Page 159 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 152
‘Gui-traffic’ is an expression for sexual intercourse. A ‘Ghost Carriage’ (gui-che) is
supposed to be a bird with nine heads; the South Chinese believe that it comes into
houses and robs inmates of their souls. It is particularly important not to put children’s
clothes out to dry in the open air, as the blood of this bird or one of its feathers may fall
on them, and the children will then be taken ill. The ‘Ghost Barrier’ (gui men guan) is in
the underworld, at the entrance to the first hell. The spirit passes through this barrier in
the first seven days after death. In South China, the ‘Ghost Mother’ is believed to give
birth to ten ghosts at a time, all of which she devours the same evening. In some texts we
read of ‘Ghost Pregnancy’ which is an imaginary pregnancy, conjured up by dreams.
‘Foreign ghosts’ (foreign devils) (yang gui-zi) was a less than complimentary expression
for Europeans and Americans. It is not much used nowadays.

Ginger

jiang

Ginger is an important ingredient in many Chinese dishes. Confucius, we are told in the
Analects, was ‘never without ginger when he ate’. The elaborate system of
correspondences which underlies so much Chinese thought required that sauces should be
prepared according to season with ginger, vinegar, wine or salt. Only honey was
invariably included: ‘since what is sweet corresponds to the earth which lies in the centre’
(Marcel Granet).
As the ginger root often resembles a finger, women were told to keep off ginger
during pregnancy, as the child might well be born with more than five fingers.

Ginseng

ren-shen

Nowadays, ginseng is in great demand as a tonic to which all sorts of curative and
restorative properties are attributed. In ancient times, the plant was mainly produced in
the mountainous regions of what is today the province of Shanxi, in North China; later,
Shandang (also in Shanxi) became famous for its ginseng.
The roots of the ginseng plant are fairly long and often look like a small child. It is
said that ginseng not only looks like a child but can also cry like one.
At the present time, it is mainly in Manchuria and Korea that ginseng is produced.
According to an old legend, it was a beetle which brought a red child (i.e. ginseng) to
Manchuria. There is a well-known folk-tale about a man who is offered ginseng to eat; he
refuses to eat it, believing it to be a boiled child.