Shòu is the Chinese word/character for "longevity".
Use
Three of the most important goals in life in Chinese traditional thought are the propitious blessings of happiness, professional success or prosperity, and longevity. These are visually represented by the three "star gods" of the same names, commonly depicted as three male figurines, or the Chinese ideographs/characters themselves, or various homophones or objects with relevant attributes. Shòu is instantly recognizable. "He holds in his hand a large peach, and attached to his long staff are a gourd and a scroll. The stag and the bat both indicate fu happiness. The peach, gourd, and scroll are symbols of longevity." His most striking characteristic is, however, his large and high forehead, which earned him the title "Longevity Star Old-pate". The Chinese character shòu is usually found on textiles, furniture, ceramics and jewelry. The ideograph may appear alone or be surrounded by flowers, bats, or other good luck symbols, but will always hold a central position. Longevity is commonly recognized as one of the Five Blessings of Chinese belief that are often depicted in the homophonous rendition of five flying bats because the word for "bat" in Chinese sounds like the word for "good fortune" or "happiness" or in this case, "blessings". In this arrangement, the shòu ideograph sometimes takes the dominant central position, replacing the fifth bat. Other symbols in Chinese iconography that represent longevity include pine trees, cranes, spotted deer, special collectors' stones, peaches, and tortoises. These are often depicted in small groupings to emphasize the central, symbolic meaning of the picture. Perhaps the most common Chinese auspicious saying concerning longevity is that found on scrolls in nearly every Chinese calligraphyshop in the world: shòu shān fú hǎi, which can be translated as "May your life be as steadfast as the mountains and your good fortune as limitless as the seas". Since 2017, the version 10 of the Unicode Standard features a rounded version of the symbol in the "Enclosed Ideographic Supplement" block, at code point U+1F262.
