Page 332 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 325

Shadow

ying

A man’s shadow is similar to his soul; and there is a story about a man who died
when he was frightened by his own shadow. The spirits of the dead have no shadows.
Another old story tells how a man of ninety married a wife and died after one night. A
son was born, and, as his parentage was in doubt, the matter was taken to court. The
judge ruled: if the boy is the son of the old man, he has no shadow. A ‘shadow wall’ is a
short wall built directly behind the main entrance to keep out evil spirits. The point is that
spirits can only move in a straight line and are therefore unable to make a diversion round
the ‘shadow wall’.
Shan-xiaoShan-xiao

The shan-xiao are mountain spirits which look like monkeys or small men and which
are found only in Central and South China. Their counterpart in North China is the
fox. Often they have only one leg, they live on crabs and dwell in trees. They are also
black and hairy. They try to find out the name of anyone who comes across them, so that
they can harm him. Like other ghosts they can be scared off by fireworks.

Sheep Sheep

yang

The sheep is the eighth creature in the Chinese zodiac. It is the emblem of filial piety
( xiao) as it kneels when being suckled by its mother. Because of the phonetic
similarity, however, it can also symbolise yang, the male principle.