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1. Doing good is the greatest source of happiness
4. Happiness / Fortune / Lucky
7. Double Happiness Guest Book
8. Good Luck
10. Serendipity / Happy Coincidence
11. Happy / Laughter / Cheerful Bliss
12. You must endure a harsh winter to appreciate the warmth of springtime
13. Prosperity
為善最樂 can be translated as “Doing good is the greatest source of happiness” or “doing good deeds brings the greatest joy.”
The origin is not known but is sometimes used in the context of Buddhism. However, this Chinese proverb or philosophy is a relatively mainstream idea of benevolence.
福 is pronounced “fu” in Chinese.
The character “fu” is posted by virtually all Chinese people on the doors of their homes during the Spring Festival (closely associated with the Chinese New Year).
One tradition from the Zhou Dynasty (beginning in 256 B.C.) holds that putting a fu symbol on your front door will keep the goddess of poverty away.
福 literally means good fortune, prosperity, blessed, blessedness, happiness, and fulfillment.
You'll also see this character in Vietnam (where Chinese characters were the written form until a romanization reform) where it is pronounced Phúc - a word commonly used in Vietnamese names because of its good meaning.
See Also: Lucky
幸 can mean happiness, good fortune, good luck, and in the old days, good harvest or bounty.
Note: From Japanese, this character is sometimes romanized as “sachi,” and is often pronounced “kou” or sometimes “rei” when used in compound words with other Kanji.
In English, the word order shown in the title is the most natural or popular. In Chinese, the natural order is a little different:
The first character means laugh (sometimes means smile).
The second character means love.
The last two characters mean “live” as in “to be alive” or “pursue life.”
Please note: 笑愛生活 is not a normal phrase in that it does not have a subject, verb, or object. It is a word list. Word lists are not common in Asian languages/grammar (at least not as normal as in English). We only added this entry because so many people requested it.
We put the characters in the order shown above, as it almost makes a single word with the meaning “A life of laughter and love.” It's a made-up word, but it sounds good in Chinese.
We removed the Japanese pronunciation guide from this entry, as the professional Japanese translator deemed it "near nonsense" from a Japanese perspective. Choose this only if your audience is Chinese and you want the fewest-possible characters to express this idea.
In Korean, this would be 소애생활 or "so ae saeng hwar" but I have not confirmed that this makes sense in Korean.
(Happy wedding and marriage)
囍 is a common gift for Chinese couples getting married or newly married couples.
As we say in the west, “Two heads are better than one” Well, in the east, two “happinesses” are certainly better than one.
Some will suggest this is a symbol of two happinesses coming together. Others see it as a multiplication of happiness because of the union or marriage.
囍 is not really a character that is pronounced very often - it's almost exclusively used in written form. However, if pressed, most Chinese people will pronounce this “shuang xi” (double happy) although literally there are two “xi” characters combined in this calligraphy (but nobody will say “xi xi”).
If you select this character, I strongly suggest the festive bright red paper for your calligraphy. Part of my suggestion comes from the fact that red is a good luck color in China, and this will add to the sentiment that you wish to convey with this scroll to the happy couple.
Customize a special Asian guest book for your wedding
Start customizing a “Double Happiness Guest Book Wall Scroll” Here!
The paper panel length can be whatever you choose from 68cm to 135cm (27” to 53”).
If you don't mention what paper length you want in the special instructions tab (on the next page), we'll make it about 100cm (40”).
The medium-size scroll with a 33cm x 100cm (13” x 40”) paper panel can usually handle up to 89 signatures. That breaks down to 37 signatures per empty square and 15 signatures around the 囍 character. If you switch to a 135cm paper panel, add another 37 potential signatures.
We can splice two 135cm papers together, but that would be a crazy-long scroll. These are only estimates, your mileage may vary.
With silk panels, this will yield a wall scroll about 155cm (61”) long. That's enough for up to 89 signatures. Of course, that depends on if your guests just sign a brief salutation and name, or more verbose good wishes. Customer feedback is that 126 people can sign the 135cm long paper on a medium-sized scroll. If we go bigger than that, there will be a minor paper seam and an extra charge. Email me with your specifications if you need something special.
Most customers pick the festive red paper with gold flecks and white or ivory silk. Red is a good luck color in Chinese culture, thus the most popular choice. But, you can do any color combination that you want.
There is a long history of Chinese-character-use outside of mainland China. This Double Happiness character is also seen at weddings in Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, as well as in Chinese communities in Thailand, Indonesia, and elsewhere. While Japan borrowed Chinese characters into their language, you won't see 囍 as often at Japanese weddings.
幸運 can be translated as “good luck,” fortunate, lucky, and/or “good fortune” in Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
Occasionally, this is also translated as a type of happiness or a short way to write serendipity.
紅五蝠 is a play on words in Chinese because of some homophones.
The first thing you need to know is that the word for bat, 蝠, sounds exactly like the word for good fortune, 福. Thus, bats are often associated with good luck and good fortune in Chinese culture.
