年年有'余'
There's Always Leftovers

This is a popular idiom used during the chinese lunar new year. It means one would have 'leftovers' (which implies more than enough) every year.

I bought this piece of pre-cut wood from the $2 store. Right away I knew what I was going to carve on it. I had just been waiting to find a piece of wood that in some way reminded me of fish.

There are only three characters on the plaque: 年年有(nian-nian-you). The first two are of the same chinese character and I have them laid out as if they are the skeleton of the fish. Both characters mean year. The 3rd character, 有(has), is made up of two strokes and a crescent moon, which ressembles the gill of the fish, so there is where I carved it. I didn't carve the 4th character of the idiom, 余(the leftovers) because I thought the shape of the fish already suggested it. I believed that most who read chinese would understand what I meant.

Actually, the chinese character for 'leftovers' is not the same as the character for fish. The reason why 'fish' is in the picture is because both the characters, for 余(surplus) and 鱼(fish), are pronounced in the same way! This also explains why we often see fish on ang-pow packets, greeting cards and as new year ornaments.

I believe this piece of wood was meant to be a small cutting board for fruits. I placed a pearl in the hole for hanging to be the fish's eye. All it then needed was a round loop in the fish's mouth and the rope so it looked like the fish was hooked. It sure looks cute, I love it! :)
Lastly, I chose orange for the fish simply because it is a chinese new year colour. Chinese often use red, yellow and orange to decorate for chinese new year. It is believed that these strong bright colours will scare away the evil monster called 年(year), and bring luck to the people.