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Bamboo

(竹)

The bamboo, Bambusa arundinacea, commonly known as “the friend of China,” grows throughout the greater part of the country. By long cultivation and care, it has become sufficiently hardy to grow as far north as Peking. There are about ten species, but many variations of each. Some specimens attain a diameter of two or three feet and a height of some thirty or forty feet. The Spotted Bamboo (斑竹), is said to be marked with the tears of the two consorts of the Emperor Shùn as they wept over his tomb in the land of Cang Wu. The Spiny Bamboo (棘竹), attains a large size. The Coir Bamboo (掠竹), is solid-stemmed and used in the manufacture of fans. The Zhúpû (竹譜), or Bamboo Treatise, published in the 3rd or 4th century, gives a detailed account of the bamboo, and its uses in ancient times. The young shoots (竹荀) serve as food, the pulp in the manufacture of paper, the stems for pipes, buckets, masts, furniture, etc., the leaves for rain-coats, thatch, packing, etc., and decoctions of the seeds, leaves, sap, and roots are employed for medicinal purposes. In ancient times bamboo tablets were used instead of books.

The Chinese are exceedingly fond of borrowing figures and illustrations from the bamboo, and the character zhú, by which the tree is represented, enters into the composition of many characters expressing some action or object connected with the use of the bamboo. The foliage is often conventionally treated in Chinese designs. The bamboo is an emblem of longevity owing probably to its durability, and to the fact that it is evergreen and flourishes throughout the winter.

One of the twenty-four classical examples of filial piety, had a sick mother, who longed for soup made from bamboo shoots in winter, and he wept so copiously on her account in a bamboo plantation that his tears, like the warm rains of Spring, softened the hard wintry ground and caused the tender shoots to burst forth, in reward for his pious affection.

Bat

(幅編)

The biānfú (編幅)—under which term is included all the numerous kinds of bats—has several names. It is called fùyì (附翼), or “embracing wings,” referring to the manner in which it spreads out and hangs by its wings. Other names are tiānshû (天鼠), “heavenly rat”; xiānshû (仙鼠), “fairy rat”; fèishû (飛鼠), “flying rat”; and yèyàn (夜燕),“night swallow,” etc.

Bats play an important part in Chinese legendary lore. According to the Bên Câo (本草), or Chinese Herbal, in the caverns of the hills are found bats a thousand years old, and white as silver, which are believed to feed on stalactites, and if eaten will ensure longevity and good sight. The blood, gall, wings, etc., are therefore prescribed as ingredients in certain medicines. The Bên Câo also states that “the bat is in form like a mouse; its body is of an ashy black colour, and it has thin fleshy wings, which join the four legs and tail into one. It appears in the summer, but becomes torpid in the winter; on which account, as it eats nothing during that season, and because it has a habit of swallowing its breath, it attains a great age. It has the character of a night rover, not on account of any lack of ability to fly in the day, but it dares not go abroad at that time because it fears a kind of hawk. It subsists on mosquitoes and gnats. It flies with its head downward, because the brain is heavy.”

Some of the Chinese bats are very large, the wings measuring two feet across. There are about twenty species belonging to nine genera, most of which are found in Southern China.

The bat is by no means regarded with aversion as in other countries. On the contrary it is emblematic of happiness and longevity. The conventional bat is frequently employed for decorative purposes, and is often so ornate that it bears a strong resemblance to the butterfly. Its wings are sometimes curved in the shape of the head of the RUYI (q. v.), and it is generally painted red—the colour of joy. The design of the Five Bats is a pictorial rebus standing for the Five Blessings (五福), viz., old age (壽), wealth (富), health (康寧), love of virtue (牧好德); and natural death (考終命); this is owing to the similarity in the sound of the characters for “bat” and “happiness”—both pronounced fú.

Bear

(熊)

Bears were very common in China in early times and may be found even now, though in smaller numbers. Ursus tibetanus, a black variety, and Aeluropus melanoleucus —the Great Panda—a beast with a white body and black ears, eyes, legs, and tail (formerly embroidered on the court robes of officials of the sixth grade), occur in Kansu, Szechuan, and Tibet; U. ussuricus —a black bear, and U. (Melanarctos) cavrifrons —a grizzly, appear in Manchuria and Corea. U. (Selenarctos) leuconyx is seen in Shensi.

