Page 192 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 185
or ‘jade wall’ is the vulva, the ‘jade stem’ is the penis. A young girl has a ‘jade bearing’
and ‘jade legs’, and her breasts are as firm as ‘warm jade’. All of these are still in current
use: they are always complimentary and usually have a sexual connotation.
The word yao refers to a type of jade which cannot be positively identified.
A favourite motif in art is the ‘jade pond’ (yao chi) in the palace of Xi-wang-mu, to
whose feast (held on the day when the thousand-year peaches ripen) the
Immortals come bringing their gifts. This is an auspicious event, and pictures
representing it express the wish that the recipient may enjoy a long life and every
happiness. It is therefore a very suitable gift for older men.
The ‘Jade Emperor’ (Yu-huang-di) is the supreme god in Chinese popular religion.

Jupiter

mu-xing

Jupiter, the planet of the East, goes round the sun in about twelve years. So it is
often called in Chinese tai-sui = Great Year, in contrast to the earthly year, which consists
of only twelve months. There was in ancient times a belief that ‘Great Year’ could fall to
earth in the shape of a large lump of flesh set all around with eyes. It had to be beaten to
death or drowned, as otherwise all life in the neighbourhood would cease to exist.
In association with the ‘Jupiter Year’ (the planet is sometimes known as the ‘Planet of
the Year’, sui-xing) there is also a Jupiter cycle of twelve symbols. These are notated by a
series of two-character expressions whose exact meaning is no longer clear. The cycle
was used sometimes in dynastic computation, and appears on ancient inscriptions. It is
now virtually unknown.