Chinese Good Luck Symbols

Factual Questions
1

I’ve been given the duty of making “table decorations” for a wedding shower. The shower is to be held in a private room trendy Chinese/Japanese restaurant in NYC. The restaurant is supposed to be sort of kitschy and fun. The party favors are in keeping with the Chinese theme, so I guess the table decorations should be, too.

The hostess of the shower suggested doing “table confetti” and some sort of centerpiece for each table. (maybe 4 tables) My idea is to fashion a model sampan (flat-bottomed skiff) and have it be “overflowing” with Chinese good luck symbols, so the boat will be the centerpiece and the good luck symbols will flow out onto the table.

The problem is that I’m kind of coming up short on figuring out what some appropriate good luck symbols are. Online searching has yielded either info on Chinese New Year, or Feng Shui, or who knows what. I’m not too concerned about strict accuracy, but I don’t want to get it horribly wrong, either. (I’ve read The Joy Luck Club one too many times.)

I figure on including miniature red envelopes and I Ching coins. I know there are other things out there (chrysanthemums? carp?) but I’m not sure whether they’re appropriate for this use.

So, I ask for help from the Teeming Millions. (Especially some of the Teeming Billion.) What are some non-controversial Chinese symbols that would be good for wedding-related use? Happiness, health, wealth, fertility, etc.

Thanks!

2

Go to Chinatown. Tell them it’s a wedding. They’ll have more stuff than you could ever use.

3

Anything with Lucky Frogs. Google them. Also, stick with red and gold as the colors.

Also, google for Chinese Weddings and Japanese weddings. I can’t remember the website right now, but when my SO’s SIL got married they went to a website and found tons of beautiful things, including silk fortune cookies as the favors.

Oh! Here’s the website:

Lovely ideas there. Good luck!

4

Look out for red paper cut in the shape of the Chinese character “xi”. It means “joy” and is usually used for weddings…

5

Here are some links:

T-shirts
Chinese Wedding at about.com
CHINESE WEDDING COINS (about 1/2 way down)
Foil Stickers
Chinese Symbol Stamps
Chinese Wedding Invitation

That was fun!

6

Here’s a book about Chinese-American traditions

7

Keep it simple, red and gold, and use the “double happiness” characters. It’s the traditional chinese good luck symbol when it comes to weddings.

8

:eek: I won’t be the least bit surprised if the seating is changed - most likely to 8 tables with 1/2 as many guests per table.

9

What’s wrong with four tables?

Green Bean, what restaurant are you going to? We went to a wedding reception at a trendy Japanese/fusion place in NYC last spring.

10

I’m assuming that JohnBckWLD is alluding to the fact that in Asian cultures the number 4 is considered to be unlucky, while the number 8 is just the opposite.

11

Actually, to the best of my knowledge, 4 being unlucky & 8 being lucky is a Chinese - as opposed to general Asian - superstition. The #4, as it’s pronounced in Mandarin, is a Chinese homonym for death. As far as the #8 goes, here’s a quick blurb.