Evolution of Spring Festival couplets in chronological order

Spring Festival couplets originated in Fu Tao. According to legend, in ancient times, Shen Tu and Lei Yu were very good at catching ghosts, and they helped many people. The fame of the two brothers began to spread, but there was nothing people could do where the two brothers were away. So people began to think of ways. In order to ward off evil spirits on New Year's Eve, people carved peaches into the images of Shen Tu and Lei Yu and hung them at the door.

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With the development of the times, it is too wasteful to carve people with peach wood. People began to gradually replace it with mahogany two or three feet long and four or five inches wide. On the mahogany board, the gods of Shen Tu and Lei Yu are painted, and then the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu are written, usually left Lei Yu and right Shen Tu.

During the Five Dynasties, there were new changes in the symbol of peach. At that time, people began to write some meaningful greetings on peach symbols to express their expectations for the coming year and hope to realize their good wishes. The earliest historical record is the inscription of Meng Chang, the monarch of Shu after the Five Dynasties: "Qing Yu in the New Year, Promise in the Festival. Changchun ". This is the first Spring Festival couplets in the history of China.

In the Ming Dynasty, Fu Tao officially changed its name to "Spring Festival couplets", which is said to be changed by Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Emperor. Zhu Yuanzhang issued a decree before the New Year's Eve after Jinling established its capital, ordering every household to write couplets and stick them on the doors, regardless of ministers or people. After the imperial edict was issued, Zhu Yuanzhang went out traveling incognito and went door to door to watch Spring Festival couplets for fun.

By the Qing Dynasty, the ideological and artistic quality of Spring Festival couplets had been greatly improved. Liang Zhangju's monograph "Poetry of Spring Festival couplets" discusses the origin of Spring Festival couplets and the characteristics of various works. Spring Festival couplets had become a literary and artistic form at that time.

With the development of cultural exchanges among countries, couplets were introduced to Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore and other countries. These countries still have the custom of pasting couplets.

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Legends about Spring Festival couplets

According to legend, in Shan Hai Jing, an ancient myth in China, there is a ghost land with a mountain in the middle, a big peach tree covering 3,000 miles, and a golden rooster on the treetop. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, the ghost who travels at night will rush back to the ghost domain. The Gate of Ghost Domain is located in the northeast of Peach Tree District. There are two gods standing by the door, named Shen Tu and Lei Yu.

If the ghost does something unnatural at night, Shen Tu and Lei Yu will immediately find it, catch it, tie it up with a rope made of Miscanthus and give it to the tiger. So all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. So people in China carved them into peach trees and put them at the door to ward off evil spirits and prevent harm.

Later, people simply carved the names of Shen Tu and Lei Yu on the mahogany board, thinking that this could also eliminate disasters. This kind of red board was later called "Fu Tao". In the Song Dynasty, people began to write couplets on mahogany boards and red paper to symbolize happiness and auspiciousness, and posted them on both sides of doors and windows during the Spring Festival to express people's good wishes for good luck in the coming year.

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