Page 319 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
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A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 312
River
he; jiang; shui
The three great rivers of North China symbolise the first three Chinese dynasties: the Lo
symbolises the Xia Dynasty, the Huanghe the Shang Dynasty, and the Wei the Zhou
Dynasty. It was believed that when the water in a river changed colour – e.g. turned red –
this was a bad omen for the dynasty. On the other hand, when the Huanghe (the Yellow
River) turns clear, it is a good sign: this happens, so they say, only once in a thousand
years, and lasts only for a day.
The magic squares he-tu and lo-shu
The mythical ruler Yu – the great Yu, the founder of the Xia Dynasty, to whom
heaven entrusted the ‘Nine Divisions of Hong-fan’, i.e. part of the ‘Book of Writings’ –
subdued the waters and tamed the rivers. So it was fitting that a dragon-horse should arise
from the Yellow River and present him with a diagram of the river (he-tu – a magic
square). In the same way, a tortoise brought him the ‘Lo-shu’ book from the
river Lo.
