Page 174 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 167
There are many references to ‘white hares’. In one novel, the god of the planet Venus
(the white planet) lets himself be shot at in the form of a white hare, so as to help the hero
to find his mother. A hare-lipped child results if the mother eats hare flesh during
pregnancy. In Taiwan, the hare-lip is said to result if, during the last month of pregnancy,
the mother has cut up material or fabric in the room where the ‘god of birth’ happens to
be dwelling.
The well-known trick – still performed by conjurers in the West – whereby a hare
jumps out of a cloth which the conjurer has folded up and laid on the ground, is
mentioned in a medieval text.
A picture showing six boys round a table on which stands a man with a hare’s head,
is a reference to the lunar festivities held on the 15th day of the 8th month. It expresses
the wish that the children of the recipient will rise in the social scale and enjoy a
peaceful life.

Hat

guan

The Chinese words for ‘hat’ and ‘official’ are homonyms (guan): so, the hat is a symbol
of the official.
Sometimes a picture shows father and son in ceremonial dress: the father with his cap
of state on his head, holding a sceptre in his hand, and the son with a head-dress
which indicates that he has come first in his final examinations (zhuang-yuan).
The message expressed by such a picture is ‘May your son accompany you to court’ or,
‘May father and son both grace the highest office in the imperial service.’

Embroidered handbag: above, a boy wearing a hat riding
a dragon. ‘May you be rewarded with an official post!’