囍

 “shuang-xi” means double happiness

The story of the Double Happiness sign originated from a student’s journey during the Tang Dynasty. This was a story about a boy who was heading to the capital city to take a final exam and fell ill. Luckily, a herbalist doctor and his daughter cared for him. During his recovery the boy and the girl fell deeply in love. 

To test that they are a true match before the boy left for the capital city, the girl wrote one part of a rhyming couplet on paper, with the hopes that the boy can find its perfect match. 

During the exam the emperor came to assess the boy’s skill, he asked him to finish a couplet. Coincidentally, the part of the couplet that the emperor gave the boy was the missing match to his love’s rhyme. 

The boy recited the part of the couplet that his love wrote for him. Pleased with the young boy’s answer, the emperor made the boy one of his Ministers. When the boy returned and recited the couplet’s match to her, they were complete and got happily married. 

During their traditional Chinese wedding, the couple wrote the character “xi” twice on a red piece of paper. They posted it on the wall and since then, that double “xi” became the Double Happiness symbol, symbolizing the double happiness that the couple felt because of their love and union.