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Quail is a middle-sized bird, and is nowadays farm-raised for table food and their eggs. However, they play an interesting role in traditional Chinese art with an auspicious meaning.
Quail’s Chinese name is ‘an chun’(鹌鹑). Its first character 鹌 (‘an’) is often used in Chinese language for its pun on ‘an’(安) which means peace and safety.
Related Pun Pictures:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-live-in-peace-and-leisure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you live in peace and leisure 安居</a>
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-the-country-be-in-peace-and-order-forever/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May the country be in peace and order forever 久安长治</a>
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-a-peaceful-life-year-after-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy a peaceful life year after year 岁岁平安</a>

Quail

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The Eight Auspicious Emblems, also known as ‘ba bao’ (八宝, Eight Treasures), or ‘ba rui xiang’ (八瑞相, Eight Symbols of Good Fortune), are a set of symbols in traditional Tibetan Buddhism. These symbols are often depicted together, bringing positive energy, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>, and well-being to the surroundings.  Here are the Eight Auspicious Emblems along with their meanings:
<ol>
<li>Dharma Wheel (Dharmachakra): Signifies the Eightfold Path and the cycle of existence.</li>
<li>Conch Shell: Represents the call to awaken and spread the teachings of truth.</li>
<li>Parasol (Umbrella): Symbolises protection and shelter from suffering and negativity.</li>
<li>Victory Banner: Represents triumph over obstacles and the path to enlightenment.</li>
<li><a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-lian-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lotus Flower</a>: Symbolises purity, enlightenment, and rising above challenges.</li>
<li>Treasure Vase: Signifies endless spiritual wealth, prosperity, and fulfillment.</li>
<li>Pair of Golden <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fishes</a>: Represents abundance, freedom, and harmony in life’s currents.</li>
<li>Eternal Knot: Symbolises interconnectedness, eternity, and interdependence.</li>
</ol>
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*Open source

Eight auspicious emblems

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The ‘Eight Horses’ (Ba Jun Tu 八骏图) is a classic motif in Chinese art, especially prominent in ancient paintings. Its origins are closely tied to the legendary journeys of King Mu of the Zhou Dynasty (周穆王), who reigned around the 10th century BCE. According to The Tale of King Mu (Mu Tianzi Zhuan 穆天子传), an ancient text unearthed from Warring States period tombs, King Mu of Zhou, the fifth ruler of the Western Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–771 BCE), was a monarch with a passion for exploration. He is said to have travelled vast distances, covering ninety thousand li, drawn by a chariot pulled by eight divine steeds. His legendary westward expedition led him to Mount Kunlun, where he visited the mythical palace of the Yellow Emperor and held a banquet at the Jade Pool, exchanging songs with the Queen Mother of the West.
The names of these eight magnificent horses vary across historical texts. In The Tale of King Mu, they are listed as Huáliú (骅骝), Lu’er (騄耳), Chìjì (赤骥), Báixī (白羲), Qúhuáng (渠黄), Yúlún (逾轮), Dàolí (盗骊), and Shānzǐ (山子). Each name reflects qualities of strength, speed, and divine prowess. In contrast, the Records of Gleanings (Shiyi Ji 拾遗记) by Wang Jia of the Eastern Jin dynasty offers a more fantastical interpretation, naming the horses: Juédì (绝地), Fānyǔ (翻羽), Bēnxiāo (奔霄), Yuèyǐng (越影), Yúhuī (逾晖), Chāoguāng (超光), Téngwù (腾雾), and Xiéyì (挟翼). These names evoke imagery of unparalleled speed, radiant brilliance, and the ability to soar beyond the ordinary, symbolising supernatural abilities.
Throughout history, renowned literati such as Bai Juyi, Liu Zongyuan, Yuan Zhen, and Li Guan composed verses and articles praising the beauty and mythical attributes of the eight steeds. Their poems not only celebrated the horses’ majestic qualities but also extolled the grandeur and far-reaching influence of kingship, reflecting the ideals of dominion, ambition, and the pursuit of power in ancient China.
The motif of the Eight Horses has endured through centuries, appearing in paintings, ceramics, and decorative arts, embodying both artistic elegance and profound cultural symbolism.
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Literature research by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>

The Eight Horses

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In this motif composition, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/eight-daoist-immortals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eight Daoist Immortals</a> (ba xian 八仙) are not depicted in figural images, but rather are represented by their distinctive attributes respectively. The fan stands for <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/zhongli-quan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zhongli Quan</a> 钟离权, the sword stands for <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/lv-dongbin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lv Dongbin</a> 吕洞宾, the clapper stands for <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/cao-guojiu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cao Guojiu</a> 曹国舅, the bamboo flute stands for Han Xiangzi 韩湘子, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-he-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lotus flower</a> or the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bamboo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bamboo </a>colander stands for He Xian’gu 何仙姑, the basket of flowers stands for Lan Caihe 蓝采和, the double <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/gourd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gourd</a> stands for Li Tieguai 李铁拐, and the membranophone <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fish </a>drum stands for Zhang Guolao 张果老.
The arrangement of the eight emblems of the immortals surrounding either an image of a <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peach</a>, which is symbolic for <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>, or a pictorial form of a Chinese character &#8211; ‘shou 寿 or 壽’, which also means ‘longevity’, is emphasising the message which celebrates the receiver’s birthday and wishes the receiver a long life.
Pictorial listings with similar themes:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/happy-birthday-mother/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Happy Birthday, Mother!</a> 萱寿
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/heavenly-immortals-and-fairies-are-celebrating-your-birthday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heavenly immortals and fairies are celebrating your birthday</a> 天仙拱寿

Eight Daoist Immortals are congratulating your birthday

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<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/phoenix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Phoenix </a>has been deemed as a holy, noble and beautiful bird in the Chinese folk myths and was regarded as the king of all birds.
In Volume 915 of the comprehensive reference book ‘Readings of the Taiping Era’ (太平御览 Tai Ping Yu Lan) which was edited by Li Fang (李昉, 925–996) and other scholars in Northern Song dynasty, there was a quoted mythical story about the phoenix. It said that in a town called Hai Zhou, phoenix was miraculously spotted at the top of a castle. Hundreds of birds flew towards the phoenix and then followed it in the northeast direction towards the Cangwu Mountain.
Initially, the saying of ‘Hundreds of birds paying respect toward the phoenix’ was a metaphor to imply peace under a wise ruler who was highly respected and worshiped. This saying was later used to refer people who is of noble character and high prestige.

All Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix

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The Hundred Children motif (百子图) represents the most elaborate and auspicious extension of the broader <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/children-at-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Children at Play</a> theme in traditional Chinese art. While both motifs depict scenes of children engaged in lively and joyful activities—such as kite-flying, lion dancing, and mimicking adult roles—the defining feature of the Hundred Children composition is its scale, narrative structure, and symbolic intensity.
Unlike smaller portrayals of a few children at play, Hundred Children scenes typically feature dozens of children—sometimes literally a hundred—engaged in coordinated yet playful acts, often within palace gardens or festive settings. These grand compositions became especially prominent in decorative arts of the Ming and Qing dynasties, appearing on porcelain, lacquerware, silk tapestries, and marriage furnishings.
The motif draws inspiration from a legendary tale recorded in Liexian Zhuan (列仙传), a Han dynasty compilation of biographies of immortals, which states: ‘King Wen of Zhou had a hundred sons, all of whom attained immortality’ (周文王有百子，皆得仙道). This idea was echoed in later encyclopaedic works such as the Taiping Yulan (太平御览), which further emphasised the symbolic connection between King Wen’s lineage and idealised prosperity: ‘Seventy of them served as ministers’ (七十子受命为卿士). Though not historically factual, this legend became a powerful emblem of dynastic flourishing and ancestral abundance.
In this context, the Hundred Children motif came to embody not merely the charm of childhood, but the Confucian aspiration for a thriving lineage, continuity of family virtues, and multigenerational harmony.
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scene description by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>
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Related Motifs &amp; Symbols
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/grape" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grape</a> 葡萄
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/may-the-male-line-in-your-family-clan-continue-and-flourish-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May the male line in your family clan continue and flourish (pictorial allusion)</a> 瓜瓞绵绵
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-as-many-male-offspring-as-a-pomegranate-has-seeds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have as many male offspring as a pomegranate has seeds</a> 榴开百子

Hundred Children

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The ‘Baoxiang 宝相’ pattern is a Buddhist motif created through artistic processing based on the shapes of flowers, flower buds, and leaves found in nature. The main subjects of the Baoxiang pattern are <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peony/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peonies</a>, <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-lian-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lotus flowers</a>, and other similar elements, which have gradually evolved over time. The Baoxiang pattern is also known as ‘Baoxianhua 宝仙花’, ‘Baolianhua 宝莲花’, or ‘xifanlian 西番莲’, which literally means ‘western passion flower’. Due to its luxurious and ornate appearance, it is referred to as ‘Baoxianghua’. The name carries auspicious meanings of wealth and fulfillment, symbolising prosperity and happiness.

Passion Flower

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Bats in Chinese is called bian fu (蝙蝠) or fu (蝠). The image of bats is often used to represent ‘good luck’ or ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">good fortune</a>’ in Chinese decorative arts. It is not because the Chinese appreciate the appearance of bats, but because ‘蝠 fu’, the Chinese name for bats, happens to pun on ‘福 fu’ for ‘good fortune’, thus bearing an auspicious symbol.
Related Pun Pictures:
<a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/gourd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourd 葫芦 </a>
<a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-long-life-and-always-be-blessed-by-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy long life and always be blessed by good fortune 福寿万年</a>

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Father&#8217;s Day was set up to honour fatherhood and secure paternal bonds. One very potent motif in the repertoire of traditional Chinese pictorial culture in this regard is the image of a magnificent brawny <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dragon </a>facing a smaller young dragon in the background of cloud and waves. It symbolises the passing of knowledge and experience from one generation to another, which shows how the society and dominant ideology treasure the paternal advice.
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Related topics:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/teaching-the-child/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teaching the child</a> 课子图
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-your-five-sons-come-out-first-in-civil-examinations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May your five sons come out first in civil examinations</a> 五子夺魁

Venerable dragon teaching his son

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The <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/osmanthus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">osmanthus </a>tree prominent in the Moon Palace came to be a symbol for elite talents in the Jin dynasty 晋朝 (265-420). In around Tang dynasty (618-907), ‘plucking a sprig of osmanthus blossom’ became a metaphor for ‘becoming a top contestant who passes the civil-service examinations with flying colours’. Since there was a famous osmanthus tree in the Moon Palace and <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/chang-e-the-moon-goddess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chang’e the Moon Goddess</a> (嫦娥) was the perfectly presentable permanent resident there, she gradually evolved into the role of the osmanthus sprig giver. Just like the Greek goddess Nike who rewarded winning warriors with a wreath of laurel leaves, Chang’e with a small branch of osmanthus flowers symbolised academic success in imperial China. Thus, art works bearing images of Chang’e bestowing a sprig of osmanthus blossom to scholars have become suitable presents for those who sit for exams ever since.
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>
Related research article:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/the-legend-of-chang-e-the-moon-goddess-and-her-bestowing-osmanthus-blossom-to-scholars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The legend of Chang’e the Moon Goddess and her bestowing osmanthus blossom to scholars</a>

Plucking a Sprig of Osmanthus Blossom from the Moon Palace

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The Chinese character ‘大 da’ means ‘great’ or ‘grand’, and ‘吉 ji’ means ‘great fortune’ or ‘good luck’. In combination, ‘大吉 da ji’ expresses an auspicious wish of ‘May you enjoy great fortune’.
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-imminent-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy imminent good fortune</a> 大吉
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-everything-fare-fabulously-in-your-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May everything fare fabulously in your family</a> 室上大吉
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Related motif:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rooster</a> 公鸡

May you enjoy great fortune

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Book is a symbol of education or examinations.
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peony/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Peony</a> is a symbol of wealth and prestige.
The motif combination of book and peony sends a message to the receiver ‘You may become super rich by receiving good education!’
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Related Motif:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/two-horned-peony-blossom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-horned peony blossom</a> 双犄牡丹
Related Pun Picture:                                 
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-couple-live-a-harmonious-life-and-enjoy-prestige/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you couple live a harmonious life and enjoy prestige</a> 并蒂双贵

You may become rich by receiving good education

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During the Tang and Song dynasties, there were large dragon&#8211;<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">carp</a> (鳌鱼) reliefs on the steps in front of the imperial palace. In the era of imperial examinations, the scholar who scored number one would stand on the head of the embossed giant to receive the announcement of the ranking. Therefore, the person who can make it and stand on the image of a dragon-carp head is considered as a champion. Later, the term ‘Standing on the Head of a Dragon-Carp’ is symbolic for ‘winning the first place in the competition’.
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Related Figures and Stories:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/god-of-literature/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">God of Literature</a> 魁星
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/when-the-god-of-literature-kicks-an-ink-vessel-you-are-blessed-to-be-the-only-one-who-can-stand-on-the-head-of-a-dragon-carp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">When the God of Literature kicks an ink vessel, you are blessed to be the only one who can stand on the head of a dragon-carp.</a> 魁星踢斗,  独占鳌头
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Related Symbol:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish-turning-into-dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fish turning into dragon</a> 鱼化龙
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Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/you-will-certainly-come-out-first-in-the-imperial-examinations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You will certainly come out first in the imperial examinations</a> 必定夺魁

May you be the only one who can stand on the head of a dragon-carp

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The feng phoenix, or feng huang 凤凰, which is often portrayed to resemble a peacock or golden <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/pheasant/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pheasant</a>, is the second of China’s Four Sacred Creatures (the others being the long <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dragon </a>龙, the qilin 麒麟 and the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tortoise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tortoise</a>). Except in its mythic status, this creature is not related to the fabulous fire-born bird of Mediterranean and Near Eastern mythology. However, the feng phoenix is linked with heat, since it is the guardian of the south, and therefore a symbol of the sun, summer warmth and harvest.
The Chinese phoenix is sometimes interpreted as a male (yang) animal, but when accompanying the (male) dragon it represents a wife, and pictures of a dragon and phoenix together symbolise marital bliss. As the imperial dragon was a symbol for the emperor, the phoenix was the particular emblem of the empress, and a woman on her wedding day might wear a dress adorned with the phoenix to show that she was ‘empress for the day’.
In Chinese literature, the body of the phoenix is sometimes said to represent the Five Good Qualities: virtue (the bird’s head); humanity (the breast); reliability (the stomach); duty (the wings); and proper ritual conduct (the back). Like the dragon, the phoenix has important imperial associations. It was said to appear only during the reign of good, just emperors; and, unsurprisingly, artists and poets commonly flattered their imperial masters by declaring that a phoenix had been spotted on their land. Confucius, on the other hand, in his day bemoaned the absence of the phoenix and other auspicious celestial signs.
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>

