Page 297 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 290

Phoenix with nine young ones

The expression ‘the two phoenixes pierce the blossom’ denotes connubial intercourse;

‘false male and empty female phoenix’ refers to homosexuality. In North-west China, the
phoenix now represents the lover, while the peony symbolises the beloved. This can
be depicted as three phoenixes on whose backs children are riding: the children carry
vases with peonies and other flowers. A picture with a dragon on the left and a phoenix
on the right symbolises man and wife. A phoenix depicted on a woman’s wedding dress
indicates that she is ‘Empress for a day’. A woman with particularly attractive eyes has
‘phoenix eyes’. ‘The phoenixes are dancing in pairs’ is one of the thirty positions in
sexual intercourse.
There is a description of the realm of Uttarakuru, the paradise behind Mount Meru,
where, we are told, Feng and the ‘white luan’ are entertaining the Immortals with song
and dance. This luan is supposed to be the female phoenix but it is always described in
the same way as the male – apart from one detail: a ‘luan-man’ (luan-sheng) is a person
who uses a planchette to ask the spirits questions. Answers, when they come, are usually
in the form of poems. It is on record that a luan-sheng in a Taiwan village put 1,717
questions in three months: most of these questions being of a practical nature – what day