The character fu (福), meaning “good fortune” or “blessing,” is often displayed upside down on doors during Chinese New Year. The placement is a visual pun: in Mandarin, “upside down” and “to arrive” are both pronounced dao, so an inverted fu can suggest that good fortune has arrived.
Fu is commonly written on a square piece of red paper and placed on a doorway, sometimes alongside spring couplets known as chunlian. Red reinforces the auspicious message, while the doorway represents the point through which prosperity is welcomed into the home. The custom is associated with Chinese New Year decorations across China and overseas Chinese communities.
This practice is often confused with other lucky characters. Cai (财) means wealth, shou (寿) means longevity, and xi (喜) means happiness or joy. In some Cantonese-speaking settings, however, an upside-down fu may be interpreted differently because related pronunciations can suggest pouring luck away, so regional practice is not completely uniform.