凤五灵，王者之嘉瑞也)’.
Kong Yingda (孔颖达 574–648), a later commentator of Du Yu’s book, matched each member of this group to Wuxing (五行), or a fivefold conceptual scheme in Chinese philosophy, and five directions (including the starting point: the middle), following the Han-dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) tradition: long-dragon for the east and wood, feng-phoenix for the south and fire, qilin for the middle and earth, white tiger for the west and metal, and divine tortoise for the north and water.
Kong Yingda’s book, Correct Meaning of The Commentary of Zuo (左传正义 Zuo zhuan zhengyi) was adopted as the standard textbook for the civil-service examinations in China for nearly a millennium and remained to be the basis for all following scholarly commentaries of the classic Spring and Autumn Annals and The Commentary of Zuo. The conventional notion of the ‘Five Supernatural Beasts’ mentioned in his book thus remained to be influential because of the authority of Du Yu’s book among the Chinese literati.
image identification and literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a> 
Read Dr Ni’s blog <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/not-just-common-motifs-of-creatures-the-five-supernatural-beasts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here </a>to see how this theme was misinterpreted in contemporary books.

Five Supernatural Beasts

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Pun Design：
Magpie + <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/prunus-plum-blossom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prunus </a>+ On Top
Punning Details：
&#8211; ‘xi 喜’ in ‘xi que 喜鹊’ magpie has another meaning in Chinese which is ‘happiness’.
&#8211; ‘mei 梅’ meaning ‘prunus’ is a pun in Chinese on ‘mei 眉’ for ‘eyebrows’, which means spreading one’s eyebrows and smiling.
Therefore, the scene of magpies on the twigs of prunus trees delivers a message of ‘May you have good luck and your happiness show at the tip of your eyebrow’.
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画面要素:   喜鹊 + 梅花 + 枝头;
谐音详情:  “喜鹊”的“喜”谐音“喜乐”或“喜事”中的“喜”, “梅花枝头”谐音“眉头”
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-peace-and-happiness/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy peace and happiness</a> 安喜
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-good-fortune-descend-from-heaven/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May good fortune descend from heaven</a> 福从天降

May you have good luck and your happiness show at the tip of your eyebrow

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In the oracle bone script, the earliest form of the Chinese characters, the pictograph ‘福 (fu)’ consists of a pair of hands holding a wine jar in front of a sacred ancestral symbol. It means that, if the ancestors were pleased properly with right offerings, good fortune would come to bless the descendants.
Read <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/the-meaning-of-good-fortune-represented-in-chinese-decorative-arts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> for an account of how the ‘福 fu’ character became a poster on people’s front door on the first day of the Chinese New Year.
More than two millennia ago, the Chinese had their ideals in life summarised as ‘五福 wu fu’, the Five Blessings, and recorded them in the Book of Documents (书经 Shujing) in the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BCE). They are ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity </a>寿 shou’, ‘wealth 富 fu’, ‘wellbeing and peace 康宁 kang ning’, ‘love of virtue 攸好德 you hao de’, and ‘natural death 考终命 kao zhong ming’.
The old and auspicious ideal embodied in the ‘福 fu’ character is often represented artistically with images of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bats </a>in Chinese decorative arts. It is not because the Chinese appreciate the appearance of bats, but because ‘蝠 fu’, the Chinese name for bats, happens to pun on ‘福 fu’ for ‘good fortune’.
In Late Imperial China, the ‘福 fu’ character was personified by the Star God of Good Fortune (福星 fu xing), a figurine of a male deity, who was one of the trio of the ‘Three Star Gods (三星 san xing)’. The other two companions were the Star God of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/deer/#:~:text=official%20income%E2%80%99%20or%20%E2%80%98-,emolument,-%E2%80%99.%20A%20blue%20and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emoluments </a>(禄星 lu xing) and the Star God of Longevity (寿星 shou xing).
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>

