Chinese Couplet
By admin on 2015-01-06

The couplet, also called Pillar Posters or Antithetical Couplet, is a pair of lines of poetry that are usually rhymed. It is a derivative of Chinese characters and literature and is unique in the Chinese culture. It's an art related to both the Chinese language and Chinese characters. The couplet art is one of the shining gems of the vast Chinese culture.
 
A couplet comprises of two lines written on vertical strips of red paper in the best calligraphic style one can master. The first (called upper) line is posted on the right side of the front door. The second (called lower) line is posted on the left side of the front door. In addition, a third horizontal piece may be posted across and on top of the door.

A couplet falls into three categories according to its functions -- for practical use, for decoration and for improvement of language skills.

Couplets for practical use include spring couplets, which are a pair of sayings that offer good wishes at the beginning of the New Year and usually painted on red paper and are pasted on walls close to each other, and couplets used in social interaction such as a marriage couplet  , longevity couplet  , greeting couplet  and funeral couplet.

Couplets for decoration, usually refer to two types -- indoor and outdoor. Both are posted on principal parts of architecture.

Couplets for the improvement of language skills vary a lot from one to another and one of their characteristics is that they should meet certain special requirement(s). This type of couplet includes proper noun couplets, cento and palindrome couplets.

As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, there was the custom of the hanging taofu (peachwood charms), namely, two peachwood boards with the names of two ghost-driving gods -- "shen tu" and "yu lei"- with the belief that each of them dispelled evil spirits. It was not until the Five Dynasties (907-960) that their names were replaced by other words, a simpler version of what appears on couplets today. According to historical records, the earliest spring couplet appeared in 964 in the Shu State of the Five Dynasties. After the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the spring couplet became a common phenomenon among the folks. The ancient people called it "peachwood charms," as its origin indicated.

During the Ming Dynasty, people began to replace the peachwood board with red paper, hence giving rise to the couplets we see today. As recorded by an ancient book, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, after settling his capital in Jinling (today's Nanjing), ordered every scholar-bureaucrat's house to have a couplet attached. After the Qing Dynasty, the development of couplet reached another peak, with a great many well-composed couplets.

With the increasing cultural exchanges between different countries, the couplet art also arrived in the surrounding countries, such as Viet Nam, Korea, Japan and Singapore, which still retain the custom.