Page 111 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 104
Dwarfs

zhuru

In ancient texts we find mention of lands which are inhabited by dwarfs. These are lands
that lie beyond Chinese ken, either in the extreme South or far to the North. Within China
proper, however, there was a region (Tao-chao in what is present-day Hunan) where, it
was said, many dwarfs were to be found; and this was a source for the supply of court
jesters. Both Western and Chinese sources tell of dwarfs who were so small that snow-
geese could swallow them. In many texts, again, it is cranes that gobble them up.
The aboriginal inhabitants of Taiwan are supposed to have been dwarfs, and legends
about them are still very much alive on the island. Dwarfs play an important part in the
songs sung at the harvest festivals of the Saisiat tribe which holds, every two years, a
sacrificial rite in honour of the dwarfs. In 1970 this took place on 13 November, and in
November 1974 a three-day festival started on the 28th. There is much reference to
dwarfs in the myths of the Taiwanese tribes, and Chinese anthropologists are of the
opinion that these myths do not relate to the Negrito people who live in the Philippines
and who are dark-skinned. The Miao or Hmong, a non-Han minority people in South
China, believed that dwarfs were subterranean dwellers. The festival associated with
these dwarfs is also observed in Xin-zhu and in Miao-li, where the population is now
exclusively Han Chinese.

Dyeing

ran

The Chinese word ran has two main meanings: to dye, to apply colour; and to infect, be
infected, catch a disease. An extension of this second meaning is ‘to have (illicit)
intercourse with’ (you ran). Thanks to a play on words (ran/ren) the word ren = harvest,
crop, is then used as a metaphor for ‘(illicit) sexual intercourse’.