Page 103 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 96
Donkey

lü

For the Chinese, the donkey is a stupid animal. In ancient times it was ridden by the
poorer people and by minor officials. Holy men also had a habit of riding on donkeys.
Thus Zhang Guo-lao, one of the eight Immortals, rides on an ass (or on a mule)
which he can fold up and stow away in a bamboo cane.

‘The Donkey-mill’. From the technological encyclopaedia
Tian-gong kai-wu (1637), which gives a graphic description
of all sides of life and work in Ming China

At one time, a bronze ass stood in the dong-yue miao, The Temple of the Eastern
Mountain in Peking. Sick people used to visit this statue on New Year’s Day and touch
the parts of the body affected by their illness. Today, the donkey’s genitals are
completely rubbed away, but no sufferer is ever seen to touch them.
Ru-yi Jun ( sceptre), one of the Empress Wu’s lovers (Tang Dynasty), was, if we
are to believe what we are told in one of the classical novels, a donkey reborn in human
form. After his death, he was turned into the ‘Ass’s Head Spirit’ which fought against the
Tang Dynasty.