Page 47 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

CHINESE MYTHOLOGY. 19

CHINESE MYTHOLOGY.

Although Chinese mythology had provided an endless list
of deities, saints, and demons, the ceramic artists, for some
reason — the universal desire for life which has
probably — long
always existed in China show a marked preference, almost
to the exclusion of all the others, with the exception of a few
Buddhist worthies, for the god of longevity, the eight im-
mortals, and those who, in some way or other, represent this
much-coveted
object.
The God of Longevity.
"
25 Sometimes he will be
Jacquemart, p. : represented
under the form of Cheou-lao, the of
simple god longevity.
In case he and his venerable
every appears gentle smiling,
head, monstrously high on the upper part, with white hair
and mounted or a He will
eyebrows, leaning upon stag.
often hold in his hand the fruit of the fabulous tree, Fan-tao,
which blossoms three thousand and
every years, only yields
its three thousand after. If he is surrounded
peaches years
by mushrooms (ling-tchy), which give immortality, and wears
a yellow robe, he will be recognized as the supreme disposer
of and the eternal ruler of the seasons."
earthly things
In No. 227 he holds in his hand the fruit above
right
referred to, and in his left a joo-e, or so-called sceptre of
The ear-lobes are "a of a divine
longevity. enlarged sign
being. The Buddhist saints and deva are represented with
ear-lobes"
large (Anderson, p. 207).
The emblems of most met with are
longevity frequently
the knot Buddhist
(see symbols), kylin, deer, hare, fox, tor-
toise, stork, bamboo, pine, plum-tree, peach, gourd, fungus,
and or of ; but these will be referred
joo-e, sceptre longevity
to later on.
again
The Eight Immortals.
Sir A. W. Franks, at the following account
p. 241, gives
of the immortals " The Fa Sien, or
eight : eight immortals,
are of the Taoist sect, said to have lived
legendary beings
at various times and attained are not
immortality. They