Phoenix

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In the oracle bone script, the earliest form of the Chinese characters, the pictograph ‘福 (fu)’ consists of a pair of hands holding a wine jar in front of a sacred ancestral symbol. It means that, if the ancestors were pleased properly with right offerings, good fortune would come to bless the descendants.
Read <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/the-meaning-of-good-fortune-represented-in-chinese-decorative-arts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> for an account of how the ‘福 fu’ character became a poster on people’s front door on the first day of the Chinese New Year.
More than two millennia ago, the Chinese had their ideals in life summarised as ‘五福 wu fu’, the Five Blessings, and recorded them in the Book of Documents (书经 Shujing) in the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BCE). They are ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity </a>寿 shou’, ‘wealth 富 fu’, ‘wellbeing and peace 康宁 kang ning’, ‘love of virtue 攸好德 you hao de’, and ‘natural death 考终命 kao zhong ming’.
The old and auspicious ideal embodied in the ‘福 fu’ character is often represented artistically with images of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bats </a>in Chinese decorative arts. It is not because the Chinese appreciate the appearance of bats, but because ‘蝠 fu’, the Chinese name for bats, happens to pun on ‘福 fu’ for ‘good fortune’.
In Late Imperial China, the ‘福 fu’ character was personified by the Star God of Good Fortune (福星 fu xing), a figurine of a male deity, who was one of the trio of the ‘Three Star Gods (三星 san xing)’. The other two companions were the Star God of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/deer/#:~:text=official%20income%E2%80%99%20or%20%E2%80%98-,emolument,-%E2%80%99.%20A%20blue%20and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emoluments </a>(禄星 lu xing) and the Star God of Longevity (寿星 shou xing).
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>

Good Fortune

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The Gengzhi Tu (耕织图, Pictures of Tilling and Weaving) was first created during the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song dynasty (12th century) by Lou Shu, a magistrate of Yuqian County. It comprised 21 Tilling Scenes and 24 Weaving Scenes, combining poetry and illustrations to systematically document agricultural and sericultural techniques. Highly praised by Emperor Gaozong, the original paintings have been lost, but their content survives through later copies—such as the Yuan-dynasty version by Cheng Qi (now housed in the Freer Gallery of Art, USA), which faithfully preserves the Southern Song style.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Gengzhi Tu became widely popular. In 1696, the Kangxi Emperor commissioned Jiao Bingzhen to produce the Imperially Commissioned Gengzhi Tu, incorporating Western perspective techniques and engraved by Zhu Gui for mass printing. Variants also emerged under the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors. More than artistic masterpieces, these works served as didactic tools for rulers to promote farming, sericulture, and technological knowledge, embodying significant historical, cultural, and artistic value.
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scene description by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>

Pictures of Tilling and Weaving

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One of the most commonly used motifs that depicts household fowls. It has also been frequently used in pun rebuses with intended meaning of ‘good fortune’ or ‘good wishes’, as its Chinese pronunciation is ‘ji 鸡’, punning on ‘ji 吉’ which means good fortune. See more related pun rebus pictures:
<a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-everything-fare-fabulously-in-your-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May everything fare fabulously in your family shi 室上大吉</a> 
<a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-imminent-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy imminent good fortune 大吉</a>

Rooster

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The phrase ‘gua die mian mian 瓜瓞绵绵’ is a variation of a line from the poem Mian 绵 collected in the section of the Greater Odes of the Kingdom (Daya 大雅) in the Classic of Poetry (Shijing 诗经). It is used as a metaphor for the continuation and flourishing of the family or clan along the male line. The Chinese character ‘gua 瓜’ refers to mature ‘melon’, ‘squash’, ‘gourd’, ‘pumpkin’, ‘cantaloupe’ and the like and the character ‘die 瓞’ to their young ones. The Shijing anthology was the oldest collection of songs and ballads existing in China, compiled during the period between the 11th to 7th centuries BCE. Metaphors, set phrases, and allusions from the anthology are rich sources for Chinese literary and pictorial culture over the millennia. Derived from the classic text, pictorial depictions of melons with spreading vines became a popular subject to wish the family prosperity of the patron.
Note:
The group of pictures displayed here have the same good wish as in pun pictures ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-the-male-line-in-your-family-clan-continue-and-flourish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May the male line in your family clan continue and flourish</a>’, and yet they are academically different. The pictures here are &#8216;pictorial allusion&#8217;, rather than pun rebus pictures because they use pure pictorial descriptions to allude to a classic literary saying. There is no <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/butterfly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">butterfly</a> 蝶 in the images and therefore there is no pun for dié 瓞.

May the male line in your family clan continue and flourish (pictorial allusion)

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The character 龟 gui for ‘tortoise’ is explained in volume 13 of the annotated version of the oldest dictionary in China, Shuowen jiezi 说文解字注 (Explanations of Simple Graphs and Analyses of Composite Graphs). There is a quote from Liu Xiang (刘向, 77 BCE &#8211; 6 BCE), the Han-dynasty imperial librarian, in the annotation, which says ‘… Tortoises last long. The tortoise lives for a thousand year and, therefore, can be a medium to communicate with spirits (龟之言久，龟千岁而灵).’ During the early fourth century, the Jin (晋) dynasty scholar Ge Hong (葛洪, 283 &#8211; 343) complied The Baopuzi (抱朴子) ‘Book of the Master Who Embraces Simplicity’. In the chapter entitled ‘Rejoinders to Popular Conceptions (对俗)’, he wrote, ‘Once you live, you will die. The tortoise and the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/crane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crane </a>can live for a long time. We know that they live long and then we can learn from their way of life to realise our own <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>.’ These thoughts laid the foundation for the Chinese to regard the tortoise as a longevity symbol. In the same chapter, Ge Hong also quoted from an earlier book that ‘The one-thousand-year-old tortoise has five colours and … floats on a <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-he-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lotus </a>leaf.’ Therefore, corresponding images were created to enhance their owners’ health and life expectancy. Naturally, the tortoise accompanies <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/eight-daoist-immortals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">immortals </a>and fairies to indicate their everlasting state.
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni  </a>

Tortoise

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Osmanthus blossoms in autumn and is conventionally regarded as the flower of the eighth month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Its sweet scent is discreet, distinctive, and unforgettable, and has a legendary position in Chinese poetry and art. It is associated with the moon because ancient Chinese wanted to explain the temporal change of the shadow on its surface and it was recorded in the ninth century during the Tang dynasty that a Daoist disciple named Wu Gang (吴刚) did not obey his master’s order and, as a punishment, was sent to the moon to chop the huge osmanthus tree grown there. As the tree had self-healing ability, Wu Gang’s was a Sisyphean task. Also, via a third-century literary allusion of the Jin dynasty, <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/plucking-a-sprig-of-osmanthus-blossom-from-the-moon-palace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘plucking a branch of osmanthus blossom</a> (折桂)’ became a metaphor for ‘being a top contestant in examinations’.