Good Fortune

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The Chinese character ‘橘 ju’ for ‘tangerine’ puns on the Chinese word ‘吉 ji’ for ‘good luck’. A green tangerine can be described in Chinese as ‘青橘 qing ju’, which makes a pun on the phrase ‘青吉 qing ji’, meaning ‘good luck’. Combining an apple, whose Chinese name puns on ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/lets-celebrate-universal-peace-and-prosperity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peace</a>’, with a green tangerine would be able to represent pictorially an auspicious wish ‘May We enjoy Universal Peace and Good Fortune’.
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Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-we-enjoy-peace-good-fortune-and-prosperity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May we enjoy peace, good fortune, and prosperity 太平吉利</a>
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Narrative Story about Tangerine: 
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/lu-ji-hiding-tangerines-for-his-mother/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lu Ji hiding tangerines for his mother 陆绩怀橘遗亲</a>
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May we enjoy universal peace and good fortune

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The image of apples, in addition to cue a pun on the ideal of ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/lets-celebrate-universal-peace-and-prosperity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universal peace</a>’, may be combined with lychee or tangerine to form pictorial puns with added meaning.
The Chinese characters ‘荔 li’ in ‘荔枝 li zhi’ for ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lychee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lychee</a>’ puns on the word ‘利 li’ for ‘benefit’ or ‘profit’, while the character ‘橘 ju’ for ‘tangerine’ puns on ‘吉 ji’ for ‘good luck’. Therefore, a composition with apples, lychees, and tangerines in it may be used to convey an auspicious wish ‘May We Enjoy Peace, Good Fortune, and Prosperity’.
Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-be-trouble-free-and-roll-in-wealth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you be trouble-free and roll in wealth 平安多利</a>

May we enjoy peace, good fortune, and prosperity

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The flying mammal <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bat </a>is called bian fu (蝙蝠) in Chinese. Image of the bat including its various stylised forms are often used in Chinese art to express an auspicious meaning, as ‘蝠 fu’ in ‘蝙蝠’ puns on ‘福 fu’ which means ‘good luck’, ‘<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>’, and/or ‘happiness’ in Chinese. Therefore, one or more bats flying in the sky towards people is an auspicious pun rebus design popular in traditional China.
Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-unexpected-good-luck-descend-on-you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May unexpected good luck descend on you!</a> 喜从天降

May good fortune descend from heaven

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In this scene, there are several Chinese <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a> symbols such as the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/crane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crane</a>, the generic immortal, the pine tree, and the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/deer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deer</a>, etc. However, the proper meaning of this particular scene is <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/more-than-a-simple-assemblage-of-individual-symbols-of-longevity-discussion-on-a-chinese-pictorial-narrative-scene-of-hai-wu-tian-chou/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not a simple assemblage of individual symbols</a>. It is a snapshot of a coherent narrative that has been well-loved and widely consumed in the visual oeuvre that represents the Chinese longevity ideal.
The literary origin of the scene can be traced back to an anecdote collected in Notes by Dongpo (东坡志林), compiled by a prominent man of letters of the Song dynasty, Su Shi (苏轼, 1037-1101). During one chance meeting of three geriatric men, the topic of age was broached. Each one of them tried their best to exaggerate his own great age. The second speaker famously boasted, ‘After every cycle of the sea drying up and becoming mulberry fields, I put a strip of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bamboo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bamboo </a>in my house as a counter and now the strips have already filled ten of the rooms.’ Later, this dramatic detail evolved into a classic allusion to longevity, a popular dream cherished by all people in China. Pictorial representations of this dramatic moment were invented and elaborated into different versions to adorn birthday presents of all kinds.
Initially, the title of the scene is, literally: ‘A bamboo counter is being added to the house in the sea (海屋添筹 hai wu tian chou)’. The first two characters of the phrase resulted from compressing the paragraph spoken by the second speaker in the story into an abbreviation consisting of the first and the last characters 海屋 hai wu (‘海水变桑田时, 吾辄下一筹, 尔来吾筹已满十间屋’). The coined two-character phrase ‘海屋 hai wu’ now means a ‘pavilion at sea’, serving as the first two characters in the set phrase. The rest two characters of the phrase ‘添筹 tianchou’ denotes the action (of a crane) adding a bamboo strip as a counter’. Thus, the four-character phrase alludes to the second speaker’s words in the original story.
During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), pun rebus designs became more and more popular in folk decorative arts. The last character of the phrase ‘筹 chou’ for ‘bamboo strip counter’, acquired a pun on ‘寿 shou’, the Chinese character for ‘longevity’. Then, the phrase virtually conveys the meaning of a birthday wish: ‘May the length of your life be eternally prolonged (海屋添寿 hai wu tian shou)’. One of the earliest mentions of this pun phrase in literature can be found in Section 22 in the second part of the book Tao Ya (匋雅), or ‘Notes of Chinese Best Pottery and Porcelain’, compiled by Chen Liu (陈浏) and published in 1910.
This research article is written by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>.
Literature: 
<ol>
<li>Jeffrey P. Stamen and Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni, A Culture Revealed: Kangxi-Era Chinese Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection: Jieruitang Publishing, Bruges, 2017, p. 84-85.</li>
<li>倪亦斌：《仙鹤寿桃祝寿碗 暗藏海屋添筹图》，《读者欣赏》，兰州：读者出版传媒股份有限公司，2018-01，110-117 页</li>
</ol>

