Legend has it that the practice of pasting the poster of happiness upside down originated during the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuan Zhang, the first emperor of Ming dynasty, had wanted to kill some families in the capital because the citizens seemed rebellious (history speaks of Zhu as being very brutal). His plan was to kill everyone except those families that had posted on their gates papers with Chinese character happiness written on them.

Zhu’s wife, Ma disapproved of his plan and the night before the massacre was to occur, sent word to all the families in the capital to post happiness on their gates.

The next morning, Zhu found posters of happiness displayed on all the gates in the city. One family had however posted the character upside down. He became so angry that he ordered his soldiers to kill everyone in that family.

Ma sought to defend the family, telling Zhu that they had posted the character upside down because Zhu’s arrival meant that happiness had arrived. Mollified by the explanation, Zhu freed the family. People in China have posted the character for happiness upside down in their homes ever since.