| A large Chinese character, Double Happiness, on a red
piece of paper or in paper cut is always put where it
must strike the eyes on a young couple's wedding. 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, in which the top learners would be selected
as the ministers in the court. 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.
Well, when he had to leave, he found it hard to say
good-bye to the pretty girl, and so did she. They fell
in love. 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. The young girl nodded in significance.
In the examination the young man won the first place,
who was appreciated by the emperor. Also the winners
were interviewed and tested by the emperor. As luck
would have it, 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."
The young man realized immediately the right part of
the couplet by the girl was the perfect fit to the emperor's
couplet, 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 and told her the emperor's couplet.
They soon got married. 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. And from then on, it has been taken
on and became a social custom.
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