Page 276 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 269
One governor of the province found the freedoms enjoyed by these girls so offensive that
he had the eyes of their fathers and brothers painted red in token of the scandal they had
brought upon family life. Once the parents had chosen a suitable bridegroom, a girl
would then be extracted forcibly from the ‘Golden Orchid Club’ and married off.
However, some girls refused to stay with their husbands and went back to the Club to live
– whereupon the husbands proceeded at once to take other wives. This custom probably
arose among the Zhuang, one of the largest non-Han minorities in South China.

An orchid

Orchids in a vase may mean ‘concord’, after the passage in the Yi-jing which
says: ‘When two people are in concord, their sharpness ( metal) is broken. Words of
concord are fragrant as orchids.’

Oriole

ying

Because of its beautiful song, the oriole is the bird of joy and of music. In paintings
representing the five human relationships, the oriole symbolises friendship.
‘The swallow harmonises with the oriole’ is a form of love-play, for which another
metaphor is ‘The oriole is randy and the butterfly plucks.’ A ‘floating oriole’ (the
Chinese word liu-ying suggests rather ‘wandering oriole’) is a prostitute: prostitutes were