吉祥圖案(auspicious patterns)幾乎在所有節日或婚禮上都扮演著重要角色。 中國的春節、婚禮或其他節日期間，人們喜歡在房間里貼一些吉祥圖案，這是表 達對幸福生活期望的一種方式。吉祥圖案在中國擁有近三千年的歷史，至今仍是 中國人生活中一個重要的部分。吉祥圖案有多種類型且內容廣泛，主要表達對象 有:福、祿、壽、禧。最流行的圖案是雙喜(囍)(double happiness)。舉行婚禮時人們一般都會用到它。

　　Auspicious patterns play an important role in almostall the festivals or wedding ceremonies. During theSpring Festival, weddings or other holidays,peoplelike sticking some auspicious patterns in theirrooms. It is a way to express the expectation ofhappy life. The auspicious patterns in China have a long history of nearly three thousand yearsand are still an important part of Chinese people's life. Auspicious patterns have a variety oftypes and a wide range of contents,and they mainly express expectation to bless,emolument,longevity and happiness. The most popular patterns are double happiness (twoChinese characters meaning happiness). People generally use it when they hold a wedding.

　　長安，今稱西安，是唐朝的都城。唐朝時期的長安約比今天的西安大11倍，是具有國際聲譽的大都市(metropolis)。長安的街道和住宅設計得像一個棋盤，東西布局整潔、勻稱。長安城內，很多街道的寬度都超過了100米。長安也是當時中國的文化中心，有豐富多樣的娛樂活動，如音樂、舞蹈、斗雞(cock fighting)等。很多日本和朝鮮的學生紛紛來到長安學習，中亞的商人經絲綢之路(the Silk Road) 聚集在此。長安城約100萬人口之中，外國人就超過了1萬戶。

　　Chang'an，now called Xi'an，was the capital city of the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an was nearly eleven times as large as today's Xi'an，and was a metropolis with an international reputation. The streets and residences of Chang'an were designed like a chessboard, with neat and well-proportioned layout of the east and west.Lots of streets and avenues inside the city were over 100 meters wide.Chang'an was also the cultural center of China at that time，with rich and colorful entertainment activities such as music，dancing,cock fighting，etc.Many students from Japan and Korea came to study in Chang'an，and merchants from Central Asia went along the Silk Road to gather there.Among the population of about one million in Chang'an，there were more than 10,000 foreign households.