There is a legend to the effect that one of the Zhōu Emperors dreamed that a bear entered his room through the window, and seating himself on a chair by the bed, foretold several important affairs of State. A model or picture of a bear was regarded as a potent charm against robbers.

The bear is a symbol of bravery and strength, and its paws are regarded as a delicacy, though not often found at the table in modern times.

Beast of Greed

(藥餐)

The tāotiè, or Beast of Greed, does not now represent any specific animals, but merely stands for an embodiment of and a warning against the vices of sensuality and avarice. It is shown in relief on the inner side of the isolated “shield wall” (影壁), erected before the main entrance of official buildings. The object of the “shield wall” is to prevent the noxious vapours emanating from evil spirits (which always travel in straight lines) from entering the house.

The tāotiè is designated by tān (貪), the same character as that for “avarice,” and standing as it does for the embodiment of this vice, it cannot fail by reason of its hideous aspect, to convey a salutary warning to the official, who must encounter it every time he enters or leaves his yámén. In many cases these tāotiè have been obliterated, and are nowadays replaced by the crossed flags of the Republic in token of patriotism, though occasionally a large red sun, the symbol of brightness and purity, is substituted.

The Beast of Greed is generally represented with two enormous eyes and powerful mandibles armed with curved tusks, and is said to have actually existed at the time of the Emperor Yáo, being banished from the realm by his successor Shùn. The term tāotiè is now generally used for a glutton, and an ogre with this name, having a huge belly and a thin face, is often seen on ancient bronze vessels and food utensils as a warning against self-indulgence.

Bee

(蜂)

Apis mellifica or the domestic bee (家蜜蜂), is chiefly found in the hill districts, and commonly kept by the monks of the mountain temples. The honey is employed for making sweetmeats and preserves, and the wax, coloured with vermilion, is used to enclose the tallow core or centre of the common candle. The Chinese bee is of a very gentle disposition.

“In China honey-bees are not cultivated to anything like the extent they are in other countries. . . . In the wilds of Shansi, Shensi, Kansu, and Szechuan, many of the villagers keep bees somewhat extensively, while in the Manchurian forest areas the settlers have learnt their value, and set out specially hollowed tree trunks, stood on end, to attract the wild bees when they swarm. But nowhere is apiculture reduced to an art or looked upon as much more than a profitable hobby.”¹⁷

The composition of the written symbol for the bee denotes that it is the awl (条), insect (虫), in reference to its sting. This creature is an emblem of industry and thrift, and a crowd of people is metaphorically compared to a swarm of bees, while honey mixed with oil is a euphemism for false friendship.

The Chinese bee is smaller than the foreign varieties.“Wild bees are also found. The natives smoke them, and thus capture them, wrapping them up in a cloth, and take them home to rear. The hives are curious-looking objects: some are like hour-glasses about two feet long, while others are not so willow-waisted, but more cylindrical in shape; both sorts are fastened high up horizontally against walls of buildings, or over the front door. The entrance to the hour-glass ones are at the ends, and to the cylindrical ones at the side in the middle. These apertures, of which there are several, are very small, being only large enough for the tiny insects to push through one at a time.”¹⁸ Beehives and apparatus in foreign style are also employed in apiculture in China to some extent, the hives being moved about from place to place during the summer where suitable flowers are blooming, at other times being fed with syrup.

Begging-bowl

(鉢多羅)

Sanskrit, Patra. Carried by priests and mendicants. The alms-bowl of Buddha is said to have been made of stone, and possessed of miraculous powers, but those in modern use are generally of wood. Buddhist priests, on their initiation, are presented with a gown, staff, water-pot, and begging-bowl for food.

Bell

(鐘)

Bells have been known in China from the highest antiquity, and heralds, commissioned by the sovereign, used them to convene assemblies of the people to hear the imperial will and receive instruction.

