He says that in previous generations people would attach a piece of red paper to a religious offering or to a wedding dress, in both cases having this meaning. It was only after cut-paper techniques had been invented that the red piece of paper was changed to the "doublehappiness" character. Before paper was invented, perhaps they used red cloth or painted on some red pigment instead.
阮昌銳舉例，老一輩人在祭祀的牲禮，或者在每件嫁妝上貼一塊紅紙，都是這類意義；後來人們學會剪紙技巧，嫁妝的紅紙才改為「喜」字；紙尚未發明前，則可能是用紅布或者塗上紅色顏料替代。