梗概

Paste the Word “Fortune”Upside Down

During the Ming Dynasty，Taishan，a master carpenter，was asked to build a beautiful shop．The owner of the ship invited Taishan to a grand feast in thanks．However，he was afraid that the other guests would eat the best food and leave none for Taishan．Thus，he took the choice parts of the pork and wrapped them up for Taishan and his apprentices to take when they left the next day．Unaware of the owner’s plan，Taishan waited for the pork and grew angry when it did not appear ．At night，he and his men secretly flipped the pillars supporting the shop because they believed that this action would cause the business bad luck．

When Taishan and his men left the next day，the owner gave each of them a bag of food．They were surprised to find the pork in their bags．Taishan now realized the owner’s intention and felt sorry for his previous actions．He told his men to go back to the shop and paste the word “fortune”upside down on the flipped pillar．Taishan’s men did so，and when people asked them why，they said that this action was to insure good business for the shop．They also encouraged others to do the same thing if they wanted to become prosperous．Later，this shop indeed became prosperous．

From then on，people practiced this custom during New Year’s Eve．People paste the word “fortune”upside down on their doors even today because it symbolizes that fortune has arrived．