Osmanthus

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According to the oldest dictionary in China, Shuowen jiezi 说文解字 (Explanations of Simple Graphs and Analyses of Composite Graphs), the earliest version of the character for ‘crane’ is a composite graph consisting of a pictograph for a bird, the present-day character niao 鸟, at the right, with feet and a feathered tail, along with a sound element at the left indicating how the character should be pronounced at that time.
With the exception of the magical bird fenghuang (凤凰, <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/phoenix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phoenix</a>), roughly translated into English as ‘phoenix’, the red-crowned white crane is the most auspicious of all birds in China and a widely revered creature in popular religion, mythology and among literati.
In the chapter entitled ‘Discourse on Forests’ 说林训 of The Huainanzi 淮南子 (The Discourses of the Huainan Masters), a book containing some debates held in the court of Prince of Huainan (179–122 BCE) before 139 BCE, the crane’s life is said to be ‘up to 1,000 years, during which it can fly freely to its heart’s content.’ As one of the most common symbols of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity </a>in China, the bird is often depicted in the company of other symbols of great age, such as the shou 寿 character, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peach</a> 桃, the pine tree 松, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tortoise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tortoise </a>龟, the lingzhi fungus 灵芝, garden rock 寿石, the emblem of the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/eight-daoist-immortals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eight Daoist Immortals</a> 暗八仙, or the Longevity God of the South Pole 南极仙翁, to enhance their potency. The high-soaring crane often serves as the mount of immortals and fairies and is also supposed to lift those mortals who have just attained immortality up to heaven. Naturally, formal Daoists’ gowns bear flying cranes as a decorative motif and the combination of cranes and the Eight Trigrams known in Chinese as bagua 八卦 often adorn Daoist ceremonial utensils.
The crane’s qualities of sacredness and gentlemanliness acquired their ultimate recognition when, during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911), the most senior grade of imperial civil servants &#8211; the highest-flying, oldest, wisest, and most dutiful ‘sons’ of their imperial ‘father’, the emperor &#8211; wore a white crane rank badge or mandarin square in front of their chest.
Artists often confine the crane within a circle since the roundness indicates ‘perfection’, resulting in a frequently encountered ‘crane medallion’ design, known in Chinese as ‘tuanhe wen 团鹤纹’.
Lack of knowledge in a specific culture would lead to a slip of putting the boot on the wrong leg, as is the case of identifying the longevity icon crane, in the context of symbols of the similar kind such as peaches and the lingzhi fungi, as a ‘<a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/AK-NM-13846" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stylized pelican</a>’, which very rarely features in Chinese pictorial tradition.
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni </a>
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Related Figural Story:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/a-qin-zither-and-a-pet-crane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One qin zither and one crane </a>一琴一鹤
Related Blog:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/how-do-chinese-combine-symbols-in-pictorial-art-to-increase-the-potency-of-the-longevity-concept/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How do Chinese combine symbols in pictorial art to increase the potency of the longevity concept?</a>

Crane

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Lotus flower is one of the most commonly seen motifs in Chinese traditional artworks. It is particularly favoured by scholars because one of its biological characteristics is that it grows out of mud yet blooms pure and untainted flowers, which scholars refer to their own uncorrupted nature.
Lotus in Chinese can be translated into He Hua (荷花) or <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-lian-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lian Hua</a> (莲花). The use of their images, however, are interchangeable.
Lotus flower, leave, stem and pod may all have different meanings. See examples below:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-bouquet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lotus bouquet</a> 一把莲
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-pass-examinations-all-the-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you pass examinations all the way</a> 一路连科
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/you-are-an-honest-and-uncorrupted-official-in-your-entire-career/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You are an honest and uncorrupted official in your entire career</a> 一路清廉

Lotus (He Hua)

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The tiger has impressed the Chinese for being ferocious, valiant, and awesome. Numerous imaginations, legends, and images have been stimulated by the fascinating impact of this majestic beast on the nation’s psyche ever since antiquity.
Shuowen jiezi (说文解字), or Explanations of Simple Graphs and Analyses of Composite Graphs, the oldest dictionary in China, finished at the beginning of the 2nd century CE, defines the tiger as the ‘lord of the beasts in the wilderness (山兽之君)’. Fengsu Tongyi (风俗通义), or Comprehensive Meaning of Customs and Mores, compiled by Ying Shao (应劭) towards the end of the 2nd century, records the contemporary custom of painting tigers on the door to ward off evil spirits in the chapter entitled ‘Sidian (祀典 i.e. Sacrificial Statutes)’. It claims, ‘The tiger is the embodiment of the yang energy and the chief of all the wild beasts (虎者，阳物，百兽之长也).’
In the Chinese zodiac, there is a twelve-year cycle of specific animals with the tiger as Number Three, which matches the third of the twelve Earthly Branch symbol 寅 yin.
Traditional decorative scenes featuring the tiger include Celestial Master Zhang (张天师) with His Personal Mount Tiger, the ‘Five Supernatural Beasts (五灵 wu ling)’, the ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/the-pictorial-representation-of-the-tiger-in-traditional-chinese-decorative-arts/#:~:text=rank%20of%20the%20%E2%80%98-,Four%20Directional%20Guardians,-%E2%80%99%2C%20known%20variously%20as" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four Directional Guardians</a> (四灵 si ling or 四神 si shen or 四象 si xiang)’, the ‘Four Mythical Creatures (四灵 si ling)’, Li Kui (李逵) Fighting a Tiger, Monk Chou Separating Two Fighting Tigers, Tiger-Taming Lohan (伏虎罗汉), Twelve Zodiac Signs (十二生肖属相), Wu Song (武松) Slaying a Tiger, <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/yang-xiang-trying-to-throttle-the-tiger-to-rescue-her-father/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yang Xiang (杨香) Subduing a Tiger to Rescue Her Father</a>, etc.
The above content is written by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>. More detailed research on the motif of tiger is available in his blog <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/the-pictorial-representation-of-the-tiger-in-traditional-chinese-decorative-arts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Tiger

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‘Dié 蝶’ from hú dié 蝴蝶, the Chinese character for ‘butterfly’, can be used to pun on ‘dié 耋’, meaning ‘octogenarian’ in the phrase <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-mother-live-up-to-a-ripe-old-age/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘May mother live up to a ripe old age</a> 萱耋’, or ‘dié 瓞’ for ‘small melons’ in the phrase ‘May the male line in your family clan continue and flourish 瓜瓞绵绵’.
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Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-the-male-line-in-your-family-clan-continue-and-flourish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May the male line in your family clan continue and flourish 瓜瓞绵绵 </a>
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-the-male-line-in-your-family-clan-continue-and-flourish/" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-7663 size-thumbnail" src="https://adminrm18.tutuhaoyi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/squash-vine-butterflies-pun-family-properity-Tutuhaoyi-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://adminrm18.tutuhaoyi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/squash-vine-butterflies-pun-family-properity-Tutuhaoyi-150x150.jpg?v=1619277112 150w, https://adminrm18.tutuhaoyi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/squash-vine-butterflies-pun-family-properity-Tutuhaoyi-400x400.jpg?v=1619277112 400w, https://adminrm18.tutuhaoyi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/squash-vine-butterflies-pun-family-properity-Tutuhaoyi-370x370.jpg?v=1619277112 370w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /></a>
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Butterfly

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Gourd (葫芦 hu lu) in Chinese is pronounced similar to ‘fu (福, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fortune</a>)’ and ‘lu (禄, wealth)’, therefore its image is often used as a pun picture referring fortune and wealth.
Related Pun Picture:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-good-fortune-and-ample-official-income-come-to-your-doorstep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May good fortune and ample official income come to your doorstep</a> 福禄双至

