Page 236 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

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meanwhile the innkeeper is making some millet gruel on the fire. In his dream, the poor
man lives through all the pleasures of a good marriage, an illustrious career and the
acquisition of many honours till he dies at the age of 80 – the very moment when he
wakes up, to find that the yellow millet gruel is not even ready. Thus does the sage
instruct him that life is nothing but an illusion, a short dream. Like a similar tale, the
‘Dream of the Southern Branch’ (Nan-ke meng), the ‘Millet Dream’ has often been used
as a theme for operas.

Mirror

jing

Bronze mirrors were being used in China before the end of the second millennium BC.
But the Chinese are still fond of telling the story of the peasant woman who wants her
husband to bring her a comb from the town and, to help his memory, tells him it is
something that looks like the new moon. But by the time the peasant remembers to buy
the comb, it is full moon: he gets confused and buys a mirror. When his wife looks into it
she flies into a rage: ‘How dare you bring a concubine home – and such an ugly one into
the bargain!’
It was popularly believed that mirrors made spirits visible, and one still finds
today so-called ‘magic mirrors’ on the back of which strange patterns appear when they
are held in certain ways: in sunlight flowers, according to an ancient text, and in
moonlight a hare. The best magic mirrors were said to be those formerly produced at
Yang-zhou in Central China – particularly, those made on the 5th day of the 5th month
( feast-days). Buddhist priests used these mirrors to show believers the form in which
they would be reborn. If a man looks into a magic mirror and cannot recognise his own
face, this is a sign that his death is not far off. It is bad luck to dream of a dark mirror; but

a bright mirror is a good sign. If a man finds a mirror, it is a sign that he will soon find a
good wife.
A man who receives a mirror in a present can look forward to having a son who will
rise to high civil office. A picture showing a bronze mirror (tong jing) with shoes (xie)
in front of it, makes a very suitable wedding present: it betokens a life together (tong) in
harmony (xie).
In a stock situation which occurs in many novels, a man who has to leave his wife for
a very long time breaks a mirror into two pieces; each partner keeps a piece. In this way
they will know each other again, should the separation last so long that they cannot
recognise each other. It was also believed that one piece of the mirror would turn into
a magpie and fly away if the partner holding the other piece were unfaithful.
When the ‘broken mirror is round again’, the partners have been reunited.
Metal mirrors tended to become tarnished after some time, and a mirror polisher had
to be brought in. But ‘polishing the mirror’ is a common term for fondling the female
genitalia: it may also refer to lesbian love-making.