Page 13 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 6
principle of the Chinese Weltanschauung: man as the cardinal being in this world.
To man are subordinated and subjected the animals and the plants, even heaven and earth
(a way of looking at things which is not far removed from the account of creation given
in Genesis).
In the realm of animate nature, animals are more important than plants. Domestic
animals, however, do not figure so often as wild animals. The same goes for the analysis
of dreams in China, in which the ox, the pig and poultry rarely occur. With regard to
plants, the situation is the exact opposite: almost all the trees and shrubs are of
significance in everyday life, being used as sources of fruit, as raw material for perfumes,
or as building material.
Such natural phenomena as clouds, rain, dew, thunder also make a deep impression on
man. Animals are seen in an ambivalent light – many of them threaten him physically, or
have properties which he admires or envies.
The concept of dao – usually rendered in English as ‘principle’, ‘reason’, – has many
layers of meaning, and it is from one set of these that the Taoism propagated by Lao-zi
has developed. Yet even this densely significant word goes back to simple observation of
nature. After heavy rains in the clay and loess areas of North China, it was impossible
to walk through the morass: only when a way (dao) was constructed was there ‘order in
the land’. Most of the symbols beloved of the Chinese relate to things that can be
observed with the eye, and these we may denote as ‘formal symbols’. Often, however, the
Chinese word for the concept which it is desired to symbolise is phonetically equivalent
or, at least, close to the word for the symbol itself (thus fu = good luck, and fu = the
bat: so the bat symbolises good fortune); in such cases we can speak of ‘phonetic’ or
‘aural’ symbols.
Other symbols have to do with smell or taste. It is only recently that we have come to
realise how important the sense of touch is for the Chinese. What does something feel
like – is it cool and smooth like jade? Is it smooth, hard, malleable? This last group of
symbols can be called ‘qualitative symbols’: certain properties are ascribed to certain
objects, particularly to animals and birds (e.g. the eagle is believed to retain its strength
till a ripe old age).

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This book contains some four hundred symbols, and even a casual runthrough will
show how many of these are concerned with the same few basic themes. These were the
things that mattered to the Chinese in their everyday lives, their heart’s desires – to live a
long and healthy life, to attain high civic and social rank, and to have children (i.e. to
have sons).
Comparatively little attention is paid to other-worldly matters – what happens after
death, the chances of rebirth, divine benevolence or the avoidance of sin. The ancient
Chinese pantheon comprised literally hundreds of gods, virtually all of whom had lived
as human beings on earth, and who were not deified till after death. As gods, they are
more powerful than ordinary humans (with the single exception of the Emperor), but they