We have many options to create artwork with Prosperity characters on a wall scroll or portrait.
If you want to create a cool Prosperity Asian character tattoo, you can purchase that on our Chinese and Japanese Tattoo Image Service page and we'll help you select from many forms of ancient Asian symbols that express the idea of prosperity.
Quick links to words on this page...


This means "prosperous", "flourishing", or "thriving" when used in regards to a person.
However, when used in reference to a whole country, it can mean "booming economy".
This is the traditional Chinese, ancient Japanese Kanji, and ancient Korean Hanja version of prosperity.
Note: If you order this from the Japanese master calligrapher, the second character may look more like the Kanji shown to the right. If you want a different form, please note that in the special instructions for your order.




This is a strong way to say "Prosperity and Abundance".
The characters shown here present and reinforce the ideas of being prosperous, a booming economy, well-to-do, well-off, wealth, riches and opulence.
This is the ancient / traditional Chinese way to write this, but most Japanese can fully read and understand it. It's also the correct form of old Korean Hanja (though few Koreans of the current generation will be able to read this).
See Also... Good Fortune








Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right
This means, "A life of happiness and prosperity" or "A life of happiness and success". It's a great and very positive and inspirational wall scroll selection.






Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right
This means, "live in prosperity". It's kind of a suggestion to be prosperity the center of your world.
This is the way some people want to live (and you should always live for what you love). However, this phrase does not suggest a peaceful life - rather one that is always busy. It's not for everyone, but it might be for you.


This is the same "prosperity" as our traditional Chinese version, except for a slight change in the way the second character is written (it's the Japanese Kanji deviation from the original/ancient Chinese form). Chinese people will still be able to read this, though you should consider this to be the Japanese form (better if your audience is Japanese).


Sometimes the Kanji form shown to the right is used in Japanese. It will depend on the mood of the calligrapher, as to which form you may receive. If you have a preference, please let us know at the time of your order.

This character is occasionally used in China to mean "prosperity".
This character once meant the "official's salary" in old feudal China and Korea (obviously, the officials lived well, so you can imagine how this was associated with the idea of being prosperous).
This is only used in Korean historical documents for "salary". In old Japanese, this means "fief", "allowance", "pension", "grant" and sometimes "happiness" depending on context. It's very obscure in modern Japanese.
We have other entries that are better-suited for a wall scroll. This entry just addresses "the coffee cup issue" where this character has been used on coffee cups and tee-shirts in a naive manner.
In other words: Don't order this!






Characters shown
above are read
vertically, starting
from the right
This means "To bring flourishing peace and security to the world (our current era)".
It's really a wish that a new door leading to peace and prosperity could be opened to mankind.


This word means prosperous, having abundance, well-to-do, or well-off.
It's a simple word that suggests that "you have made it" in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja.
See Also... Good Fortune


This kind of prosperity applies to a business. Something great to hang behind your desk if you are a small or large business owner. Doing so says that you either are a successful business, or you wish success and prosperity for your business.
Can also be translated as thriving, flourishing, brisk business, and other words related to prosperity in business.
A good meaning in China, but a little antiquated in Japanese.




This is a common phrase to hear around the time of Chinese New Years. Directly translated character by character it means, "Year Year Have Surplus". A more natural English translation including the deeper meaning would be "Every Year may you Have Abundance in your life".
On a side note, this phrase often goes with a gift of something related to fish. This is because the last character "yu" which means surplus or abundance has exactly the same pronunciation in Mandarin as the word for "fish".
This is also one of the most common titles for traditional paintings that feature koi fish.
In China, this phrase might make an odd wall scroll - a customer asked special for this common phrase which is why it appears here. See my other abundance-related words if you want a wall scroll that will seem more comfortable in Chinese culture.
Note: This can be pronounced in Korean, but it's not a commonly-used term.
See Also... Good Fortune

This character is often translated as "destiny". Sometimes this character is simply translated as "life", but more in terms of one's lot in life. In certain context, this can mean command or decree (generally from a king or emperor). Of course, such a decree are part of fate and lead you to fulfill your destiny.
In Chinese this word leans toward the fate or destiny definition.
In Korean, it is usually read simply as "life".
In Japanese, it can mean all definitions shown above, depending on context.
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck


These two characters contain the ideas of fate. But this is specifically the fate or destiny that brings two people together.
This is like the chance meeting of two people that leads some time later to marriage.
This could also be the chance meeting of two business people, who become partners and build a huge and successful company.
Basically, this is an idea often associated with a fateful meeting leading to good fortune.
Some will define this word as, "The destiny brings you two together", or "Meant to be".
Note: Second character can also be written without the left radical, as shown to the right. If you have a preference, please let use know in the special instructions for your project. There is no difference in meaning or pronunciation, just two (alternate) ways to write the same character.
See Also... Soulmates | Good Fortune


