Chinese New Year symbols can be useful if you want to write a Chinese New Year’s card, painting, calligraphy, or scroll. Even if you’re not planning on writing anything for Chinese New Year, you might want to learn about all the symbolism that surrounds this great Chinese holiday.
Chinese Symbols for “Chinese New Year”
Chinese Characters for “Spring Festival”
Chinese Symbols for “Happy New Year”

Chinese New Year Symbols for”Congratulations, Prosperity”
Chinese New Year is also called “Chinese Lunar New Year” or “Spring Festival“.
Chinese New Year Couplets / Scrolls
Chinese New Year couplets, or scrolls are painted with beautiful calligraphic Chinese symbols that represent wise messages, or poems, that are supposed to bring good luck, wealth, and lots of other good things to people who write them, or to the people who live or work where they are hung.
These Chinese New Year symbols painted on scrolls are often hung upside-down. The paper of Chinese New Year scrolls is usually red and the ink used to write them is black or gold.
Chinese New Year Symbols Around Doors
Spring
One of the most popular Chinese New Year symbol is “Spring” and it is common for Chinese families to paste a red piece of paper with this sign printed upside down on the front door of a home or business. Spring represents new beginning, joy, and life in traditional Chinese society and customs.
To Get Rich
Another Chinese character that’s commonly seen on Chinese New Year scrolls is “Fortune“. The Chinese are obsessed with making money, saving money, and becoming rich (like most people in this world), and they believe that the good stuff will be attracted to this symbol on Chinese New Year if it is pasted on a door.
Chinese New Years Red Envelopes
Also, it is not uncommon for Chinese people to write Chinese New Year symbols on red envelopes. Red envelopes filled with money are traditionally given to children during the Chinese Spring Festival. Chinese New Year red envelopes are called “hong bao” in the Mandarin Chinese language.
Chinese New Year signs for “red envelope”
Why write Chinese New Year symbols upside-down?
One interesting ancient Chinese belief, or superstition, is that when you write a character upside-down, the meaning (or message) of that symbol will come to you, because in Mandarin Chinese the sound of upside-down and arrive are the same, which is “dao“.
Return from Chinese New Year Symbols to Chinese New Year Festival