The large hanging bell without a clapper (鐘) is struck to mark the periods of Buddhist or Confucian worship. A set of 16 smaller bells (編鐘), hung on a frame, was used at Confucian services. The hand-bell (鈴), Sanskrit, Ghanta, with clapper, is generally of brass and is used in ritualistic observances by Buddhist, Lama, and Taoist priests. Wind-bells (風鈴) are fixed to the corners of the eaves of temples, etc., and ring when the wind blows. The sound of the sacred bells is believed to disperse the evil spirits.“The duó (譯), or tocsin, is an ordinary bell having either a metal or wooden tongue, and a handle at the apex. Formerly there were four different kinds of tongued bells in use in the army. The ringing of the duó conveyed to the soldiers the injunction to stand still and be quiet in the ranks. Hence, this bell came to be associated with the idea of respect and veneration; and when music was performed to illustrate the meritorious actions of warriors, faithful ministers, etc., the duó was employed to symbolize obedience; each military dancer had a bell with a wooden tongue; it was used at the end of the dance. At present the duó is used only by the Bonzes to mark the rhythm of their prayers.”¹⁹

The bronze bells of the Shāng and Zhōu Dynasties, 1766–249 B.C. were decorated with many emblematic devices, chiefly of a religious nature (vide MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS).

Birds and Beasts

(禽獸)

Chinese naturalists make five grand divisions of animated nature, the feathered, hairy, naked, shelly and scaly animals; at the head of the feathered race they class the fènghuáng (鳳凰), or Phoenix; among hairy animals, the qílín (戲麟), or Unicorn, stands pre-eminent; man is the chief of all naked animals; while the Tortoise and the Dragon rate respectively as leaders of the shelly and scaly tribes. The six domestic animals of China (六畜) are the Horse, Ox, Goat, Pig, Dog, and Fowl, and these, with the exception of the Horse, constitute the five sacrificial beasts (五性). Each of the TWELVE TERRESTRIAL BRANCHES (q. v.) has its corresponding animal or bird.

About three or four thousand years ago China is said to have been suddenly invaded by numbers of wild beasts, and the Yellow Emperor (帝), 2698 B.C. is credited with having organised them into an army by which he routed his opponent Yán Dì (炎帝). (Vide Wang Zhang, Bk. II, Ch. 4.)

The skins of many animals are converted into wearing apparel for the winter. The lower orders use those of sheep, cats, dogs, goats, squirrels, and even rats and mice. The expensive fur dresses of the higher orders descend from father to son, and sometimes form no inconsiderable portion of the family inheritance. It is the custom for both rich and poor to pawn their furs in the summer, as they are well looked after in the pawnshops, which are generally strong, substantial buildings immune from the attacks of thieves, and, moreover, the better kinds are properly licensed by the government. The civil and military official grades were formerly distinguished by the insignia of different birds and animals embroidered upon the bûzî (補子) or badges on the back and front of the robes worn on ceremonial occasions.

“Chinese proverb-makers have not overlooked the many apt illustrations of human life and conduct which are to be gathered from the habits and instincts of the animated beings around them; and some of their comparisons are strikingly characteristic of the modes of thinking so prominent in the popular mind. Thus, for example, the practice of filial duty is enforced by a reference to the lamb and kid:‘Look’, say they, ‘at the lamb; it always kneels when it is suckled by the dam’.”²⁰

Many creatures are supposed to have the power of changing their shape, and of coming and going in a mysterious way. Some are said to have been once men, and will, after many years, be permitted to regain, permanently, their human form. If they come in contact with mankind, sickness and death will result to the latter. It is therefore considered necessary to propitiate them with shrines and offerings in the countryside. The denizens of the zoological kingdom have a share in the communistic theory of Buddhism; the stories of past existence in animal form is said to form the basis of Aesop’s fables, and the animals are said to have wept bitterly on the death of their master and protector. To liberate a captured animal or bird is regarded by the Buddhists as a good deed that will not be unrewarded in the next world.

Birds and animals figure largely in Chinese symbolism, and many representations of them are to be seen in pictures, on chinaware, in bronze or stone, and as architectural reliefs etc. (Vide separate notices on individual species, and also the Author’s Chinese Metaphorical Zoology, Journal, N. C. B. Royal Asiatic Society, 1919, p. 26.)

Birth

(生子)

The birth of a child, particularly a son, is regarded by the Chinese as a highly fortunate event (喜事), on which great importance is placed owing to the necessity for the continuity of the worship of the family ancestors, which is the underlying principle of the system of Chinese ethics (vide ANCESTRAL WORSHIP). The youthful scion of the race is therefore regarded as the apple of the eye, and protected by all manner of talismans and safeguards against the spirits of evil everywhere said to be intent on encompassing the death of unsuspecting infants (vide CHARMS).

