Celebrating\nthe Chinese New Year with couplets is no longer a tradition only among the\nChinese. In this issue of My UM<\/i>, several UM faculty members and students\nshare their thoughts on the Chinese New Year and the traditional Chinese style\nof celebration. Moreover, they each wrote a celebratory message for the New\nYear. <\/p>
Lucky\nStar Shining on Exam Days<\/b><\/p>
Hannah\nKeely Sin from South Africa is a first-year student in the Department of\nEnglish. Half Chinese and half African, Sin moved to Foshan, Guangdong province,\nat age seven. She confesses that although she started learning Chinese at a\nvery young age, she only has limited knowledge of Classical Chinese. Her\ngrandmother observes traditional customs and celebrates every Lunar New Year in\nthe traditional way.<\/p>
\u2018Before\neach Lunar New Year, my grandma would put up couplets in different places\naround the house. I never fully understand the meanings of those couplets, but\nI guess they express wishes for good things like fortune and health.\u2019 One\ncouplet that left a particularly deep impression on her read \u2018Lucky Star\nShining Above\u2019. She found it amusing, \u2018If you look up and see the stars, it\nwill bring you good luck?\u2019 But she has learned that \u2018When in China, do as the\nChinese do\u2019, which means writing couplets for the Chinese New Year. \u2018Not only\nwill this bring a festive feel to my dormitory, it might also bring me good\nluck in the final exams. But of course I will work hard, instead of cramming at\nthe last minute,\u2019 she says. <\/p>
Learning to Write Chinese<\/b><\/p>
Rui da Silva from Portugal is a lecturer in\nthe Department of Portuguese. He wrote a couplet that read, \u2018Diligence is the\nway to scale the high mountain of books; hard work is the boat that crosses the\nboundless ocean of learning.\u2019 He\ntreats this maxim as his motto and uses it to motivate his students to work\nhard and chase their dreams. \u2018Whenever I encounter a difficulty, I remind\nmyself of this couplet,\u2019 he says. Silva developed a strong interest in Chinese\nculture in middle school, majored in Chinese in college, and taught Chinese at\nan overseas Confucius Institute and a university. Some foreigners think Chinese\nis a difficult language to learn because the strokes are not easy to memorise,\nand Silva agrees. He says, \u2018It takes a lot of time and energy to learn to write\nChinese characters. Repetition is the only way to memorise the strokes.\nSometimes a little imagination helps. Interesting stories can also aid memory.\nWriting Chinese words allows you to understand the spirit of Chinese culture.\u2019<\/p>
\u2018Fu\u2019 Upside Down<\/b><\/p>
Half Portuguese and half American, Benjamim\nRoth Soares is a fourth year student in the Department of Communication. Born\nin Macao, he divided his time growing up between Zhuhai and Macao. Although\nChinese is not his mother tongue, he started learning Cantonese under the\ninfluence of his peers. He loves Chinese culture and enjoys the festive\natmosphere of the Chinese New Year. When he first saw people pasting the\nChinese character \u2018Fu\u2019 (which means luck or fortune) upside down on their\ndoors, he thought it was a mistake. Later he learned that it was intentional,\nbecause the Chinese word \u2018upside down\u2019 sounds the same as \u2018arrive\u2019. So pasting\nthe character \u2018Fu\u2019 upside\ndown means luck or fortune will arrive. For Soares, the Lunar New Year, like\nChristmas, is a very important festival. \u2018The entire country is celebrating,\nand everybody returns home to be reunited with their family,\u2019 he says. Planning\nto graduate this year , he wishes for good fortune, and hopes to continue to\nenjoy music and play his guitar after starting work.<\/p>
An Interesting Phenomenon<\/b><\/p>
Hans-Georg Moeller from Germany is a professor\nin the Philosophy and Religious Studies Programme. He has noticed an\ninteresting phenomenon: the atmosphere of the Lunar New Year or Christmas is\ndefined by the decorative lights on the streets and the activity in shopping\nmalls. \u2018Before every Lunar New Year or Christmas, everybody gets anxious to\nbook air tickets so they can travel abroad with their friends and spend a long\nholiday . But what about the original meaning of these festivals? Nowadays,\naided and abetted by the media, holidays are becoming increasingly\ncommercialised.\u2019 Prof Moeller recalls the old days when the Lunar New Year and\nChristmas were joyous times when family members reunite and renew their\nattachments. As to couplets for the upcoming Chinese New Year, he is inclined\nto write Lao Tzu’s \u2018The movement of the Tao by contraries proceeds\u2019, which\nadmonished people to just let it be.<\/p>
Zhu Shoutong, associate director of the Centre for Chinese History\nand Culture, professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature,\nand executive vice president of an association of Chinese calligraphers from\nHong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, mainland China, and overseas, is well-versed in the\ncouplet culture. He is also in the habit of writing couplets for the Lunar New\nYear, because it adds to a festive atmosphere and creates an intellectual\nambiance around the house. During our interview, Prof Zhu wrote a couplet to wish\nMy UM readers all the best in the New Year.<\/p>
The Origin of Couplets<\/b><\/p>
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Prof Zhu explains that the predecessor of spring couplets were\npeach wood charms, which were believed to have the power to keep away evil\nspirits and ghosts. According to \u2018Treatise on Rites\u2019 in The Book of the Later\nHan, peach wood charms were made of peach wood. They are six inches long and\nthree inches wide, inscribed with the names of two gods Shen Cha and Yu Lei, to\nkeep away evil spirits and ghosts. Prof Zhu says, \u2018Chinese people have always\nheld words in awe. Legend has it that Cang Jie, the god believed to have\ncreated the words we are using now, heard ghosts weeping at night after he\ncreated words during the day. You can tell from the legend that words were held\nin the highest esteem. \u201cShowing respect to paper with words on it\u201d has always\nbeen part of the Chinese folk culture, for the same reason: being in awe of\nwords. People in ancient China wrote and pasted words on their doors as a way\nto keep away evil spirits and ghosts, because they had utter confidence in the\nmagical power of words.\u2019<\/p>