 |
|
 |
 |
|
It has a story behind it. In the ancient Tang Dynasty, there was a student who was on the way to the capital to attend the national final examination. Unfortunately, he fell ill halfway when he passed through a mountain village. Thanks to a herbalist doctor and his daughter, he was taken to their house and treated well. He recovered quickly due to the father and the daughter's good care. And he fell in love with the girl. So the girl wrote down the right hand part of an antithetical couplet for the student to match: "Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the sky set off the spring trees in the obscuration." "Well, I can make it though it is not easy. But you'll have to wait till I have finished the examination." replied the student. In the examination the young man won the first place, and was appreciated by the emperor. Fortunately, he was asked by the emperor to finish a couplet, which would need a right part as the answer. The emperor wrote: "Red flowers dot the land in the breeze's chase while the land colored up in red after the kiss." Coincidentally, the girl’s couplet perfectly fit to the emperor's, so he took the girl's part as the answer without hesitation. The emperor was delighted to see the matching half of his couplet was so talent and harmonious that he authorized the young man's identity as Minister in the court and allowed him to pay a visit to his hometown first before holding the post. The young man met the girl happily at home. They soon got married.
And from then on, it has been taken on and became a social custom. For the wedding, the couple DOUBLED the Chinese character, HAPPY, together, on a red piece of paper and put it on the wall to express the happiness for the two events.