Chinese New Year couplets
Every Chinese New Year, doors across the Chinese-speaking world get a fresh pair of red strips: a couplet (春联, chūnlián) of two matching seven-character lines, a four-character banner across the top and a 福 for the door. The lines rhyme in structure rather than sound, the first ends on a falling tone and the second on a level one, and the whole thing wishes the household a particular kind of year. Tell us your name and what the year should bring, and we write one for you, with your Chinese name woven into the first characters if you have one, the way a family poet would. Chinese New Year 2027 falls on 6 February and opens the Year of the Goat.
How to hang a couplet
The question every first-time hanger has, answered.
Stand facing the door. The first line (上联, the one whose last character carries a falling or dipping tone) goes on the right; the second line (下联, ending on a level tone) goes on the left; the banner (横批) goes above the door and, the traditional way, reads right to left, which is how you can tell which side is which on a couplet you did not write. Our sheets and the guide page inside the PDF are laid out that way. The 福 goes on the door itself. Hung upside down it makes a pun: 福倒了 ("fortune is upside down") sounds like 福到了 ("fortune has arrived"); families do this on a cupboard or a window, but on the front door most people hang it upright, so fortune does not pour out.
Classic couplets, translated
Ten you will see on doors every year, and what they say.
| Couplet | Banner | In English |
|---|---|---|
| 天增岁月人增寿 春满乾坤福满门 | 四季平安 | Heaven adds the years and people add to their lives; spring fills the world and blessing fills the door. Peace in all four seasons. |
| 一帆风顺年年好 万事如意步步高 | 吉星高照 | A fair wind in the sail and good years one after another; every wish fulfilled and every step higher. The lucky star shines. |
| 春回大地千山秀 日暖神州万物荣 | 春意盎然 | Spring returns to the earth and a thousand hills grow fair; the sun warms the land and all things flourish. |
| 门迎百福福星照 户纳千祥祥云开 | 家庭幸福 | The door welcomes a hundred blessings under the star of fortune; the house takes in a thousand good omens as the lucky clouds part. |
| 五湖四海皆春色 万水千山尽得辉 | 万象更新 | The five lakes and four seas all wear the colours of spring; ten thousand rivers and a thousand hills are bathed in light. All things made new. |
| 一年四季春常在 万紫千红永开花 | 喜迎新春 | Through the four seasons of the year, spring stays; in every purple and red, the flowers never close. |
| 财源滚滚随春到 喜气洋洋伴福来 | 财源广进 | Wealth comes rolling in with the spring; joy comes brimming over alongside good fortune. The shopkeeper's favourite. |
| 花好月圆人长久 福满家和事事兴 | 百年好合 | Flowers in bloom, the moon full, and the two of you for long years; blessing fills a harmonious home. For a couple. |
| 三羊开泰迎新岁 五福临门贺吉祥 | 三阳开泰 | Three goats open the year and welcome the new; five blessings reach the door. 三羊 "three goats" puns on 三阳, the three suns of the returning year: a Goat-year couplet for 2027. |
| 金羊献瑞家家乐 紫燕衔春处处新 | 吉祥如意 | The golden goat brings good omens and every home is glad; the swallow carries spring and everywhere is new. Also for 2027. |
One couplet, taken apart
A couplet works because every part of the second line answers the part of the first line in the same place. The rules are set out in our guide to Chinese New Year couplets; here is what they look like on one of the commonest doors in China.
"A fair wind in the sail, and every year good; every wish fulfilled, and every step higher." Banner: 吉星高照 (jí xīng gāo zhào), "the lucky star shines from above".
| First line | Second line | Why they match |
|---|---|---|
| 一帆风顺 | 万事如意 | Two set four-character phrases, each opening with a number: 一 (yī), one sail, against 万 (wàn), ten thousand things. |
| 年年 | 步步 | A doubled word against a doubled word: year after year, step after step. |
| 好 | 高 | An adjective against an adjective. 好 (hǎo) is third tone, oblique, so this is the first line; 高 (gāo) is first tone, level, so the pair closes open. |
The banner names the whole wish in four characters and is read on its own. When your couplet carries your name, the first character of each line is fixed by your given name (藏头, cángtóu, "hidden head"), and the rest of each line is built to match around it, which is why a real Chinese name from the name generator works and a transliteration does not.
