An American friend called me earlier today, asking me what the Chinese charater showing on the high rise Taipei 101 is. I told him it is 春 (chun), which means spring. He was confused because the Chinese word looks upside down. I told him it is indeed upside down and it is absolutely normal.
In Chinese, spring is written as “春" and pronounced as “chun“. “Spring is coming" is written as “春到了", which is pronounced as “chun dao le“. The Chinese word describing upside down is 倒, which is also pronounced as dao. So, in Chinese, “spring is upside down" (春倒了, chun dao le) sounds very similar to “spring is coming" (春到了, chun dao le). Chinese people then intentionally write the word 春 (spring) upside down on red papers and hang them on walls to anounce and celebrate that spring is coming.
It is full of wisedom, and Chinese style sense of humor.
You may find more pictures of Taipei 101 with an upside down 春 in this blog.
發表留言