These two characters contain the ideas of "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck". You can also say that it means "what life throws at you" or "your lot in life" because the first character contains the idea of "life" or "living".
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck


These two characters contain the ideas of "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck". This is often defined as "a person's fate" in various dictionaries.
These two characters can be put in either order with the same meaning in Chinese and Japanese. The character order shown here is more the more natural order for Japanese Kanji and old Korean Hanja.
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck

This is the symbol for fire, flame, or blaze in Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
Fire is one of the five elements that ancient Chinese believed all things were composed of. These elements are also part of the cycle of Chinese astrology. Every person has both an animal sign, and one of the five elements according to the date of their birth. See also Five Elements and Chinese 12 Animals / Zodiac.
See Also... Five Elements

This Character is pronounced "fu" in Chinese.
The character "fu" is posted by virtually all Chinese people on the doors of their homes during the Spring Festival (closely associated with the Chinese New Years).
One tradition from the Zhou Dynasty (beginning in 256 B.C.) holds that putting a fu symbol on your front door will keep the goddess of poverty away.
This character literally means good fortune, prosperity, blessed, happiness, and fulfillment.
See Also... Lucky


Perhaps the Chinese equivalent of "This blessed house" or perhaps "home sweet home". This phrase literally means "Good fortune house" or "Good luck household". It makes any Chinese person who sees it feel that good things happen in the home in which this calligraphy is hung.

This character relates to giving someone a tribute or praise. It's a little odd as a gift, so this may not be the best selection for a wall scroll. I've made this entry just because this character is often misused as "honorable" or "keeping your honor". It is not quite the same meaning, as this can only be a tribute or giving an honor to someone.
This is often found in tattoo books incorrectly listed as the western idea of personal honor or being honorable. Check with us before you make a big tattoo mistake.
In modern Japanese Kanji, glory and honor looks like the image to the right.


These two characters can be reversed (written in either order) and yield roughly the same meaning. Either way it's about your "fate", "destiny", "fortune" and "luck".
This character order happens to be more common in old Korean and less common in modern Chinese.
See Also... Good Fortune | Good Luck




This four-character idiom is used in Chinese to mean "realize your ambitions" or "exhibit your ambition and success". It's used to talk about someone with great career ambitions. Almost literally, it expresses the idea of someone unfolding a great career like a map or a set of blueprint plans.
Very literally translated, these four characters mean, "Great unfolding of a huge map" or "Great exhibition of an colossal plan".


This Chinese and Japanese word for "success" is often used to refer to "career success", but is also used for other successes in life.
It matches the western dictionary definition of "The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted". And it's also used it this old Chinese proverb:
which means Failure is the Mother of Success.
Sometimes this word is translated as prosperity, but success, succeed, or successfully are more correct definitions.

The title says it all; this word is clearly understood in Chinese and Japanese as well as Korean Hanja.


This means wealth or riches in Chinese.
Hanging this on your wall will label you as a "lover of money" or a "greedy person". Order this, only if you don't mind being seen in this light.

