Auspicious train ticket

Auspicious train tickets[1] (Chinese: 吉祥語車票; pinyin: Jíxiángyǔ Chēpiào) refer to train tickets with auspicious messages on them derived from the beginning and end stations on the ticket. Messages often employ homophonic puns in both Mandarin and Hokkien and shuffling the order of characters to reach the desired effect. In Taiwan, the Edmondson tickets are sought by collectors and people wishing for good luck.[1][2]

Examples of auspicious train tickets in Taiwan. The station names are read in a way that carries lucky meanings.

History

In 1973, an NHK television show in Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan reported that tickets from Kōfuku Station and Aikoku Station carried an auspicious meaning. The kanji of the two characters could be interpreted as "happiness" and "country of love", respectively. The two stations then saw a surge of tourists seeking the tickets.[3][4]

In 1993, after preservation work was completed at Bao'an railway station, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) sought to promote the historic station for tourism. Railway researcher Ming-xun Hsieh (Chinese: 謝明勳) proposed that the TRA sell special edition tickets from Yongkang railway station. Hsieh was inspired by the Kōfuku–Aikoku ticket's success in attracting visitors and believed the same strategy would work in Taiwan as well.[2] The ticket's characters, when read in a clockwise fashion, read "Yongbao Ankang" (永保安康), which meant "peace and health forever."[1] The ticket became an unexpected hit and started the practice of collecting auspicious train tickets.[2]

The Yongbao Ankang tickets saw a surge of popularity on 9 September 2010. Tickets in Taiwan are printed with the date and time when entering the station. Since the year 2010 is year 99 on the Minguo calendar, the printed "99-09-09" was seen as especially auspicious since nine (九) is pronounced the same way as (久; jiǔ; kiú), the character for "long time". The limited edition tickets, which were printed on thicker paper, sold out very quickly.[5]

Types
Name Stations Literal meaning Notes
永保安康 Yǒngbǎo Ānkāng Yongkang–Bao'an Peace and health forever Read in a counter-clockwise manner.[1]
追分成功 Zhuīfēn Chénggōng Zhuifen–Chenggong Acquire points successfully Given to students about to take a high school or university entrance exam.[6]
大肚成功 Dàdù Chénggōng Dadu–Chenggong Big belly successfully Refers to a successful pregnancy.[2]
成功歸來 Chénggōng Guīlái Chenggong–Guilai Return successfully Given to males serving in Taiwan's mandatory military service.[2]
林北台大 Línběi Táidà Dalin–Taipei Your father is from National Taiwan University Read in a clockwise manner. In Hokkien, "your father" refers to oneself from a higher position, while National Taiwan University (NTU) is regarded as the best university in Taiwan.[2]
慶中台大 Qìngzhòng Táidà Daqing–Taichung Celebrating getting into National Taiwan University Read in a clockwise manner.[6]
吉安壽豐 Jíān Shòufēng Ji'an–Shoufeng Luck, peace, longevity, and abundance All four characters considered auspicious.[2]
加祿東海 Jiālù Dōnghǎi Jialu–Donghai Rising salary, East Sea Shortened form of 加官晉祿、福如東海 ("rising rank and increasing salary, fortune as vast as the East Sea").[7]
榮華富貴 Rónghuá Fùguì Ronghua–Fugui Wealth and honor In 2003, the Taiwan Railway Administration renamed Nanhe station to Fugui station in order to pair it with Ronghua station in a manner similar to "Yongbao Ankang".[8]

References
  1. Wan, Yu-chen; Xie, Dennis (5 February 2020). "Popular auspicious train tickets to go on sale again". Taipei Times. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  2. 許俊偉; 黃文博 (17 February 2020). "火車凸台灣一圈 悠遊慢活一下" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). China Times. Archived from the original on 25 February 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. Shimada, Kenichiro (31 August 2013). "Hokkaido's popular 'happiness' station to be closed for renovation" (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  4. "幸福駅・愛国駅 〜愛の国から幸福へ〜". Obihiro City (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  5. 楊思瑞 (9 September 2010). "9999永保安康 當日票熱賣" (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Taiwan News. Central News Agency. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  6. "「追分成功」，懷念那段追逐分數的青春時光". 微笑台灣 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  7. 許傑 (16 February 2019). "鐵道迷必朝聖！屏東「最大的小站」加祿車站 還有直升機停機坪". ETtoday (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. 蔣育荏 (19 November 2019). 台灣鐵道戳章集旅：蒐集車站紀念章，聆聽在地的故事。 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 墨刻. p. 186. ISBN 9789862894941. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
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