Page 17 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

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Amber

hu-po

As far back as the Middle Ages, the Chinese knew that amber was ancient pine resin and
that the remains of insects could sometimes be found in it. Amber was imported from
what is now Burma, and from parts of Central Asia. It symbolised ‘courage’, and its
Chinese name hu-po means ‘tiger soul’, the tiger being known as a courageous
animal. In early times, it was believed that at death the tiger’s spirit entered the earth and
became amber.

Amulet

hufu

Amulets and talismans are referred to in the oldest Chinese texts. All sorts of materials
were used to fashion them; in later times, however, they were made principally from
paper, on which a message to the evil spirits was written, adjuring them not to harm
the bearer of the amulet. Since this message was addressed not to men but to spirits, it
was written in ‘ghost script’, a form of writing whose characters bear a certain similarity

to ordinary Chinese characters, but which is fully accessible only to Taoist adepts.
Some Taoists claim that a handwritten amulet warding off fire can be understood by the
spirits in the Western world as well, as one and the same ‘ghost script’ is uniformly used
and understood all over the world. The script is in fact very old. The work known as
Bao-po ze by Go Hung (AD 281–361) contains a dictionary of it.
The ancient Chinese regarded the calendar as enormously influential and, in
practice, indispensable; so the paper of a calendar that had served its turn was often used
as an amulet. For example, old calendars were hung up over pigsties, or they were burned
and the ashes mixed into the swill as a tried and proven specific against diseases.