In early ages it was the custom to announce the birth of a son by hanging a bow at the door; and the emblem of male supremacy, a valuable malachite ornament (障), like a marshal’s bâton, was given to him to play with. The arrival of a daughter into this vale of tears was regarded as of secondary importance, and a curved tile, used as a weight for the spindle, and constituting the emblem of the female, was considered suitable as a plaything in her case. It is probable that these emblems are connected with an ancient form of phallic worship, which forms the basis of so many religions.

On the hundredth day after the birth of a male infant, a tray containing various small articles of apparel, toilet, etc., used by males and females, is placed before him, and, whatever article the child grasps is considered to indicate his character in after life.

The following customs connected with the birth of children are prevalent in Foochow. When a family has a daughter married since the fifteenth day of the previous year, who has not yet given birth to a male infant, a present of several articles is sent to her by her relatives on a lucky day between the fifth and fourteenth of the first month. The articles sent are as follows: a paper lantern bearing a picture of the Goddess of Mercy, KUAN YIN (q. v.), with a child in her arms, and the inscription,“May Kuan Yin present you with a son” (觀音送子), oysters in an earthenware vessel; rice-cakes; oranges; and garlic. The oysters (螺), having the same sound, dì, in the local dialect, as “younger brother” (佛) signify “May a younger brother come.” The earthen vessel xiāo (碑), stands for “to come” in the patois. The cakes, gāo (糕), represent “elder brother” (哥), and imply “May you have more than one son.”The oranges, jú (佶), stand for the word “speedily” (急); and the garlic, suàngēn (蒜根), for “grandchildren and children” (孫兒). In the second year, if there are still no children in spite of all these auspicious arrangements, a lantern is presented bearing a device and the inscription,“The child seated in the tub” (孩兒坐盆), a reference to the wooden tub which generally receives the Chinese baby at the time of birth. In the third year an orange-shaped lantern (梧燈) is sent. An offering of sugar-cane, which is long and in many sections (節節高), signifies “many elder brothers” (as many as the sections); flowers of the rape (油菜花), having “many seeds” (多子) imply “many sons”; beancurd, dòufû (豆腐), has the same sound as “sure to have” in the local parlance, and infers that a son is certain to arrive eventually. From such origins many of the common Chinese emblems are derived. A piece of porcelain, scroll, or silk bed-spread, decorated in various colours with the pleasing design of the hundred infants (百子圖), will also express the hope for the blessing of numerous offspring, and at the same time there is an allusion to the golden age of Yao and Shun, when the people of China lived in such prosperity that scholars, farmers, and merchants alike felt as light-hearted as little children. There are actually only 99 children in the design, in reference to Wén Wáng (文王), Duke of Zhōu, 1231–1135 B.C., who had 99 children of his own, and adopted one more, whom he found in a field after a thunderstorm.

Bodhi Tree

(菩提樹)

The Bôdhi or Bo Tree, Sanskrit, Bôdhidruma, the Tree of Intelligence, was a pippala or peepaul-tree (Ficus religiosa, Willd.), and is so called because under it SHÂKYAMUNI BUDDHA (q. v.), the Indian prince, seeking to be emancipated from the sorrows and agonies of life and the evanescence of worldly pleasures, first attached Bôdhi (Enlightenment). Shâkyamuni spent a penance of seven years under its shade before he became a Buddha. Hence it is also known as the Tree of Meditation (思惟樹). The original tree grew near Gaya in Bengal, and “a slip of it was taken and planted in the sacred city of Amarapoora in Burmah, 288 B.C. This is said to be still in existence.”²¹

As the founder of Buddhism sat and and reflected under the spreading boughs, “peace came to his mind with the conviction that man is tormented by greed for gain or by sorrow for loss simply because he is held captive within the narrow limits of self-interest, and that beyond this captivity stretches out a vast expanse of universal life. But life itself never dies, since it persists in the lives of those who have grasped the truth and found the real life in that which is common to all.”²²

Buddhism is said to have been introduced into China from India in the reign of the Emperor Míng Dì (明帝), A.D. 58–76 of the Eastern Hàn Dynasty. It is fundamentally a religion of meditative training, charity, gentle words, benevolence, and common benefit, though in China it has undergone considerable modifications (vide SHÂKYAMUNI BUDDHA).

