Page 47 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 40
BetelBetel

bin-lang

Outside of South-east Asia, the betel tree is found only in South China and in Japan.
The kernel is ground down, mixed into a ball with shell lime, and chewed. Long-term
chewing makes the teeth black. The juice when spat out looks like blood. Betel-chewing
makes the ears hot and the face red: the eyes swim and a giddy sensation like
drunkenness is induced – or, at least, so it is claimed in the Chinese texts. Betel is
supposed to be a cure for malaria. Among the minority peoples in the South it is given as
a wedding present. Boxes made specially from silver or tin are available for this purpose.
These have three compartments, one each for the lime, the leaves and the betel.

Bird

niao

Particular symbolic significance attaches to the following birds: crane, eagle, magpie,
oriole, pheasant, quail and swallow (see separate entries). The ‘White-headed
Bird’ symbolises great age, and a pair of them is sometimes shown on a peony:
expressing the wish that the recipient of the picture may have ‘riches and honour till the
close of life’.
Chief of the feathered creatures was the mythical phoenix. There are many tales

about men who could understand the language of the birds and who used this knowledge
to get themselves out of danger or to amass great riches. Another popular motif is that of
people who change into birds. Bird-song is sometimes explained along these lines.
For example, there is the story of the wicked step-mother who gave her own son good
seed-corn, but to her step-son corn that had been cooked. Both sons were supposed
to come back only when the grain had sprouted, but they never came, and the step-mother
was turned into a bird which continually bewails its fate.
Birds are also said to keep the grave of the primeval Emperor Yu clean; they bear
earth to the burial places of pious men, and use their feathers to cover their corpses.
Good people may be rewarded in some way by the birds. But there are also bird-
demons and one must be on one’s guard against them: it is particularly important to make
sure that birds’ droppings do not fall on children’s clothes.
Both in China and in Korea the word niao is a term for ‘penis’, and it is often used as
an expletive.