Page 302 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 295
table laden with books, to whom a boy is bringing two sprays of plum-blossom, is a
reference to the poet Lin Bu (967–1028), who was famous for his poems on this theme
(e.g. ‘The little Plum-tree in my Mountain Garden’, Shan-yuan xiao-mei).

The plum-blossom loop

Plum-tree, pine-tree and bamboo are the three friends of the cold season.
A picture showing bamboo, plum-tree, children at play, an old man with two women and
a lady’s-maid, symbolises the following saying: ‘The plum-tree puts forth many kernels

(= children), the green bamboo (xun) brings many grandchildren’ (sun, phonetically close
to xun).
‘Blue plum and bamboo-horse’ is a term denoting a young couple who were attached
to each other in early youth, before they could marry. ‘Peach and plum’ (tao-li) denotes
students. Plums may also symbolise eyebrows, as the Chinese words are similar.
‘The plum-trees are in bloom for the second time’ may mean a second marriage
(possibly with a concubine) or a second round of sexual intercourse in the same night.
‘Willow-plum-sickness’ (yang-mei bing) is the Chinese word for ‘syphilis’, apparently
because the lesions are supposed to look like plum-blossom.