Page 67 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols 60
other days one meets only funerals; on others again, everybody’s washing is hanging out
to dry. This is in spite of the fact that it is now fifty years since the Western calendar was
officially introduced.

Callings, The Four

shi-nong-gong-shang

In popular Chinese belief, the woodcutter who makes use of the mountains, the
fisherman who exploits the waters, the peasant who causes the earth to bring forth fruits,
and the scholar who can read the heavens and the signs – these four represent the
main callings of mankind. In popular prints the four are shown together crossing a
bridge. The four are not identical with the recognised four social classes of ancient
China: the scholar (shi), peasant (nong), craftsman (gong) and trader (shang).

Camel

luo-tuo

The two-humped camel – the ‘true’ camel – came to China from Central Asia, and was
used until modern times as a beast of burden, especially of salt. For expeditions such as
that of Sven Hedin, across the Gobi Desert in the 1920s, it was indispensable.

The Chinese regard the camel as a lazy beast, though one of great endurance. Art
of the Tang Dynasty (618–906) is especially rich in representations of the camel,
sometimes with, and sometimes without humans. One of the best-known pictures (a
painting on silk by Wu Dao-zi, c. AD 750) shows the dying Buddha Sakyamuni under the
sala trees, with the camel, water buffalo, elephant, tiger and other animals
grieving round him.