Bó Gû Tú

(博古圖)

A well-known work in twenty volumes, containing about 900 plates of bronze vases, tripods, bottles, mirrors, etc., used or made during the Shāng, Zhōu and Xià Dynasties. It was from this publication that Mr. P. P. Thoms compiled his work, A Dissertation on the Ancient Chinese Vases of the Shang Dynasty from 1743 to 1496 B. C., illustrated with 42 Chinese wood engravings, London, 1851. Mr. Thoms also wrote on this subject in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Nos. 1 and 2, in 1834. Mr. Thoms remarks in his book that “in the early periods of Chinese history, a custom seems to have prevailed of interring with the dead honorary vases, which reposed with them for ages; but during the civil wars, more particularly that about A.D. 200, the graves of the ancient monarchs and eminent statesmen were dug up and their ashes dispersed; then there were many of these ancient relics discovered, and a new order of things having been established, they have been preserved to the present period. Regarding them merely on account of their symmetry and style of ornament, they cannot fail to be interesting to all who attach a value to what is ancient; while their inscriptions establish, unquestionably, the fact that the present Chinese written character is derived from hieroglyphical representations.” The Bó Gû Tú contains illustrations and much valuable information concerning the symbolic meaning of various forms of ornament. It was compiled by Wáng Fú (王髓), an archaeologist and art critic of some repute.

Books

(書)

Professor F. Huberty James, of the Imperial University of Peking, wrote of Chinese literature in 1899:“It is the legitimate offspring of the ultra-oriental mind, the expression of the Chinese heart, the story of the home-life, school-life and national life of half the population of Asia. It is the precious, though fragmentary, record of the hopes and fears, the doubts and convictions, the struggles and labours, the victories and defeats, the songs and laments, the dreams and visions, the feasts and fasts, the vanities and realities, alternately blessing and cursing, musing or deluding, inspiring or depressing the souls of countless millions of pilgrims on their passage through this world to the vast and wondrous future.”

Scholastic acquirements have always been deeply venerated in China, and the written character is regarded as sacred; it is therefore considered in accordance with propriety that all waste paper containing print or writing should be respectfully burnt. “Some of the Chinese classics, such as the ‘Book of Changes’ (易經), or the ‘Great Instructor’ (大學), are regarded as able to keep off evil spirits when put under the pillow of the sleeper, or kept near by in the library. He who is able to repeat memoriter passages from these books when walking alone need not fear the spirits.”²³

Bamboo tablets were commonly used before the invention of paper. It is asserted that block-printing can be traced to the Suí Dynasty A.D. 581–618. Movable types originated at the beginning of the eleventh century. Books were first bound up in leaves about A.D. 745, before which time they were in rolls. The self-styled “First Emperor” (始皇) of the Qín Dynasty, with the object of blotting out the claims of antiquity, gave orders for all books to be burnt in 213 B.C., and many valuable works perished. Printing was invented in Europe in 1474.

A book often runs to an extraordinary number of volumes or sections (卷). According to an old distich,“If one wishes to be acquainted with the Past and the Present he must read five cartloads of books!” (要通今古事須讀五車書). There is a general work of reference (類書) known as Gû Jïn Túshü Jíchéng (古今圖書集成), first published in 1726, in 10,000 books, arranged under 6,109 categories, and containing about four times as much matter as the Encyclopaedia Britannica. A copy of this wonderful production is to be seen in the British Museum. Notices of some of the principal Chinese literary works will be found in the Appendix to the Author’s Manual of Chinese Metaphor.

A common conventional design of good augury consists of two books placed together and decorated with a fillet, when it is classed as one of the various categories of EIGHT TREASURES (q. v.).

Brahma

(梵王)

Brahma, according to Indian mythology, is the creator or first person in the trinity of the Hindoos, the other two being Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer, of the creation. He is generally represented with three faces and four arms.

This deity has been made by the Buddhists into an attendant or vassal of Buddha, and the Taoists have in turn borrowed him from the Buddhists as their supreme god. He is also identified with Indra, and the Jade Ruler (vide THREE PURE ONES). He is sometimes represented as a woman.

