In Taoism, life is everything. So the current life (as opposed to the afterlife) is overwhelmingly valued. Thus the desire to live longer, richer and happier has been mixed into the everyday life of the Chinese.
Fu, Lu, and Shou are three "gods" that are sometimes called the "Three Stars." Separately, they may be called Fu Xing, Lu Xing, and Shou Xing, with "Xing" meaning "star." The three gods -- legendary stars of blessings, prosperity, and longevity -- have been popular among people for centuries, which show the traditional culture of the Chinese people who long for happiness, prosperity, and longevity.
Star of Blessings, Fu Xing
Fu Xing is a star that the ancient Chinese thought was in charge of agriculture in China. Fu means "good fortune, blessing, and happiness." However, Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism, said, "Calamity and luck have no door; you have to find your own way in or out of it."
Today, Fu Xing is generally shown as a court official with a characteristically "winged" hat, and often with a scepter in his hand. But he looked enormously different in an age-old drawing depicting 28 gods in early Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), where, with a tiger face and leopard eyes, sitting on a huge wild boar, he ranked as the head of the gods. In the Tang Dynasty, Fu Xing (also called Yang Cheng) became a governor of Dazhou in Hunan of Central China. The emperor of his day found midgets amusing, and often conscripted them from Dazhou. When governor Yang learned that the midgets were unhappy to be taken away from their families, he stood up to the emperor and abolished the practice. Thus Yang became immortalized as one who brings blessings and happiness.
The Character Fu
The character is prominently displayed on doors, often upside-down, as "turn upside-down" and a word meaning "arrive" are homophones; in other words, to say "luck upside-down" sounds like "luck is coming."
The Fu Culture
Fu means happiness, or good fortune. Through the ages, the understanding of the word has varied. In Li Ji (literally, Records of Rites), fu stands for success and also has the hidden meaning of business being smooth and everything going well. In the episode of Hong Fan, Book of Historical Records (Shang Shu), fu was interpreted in five ways ranging from longevity, wealth, and peace to virtue, and death without illnesses. In order to get the ultimate fu, a perfect life had to be pursued via following the five principles.
Master Han Fei in his writings of Han Feizi in the late third century BC regarded fu as both longevity and wealth. Ouyang Xiu, a well-known poet in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), expressed his understanding of fu in a poem: "Serve my country wholehearted till the end, retire home to enjoy health and longevity." The core of the five fu in his mind was longevity and health.
People of various classes and social statuses also held different view of fu. For peasants, fu meant land, pleasant weather, good harvests, ample food, and enough clothing for one's family. People in ancient cities would think they had fu if they could survive cruel rulers, wars, and famines. To merchants and businessmen, gold and swelling wealth were fu . For elder people, nothing would bring about more happiness than health, longevity, and grandchildren playing around them.
Over time, fu has gained newer and richer meanings. As the main ingredient of a propitious culture, fu represents the common people's greatest expectations from life and reflects their dreams and desires from different angles and levels. Praying for fu (or desires to reach fu) has slowly and subtly influenced the folk culture and become a kind of worship.