May the length of your life be eternally prolonged!

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Either the clockwise swastika 卐 or the counterclockwise sauwastika 卍 is used interchangeably in Chinese decorative arts as well as in some religious contexts. Sometimes, the two opposite versions can co-occur on the same occasion without making a difference in meaning. Swastika is a very old symbol in the cultures scattered over the Eurasian continent. In China, it can be traced back to the painted pottery created in the Neolithic Majiayao 马家窑 culture existing from 3300 to 2000 BCE in the upper Yellow River region encompassing present-day eastern Gansu 甘肃, eastern Qinghai 青海, and northern Sichuan 四川 provinces. In the Eastern Han (25CE &#8211; 220CE) period, the swastika was introduced to China with Buddhist iconography and became prominent. However, it was not until the Tang Empress Wu Zetian 武则天 (684–704) made her decree that its pronunciation be ‘wan 万’ that it was accepted as a fully-fledged Chinese character, sounding the same as the number 10,000 in Chinese. Roughly speaking, it means ‘the myriad auspicious things in the universe’.
In decorative arts, swastika is often used together with various versions of the character <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shou</a> 寿, the auspicious Chinese symbol <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bat</a>, and the longevity symbol <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peach </a>fruit. In late imperial China, swastika is widely found as the ground pattern on fabrics and on architectural or furniture elements such as paved passage ways and lattice pattern on railings, window frames, and cabinet doors.
Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-inexhaustible-good-fortune-and-longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have inexhaustible good fortune and longevity 万福万寿</a>

Swastika (the Wan character in Chinese)

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When <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/swastika-the-wan-character-in-chinese/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swastika </a>is combined with the Chinese character <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shou</a> 寿 (meaning long life) and the image of the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bat,</a> whose pronunciation puns on the Chinese word fu 福 for ‘luck’ or ‘good fortune’, the composition is used to express good wishes of the highest order on the receiver’s life span and good fortune, such as ‘May you have inexhaustible good fortune and longevity (万福万寿)’ or, more commonly, <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-long-life-and-always-be-blessed-by-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘May you enjoy long life and always be blessed by good fortune (福寿万年)’. </a>Art works adorned with this design are apt birthday presents for revered personages up to kings and emperors.

May you have inexhaustible good fortune and longevity

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Either the clockwise <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/swastika-the-wan-character-in-chinese/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swastika </a>卐 (sounding ‘wan’ 万) or the counterclockwise sauwastika 卍 is used interchangeably in Chinese decorative arts as well as in some religious contexts, as can be seen co-occurring on the same vessel displayed here. Roughly speaking, the swastika means ‘the myriad auspicious things in the universe’.
When swastika is combined with the Chinese character <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shou</a> 寿 (meaning long life) and the image of the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bat,</a> whose pronunciation puns on the Chinese word fu 福 for ‘luck’ or ‘good fortune’, the composition is used to express good wishes of the highest order on the receiver’s life span and good fortune, such as ‘May you enjoy long life and always be blessed by good fortune (福寿万年)’ or <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-inexhaustible-good-fortune-and-longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘May you have inexhaustible good fortune and longevity</a> (万福万寿)’. Art works adorned with this design are apt birthday presents for revered personages up to kings and emperors.
The characteristic Chinese longevity symbol, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peach fruit,</a> is often used in this pun rebus design as an alternative or reinforcement of the character shou, with a more naturalistic touch.