The “Brahma Sutra” (梵王經) is used as a sacred classic in the Buddhist monasteries. It is described by De Groot in his Le Code du Mahâyâna en Chine, as “the centre of gravity of the Church, the marrow, the heart, the axis on which turns the whole existence of the monks.”

Bronze

(古銅)

The Chinese use the same denomination tóng (銅) for copper, brass, and bronze. It is made up of the character jïn (金), “gold,” and tóng (同), “similar,” indicating, according to Chinese commentators, sound, harmony, and assembling, possibly because employed in the manufacture of musical instruments.

In order to study the symbolism of China from its fundamental origin, it is necessary to devote some attention to the early bronzes, of which a detailed description, together with the significance of their ornamentation, is given in the BO GU TU (q. v.), a work published during the Sòng Dynasty.

According to the Shü Jïng (書經), nine tripods were made in the Xià Dynasty, 205–1818 B.C., of metal sent as tribute from the nine provinces, and each had a map of a province engraved thereon, though some say they were decorated with representations of spirits and demons; the earliest specimens now extant are engraved with provincial maps and date from the Shāng and Zhōu Dynasties, 1766–255 B.C.

The ancient religion of the Chinese was undoubtedly a primitive nature worship in propitiation of the elements productive of rain and sunshine for the benefit of the crops. A belief in numerous gods and spirits of mountains, rivers, clouds, etc., the deification of the luminaries of the firmament, and also of various imaginary powers, became gradually evolved, and, though no images were anciently made, certain symbols were devised to suggest the various deities, and they were engraved or moulded on the ancient bronze, food, wine, and sacrificial vessels. These symbols, with variations, have survived to the present day.

The earliest forms of the Chinese written character are to be found on the antique bronzes, of which a fine collection is on view at the Peking Museum (1930).

The age of a bronze article may be determined from the colour and brilliance of its patina, which depends partly on the composition of the alloy, and partly on the nature of the soil in which the object was buried.

Vide also DIAPER PATTERNS, DRAGON, PHOENIX, WRITTEN CHARACTERS.

Broom

(帯)

The emblem of Shí Dêi (拾得), a poet of the 7th century. It typifies insight, wisdom, and power to brush away all the dusts of worry and trouble. To read the book of nature (vide SCROLL), and sweep away all mundane difficulties, is the ideal and motto of the naturalistic theory of the ancient Chinese.

The manifold evil spirits are supposed to be afraid of a broom. “Many families are in the habit of performing a kind of pretence sweeping with a broom on the last day of the year, rather intending the removal of evil than that of filth.”²⁴

Buddha’s Hand

(佛手)

A peculiar kind of inedible citron, Citrus medica (香梅) running almost entirely into rind, and terminating at the head in long narrow processes like fingers, is known to the Chinese as fóshôu or Buddha’s Hand. It has a very powerful and fragrant odour, and is offered up in porcelain bowls before the shrine of the household gods at the New Year Festival and other religious sacrifices. It is also used for scenting rooms.

This fruit connotes Buddhism because its form resembles a classic position of Buddha’s hand with the index and little finger pointing upward.

It is also a symbol of wealth as it illustrates the gesture of grasping money.

Butterfly

(糊蝶)

There are in China many different species of the order Lepidoptera, of which the family Papilio, or the butterflies, form an important part. Some of the latter are of a gigantic size and variegated colouring, and it is therefore not astonishing that this insect should be a favourite theme for the poet and the painter.

The philosopher Zhuāng Zî (莊子), once dreamt that he was transformed into a butterfly and found great happiness in flitting hither and thither sipping nectar from innumerable flowers. Hence the insect is an emblem of joy. It is also a symbol of summer.“The butterfly is a sign of conjugal felicity; in fact it might almost be called the Chinese Cupid. The origin of this is to be found in the story told by the Taoist philosopher Zhuāng Zî, of a young student who, running after a beautiful butterfly, unknowingly intruded into the private garden of a retired magistrate, whose daughter he thus saw, and was so struck with her charms, that he determined to work hard and try to obtain her for his wife. In this he was successful, and rose to high rank.”²⁵

The butterfly is often conventionally depicted with great skill, and is a common decoration for embroidery and chinaware.