These are two classical couplets for wishing longevity, both for turning forty. In the first line, Bu Bu is a substitute for forty years old, and Zhi Tian means the year of knowing the destiny of heaven, which is fifty years old.

This sentence is saying:From now on it is forty years old, and there are still ten years to go before fifty. The second sentence is the use of hyperbole, anthropomorphism, wishing, peach holding day is to wish people a long life, three thousand years is a good wish. The cypress is forty years old, and it is also a blessing for health.

Longevity is an activity, generally refers to the elders of the elders or between friends and relatives of the act of respect, in ancient times refers to the old man's birthday when he congratulated him, the modern era has developed into a synonym for the celebration of birthdays. Or set up a birthday celebration banquet, or dedication of calligraphy, painting and art, etc., wishing people a long life.

Expanded Information

Wishing people a long life is an activity, an action behavior, generally is the younger generation to the elders of the act of respect, in ancient times refers to the old man on his birthday to congratulate him, the modern has developed into a synonym for celebrating birthdays.

According to archaeological discoveries, as early as the Xia Dynasty, people began to respect the elders or people with the custom of honoring the birthday, to the Zhou Dynasty to see a birthday gift dedication records, after the Tang Dynasty, people often dedicate to longevity in the meaning of calligraphy, painting, sculpture and so on.

The common words and phrases used in birthday wishes, such as: blessed as the East China Sea, longevity than Nanshan Mountain; today's celebration of the ancient and rare, and then double celebration in other years; year after year, today, year after year, today, longevity, longevity 100 years old, blessed as the East China Sea, long flowing water, longevity than the Nanshan Mountain, ageless pines.

Pine age long years, crane language send spring and autumn, peach holding day three thousand years old, cypress in the sky forty round, wish to dedicate the life of Nanshan years Qi Danyan meridian rich, the first to open the North Sea bottles Learning to know the non-devil pure, green Qi thousand years old tree staff towards the walk in the spring and autumn forever, the bright moon, a pool of lotus, fishing we silk silk silk, day and month, Shoukao levy Hongfu idle elegant deer fur life three joys.

Civilization enjoys a great year Easy to dove staff Tianbao Jiuru, Yan Gui Xielan years after half a year on the life of the Yi Zhuang Chun does not grow old, Sang arc Pong Yai ambition in the four directions gentleman blessed to walk Hongfans Chen, Yao Chi spring does not grow old Setting up a pleasant encounter with the fangchen hundred years of age just half of the Yi Yi, Shou domain day to open up the good luck, said goblet of vegetables have nine categories of blessing and life has been double, the Wang Tree surplus steps show jade tree step in front of the Rongyi Jing Jing dance gold daylily reflecting glory on the day of the gold daylily on the flower of the Hall of the early weeks of the first Fan Chen Jiuwufu, the late life of the good fortune since there is good luck light, the Crane Dance sunset in addition to the sun. The crane dances in the setting sun.

Patterns representing longevity: peach, pine tree, deer, crane, longevity star, cypress tree, mountain, sunset, noodles, etc.

Art works include: Zhu Xuanhanhan's Chinese paintings representing longevity, "People Live Longer" in the Peach of Longevity series.

To this day, this activity is still popular and expresses the respect and filial piety of the younger generation to their elders.

The upper right photo shows the carving "Wishing for Longevity" (Photo source: Chushan Creative Studio - Chushan Micro-Painting Carving Catalogue)

Wishing

The basic meaning of wishing is to express a good wish for a person or an event; it also refers to a male sorcerer in ancient times or a person who manages joss-sticks in a temple. Commonly used words include bless, congratulate, wish, toast, etc.. In ancient times, people were divided into upper, middle and lower longevity; 120 years old was called upper longevity, 100 years old was called middle longevity, and 80 years old was called lower longevity. So young people to celebrate the birthday, can only be called "do birthday", can not be called "do life". Only those celebrating their birthdays at age 50 or 60 or above can be called "birthday celebrations", but those celebrating their birthdays as Shouweng Shouwang will always humbly call themselves "small birthdays, so why be too grand." Therefore, "birthday" and "birthday" are also used as "honorific" and "self-effacing" terms.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Birthday Wishes