May you enjoy long life and always be blessed by good fortune

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Pun Design: <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/lets-celebrate-universal-peace-and-prosperity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apples</a> + <a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/quail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Quails </a>+ <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lychee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lychee</a>
Punning Details：
The Chinese character ‘ping 苹’ in ‘ping guo 苹果’ for ‘apple’ can make a pun on ‘ping 平’ for ‘peace’. The word ‘an 鹌’ in ‘an chun 鹌鹑’ for ‘quail’ puns on ‘an 安’, another Chinese word for ‘peace’. The word ‘li 荔’ in ‘li zhi 荔枝’ for ‘lychee’ sounds the same as ‘li 利’ for ‘profit’. Thus, this seemingly random juxtaposition of lychee, quails, and apples was used by the prominent 20th-century Chinese painter Qi Baishi (齐白石, 1864-1957) to convey a good wish for the recipient of the painting to enjoy both wealth and peace.
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画面要素: 苹果 + 鹌鹑 + 荔枝
谐音详情: ‘苹果’ 中 ‘苹’ 的谐音 ‘平’, ‘鹌鹑’ 中 ‘鹌’ 与 ‘安’ 谐音, ‘荔枝’ 中 ‘荔’ 与 ‘利’ 谐音。
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-plenty-of-profit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have plenty of profit</a> 多利
<a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-do-well-in-exams-and-enjoy-wealth-and-prestige/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you do well in exams and enjoy wealth and prestige</a> 功名富贵

May you be trouble-free and roll in wealth

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Also named leechee, lichee, lichi, or litchi (nut).
Lychee is a tall tropical evergreen tree of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) native to southeastern China. It was recorded in the Xijing zaji (西京杂记, Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital), a collection of short semi-historiographical stories from the Western Han dynasty (西汉, 206 BCE – 8 CE) court, that the governor of the South Sea used to send lychees to Emperor Liu Bang’s (刘邦, 256 BCE – 195 BCE) court as an imperial delicacy. The small fruit of lychee consists of a pink-red, roughly-textured skin, a translucent white fleshy aril, and a big or a shrivelled seed (known as the ‘chicken’s tongue’). The aromatic flesh of the fruit is juicy and sweet but its floral flavour would be easily lost and the rind would turn dark soon after harvesting. No wonder Emperor Xuanzong (玄宗, reigned 713–756 CE) of the Tang dynasty would deploy his Pony Express-like imperial couriers to deliver lychees to the capital in order to please his favourite concubine Lady Yang (杨贵妃, 719–756 CE). The Tang poet Du Mu (杜牧, 803–852 CE) wrote, ‘The dust cloud behind a galloping horse in the distance brings a smile to Lady Yang’s face; because only she knows that means the arrival of her favourite lychees (一骑红尘妃子笑，无人知是荔枝來).’ In late imperial China, when pun rebus pictures became in vogue, the image of lychee appeared in designs where the sound ‘li’ is needed to indicate ‘li 利’ for ‘profit’ because the first character in the Chinese name for lychee, ‘lizhi 荔枝’, is also ‘li’.
The Europeans first saw lychee’s image in Michal Boym&#8217;s Flora Sinensis (1657), which contains an illustration of ‘Lici Fruit Tree’. Michal Boym is a Jesuit missionary from Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
literature research by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>
Related Pun Picture:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-be-trouble-free-and-roll-in-wealth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you be trouble-free and roll in wealth</a> 平安多利

Lychee

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Gourd (葫芦 hu lu) in Chinese is pronounced similar to ‘fu (福, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fortune</a>)’ and ‘lu (禄, wealth)’, therefore its image is often used as a pun picture referring fortune and wealth.
Related Pun Picture:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-good-fortune-and-ample-official-income-come-to-your-doorstep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May good fortune and ample official income come to your doorstep</a> 福禄双至

Gourd

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Bats in Chinese is called bian fu (蝙蝠) or fu (蝠). The image of bats is often used to represent ‘good luck’ or ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>’ in Chinese decorative arts. It is not because the Chinese appreciate the appearance of bats, but because ‘蝠 fu’, the Chinese name for bats, happens to pun on ‘福 fu’ for ‘good fortune’, thus bearing an auspicious symbol.
Related Pun Pictures:
<a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/gourd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourd 葫芦 </a>
<a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-long-life-and-always-be-blessed-by-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy long life and always be blessed by good fortune 福寿万年</a>

