Today, I’m gonna tell you guys why the 4 characters, zhao, cai, jin and bao
are combined into one word. You would see this especially during Chinese New Year on the Chinese New Year decorations that look somewhat like this
Forget bout the pig, we’re supposed to be learning some Chinese culture here today. So here goes
Which in other words,
“zhao cai jin bao” means usher the good fortune for the new year.
But another unorthodox translation could be this one.
Show me the Money $$$
The real meaning behind the creation of this combination of words is actually from the myth of a beast in the ancient times. The creature is called ‘Pi xiu’ and it is actually believed that ‘pi xiu’ likes the smell of gold, silver and jewelry and it will always bring home gold, silver and other valuable items to its owner. Besides the habit of bringing back good fortune to its owner, ‘Pixiu’ is also believed to be able to ward off evil spirits.
One distinct physical feature that ‘Pixiu’ has is that it has no ‘anus’ and therefore it will never let go any good fortune to others. And since ‘Pixiu’ is a very powerful creature that symbolizes wealth and fortune, people of the olden days gave ‘Pixiu’ a nickname for its power to create and gather wealth, which is ‘Zhao Cai Jin Bao’. The transformation of the 4 Chinese characters to resemble ‘Pixiu’ in its native form therefore took place and the end result is the combined ‘zhao cai jin bao’
in replace for the real creature itself
Whatever it is, it means
Hmm… interesting story, don’t know true or not.
contrary to popular belief, what i wrote is true.
🙂
stay tuned for more chinese New Year Culture stuff!
anus = ass hole! wahahahaha.