Gourd

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Goldfish is often found as a decorative motif in Chinese art. According to Chinese tradition, keeping goldfish in the house is considered auspicious, since the name for ‘goldfish’ (jin yu 金鱼) puns on the Chinese words for ‘gold 金 jin’ and ‘jade 玉 yu’ as well as the phrase ‘abundance of gold’, therefore referring to family wealth.
Related Motif:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fish</a>
Related Pun Pictures:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-your-household-be-piled-high-with-gold-and-jade/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May your household be piled high with gold and jade 金玉满堂</a>
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-remain-pure-clean-and-incorruptible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you remain pure, clean, and incorruptible 清白廉洁</a>
Interesting Blog:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/more-than-a-naturalistic-motif-of-fish-pond-recognition-of-chinese-pun-rebus-pictures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More than a naturalistic motif of fish pond: recognition of Chinese pun rebus pictures</a>

Goldfish

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The ‘Nine Autumn Flowers’ (Jiu Qiu Tu 九秋图) is a distinguished pattern in traditional Chinese decorative art, frequently employed to symbolise the richness and splendour of the autumn season. This theme features nine varieties of flowers, although not in a fixed set, collectively representing abundance, vitality, and the vibrancy of the autumn. While the specific floral elements may vary by artwork, the following are commonly depicted:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/chrysanthemum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chrysanthemum </a>(Ju Hua 菊花): Emblematic of purity and longevity, it is a quintessential symbol of autumn.</li>
<li><a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/osmanthus/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Osmanthus </a>(Gui Hua 桂花): Associated with wealth, auspiciousness, and harvest, its fragrant blooms enhance its symbolic appeal.</li>
<li>Cotton Rose (Furong 芙蓉): A representation of beauty and prosperity.</li>
<li>Hibiscus (Mujin 木槿): A metaphor for gentleness and resilience.</li>
<li>Pomegranate Flower (Shiliu Hua 石榴花): A symbol of fertility, prosperity, and vitality.</li>
<li>Begonia (Qiuhaitang 秋海棠): Conveying happiness and harmonious relationships.</li>
<li>Chinese Rose (Yueji 月季): An emblem of flourishing prosperity and success.</li>
<li>Morning Glory (Qianniu Hua, 牵牛花): Representing vitality and new opportunities, often associated with the changing seasons.</li>
<li>Cockscomb (Jiguan Hua, 鸡冠花): Representing good fortune and vibrant energy.</li>
<li>Golden <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-lian-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lotus</a> (Jinlian Hua, 金莲花): A sacred flower associated with spirituality and beauty.</li>
<li>Silvergrass (Yinliang Cao, 银亮草): Often used in autumn scenes to add texture and an ethereal quality to the composition.</li>
</ul>
Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-as-many-male-offspring-as-a-pomegranate-has-seeds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have as many male offspring as a pomegranate has seeds</a> 榴开百子
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-repeated-promotions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have repeated promotions</a> 官上加官
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-your-jade-palatial-home-be-honoured-and-full-of-riches/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May your jade palatial home be honoured and full of riches</a> 玉堂富贵

Nine Autumn Flowers

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Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium, 菊花 júhuā) joins the esteemed ranks of plum blossom, orchid, and bamboo as one of the ‘Four Gentlemen of Flowers’ &#8211; 四君子花 (sì jūnzǐ huā) in China. Just like <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peony/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peonies</a>, chrysanthemums find their place in ancient classical literature such as The Book of Odes (诗经 shī jīng), symbolising <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>, wealth, and the enchanting arrival of autumn. The allure of these blooms lies not only in their elegance but also in their medicinal properties, with chrysanthemum petals being used in soothing infusions and other parts of the plant being edible. The connection to longevity is beautifully intertwined with the pronunciation of the Chinese word for chrysanthemum 菊 jú, resembling the word 久 jiǔ, which signifies ‘long enduring’.
Blue China aster (Callistephus chinensis) stands out with its delicate and slender petals. In China, it is fondly known as cuìjú 翠菊, or the kingfisher chrysanthemum. Some esteemed scholars even trace its presence to the ancient verses of The Book of Odes, showcasing its timeless allure that has captivated artists since the illustrious Song dynasty. The advent of vivid blue overglaze enamel in the 18th century further elevated the popularity of China asters, making them an esteemed motif on imperial porcelain, a symbol of artistic brilliance.
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Description kindly contributed by Mr Tom Oxley, Aug 2023
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Related Pun Pictures: 
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-live-in-peace-and-leisure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you live in peace and leisure</a> 安居
Read Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>’s blog:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/not-a-mere-flowering-picking-scene-tao-yuanmings-love-for-chrysanthemums/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tao Yuanming&#8217;s Love for Chrysanthemums</a>

Chrysanthemum

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Paintings featuring mothers (and/or fathers) and children are commonly referred to as ‘Ke Zi Paintings 课子图’, which in modern terms would be called ‘Parent-Child Paintings’. In these images, the mother is depicted either sitting or standing, guiding, and disciplining one or several children as they play, read, or practise calligraphy. The scene portrays the mother as both a loving caregiver and a strict teacher, embodying the hope that the child will grow up to achieve greatness. It also serves as a reminder to grown-up children to be grateful to their parents.
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Explanation by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>
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Related Figures and Stories:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/lu-ji-hiding-tangerines-for-his-mother/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lu Ji hiding tangerines for his mother</a> 陆绩怀橘遗亲
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/wang-xiang-lying-on-ice-to-catch-carp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wang Xiang lying on ice to catch carp</a> 王祥卧冰求鲤

Teaching the child

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Also named leechee, lichee, lichi, or litchi (nut).
Lychee is a tall tropical evergreen tree of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) native to southeastern China. It was recorded in the Xijing zaji (西京杂记, Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital), a collection of short semi-historiographical stories from the Western Han dynasty (西汉, 206 BCE – 8 CE) court, that the governor of the South Sea used to send lychees to Emperor Liu Bang’s (刘邦, 256 BCE – 195 BCE) court as an imperial delicacy. The small fruit of lychee consists of a pink-red, roughly-textured skin, a translucent white fleshy aril, and a big or a shrivelled seed (known as the ‘chicken’s tongue’). The aromatic flesh of the fruit is juicy and sweet but its floral flavour would be easily lost and the rind would turn dark soon after harvesting. No wonder Emperor Xuanzong (玄宗, reigned 713–756 CE) of the Tang dynasty would deploy his Pony Express-like imperial couriers to deliver lychees to the capital in order to please his favourite concubine Lady Yang (杨贵妃, 719–756 CE). The Tang poet Du Mu (杜牧, 803–852 CE) wrote, ‘The dust cloud behind a galloping horse in the distance brings a smile to Lady Yang’s face; because only she knows that means the arrival of her favourite lychees (一骑红尘妃子笑，无人知是荔枝來).’ In late imperial China, when pun rebus pictures became in vogue, the image of lychee appeared in designs where the sound ‘li’ is needed to indicate ‘li 利’ for ‘profit’ because the first character in the Chinese name for lychee, ‘lizhi 荔枝’, is also ‘li’.
The Europeans first saw lychee’s image in Michal Boym&#8217;s Flora Sinensis (1657), which contains an illustration of ‘Lici Fruit Tree’. Michal Boym is a Jesuit missionary from Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
literature research by Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>
Related Pun Picture:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-be-trouble-free-and-roll-in-wealth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you be trouble-free and roll in wealth</a> 平安多利

