Page 70 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book
P. 70
A-Z 63
Cao Guo-jiu with castanets
Carp
li
The Chinese words for ‘carp’ and ‘advantage’ (li) are phonetically identical (apart from
the difference in tones): so the carp symbolises a wish for benefit or advantage in
business. It is also said that on its journey upstream this fish can jump the rapids
in the upper course of the Yellow River (at the Dragon Gate). This feat is compared to
success in the state examinations, and is frequently shown in pictures: the carp,
surrounded by shoals of smaller fish (those who don’t pass!), is in the act of making
its powerful leap. As this is no easy feat and requires long preparation, the carp is also
a symbol of patience and steadfastness. Its beard is in itself a token of its
supernatural powers.
In other pictures a fisherman is seen selling a carp to a woman with a child. He is
wishing her a good income and social advancement.
A picture showing a young woman attended by her maid standing at a brook with a
bucket into which a carp is trying to jump, expresses the wish that the recipient may be
able to spring over the more ordinary humans in his path.
