Page 133 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 126
There are many tales of drunk men turning into fish, and fish-demons of this
kind sometimes married women. However, they could be recognised from the fact
that they had to bathe every day! Other tales tell of fish turning into birds, and there is a
1st century BC tale of a giant fish swallowing a boat. The fish is one of the eight
Buddhist symbols.

Fisherman

yu fu

Like the woodcutter, the peasant and the scholar, the fisherman represents one of the four
basic occupations. Officials and merchants are secondary in the sense that they can
only make their appearance in a political and social framework organised and developed
by the primary four.
The legendary Fu-xi is said to have been the first to introduce the Chinese to
catching and eating fish, and he is also said to have shown them how to make nets.
Under the Han Dynasty, fishing was brought entirely under state, control. The value
placed on a calling which provides the Chinese with their major source of food along
with rice is clear from Shao Yong’s famous ‘Talks on Fishermen and Woodcutters’
(c. 1050). Shao Yong’s setting is often depicted in temple paintings.

A fisherman selling carp; he hopes for a good
income and social advancement