Page 122 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

F

Face

mian; lian

The Chinese word mian means not only ‘face’ but also ‘persona’; lian covers in addition
‘character’, ‘reputation’. Both words subsume, therefore, the behaviour expected of a
person in keeping with his or her social standing. The often-heard expression ‘to lose
face’ (diu lian) means that by doing something or behaving in a certain way, a person has
forfeited the respect of the grouping to which he or she belongs. Coming to a sympathetic
understanding with someone you are talking to corresponds to your own need ‘to
harmonise inner and outer, interior and exterior. No one should be “put to shame”, “made
to appear ridiculous”, and every effort should be made to avoid this. Equally, one must
try not to “lose face” oneself. “Loss of face” is something essential affecting the whole
person. It is noteworthy here that lian means both body and personality’ (Richard
Wilhelm, Die Seele Chinas).
The Chinese believe that the face provides clues to a person’s character: cf.
phrenology in Europe. Many books have been written on this subject.

Fairies

xian nü

Chinese mythology has several sharply individualised fairies (goddesses) around whom
many legends have been woven. We may mention: Xi-wang-mu, the ‘Queen Mother
of the West’, who is supposed to hold sway over a fairy realm in the Kun-lun Mountains
on the Tibetan borders; Chang-e, the Moon-goddess, Ma-gu, the fairy with the
long nails, Ma-zu, the fairy who looks after fishermen, and Nü-gua, who was
both sister and wife of the mythical Fu-xi.
These fairies and their retainers are almost always imagined as connected with the
Immortals. Their realms are usually earthly paradises, such as the eastern ‘Isles of
the Blessed’ as described by Lie-zi: ‘Day and night in innumerable swarms they flew to
visit each other.’ Then there was the remote island of Chang-zhou, about which we
learn from the ‘Sketches of the Ten Continents within the Seas’: ‘There are purple palace
grounds there; it is a land which the celestial maidens of immortality traverse.’ There is
a distinction between the fairy goddesses (shen), who are worshipped in their own
temples, and the ‘sacred maidens’ (xian-nü), who are not worshipped in any specific or
organised way.