Fai chun
Fai chun or chunlian is a traditional decoration that is frequently used during Chinese New Year. People put fai chun in doorways to create an optimistic festive atmosphere, since the phrases written on them refer to good luck and prosperity. They are customarily written by hand, but for convenience, printed versions are now mass-produced. They may be either square or rectangular in shape. They are popularly used not only in Greater China, but also in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
History
Fai chun originated from taofu in ancient times. Peachwood charms are long pieces of wood hung from peach trees. They are about seven to eight inches long and slightly more than one inch wide. According to the legend, there was a peach tree in the East China Sea that was the gate where the ghosts passed through between the underworld and the world of the living. Two gods, Shentu and Yulei, were responsible for guarding this gate. The ghosts traveling the world at night time were required to return to the underworld before the early morning. It was believed that the two gods could dispel all the demons which did harm to human at night time. People, therefore, used the peach wood to make two puppets of the two gods and put them at the entrance of their home in order to protect their family. Then, as early as the Han dynasty, people found that it was hard and complicated to make puppets, so they simplified the puppets to two peach wood boards on which they drew portraits of the gods. Later on, people simply wrote down the names of the gods on pieces of peach wood and hung them on both sides of the door. Around the Tang dynasty, commoners no longer wrote the names of the gods only but add some blessings to symbolize good fortune as well as express their hope and best wishes in the new year. Since Ming dynasty, pieces of peach wood were replaced by square red papers.There is another story which is related to Fai Chun history. According to the legend, there was a monster who lived in the deep sea and had a lion-like head and an ox-like body, who was named
One time, during a rampage, Nian was seen running away from a house which had a red shirt hanging outside and then later, from a light. Consequently, the villagers discovered that the monster was afraid of red color, loud noise and flaming light. Since then, before every New Year, people paste red couplets in and outside their house, and let off firecrackers and fireworks, in order to scare the monster away.
After Nian went back to the sea, people would come out and celebrate the New Year. This became a tradition every year, with people keep pasting red couplets every year, which is called Fai Chun now.
Color
Traditional fai chun is in bright red color with black or gold characters inscribed on it with a brush. Similar to the color of fire, red color was chosen to scare the legendary fierce and barbarous beast “Nian”, which ate up villagers’ crops, livestock and even villagers themselves on the eve of the new year.Forms of ''fai chun''
In the past, fai chun was presented in Xuan paper. Its fine and soft texture enables vivid and dynamic artistic expression of Chinese calligraphy. In this age of technology, city dwellers seldom write their own fai chun. Instead, they purchase them in stationery stores or shopping malls where a wide diversity of styles is offered.Thanks to the advancement in technology, fai chun can be printed in multiple colors. Commercialization of fai chun can be seen when animated characters are used to attract children while sparkling decorations are used to attract adults. Moreover, the material of fai chun is no more limited to mere paper. Fai chun made by cloth, plastic and layers of cardboard are quite common. Nevertheless, the practice of writing fai chun continues in traditional areas, particularly in walled villages.