Page 134 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 127
Mao Ze-dong compared the partisan leader to a fisherman who casts his net wide but
holds the ends very firmly in both hands – a clever use of symbolism for political ends.

Fish Trap

gu

The legendary Emperor Fu-xi is credited with the invention of the fish trap. It is
a sort of cage made from bamboos woven together, with a large opening towards the
front and a small opening behind, and is so constructed that fish can swim into it but
cannot get out. It is also a metaphor and rebus for the vagina (cf. the phonetically close
ku = hole, slit).

Five

wu

Five is one of the most important numbers in Chinese number mysticism. Being uneven,
it is a ‘male’ number. It is associated with the Five Directions (the four points of the
compass plus the Middle), five odours, and five tastes. In Lao-zi we read:
‘The five colours make man’s eyes blind; the five notes make his ears deaf; the five tastes
injure his palate’ (Book I, section XII; tr. D. C. Lau, London, 1963).
One big Chinese dictionary lists twelve meanings of the character wu = 5, and 1,148

compounds using it. Of these, about a thousand are directly connected with the
elements or ‘states of being’: five customs (practices) (i.e. festive customs, funeral
customs, hospitality customs, military customs, customs associated with good wishes);
five noxious creatures; five kinds of animal:

The essence of the furry creatures is the qi-lin ( unicorn); the essence
of the feathered creatures is the phoenix; the essence of the shell
creatures is the tortoise; the essence of the scaly creatures is the
dragon; the essence of the naked creatures is man.

So we read in the ‘Book of Rites’. In the same book we are told of the five
relationships between people: ruler and servant, father and son, man and wife, elder
brother and younger brother, friend and friend. Confucian doctrine sees all of these
relationships in terms of strict hierarchical ordering: even in the case of two friends, the
elder is always ‘above’ the younger.