Page 92 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 85
another dwelling which was often inhabited by the parents of the householder. ‘The Rear
Hall’ is a metaphor for the anus, and ‘Flower of the Rear Hall’ means anal intercourse,
usually homosexual.

Crab

xia

In olden times it was believed that jade crabs existed. There is a legend about a well that
had dried up round about 1600: here, a foreign merchant kindled a fire every night, and
every fourteen days (the period between the full and the new moon) he got a jade crab out
of the well.
In the province of Sichuan (where there are no real crabs) the jade crab is feared as a
plague-bringing demon. In Shanxi and Henan, crabs are dried and hung up at the main
entrance of a house, or pictures of crabs are hung up over the door. The crab looks more
or less like the head of a tiger, and this is why it can repel bad magic.
Dried crab enjoys a reputation as an aphrodisiac for men.

Two crabs