Click any Chinese character or symbol to copy it. Every character comes with its pinyin and meaning, from 福 (good fortune) to the circled ideographs ㊗︎ and ㊙︎.
Click to copy it, then paste with Ctrl + V (⌘ + V on a Mac) or a long press on phones.
Windows
Press Win + . to open the emoji and symbol panel, then search for “circled ideograph congratulation”.
In Microsoft Word, type 3297 and press Alt + X.
Mac
Press Control + ⌘ + Space to open the Character Viewer, then search for “circled ideograph congratulation”.
iPhone and Android
Copy it here and paste it. To type it again later, save it as a text replacement (iPhone: Settings › General › Keyboard › Text Replacement; Gboard: Settings › Dictionary › Personal dictionary).
Chinese is written with characters, called hanzi, rather than an alphabet. Each character is one syllable with its own meaning. The romanized spelling next to each character above is pinyin, the standard system from mainland China, with tone marks: 爱 ài means love and 福 fú means good fortune.
There are two character sets. Simplified characters (爱, 龙) are used in mainland China and Singapore, and traditional characters (愛, 龍) in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. This page mostly uses simplified forms. Japanese kanji often match the traditional ones, which you can compare on the Japanese symbols page.
Lucky symbols and Chinese New Year
福 is hung on doors at Chinese New Year, often upside down, because 福倒了 (fú dào le, "fortune is upside down") sounds like 福到了 ("fortune has arrived"). 囍, double happiness, joins two 喜 characters and decorates weddings.
Eight 八 is a lucky number because bā sounds like fā 发, to prosper, while four 四 is avoided because sì sounds like 死 sǐ, death. Red envelopes 🧧 with money, lanterns 🏮 and firecrackers 🧨 are classic New Year emoji, and each year belongs to one of the twelve zodiac animals, from the rat 鼠 to the pig 猪. More lucky signs are on the good luck symbols page.
Circled ideographs and how to type Chinese
The circled ideographs ㊗︎ (congratulations) and ㊙︎ (secret) are single Unicode characters from East Asian character sets, and both also have color emoji versions, ㊗️ and ㊙️. 🉐 is used in Japan to mark a bargain.
To type Chinese, add a Pinyin keyboard: Microsoft Pinyin on Windows, a Pinyin keyboard on a Mac or iPhone, or the Chinese keyboard in Gboard on Android. Type the pinyin without tones, such as "fu", and pick 福 from the list. For the Taoist symbol of balance, see the yin yang symbol.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Chinese symbol for good luck?
福 (fú) means good fortune and is the most common lucky character, especially at Chinese New Year. 吉 (jí) also means lucky.
What does ㊗︎ mean?
㊗︎ is the character 祝 (zhù) in a circle, meaning congratulations or celebrate. It also has an emoji version, ㊗️.
What is the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese?
Simplified characters use fewer strokes and are standard in mainland China and Singapore. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.