Chinese people like the red colour a lot. Even now, Chinese people like to refer to ourselves as Chizi, meaning the red descendant (子孙).
Red represents the motherland and authority. Official uniforms of the Tang Dynasty were red. In the Qing Dynasty, red was used on official caps to show different rankings. As we know, the Five-starred Red Flag was first raised on October 1st, 1949. Even nowadays, headlines of official documents (文件) are painted in red. This is why they are called red-head documents.
For ordinary people, red stands for happiness. For example, the word "double happiness" used for weddings is red. The bride (新娘) wears red clothes which are different from the white gowns of the west. During the Chinese Spring Festival, people will give red packets with money inside to the children as good wishes. Couplets (对联) hanging on both sides of the doors are written in red. The word red equals prettiness. The expression "hongyan" meaning red colour is a synonym of a beautiful girl. Red is also one of the most popular words used in the names of Chinese women. But in traffic lights red means stop driving. This is how the westerners like to use the red colour. It is because red is very bright, and is good for warning purposes. But it doesn't really have any negative meanings.
