Page 397 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 390
Province, the wells are ceremonially cleansed on the 7th day of the 7th month, that is to
say, on the day when the heavenly pair of lovers are united, and a joyful feast is held.
If a wedding procession has to pass by a well, it is covered over, as it is often reported
that unhappy women have committed suicide by throwing themselves into wells.
The expression ‘meeting at the well’ refers to a play, whose hero, Liu Zhi-yuan (895–
947), marries a girl when he is still a young soldier, but leaves her to marry the daughter
of an official. Thirteen years later he meets his first wife at a well, along with a child who
turns out to be his son. Thus, we see that the relationship between young women and
wells is both deep and extensive – as might be expected, considering that for thousands of
years it was young women who had to draw the water from wells.
WhaleWhale

jing-yu

As might be expected, it is only in the southern coastal regions of China that the whale
plays any role in Chinese folklore and symbolism. In Taiwan, it was popularly believed
that it was the whale that brought millet-seed to mankind, and the creature was
honoured at a special festival. In ancient Japan also there was a cult of the whale.
When Coxinga refused to submit to the Manchus and fled to Taiwan (from which he
was later to expel the Dutch) a whale is said to have appeared off the town of Tainan.
When Coxinga’s dynasty collapsed, the whale too vanished, never to return.
Wheat Wheat

mai

It is mainly in the northern and western provinces of China that wheat is grown – i.e.
where rice does not do so well. By the ancient theory of correspondences wheat is
correlated