Fu (character)

The practice is universal among Chinese people regardless of socioeconomic status, and dates to at least the Song dynasty (960 – 1279 CE).

Another story states that posting the character upside-down originates with the family of a 19th-century prince of the Qing dynasty.

[citation needed] The story states that on one Chinese New Year's Eve, or 除夕; Chúxī, the prince's servants played a practical joke by pasting fu characters throughout his royal dwelling.

[4] Usage of fu in various forms, such as in calligraphy, seals, paper crafts, and posters, represents the desire that one's good luck will be expansive and multifaceted.

Chinese textiles and ceramics often found transcribe this felicitous message by portraying random numbers of bats in flight, sometimes can be more than a hundred.