Page 253 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

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Nails

ding

Hammering nails into things is either a way of appropriating them, establishing a claim to
them, or a way of protecting them against evil spirits. Formerly, one used to see nails
with Medusa-like heads hammered into gateways of Chinese houses: these were
supposed to ward off illnesses, or to promote the chances of having sons. Perhaps we
have here transference of meaning suggested by the phonetic similarity between ding =
man, male adult, and ding = nail. Long fingernails play a certain part in mythology
( Ma-gu).

Nakedness

luo

The Chinese have a predilection for covering things up, and it is not surprising to find
that in general they dislike and disapprove of nakedness, which they regard as something
suitable only for savages.
In very ancient times, ritual disrobing was associated with certain ceremonies – the
rain-making ceremony, and the ceremony of ‘surrendering oneself’. In general, however,
people in China go to bed wearing clothes: even in the marriage bed, partners keep at

least some of their clothes on. There is a well-known tale about a girl who lets her fan fall
into the water: she takes her clothes off to retrieve it, and is observed by a man.
She demands that he marry her at once, as only a married woman can be seen nude by
a husband.
There is another tale about a town that was being besieged. The attackers were getting
nowhere until they came up with the idea of sending a troop of women forward who were
naked from the waist down. The defenders stopped shooting; but then they retaliated by
making a troop of monks stand completely naked on the city wall – and then the attackers
stopped shooting too! A rain-making ceremony consisted in getting two teams of naked
men and women to strike each other.
In the Middle Ages, adulterous women were punished by being beaten on their bare
posteriors; in particularly bad cases, the woman was stripped completely naked before
being beaten. Until recently, nude female dancers in Taipeh were liable to be punished.
At all times, of course, there have been eccentrics who ran about naked, but no one paid
any attention to them.