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The Eight Auspicious Emblems, also known as ‘ba bao’ (八宝, Eight Treasures), or ‘ba rui xiang’ (八瑞相, Eight Symbols of Good Fortune), are a set of symbols in traditional Tibetan Buddhism. These symbols are often depicted together, bringing positive energy, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>, and well-being to the surroundings.  Here are the Eight Auspicious Emblems along with their meanings:
<ol>
<li>Dharma Wheel (Dharmachakra): Signifies the Eightfold Path and the cycle of existence.</li>
<li>Conch Shell: Represents the call to awaken and spread the teachings of truth.</li>
<li>Parasol (Umbrella): Symbolises protection and shelter from suffering and negativity.</li>
<li>Victory Banner: Represents triumph over obstacles and the path to enlightenment.</li>
<li><a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-lian-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lotus Flower</a>: Symbolises purity, enlightenment, and rising above challenges.</li>
<li>Treasure Vase: Signifies endless spiritual wealth, prosperity, and fulfillment.</li>
<li>Pair of Golden <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fishes</a>: Represents abundance, freedom, and harmony in life’s currents.</li>
<li>Eternal Knot: Symbolises interconnectedness, eternity, and interdependence.</li>
</ol>
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*Open source

Eight auspicious emblems

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Pun design: 
Spider + descending from the sky
Punning mechanism:
‘Zhi zhu (蜘蛛, spider)’ has a nickname ‘xi zi (蟢子)’ or ‘xi zhu (喜蛛)’ meaning the ‘lucky one’ or ‘lucky spider’.
Its first character ‘xi 喜(蟢)’ for ‘happiness (good luck)’ is then combined with the phrase ‘cong tian jiang (从天降)’, meaning ‘descending from the sky’.
The whole phrase (喜从天降) describing the spider’s action in the picture is to convey the meaning &#8216;pleasant surprise descending on you&#8217;.
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画面要素：蜘蛛 + 从天降
谐音机制 : 取蜘蛛的别名‘喜蛛’谐音‘喜’; 某物自天而降，取‘从天降’
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-good-fortune-descend-from-heaven/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May good fortune descend from heaven</a> 福从天降
Related blog:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/why-do-chinese-artists-often-paint-spider-in-their-works/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why do Chinese artists often paint spider in their works?</a>

May unexpected good luck descend on you!

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‘Ji 鸡’ is a generic name for cockerel, hen, and chick, and sounds the same as ‘ji 吉’ for ‘good fortune’. Thus, a picture of many chickens is used to represent ‘abundant good fortune’.
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-imminent-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy imminent good fortune</a> 大吉
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-everything-fare-fabulously-in-your-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May everything fare fabulously in your family</a> 室上大吉
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Related motif:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rooster</a> 公鸡

May you be blessed by good luck in all you do

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A large Longquan pottery rooster sculpted on a rock sends good fortune to the receiver’s or owner’s family because da ji 大 鸡 for ‘large <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rooster</a>’ sounds the same as da ji 大 吉 for ‘great good fortune’ and shi shang 石上 for ‘on the rock’ puns on shi shang 室上 for ‘in your family’. Hence the rooster announces to the proud owner ‘May everything fare fabulously in your family!’
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Related Pun Picture: 
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-imminent-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy imminent good fortune</a> 大吉

May everything fare fabulously in your family

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The Chinese name for <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rooster </a>or chicken is ji 鸡, which is a pun on ji 吉 ‘good fortune’. ‘Da’ is the Chinese adjective for ‘big’ or ‘grand’. Hence, ‘da ji’ literally means ‘large rooster’ but puns on ‘great luck’.
Such theme can be used on many social occasions where people wish the receiver to enjoy imminent great fortune.
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-everything-fare-fabulously-in-your-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May everything fare fabulously in your family</a> 室上大吉
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-be-blessed-by-good-luck-in-all-you-do/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you be blessed by good luck in all you do</a> 百吉

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