Page 300 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
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A-Z 293
The pine-tree: the tree that epitomises all trees
Old pine-trees are much admired and venerated. One ancient tree that stood at the foot
of Tai-shan Mountain was made a mandarin of the fifth class by the First
Emperor. As pine needles grow in pairs, the tree is also a symbol of married bliss.
Pink
fen-hong
The literal meaning of the two Chinese characters above is ‘powder-red’, i.e. ‘make-up
red’; and characters meaning ‘peach-red’ are also sometimes used for ‘pink’. The colour
symbolises female flightiness, and is the colour of fornication. In one Chinese
province, all the prostitutes had to have pink identity tallies. Hong-niang (= ‘red
girls’) was a general name for girls in brothels. It is also the stock name of a lady’s-maid
in many Chinese plays. The ‘red girl’ arranges assignations between her mistress and a
lover, and in general does what she can to make the course of true love run smooth.
