Page 168 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
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Guan-yin is often shown in a Madonna-like posture, with a child in her arms. She is
accompanied by a boy with a bottle, and a girl carrying a willow-twig. On the South
Chinese coast she is often identified with Ma-zu, a goddess worshipped since the
11th century at least by boatmen and fishermen. The similarity in names has also led to
her being regarded as the wife of Guan-gong (see previous entry). The legend of how she
gets the better of Lü Dong-bin after he has annoyed her beyond endurance, is very
popular.
Guan-yin, the Chinese ‘Madonna’
Another legend tells how the willow-twig is put into the bottle, thereby becoming
‘unworthy’. The willow-twig was thereupon transformed into a prostitute, which is why
the brothel quarter has ever since been known as ‘Flower streets and Willow lanes’.