Lychee

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Lian Hua (lotus) is also called ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-he-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he hua</a> (荷花)’. It is different from ‘shui lian (睡莲 water lily)’ which is another kind of water plant.
The first character of ‘lian hua’ has been used to pun for ‘lian’ (廉) which means being fair and uncorrupted in one’s official position.
Twin-headed lotus flower (‘bing di lian 并蒂莲’) refers ‘a loving relationship’. See ‘并蒂双贵’ (<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-couple-live-a-harmonious-life-and-enjoy-prestige/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you couple live a harmonious life and enjoy prestige</a>).
Related motif:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-bouquet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lotus bouquet </a>一把莲
Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/you-are-an-honest-and-uncorrupted-official-in-your-entire-career/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You are an honest and uncorrupted official in your entire career</a> 一路清廉

Lotus (Lian Hua)

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The fifth creature of the Chinese zodiac, the long dragon is one of the most complex and multilayered of all Chinese symbols. Its ferocious energy binds together all the phenomena of nature: bringing benevolent rain, but also typhoons; shaping the landscape, and causing earthquakes. One of the guardian creatures of the cardinal directions, the long dragon stands in the east, the source of the sun, spring rain and fertility.
Long dragons appear in several different forms in Chinese mythology – those with scales are called jiao long 蛟龙, those with wings ying long 应龙, those with horns are qiu long 虬龙, and small-sized ones are chi long 螭龙. Despite their ferocity, these mighty beasts are also fundamentally beneficent, the most auspicious of all creatures and embodiments of masculine vigour and the concept of yang 阳. Because of these associations, the dragon, particularly one with five claws, was the symbol par excellence of the Chinese emperor, the Son of Heaven, and is often found embroidered on imperial robes. It is also the embodiment of the land – quite literally at times, for the features of the landscape were seen by some to be the features of an enormous dragon. This dragon would sleep under the earth during the winter, then ascend to the skies on the second day of the second month, bringing the first spring thunder and rain. For masters of feng shui, underground currents are the veins of this great dragon, and therefore ought not to be disturbed by human builders.
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a> 
Related motifs: 
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/phoenix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Phoenix</a>
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tiger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tiger</a>

Dragon

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The earliest pictograph of the character 鹿 lu for ‘deer’ is found on a tortoise plastron burnt to crack for divination. Though it is by no means anatomically accurate, the pictograph exhibits the most clearly recognisable characteristics of the animal. It vividly imitates the four legs, slender head, lean body, and prominent antlers. Different scripts of the same word show how the antlers and legs have been evolving to the modern-day character.
The Piya (埤雅), a Chinese dictionary compiled by the Song-Dynasty scholar Lu Dian (陆佃, 1042–1102) with a preface dated 1125 contains a quotation which says ‘The ancients regarded deer as divine animals’. They were reputed to be able to live for a very long time and, hence, like cranes and tortoises, they are symbols of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>. Deer usually appears as a companion of the Star God of Longevity (寿星, shouxing), who is an old man with a long white beard and a bulging forehead. For this reason, their velvet antlers are a highly valued ingredient in many preparations of traditional Chinese medicine, and are reported to have the power to prolong life, aid virility and alleviate various ailments.
Deer came to represent wealth because the Chinese word 鹿 lu for ‘deer’ is a homophone of 禄 lu for ‘official income’ or ‘emolument’. A blue and white dish painted with a deer bears a four-character inscription which says ‘禄在其中 (Here is your official emoluments)’, explicitly link the deer to emoluments. A gift of an image showing a servant presenting a deer on a tray is a way of wishing the recipient advancement in officialdom and a rise in his pay.
Related Puns and Symbols:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-an-ample-official-income/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have an ample official income</a> 百禄
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-be-created-a-peer-and-earn-a-handsome-official-income/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you be created a peer and earn a handsome official income</a> 爵禄封侯
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/gourd/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gourd </a>葫芦
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Literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>. 
Read Dr Ni’s further discussion: <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/how-do-chinese-combine-symbols-in-pictorial-art-to-increase-the-potency-of-the-longevity-concept/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How do Chinese artists combine symbols in pictorial art to increase the potency of the longevity concept?</a>

Deer

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No animal has exercised as much influence over the destiny of China as the horse, which was central to the power of the various mounted nomadic peoples who dominated north China during the Period of Disunion (220–581CE), and the entire empire under the Mongols (Yuan dynasty, 1271–1368) and Manchus (Qing dynasty, 1644–1911). The long queue (tail) of hair, which all Chinese males were obliged to wear under the Qing emperors, is said to have been inspired by the horse’s tail &#8211; an ever-present reminder to the emperors and their Chinese subjects of the animal on which their armies had swept down into China, ousting the native Ming. Indeed, it was the Chinese who &#8211; possibly borrowing the idea from nomads &#8211; first invented stirrups, making riders more stable and agile, and cavalry a more efficient weapon of war. Before then, in ancient China, horses had been prized primarily as fast draught animals, pulling swift coaches for the wealthy, and chariots on the battlefield. Other wheeled transportation was drawn by oxen.
Ceramic models of horses produced during the Wei dynasty (386–557CE) were much admired and imitated by later Chinese artists, and the sport of polo, which was imported from Iran, became popular among the cosmopolitan aristocracy of the ensuing Tang dynasty (618–907CE).
A horse’s much-admired swiftness and power are reflected in its classification under the element fire, and it is also therefore associated with the direction south. The difficulty of taming and riding a frisky horse may account for the term ‘horse-will’ used in the famous novel Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en (吴承恩 ca.1500 – ca. 1582) to describe a headstrong and impulsive nature.
Reference: 
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a> (2009), 一百个漢字 <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/news/book/book-review-symbols-art-and-language-from-the-land-of-the-dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Symbols, art, and language from the land of the dragon</a>: The cultural history of 100 Chinese characters, Duncan Baird Publishers Ltd, London
Related Pun Rebus:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-be-bestowed-the-title-of-a-marquis-presently/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you be bestowed the title of a marquis presently</a> 马上封侯

Horse

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The tree commonly referred to in English as the flowering plum in fact belongs to the species Prunus mume, which is part of the apricot family.
With the pine and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bamboo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bamboo</a>, the plum is one of the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/three-friends-in-winter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Three Friends of Winter </a>岁寒三友, symbols of strength and endurance. Unlike its fellow plants in this group, the plum is not an evergreen, but it enjoys a special significance as the first tree of the year to blossom, even before the cherry. The briefly-flowering pretty red, white or pink blossoms – which appear before the leaves – signify the imminence of spring, and are emblems of hope, as well as of beauty, virginity and the fleeting nature of existence.
Furthermore, the plum, bamboo, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/chrysanthemum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chrysanthemum </a>and orchid constitute what are traditionally known as the Four Gracious (or Gentlemanly) Plants 四君子. The five petals of the plum blossom also symbolise the Five Elements (wood, fire, earth, metal and water), and the Five Blessings (<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>, wealth, wellbeing and peace, love of virtue, and natural death).
Read Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>’s narrative <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/meng-haoran-looking-for-plum-blossom-on-a-snowy-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here </a>for more symbolic meanings of the plum blossom for Chinese literati.