Choosing what the year should bring
The wishes you tick decide which stock of images the couplet draws on, because each wish has phrases Chinese readers have seen on doors all their lives. These are the phrases behind the nine choices, and the ones you are likely to see in or around your lines and banner.
| Wish | Classic phrase | Pinyin | What it says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health and long life | 健康长寿 | jiànkāng chángshòu | Good health and a long life |
| Family harmony | 阖家欢乐 | héjiā huānlè | The whole family happy together |
| A new or happy home | 乔迁之喜 | qiáoqiān zhī xǐ | The joy of moving to a new home |
| Career | 步步高升 | bùbù gāoshēng | Rising higher step by step |
| Studies and exams | 金榜题名 | jīnbǎng tímíng | Your name on the golden list of those who passed |
| Prosperity | 财源广进 | cáiyuán guǎng jìn | Wealth flowing in from every side |
| Love and marriage | 百年好合 | bǎinián hǎohé | A hundred years in harmony |
| Good fortune | 吉祥如意 | jíxiáng rúyì | Good luck, and everything as you wish |
| Peace and safety | 岁岁平安 | suìsuì píng'ān | Peace and safety year after year |
You can pick up to three. One or two give a tighter couplet: a seven-character line has room for about one image in each half, and two wishes map neatly onto the two lines, such as family on the right and health on the left. Choose for the household, not only for yourself; the couplet hangs on a door everyone walks through.
How it works
Enter your name, your Chinese name if you have one, and what the year should bring.
Read the couplet: each line in characters, pinyin and English, and why it was written this way. The free preview shows the sheets.
Unlock the print files: A4 pieces for a home printer, full-size 15 × 110 cm strips for a print shop, the 福, a phone wallpaper, and the hanging guide.
Questions
When is Chinese New Year 2027, and when do couplets go up?
Chinese New Year 2027 is Saturday 6 February, the start of the Year of the Goat. Couplets go up on New Year's Eve, Friday 5 February, or in the last days before it, and they stay up until they fade or until next year's pair replaces them during the new year cleaning.
What is a Chinese New Year couplet called?
A Chinese New Year couplet is called 春联 (chūnlián), a Spring Festival couplet. The general word for any couplet is 对联 (duìlián). The first line is 上联 (shànglián), the second 下联 (xiàlián), and the four-character banner across the top 横批 (héngpī). The square 福 on the door is a separate piece hung alongside them.
What makes a couplet a couplet?
A couplet is two lines of equal length that match word for word: a noun faces a noun, a verb a verb, a number a number. The first line ends on an oblique tone (third or fourth), the second on a level tone (first or second). Ours are written within those rules and judged by a second model; if a draft fails, you get a classic couplet chosen for your wishes, and the sheet says so.
Which side does the first line go on?
Facing the door, the first line goes on the right and the second on the left, with the banner above reading right to left. You can tell the first line on any couplet by its last character, which carries a third or fourth tone. Our sheets and the hanging guide in the PDF follow this order.
Why is the 福 character upside down?
The 福 (fú, fortune) is hung upside down for a pun: 福倒了, "fortune is upside down", sounds the same as 福到了, "fortune has arrived". Families do this on cupboards, windows and the fridge. On the front door most people hang it upright, so the fortune does not pour out. The print files include both.
Can my name really go into it?
Yes, if you have a Chinese name. The two characters of your given name open the two lines (藏头, "hidden head"), a device Chinese poets have used for centuries; a single-character given name opens the first line. A transliterated name does not work this way, so find a real Chinese name first and come back.
What do I get, and how do I print it?
For $6.90 you get a home-print PDF in A4 pieces to cut and join, a print-shop PDF at real size (15 × 110 cm strips, a 60 × 15 cm banner, a 20 × 20 cm 福), the 福 upright and upside down, a phone wallpaper, and a first page with each line in characters, pinyin and English plus the hanging diagram.
Simplified or traditional characters?
Either. Simplified characters are standard in mainland China and Singapore; Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and most overseas Chinatowns use traditional. Choose before the couplet is written and every sheet, including the banner and the 福, follows your choice.
Is it all right to hang a couplet if I am not Chinese?
Yes. Spring Festival couplets are good wishes for a household, and Chinese neighbours generally take one on a non-Chinese door as a friendly gesture. Hang it the right way round, put it up around New Year's Eve, and know what it says: every sheet comes with the English, so you can answer when someone asks.
Are there times a family does not hang red couplets?
Yes. Traditionally, a household that has lost a family member during the year does not put up red couplets at the next New Year, and in some regions hangs white, yellow or blue ones, or none at all, for one to three years. Customs vary by region and family; if in doubt, ask.
Read more
- Chinese New Year couplets: what they say, how they are built, and how to hang themWhat a Spring Festival couplet (春联) is, the rules that make two lines a couplet, ten classic couplets translated, which side the first line goes on, and why the 福 is sometimes upside down.