A nice piece in today’s People’s Daily discussing the various meaning of the character "fu," a ubiquitous New Year’s wish.

       The character above is shown upside down.  At New Year’s it is common to hang "fu" upside down because the word for "upside down" is a homophone for "arrived," the hope being that "fu" will arrive at your door.   
    
     Coincidentally, just last night my wife had asked me to translate a Chinese New Year’s amulet and, of course, "fu," was included in the several couplets and entreaties.  As I passed the character through my mind, several possible translations emerged: "good fortune," "good luck," "prosperity."  These have close and overlapping meanings, but there are divergences as well.  I turned to a standard dictionary and found "good fortune," and settled on that.  But the connotations of the character, I knew, spilled beyond that.

    The People’s Daily weighs in today to point out that there are, indeed, several ways to understand the character.  I suspect (though the story did not say this) that its meaning varies geographically, with people in, say, Guangdong, tending to gravitate toward one interpretation, while people in Beijing tend toward another.  In any event, here are the possibilities: affluence, avoidance of misfortune, good health, having wine.  That last one is interesting; it is based on some precursor pictographs of the modern character that represented a man holding a vessel of wine, a rare and expensive commodity in those days.

     All of this reminded me of the wonderful richness and expansiveness of Chinese characters.  It is something to keep in mind when dealing with translations of the ancient texts: classical Chinese, in particular, can be vague and variable in meaning.  In a way, that perfectly suits a Taoist perspective on the inadequacy of language to capture  the fullness of Way.  Even in modern Chinese, there is often  room for debate about, and nuance of, the meaning of particular characters in particular contexts.  Absolute meaning, especially in the older texts, is often impossible.

     The PD article also made me think, once again, at how diverse local and popular Chinese cultures have always been.  In some ways, "fu," is not very Confucian.  The Venerable Sage would probably tell us to wish for more reverence and commitment to Duty for the New Year.  Material affluence would not be on top of his list for the things we need to think about to progress toward Humanity.  The ubiquity of the "fu" message at New Year’s is just another reminder (I know, I am beating this horse mercilessly) of just how much popular Chinese culture has always been captivated by un-Confucian aspirations and pursuits.

UPDATE: Edward Yong notes that, for Chinese Christians, "fu" is translated as "grace," with all attendant theological connotations.  I haven’t thought of this before but how would Christian grace relate to Confucian duty?