Prunus (Plum Blossom)

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The peony is traditionally considered the most prestigious flower in China. It is symbolic for power, royalty, wealth, and high rank. The ancient town Luoyang 洛阳 was famous for rare and beautiful varieties of peonies. The nickname of peony in Chinese is called ‘fu gui hua 富贵花’, literally meaning the flower of wealth and prestige.
Related Motif:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/two-horned-peony-blossom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-horned peony blossom</a> 双犄牡丹
Related Pun Pictures:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-your-wealth-and-privilege-expectable/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May your wealth and privilege expectable</a> 富贵有期
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/you-may-become-rich-by-receiving-good-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You may become rich by receiving good education</a> 读书出富贵
Related Story:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/pei-shaojun-on-horseback-meeting-li-qianjin-over-the-garden-wall/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pei Shaojun on horseback meeting Li Qianjin over the garden wall</a> 裴少俊墙头马上

Peony

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Grapes grow in clusters of up to 300 berries each and thus produce an enormous number of seeds. This property was regarded by the ancient Chinese as an apt allusion to their wish for a large number of offspring. That is why grapes are seen adorning various kinds of Chinese antiques, handcrafts, and bric-a-brac, often, together with squirrels, which are known for their amazing ability to multiply, and the two together form a make-belief scene of animal eating habit.

Grape

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This is a legendary story about the birth of Confucius (551 BCE – 479 BCE), the renowned philosopher from ancient China during the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BCE – 475 BCE).
According to The Family History of Confucius (孔子家语), Confucius’ father, Shuliang He (叔梁纥), had nine daughters but no sons from his first marriage. His second marriage produced a son, but the child was born with a foot deformity. During that era, based on the prevailing rites and laws, a man without a healthy male heir risked losing his noble status and being reduced to a commoner. In his later years, Shuliang He entered into a third marriage, and from this union, Kong Qiu (孔丘), later known as Confucius, was born.
Folk legends also surround Confucius’ birth. One popular tale tells of how his mother had an extraordinary dream during her pregnancy. In the dream, a qilin, a mythical creature, appeared at her home, accompanied by heavenly music. The qilin spat out a jade book inscribed with the words: “This child is the seed of a noble but born into an unfortunate time. He can only be a ‘king without a throne.’” The next day, Confucius was born, and thus giving rise to the legend of ‘Qilin delivering a child’. In Chinese folklore, the qilin has come to symbolise benevolence and good fortune, and families of virtuous standing often pray to the qilin for the blessing of offspring.
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Literature research by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>
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Related Motifs &amp; Symbols:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/five-supernatural-beasts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Five supernatural beasts</a> 五灵
Research article from Dr <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nibin Yi</a>
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/has-jiang-ziyas-mount-got-anything-to-do-with-the-pere-davids-deer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Has Jiang Ziya’s mount got anything to do with the Père David&#8217;s deer?</a>

Qilin delivering a child

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The Chinese deeply respect the elderly and consider a long existence &#8211; ideally accompanied by health and happiness &#8211; to be one of the five most important blessings (wufu 五福) in a person’s life, which were believed by the ancients and recorded in the Book of Documents 书经 in the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046 – 256 BCE) more than two millennia ago. The other four are fu 富 (wealth), kangning 康寧 (wellbeing and peace), yuhaode 攸好德 (love of virtue), and kaozhongming 考終命 (natural death). The character shou 寿 for ‘longevity’, therefore, often appears on gifts and domestic decoration as an artistic design.
The earliest form of the character shou 寿 for ‘longevity’ is found on bronze vessels, which combines two main elements: a meaning radical and a phonetic radical. On the top and right-hand side is a form that resembles an old man with long hair leaning on a walking stick. Beneath that is a phonetic element sounding somewhat like ‘chou (畴)’, which is a character by itself that means ‘ploughed fields with ridge’.
As one of the five blessings, the ideal of ‘longevity’ permeates the whole realm of Chinese artistic creation. One format favoured by artists is to present numerous versions of the shou character on one piece of artwork, usually up to one hundred. People believe the repetition of the presentation of the concept would greatly increase its efficacy. The readers are welcome to explore the related fascinating symbols and designs with the help of our comprehensive search functions.
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni </a>
Related motifs:
<ul>
<li><a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/crane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crane </a></li>
<li><a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peach fruit</a></li>
<li><a style="color: #3366ff;" data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/swastika-the-wan-character-in-chinese/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swastika (the wan character in Chinese)</a></li>
<li><a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tortoise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tortoise</a></li>
</ul>
Recommended blog:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/why-does-peach-symbolise-longevity-and-immortality-in-traditional-chinese-culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why does peach symbolise longevity and immortality in traditional Chinese culture?</a>

Longevity

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The primary symbolic meaning of the hollyhock (shu kui 蜀葵) is the good wish for longevity. The secondary implication is based on the perennially sun-facing nature of the hollyhock. In the old days, people compared their emperor or statesman to the sun and themselves to the hollyhock, implying that they would always be loyal to the authority.
Further meaning of the motif combination of the hollyhock and the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/butterfly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">butterfly </a>is worth discussing, as some researchers suggest that the hollyhock and the butterfly are used as a metaphor for romantic relationships.

Hollyhocks and butterflies

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Common sources such as Baidu refer to the motif of a <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peony/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peony flower</a> head with two distinctive ‘horns’ as a characteristic feature unique to Chinese porcelain of the Kangxi period (1662–1722). As a matter of fact, the tradition can be traced back as early as a fan painting by the legendary Ming romantic artist Tang Yin (唐寅, 1470–1524).
Read more about Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>’s research on this motif in this <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/interesting-findings/is-two-horned-peony-the-key-to-identifying-kangxi-porcelain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog</a>.

Two-horned peony blossom

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Pines, bamboos, and <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/prunus-plum-blossom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plum blossoms (prunus)</a> form the ‘Three Friends in Winter’ (岁寒三友) motif. The early blossoming plum is the harbinger of spring; the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bamboo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bamboo </a> bends in wind but does not break; and the pine needles remain green throughout the harsh winter. They all symbolise moral integrity and friendship in difficult times and have been cherished by generations of Chinese literati (scholar-officials).
Related story regarding plum blossom:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/meng-haoran-looking-for-plum-blossom-on-a-snowy-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meng Haoran Looking for Plum Blossom on a Snowy Day 孟浩然踏雪寻梅</a>

Three Friends in Winter

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The peach fruit usually symbolises longevity or immortality in Chinese pictorial art. The origin of this idea started from legends dating back to the third century. Read Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>&#8216;s <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/why-does-peach-symbolise-longevity-and-immortality-in-traditional-chinese-culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research article</a> for related literatures and legendary stories from ancient China.
As a symbol of longevity, the peach fruit is often paired with the other potent symbols with similar meaning, such as the crane, the lingzhi (灵芝 fungus), and the shou 寿 character for ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>’, and is also associated with legendary immortals such as the monkey or the Monkey King (Sun Wukong 孙悟空), the Old Man of the South Pole (南极仙翁), also known as the Star God of Longevity (寿星), and Dongfang Shuo (东方朔), whose prominent deeds include stealing divine peaches from the Queen Mother’s peach garden.
Related Blogs:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/interesting-findings/birthday-party-of-the-queen-mother-of-the-west/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Birthday Party of the Queen Mother of the West</a> 西王母寿宴
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/why-does-peach-symbolise-longevity-and-immortality-in-traditional-chinese-culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why does peach symbolise longevity and immortality in traditional Chinese culture?</a>
Related Figures and Stories:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/eight-daoist-immortals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eight Daoist Immortals</a> 八仙
Related Pun Rebus Pictures:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-enjoy-long-life-and-always-be-blessed-by-good-fortune/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you enjoy long life and always be blessed by good fortune</a> 福寿万年

