Page 376 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 369

Taiwan, large tortoises are made out of dough and painted red. For one such
ceremony held on the 13th day of the 1st month 1971 ( New Year) a ‘Long-life
Tortoise’ was fashioned out of 7,478 lb of glutinous rice!
It also symbolises immutability, steadfastness. A tortoise often crowns a stone grave
pillar, and the inscription tablets of the ancient Emperors were supported on stone
tortoises. Characteristic of the present ‘restorationist’ phase in Chinese Communism is
the saying ‘Chairman Mao altered the courses of rivers and moved mountains, but he
could not change the shape of the tortoise’.
But the tortoise is also regarded as an immoral creature. As there are no male tortoises
– so ran the belief – the females must mate with snakes. Thus, the tortoise is depicted
together with a snake as the creature of the North ( constellations, planets).
The word ‘tortoise’ was in fact taboo, and the creature was referred to as the ‘dark
warrior’. The legend goes that the tortoise and the snake arose from the entrails and the
stomach of the ‘Emperor of the North’ (Bei-di).
A gui-gong = ‘tortoise-master’ is a swear-word meaning ‘father of a whore’. A wu-gui
= ‘black tortoise’ is a pimp, and ‘tortoise’ is a graphic metaphor for penis. Exactly why
the tortoise should also be called ‘King Eight’ is not clear. One theory is that it refers to a
man who has forgotten the eighth virtue – shame. It is also a very insulting term for a
brothel-keeper.
Towel Towel

shou-jin

On social occasions, warm damp towels are handed out, with which the guests wipe
their hands and faces. This is refreshing in summer, comforting in winter. On her
wedding day a bride may be given a towel (jin) to take with her, but this custom has its

critics, as towels are apt to remind one of burials where they are used to wipe one’s tears.
A woman calls her closest female friend her ‘towel-touch’.
TowerTower

lou

In Chinese literature, the word lou rarely means what we understand by ‘tower’. Rather,
it refers to the upper storey of a private house containing rooms for family use. Pawn-
shops in market places are usually of at least two storeys and are known as lou as are also
the watch-towers in villages (e.g. among the Hakka). The same word occurs in the title of