This can mean happiness, good fortune, good luck, and in the old days, good harvest or bounty.
Note: From Japanese, this character is sometimes romanized as "sachi", and is often pronounced "kou" when used in compound words with other Kanji.
Wall scroll artwork shown on this page is priced as follows:
1 character $29.88 each
2-3 characters $39.88 each
4 characters $49.88 each
5-10 characters $59.88 each
After you select your calligraphy, our website will take you through the process of customizing your artwork.
Options for other mounting such as portraits are available for $13 less.
We also offer the services of a famous master calligrapher for a $40 fee on any scroll if you are looking for investment-quality calligraphy.
If you chose our famous master-calligrapher, you also get more choices for silk and paper colors and the option for larger artwork.
All of our calligraphy is completely done by hand in the ancient way.
When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to our art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.
Therefore, allow at least 3 weeks for delivery from the time you place your order.
When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.
The scroll that I am holding in this picture is a "regular size"
4-character wall scroll.
As you can see, it is a great size to hang on your wall.
(We also offer custom wall scrolls in larger sizes)
Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
The following table is only helpful for those studying Chinese (or Japanese), and perhaps helps search engines to find this page when someone enters Romanized Chinese or Japanese
| Title | Characters Simplified Traditional |
Japanese Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Hanyu-Pinyin (Romanized Chinese) | |||
| Prosperity | 繁荣 繁榮 | han ei hanei | fán róng fan rong | fan2 rong2 fanrong | ||
| Abundance and Prosperity | 繁荣富裕 繁榮富裕 | hanei yuuhuku haneiyuuhuku hanei yuhuku | fán róng fù yù fan rong fu yu | fan2 rong2 fu4 yu4 fanrongfuyu | ||
| A Life of Happiness and Prosperity | 幸福而成功的一生 倖福而成功的一生 | n/a | xìng fú ér chéng gōng de yì shēng xing fu er cheng gong de yi sheng | xing4 fu2 er2 cheng2 gong1 de yi4 sheng1 | ||
| Live in Prosperity | 生活于繁荣中 生活于繁榮中 | n/a | shēng huó yú fán róng zhōng sheng huo yu fan rong zhong | sheng1 huo2 yu2 fan2 rong2 zhong1 shenghuoyufanrongzhong | ||
| Prosperity (Japanese) | 繁荣 繁栄 | hanei | fán róng fan rong | fan2 rong2 fanrong | ||
| Prosperity / Salary | 禄 祿 | fuchi | lù lu | lu4 lu | ||
| Worldwide Wish for Peace and Prosperity | 启盛世开太平 啟盛世開太平 | n/a | qǐ shèng shì kāi t i píng qi sheng shi kai tai ping | qi3 sheng4 shi4 kai1 tai4 ping2 qishengshikaitaiping | ||
| Abundance / Prosperous | 富裕 富裕 | yuuhuku yuhuku | fù yù fu yu | fu4 yu4 fuyu | ||
| Prosperous Business | 兴隆 興隆 | kou ryuu kouryuu ko ryu | xīng lóng xing long | xing1 long2 xinglong | ||
| Year-In Year-Out Have Abundance | 年年有馀 年年有餘 | n/a | nián nián yǒu yú nian nian you yu | nian2 nian2 you3 yu2 niannianyouyu | ||
| Destiny / Fate | 命 命 | inochi / mei inochi/mei | mìng yùn ming | ming4 ming | ||
| Fate / Chance Meeting | 缘份 / 缘分 緣份 / 緣分 | n/a | yuán fèn yuan fen | yuan2 fen4 yuanfen | ||
| Destiny / Fate | 命运 命運 | mei un meiun | mìng yùn ming yun | ming4 yun4 mingyun | ||
| Destiny / Fate | 运命 運命 | un mei unmei | mìng yùn yun ming | yun4 ming4 yunming | ||
| Fire | 火 火 | hi | huǒ huo | huo3 huo | ||
| Good Luck / Good Fortune | 福 福 | fuku | fú fu | fu2 fu | ||
| House of Good Fortune | 福宅 福宅 | n/a | fú zhái fu zhai | fu2 zhai2 fuzhai | ||
| Glory and Honor | 荣 榮 | ei | róng rong | rong2 rong | ||
| Personal Fate or Destiny | 运命 運命 | un mei unmei | yùn mìng yun ming | yun4 ming4 yunming | ||
| Realize Your Ambitions / Ride on the Crest of Success | 大展宏图 大展宏圖 | n/a | dà jiǎn hóng tú da jian hong tu | da4 jian3 hong2 tu2 dajianhongtu | ||
| Success | 成功 成功 | seikou seiko | chéng gōng cheng gong | cheng2 gong1 chenggong | ||
| Wealth / Fortune / Riches / Abundance | 富 富 | tomi | fù fu | fu4 fu | ||
| Wealth / Riches / Fortune | 财富 財富 | n/a | cái fù cai fu | cai2 fu4 caifu | ||
| Happiness / Fortune / Lucky | 幸 幸 | saki | xìng | xing4 | ||
| If you have not set up your computer to display Chinese, the characters in this table probably look like empty boxes or random text garbage.
This is why we spent hundreds of hours making images so that you could view the characters in the "Prosperity" listings above. If you want your Windows computer to be able to display Chinese characters you can either head to your Regional and Language options in your Win XP control panel, select the [Languages] tab and click on [Install files for East Asian Languages]. This task will ask for your Win XP CD to complete in most cases. If you don't have your Windows XP CD, or are running Windows 98, you can also download/run the simplified Chinese font package installer from Microsoft which works independently with Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP. It's a 2.5MB download, so if you are on dial up, start the download and go make a sandwich. | ||||||
All custom calligraphy items are made-to-order in our little Beijing artwork-mounting workshop.
Normal delivery isjust over 3 weeksfor these handmade items.
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