Page 400 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 393
The willow, much valued as firewood, is a symbol of spring. As spring is the season
of erotic awakenings, the phrase ‘willow feelings and flower wishes’ means sexual
desire; ‘looking for flowers and buying willows’ means visiting a prostitute, ‘flowers and
willows by the wayside’ are prostitutes, and ‘sleeping among flowers and reposing
beneath willows’ is a term for visiting a brothel.

Under the willow-tree

The waist of a beautiful woman is compared to the willow, her eyebrows to
the curve of willow leaves. A young girl is a ‘tender willow and fresh flower’ while
a woman who can no longer claim virginal freshness is described as ‘faded willow and
withered flower’. A woman’s pubic hair is ‘in the depths of willow shade’.
Furthermore, the willow repels demons. In one novel, 49 children armed with willow
twigs score a victory over ghosts. At the Qing-ming festival, held on the 105th day
after the winter solstice, willow twigs were worn, or one put a willow wreath round one’s
head. There was a current saying, to the effect that if you failed to wear willow in some
shape or form on this feast-day, you would be reborn next time round as a yellow dog.
In ancient China it was customary to give someone who was going away twigs broken
from a willow-tree. Thus, a scholar who was being moved to a post in the provinces
would receive such twigs from women and friends assembled at the east gate of the
capital city.