Again， based on our favorite word play， gourds or hulu (葫芦) are seen as something related to lu (禄) because hulu (葫芦) sounds like hulu (护禄) literally mean protecting lu (禄). So traditionally， gourds were used as charms for scaring away evil spirits and diseases and guarding prosperity.
③寿
And then we have shou (寿) which means longevity. Even nowadays when someone is having their birthday celebration， we would call this person shouxing (寿星)， which was the original name of the stellar god in charge of longevity.
There are many longevity symbols in Chinese culture. Perhaps the one that you see most frequently at birthday parties for an elder person is the peach. That's because according to the legend， the Queen Mother of the West grows the peaches of immortality in her own orchard， and whoever gets to eat these peaches will live forever.
其他好运符号
①松柏与仙鹤
Apart from peaches and peach blossoms， other longevity symbols might include long lived evergreens like pines and cypresses and also cranes which are usually ridden by the immortals.
②鱼
In addition to the big three， lucky and auspicious symbols can easily be found in our daily life. Look at food for example， especially during some of our major traditional festivals. For the Chinese New Year banquet， most families would have fish because the character fish sounds like surplus. And in many regions， people would intentionally avoid finishing the fish dish just so that they could have surplus in the ing new year.
③年糕
In southern China， niangao (年糕) or glutinous rice cake is a lucky food eaten on Chinese New Year's Eve because in Chinese， niangao (年糕) sounds like getting higher every year. So with this auspicious food， you're likely to achieve more and bee more prosperous.
④汤圆
And for lantern festival， we have tangyuan (汤圆)， the glutinous rice ball or rice dumplings. They are eaten for two auspicious reasons. Both are round shapes and the pronunciation of the food symbolizes reunion and being together.
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