Page 404 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
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A-Z 397
Magpie on wu-tong twig: ‘Shared pleasure’
The wu-tong symbolises the female element, yin, and is therefore connected with
the West. Its counterpart is the bamboo, which represents the male element,
yang, and hence the East. Thus, when a son was burying his mother he carried a ritual
mourning staff made of wu-tong wood; at the father’s funeral this was replaced by a staff
of bamboo. Another reason for this distinction in custom may lie in the fact that the wu-
tong forms knots inwardly, while knots on bamboo grow on the outside: ‘inward’ is
characteristic of the female, ‘outward’ of the male.
