Double Happiness

Shuang Xi (雙喜, Double Happiness) is one of Chinese culture's most immediately recognizable symbols: the character for 'happiness' or 'joy' (xi, 喜) written twice and joined at a central vertical axis to create a single, larger character that means the doubling and sharing of joy between two people. It appears on virtually every Chinese wedding as the ubiquitous emblem of marital happiness — on the wedding cake, the red paper decorations, the embroidered tablecloths, the candles, the gift bags, the bed curtains, and countless other elements of the wedding environment.

The legend behind Shuang Xi traces to a scholar preparing for the imperial examinations. On his journey to the capital, he fell ill and was nursed back to health by a herbalist's daughter with whom he fell in love. She challenged him with the first half of a couplet before he left; he promised to return with the second half. After brilliantly completing the imperial examinations and being announced in the top rank of successful candidates, he returned to the village and completed the couplet, adding 'happiness' to both the scholarly achievement and the completion of his love. The two happinesses — academic success and love fulfilled — inspired him to write the character for happiness twice, creating Shuang Xi as a single gesture of dual joy.

In feng shui, Shuang Xi in red is placed in the southwest sector of the home (the love and marriage area per the bagua map) to activate and maintain the energy of romantic partnership. For the newly married, it is the central symbol of their new household; for those seeking love, it is the specific activation used to invite a partner into their life. Unlike most Chinese symbols that carry multiple potential interpretations, Shuang Xi is unambiguously and exclusively about the joy of loving partnership.