Spring Couplets
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While pairs of the door gods are pasted in the center of the door, spring couplets are pasted on each side of the door and propitious words across the lintel at the top. In China, scholars would set up the tools and compose auspicious couplets for friends, relatives, and the publics.
A calligrapher would prepare to write by first grinding the dry ink with water on an ink stone, and masterfully move the brush over red paper to produce powerful and clean strokes, forming elegant characters. The themes of the verses would suggest good fortune, longevity, and male offspring. Nowadays, most calligraphers still write but just for selling purpose.
A couplet is made up of two lines of verse which are called the "head" and "tail", which should correspond with each other phonologically and syntactically word for word and phrase for phrase. In the past time, children would be given this kind of test or practice.
Chinese people have a lot of different kinds of spring couplets. For businessmen, they will have special words for earning more money, and gain good reputation around the world. For usual families, they would get some for good fortune and luck.