Page 153 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 146

The outer door of the Imperial Palace in Peking

Gecko

bi-hu

The gecko is a small, lizard-like creature, which the Chinese like to have in their houses
as it eats vermin. It climbs about on walls and ceilings, and is therefore known as
‘Walltiger’ (bi-hu). A magic poison (gu), used typically in South China, was prepared by
putting a centipede, a snake, a scorpion, a frog and a gecko in a pot and
leaving them for a year: the creatures gradually ate each other up, and the corpse that was
found when the pot was opened was supposed to contain the noxious poison of all

five. The corpse was used for various magical practices, e.g. for bringing about the death
of a hated rival. Another name for the gecko is shou-gong, i.e. the ‘guardian of the
palace’. Old texts tell us how a gecko was put into a pot on the 5th day of the 5th month
and then fed for a year on cinnabar powder. At the end of the year, it was pounded to
pieces. The ointment thus obtained was rubbed on to the arm of a girl destined for the
imperial court: the mark would vanish the first time the girl had sexual intercourse.
In one such story we are told that a girl who was supposed to be a prostitute was able
to point to the mark on her arm, which, she said, had been put there when she was six
years old – she was now fifteen.
Men who were going to be away on a long journey painted the mark on the lower
part of their wives’ bodies. According to one text, this ensured that the women would
have no children; other texts say that the spot would disappear should sexual intercourse
take place.