Page 173 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 166

Han is a historical figure – nephew of the celebrated scholar Han Yu (768–824). He lived
in the early 9th century and renounced public life in order to study with the sage and holy
man Lü Dong-bin. It was said of Han that he could make flowers grow and blossom
at will. He became one of the eight Immortals. His symbol is the flute.

Hare

tu-z

The hare is the fourth creature in the Chinese zodiac. It is resident in the moon,
just as a raven is in the sun, and it is there still for everyone to see. As much as two
thousand years ago, it was already being represented along with pestle and mortar and a
cassia-tree twig. It uses the mortar to pound cinnamon twigs, and is a symbol of
longevity. Sometimes it is called ‘jade-hare’. According to many texts, there are no male
hares, and hares become pregnant by licking newly sprung plant shoots: to give birth, she
spits the young from her mouth. A picture showing two men watching a third who is
spitting three hares from his mouth, is a reference to Tang Mu, who was forced to eat his
boiled son: when he vomited, it was three hares that came out.
There are also stories of how Emperor Wen-Wang of the Zhou Dynasty spat out three
hares one after the other. They consisted of the flesh of his own son which had been made
into meatballs and set before him (homonymic similarity between tu = hare and tu = to
spit out, may play a part in these fancies).

The hare in the moon

The belief that there are no male hares may be connected with the fact that the
‘female’ partner in homosexual intercourse was known as the ‘hare’. ‘Hunting a hare’
meant going to a brothel to look for a young man; ‘hare-pup’ is a very strong expletive.
‘Female hare’ (yin-tu) is an expression for the vulva.