Five bats (五福 / 五蝠) means “five fortunes,” referring to luck, prosperity, wealth, happiness, and longevity.
The word red, 红, has the same sound as 宏 meaning vast, great, or magnificent. Therefore, a red bat means “vast fortune.”
Altogether, five red bats represent vast reaches of the five fortunes.
幸せな偶然 is one of many ways to express serendipity in Japanese.
The first two characters mean happiness, good fortune, luck, or blessing.
In the middle is a Japanese Hiragana character connecting these words/ideas.
The last two Kanji mean incidentally, by chance, randomly, unexpectedly, suddenly, accident, fortuity, or by coincidence.
Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Hiragana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.
樂 is a single-character form of happiness or bliss that holds the ideas of laughing and having a good time.
This can also be translated as happy, glad, enjoyable, fun, and sometimes, music.
This a really good character if your audience is Chinese.
This is not a word seen alone very often in Korean.
In Japanese, this character is written like the image shown to the right. If you order this from the Japanese master calligrapher, it will look like this instead of the character shown above.
Note: In Japanese, this has a meaning of comfort, ease, and enjoyment.
See Also: Joyfulness
You must know hardship to appreciate happiness
This literally translates as: Without having experienced the cold of winter, one cannot appreciate the warmth of spring.
Figuratively, this means: One cannot truly appreciate happiness without having gone through hardship.
There are many contrasts in life. One simply cannot fully know what joy is without having experienced misery, difficulty, and pain. How could you explain “light” if you did not have “darkness” to compare it to?
Embrace hardship, as it makes the good times seem even better.
(also means salary)
祿 is occasionally used in China to mean prosperity or good fortune.
祿 once meant the “official's salary” in old feudal China and Korea (obviously, the officials lived well, so you can imagine how this was associated with the idea of being prosperous).
祿 is only used in Korean historical documents for “salary.” In old Japanese, this means fief, allowance, stipend, reward, pension, grant, and sometimes happiness depending on context. It's very obscure in modern Japanese.
We have other entries that are better suited for a prosperity wall scroll. This entry just addresses “the coffee cup issue” where this character has been used on coffee cups and tee-shirts. However, without context, the meaning is ambiguous to some.
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
Doing good is the greatest source of happiness | 為善最樂 为善最乐 | wéi shàn zuì lè wei2 shan4 zui4 le4 wei shan zui le weishanzuile | wei shan tsui le weishantsuile |
|
Good Luck Good Fortune | 福 | fuku | fú / fu2 / fu | |
Love and Happiness | 幸福與愛 幸福与爱 | xìng fú yǔ ài xing4 fu2 yu3 ai4 xing fu yu ai xingfuyuai | hsing fu yü ai hsingfuyüai |
|
Happiness Fortune Lucky | 幸 | saki / sachi / rei / rē | xìng / xing4 / xing | hsing |
Live Laugh Love | 笑愛生活 笑爱生活 | xiào ài shēng huó xiao4 ai4 sheng1 huo2 xiao ai sheng huo xiaoaishenghuo | hsiao ai sheng huo hsiaoaishenghuo |
|
Double Happiness | 囍 喜喜 | xǐ / xi3 / xi | hsi | |
Double Happiness Guest Book | 囍 喜喜 | xǐ / xi3 / xi | hsi | |
Good Luck | 幸運 幸运 | kou un / kouun / ko un | xìng yùn / xing4 yun4 / xing yun / xingyun | hsing yün / hsingyün |
Five Red Bats | 紅五蝠 红五蝠 | hóng wǔ fú hong2 wu3 fu2 hong wu fu hongwufu | hung wu fu hungwufu |
|
Serendipity Happy Coincidence | 幸せな偶然 | shiawa se na guu zen shiawasenaguuzen shiawa se na gu zen | ||
Happy Laughter Cheerful Bliss | 樂 / 楽 乐 | raku | lè / le4 / le | |
You must endure a harsh winter to appreciate the warmth of springtime | 不經冬寒不知春暖 不经冬寒不知春暖 | bù jīng dōng hán bù zhī chūn nuǎn bu4 jing1 dong1 han2 bu4 zhi1 chun1 nuan3 bu jing dong han bu zhi chun nuan | pu ching tung han pu chih ch`un nuan pu ching tung han pu chih chun nuan |
|
Prosperity | 祿 禄 | fuchi | lù / lu4 / lu | |
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
Some people may refer to this entry as Good Happiness Kanji, Good Happiness Characters, Good Happiness in Mandarin Chinese, Good Happiness Characters, Good Happiness in Chinese Writing, Good Happiness in Japanese Writing, Good Happiness in Asian Writing, Good Happiness Ideograms, Chinese Good Happiness symbols, Good Happiness Hieroglyphics, Good Happiness Glyphs, Good Happiness in Chinese Letters, Good Happiness Hanzi, Good Happiness in Japanese Kanji, Good Happiness Pictograms, Good Happiness in the Chinese Written-Language, or Good Happiness in the Japanese Written-Language.