2025 Spring Festival Couplets Guide

Successful UNESCO Recognition of Spring Festival is not only an international acknowledgment of Chinese culture but also an affirmation of the cultural value of Spring Festival couplets. This event has a profound impact on the cultural influence of Spring Festival couplets.

International Recognition and Cultural Dissemination

The inclusion of the Spring Festival in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity signifies broad international recognition of the festival and its cultural practices, including couplets. This recognition aids in the global dissemination of Spring Festival couplet culture, allowing more non-Chinese people to understand and participate in this cultural practice.

Cultural Confidence and Identity

The successful UNESCO recognition enhances the confidence and identity of Chinese people in their traditional culture. As an important part of the Spring Festival culture, the activity of writing and pasting couplets may become more lively, serving as an important means of enhancing national cultural identity.

Cultural Protection and Inheritance

The successful recognition emphasizes the importance of protecting and inheriting the Spring Festival and its related cultural practices. As part of this, the traditional writing skills and cultural connotations of couplets will receive enhanced protection to ensure this cultural heritage is effectively preserved and passed down.

The successful UNESCO recognition of the Spring Festival has granted Spring Festival couplets new status and significance.

• Strengthening as a Cultural Symbol: As a cultural symbol of the Spring Festival, couplets have been further strengthened following the successful recognition. They are not only home decorations but also symbols of Chinese culture, carrying the emotions and blessings of the Chinese nation.
• Enhancement of Artistic Value: With international recognition of Spring Festival couplet culture, its artistic value has been enhanced. The calligraphic art, well-matched structure, and profound meaning of couplets make them a highlight of international cultural exchange.
• Expansion of Social Functions: In modern society, the functions of Spring Festival couplets have expanded from traditional roles of exorcising evil, blessing, and praying to include cultural dissemination, artistic appreciation, and social education. Following the successful recognition, the functions of couplets in these areas will be further expanded and deepened.
• Innovation and Development: After the successful recognition, Spring Festival couplets face opportunities for innovation and development. Integrating modern technology and media, the creation, dissemination, and display of couplets will become more diverse, attracting more participation and interest from younger generations.

Structure and Format of Couplets

The structure and format of Spring Festival couplets are an important reflection of their artistic charm. Couplets consist of the upper line, lower line, and horizontal scroll. The upper and lower lines must have equal word counts and content that echoes each other, creating a complete artistic conception. When creating, follow these structural features:

• Equal Word Count: The upper and lower lines must have exactly the same number of words, which is the most basic requirement for couplets. For example, the upper line "Spring wind proudly gallops" and the lower line "Autumn waters reflect the vast sky" both have seven words.
• Neat Antithesis: Words in the couplets should appear in pairs, such as nouns to nouns, verbs to verbs, adjectives to adjectives, with the same parts of speech and similar structure. For instance, "Rivers and mountains forever beautiful" to "China's glory eternal spring."
• Harmonious Imagery: The upper and lower lines should not only be antithetical in form but also echo in content and imagery, expressing a common theme or emotion. For example, "Blessing stars shine with joy" and "Longevity realm opens with spring" together convey wishes for family happiness and longevity.
• Concise Horizontal Scroll: The horizontal scroll is the summary and sublimation of the couplets, usually consisting of four characters, requiring brevity and strength to encapsulate the theme of the couplet. For example, "All things renewed" as a horizontal scroll summarizes the new year's atmosphere of the couplets and adds to the festive cheer.

Tones and Rhythms in Couplets

The tones and rhythms of couplets are the source of their musical beauty and sense of rhythm. In creating couplets, the combination of tones and coordination of rhythms is very important:

• Alternation of Tones: Chinese tones are divided into level and oblique tones, with level tones being long and oblique tones being short. In couplets, tones need to alternate to form a rhythm. Generally, the last word of the upper line should be in an oblique tone, and the last word of the lower line should be in a level tone to conform to the rhythm of the Chinese language.
• Rhythm Coordination: The rhymes of couplets need to be coordinated, meaning the final word of the upper and lower lines should have the same or similar vowel sounds to achieve rhyme. For example, "Spring returns to the earth with a thousand hills shining" (vowel sound "iu") and "Blessings fill the world with prosperity" (vowel sound "in").
• Sense of Rhythm: In creating couplets, attention should also be paid to the sense of rhythm in the sentences. By adjusting the arrangement of words and the position of pauses, the couplets read more smoothly and melodiously. For example, in "Auspicious snow heralds a prosperous year, harmony brings prosperity," the pauses between "auspicious snow" and "heralds a prosperous year," "harmony" and "brings prosperity" enhance the rhythm of the couplet.