Page 264 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

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Fu-xi and Nü-gua

In stone relief work, Fu-xi and Nü-gua are shown with the lower halves of their bodies
intertwined. Nü-gua is on the right, with a pair of compasses in her right hand; Fu-xi has
a square-measure in his left hand. These insignia convey an impression of ‘sound
customs’.
Number Mysticism

mishu

The cardinal importance accruing to number symbolism in ancient China may be gauged
from the fact that every dynasty selected a number as a kind of modulus for its reign.

The chosen number might be one of the numbered tones in the old pentatonic music,
which automatically linked it to one of the five colours. It followed from this that
when a change of dynasty took place, the colour of court dress had to be altered, and a
new scale was chosen for the court music, as European countries change their national
anthem after a revolution. There is a story that one of the old philosophers was once upon
a time called upon to bring about a change in a valley where it was always cold: all he
had to do was to play the ‘right’ music – and the valley warmed up!
Any one numerical symbol refers to a whole complex of facts and pseudo-facts –
which is not to say that other numerical symbols cannot be brought into correlation with
this same complex. In fact, number in China is as readily capable of ‘change’ as are many
other things: the category of ‘change’ is basic to Chinese thought.
The lunar year on which the Chinese calendar was based (the Cycle of
Twelve) generates a number system which can be used in reckoning all other
astronomical and chronological data. Chinese astrology uses a system of ‘Ten
Heavenly Stems’ and ‘Twelve Earthly Branches’ ( lunar stations).