Page 40 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 33

Bath-house scenes (late 18th century)

Bean

dou

Its protein content makes the soya bean one of the most important items in Chinese food.
From it are made the bean curd (dou-fu) and the liquid extract which looks like milk and

is a popular breakfast drink. ‘Eating bean-curd’ is a metaphor for sexual intercourse.
At weddings in Taiwan, the mother-in-law gives her new daughter-in-law a cake made
from dried bean-curd (dou-gan) symbolising the wish that one day her sons will
be high officials (da-guan). (In the Taiwan dialect, dou-gan and da-guan sound
very similar.)