Peach fruit

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In an ancient Chinese book, The Huainanzi (淮南子 The Discourses of the Huainan Masters), compiled around 139 BCE, there was a legendary story about a fairy lady, <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/chang-e-the-moon-goddess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chang’e 嫦娥, the Moon Goddess</a>. She had a loyal companion, an adorable rabbit, which was often depicted being held in her arms, residing in the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/the-legend-of-chang-e-the-moon-goddess-and-her-bestowing-osmanthus-blossom-to-scholars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moon Palace</a>, or grinding the tree bark with a pestle in a mortar to prepare some magic medicine for prolonging life. Therefore, the rabbit is symbolic for the moon and <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity</a>. Of course, its amazing ability to reproduce has also been taken for an auspicious wish for someone to have a big family.
Related motifs &amp; symbols:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/grape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grape 葡萄</a>

Rabbit (Hare)

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Either the clockwise swastika 卐 or the counterclockwise sauwastika 卍 is used interchangeably in Chinese decorative arts as well as in some religious contexts. Sometimes, the two opposite versions can co-occur on the same occasion without making a difference in meaning. Swastika is a very old symbol in the cultures scattered over the Eurasian continent. In China, it can be traced back to the painted pottery created in the Neolithic Majiayao 马家窑 culture existing from 3300 to 2000 BCE in the upper Yellow River region encompassing present-day eastern Gansu 甘肃, eastern Qinghai 青海, and northern Sichuan 四川 provinces. In the Eastern Han (25CE &#8211; 220CE) period, the swastika was introduced to China with Buddhist iconography and became prominent. However, it was not until the Tang Empress Wu Zetian 武则天 (684–704) made her decree that its pronunciation be ‘wan 万’ that it was accepted as a fully-fledged Chinese character, sounding the same as the number 10,000 in Chinese. Roughly speaking, it means ‘the myriad auspicious things in the universe’.
In decorative arts, swastika is often used together with various versions of the character <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shou</a> 寿, the auspicious Chinese symbol <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/bat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bat</a>, and the longevity symbol <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peach-fruit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peach </a>fruit. In late imperial China, swastika is widely found as the ground pattern on fabrics and on architectural or furniture elements such as paved passage ways and lattice pattern on railings, window frames, and cabinet doors.
Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-inexhaustible-good-fortune-and-longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have inexhaustible good fortune and longevity 万福万寿</a>

Swastika (the Wan character in Chinese)

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Summer solstice, the longest day in the year, occurs in the fifth month of the Chinese calendar and Chinese astronomy believes that it stands for the apogee of the yang force in the annual cycle. Ancient philosophers warned in Classic of Changes (易经 Yi Jing) that ‘When the sun has reached the meridian height, it begins to decline (日中则昃)’ [Commentary on the fifty-fifth hexagram 丰 Feng]. The Book of Rites (礼记 Liji), one of the core texts of the traditional Confucian canon, has a section entitled ‘Proceedings of Government in the Different Months (月令)’. It considers the fifth month as ‘one during which the yin and yang forces struggle and the tendencies to death and life become apparent (阴阳争﹐死生分).’  In a word, the ancients believe that the day the yang force arrives at the highest point is the day we have to be on alert because it means in the present cycle the yang force is destined to diminish. It evolved into the folklore belief that the fifth month is an inauspicious one (‘五月俗称恶月’), as per Festivals and Seasonal Customs of the Jing-Chu Region (荆楚岁时记 Jingchu Suishiji), and the fifth day of the fifth month, Duanwu (端午 duānwǔ), came to be regarded as one of the most dangerous days of the year when evil spirits and hazardous creatures lurked around. Notably, five noxious creatures were identified, known as ‘Five Poisons (五毒 wǔ dú)’. Initially, they are the centipede, the lizard, the scorpion, the snake, and the toad.
Read Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>&#8216;s academic blog <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/duanwu-festival-and-combating-the-five-poisons-in-chinese-seasonal-customs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> to learn more customs that Chinese people practise on this day and how <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/figures-stories/heavenly-master-zhang-quelling-the-five-poisons/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heavenly Master Zhang</a> (张天师) was personified as a Duanwu festival decoration as well as for quelling the evil spirits.

The Five Poisons

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The ‘five supernatural beasts’ include the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dragon</a>, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/phoenix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phoenix</a>, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tiger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tiger</a>, the qilin and the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/tortoise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tortoise</a>. This notion was found to be first mentioned by Du Yu 杜预 (222–285), a third-century Confucian scholar. He annotated the ancient Chinese chronicle Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋 Chunqiu) with The Commentary of Zuo (左传 Zuo zhuan), a collection of historical events ranging from 722 to 468 BCE. In his preface to his new book (杜预《春秋左氏传》序), Du Yu noted, ‘The “Five Supernatural Beasts (五灵 wu ling)” including the qilin unicorn and the feng phoenix are good omens for the king and the powerful (麒凤五灵，王者之嘉瑞也)’.
Kong Yingda (孔颖达 574–648), a later commentator of Du Yu’s book, matched each member of this group to Wuxing (五行), or a fivefold conceptual scheme in Chinese philosophy, and five directions (including the starting point: the middle), following the Han-dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) tradition: long-dragon for the east and wood, feng-phoenix for the south and fire, qilin for the middle and earth, white tiger for the west and metal, and divine tortoise for the north and water.
Kong Yingda’s book, Correct Meaning of The Commentary of Zuo (左传正义 Zuo zhuan zhengyi) was adopted as the standard textbook for the civil-service examinations in China for nearly a millennium and remained to be the basis for all following scholarly commentaries of the classic Spring and Autumn Annals and The Commentary of Zuo. The conventional notion of the ‘Five Supernatural Beasts’ mentioned in his book thus remained to be influential because of the authority of Du Yu’s book among the Chinese literati.
image identification and literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a> 
Read Dr Ni’s blog <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/not-just-common-motifs-of-creatures-the-five-supernatural-beasts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here </a>to see how this theme was misinterpreted in contemporary books.

Five Supernatural Beasts

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Image of the Five Principal Human Relations (Wu Lun Tu 五伦图), also known as Lun Xu Tu 伦叙图 (Epitome of Hierarchical Social Order), symbolises the five basic relationships in traditional Chinese society.
This design typically consists of five kinds of birds, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/phoenix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phoenixes </a>凤凰 symbolising the proper relationship between the emperor and his subjects, the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/crane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cranes </a>仙鹤 symbolising that between the father and his sons, the mandarin ducks 鸳鸯 symbolising that between husband and wife, the wagtails 鶺鸰 symbolising that between brothers, and the orioles 黄莺 symbolising that between friends.

Five Principal Human Relations

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Ancient Chinese rulers used elephants in battle, and the animal has long been a symbol of strength, prudence, and wisdom. The Chinese character for elephant, 象 (xiàng), is a homophone of 祥 (xiáng), meaning ‘auspicious’ or ‘lucky’. As a result, elephants frequently appear in <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pictorial_category/pun-pictures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pun rebus</a> pictures to convey auspicious wishes.
The elephant’s reputation as a sagacious creature is deeply tied to Buddhism, which reveres it as sacred. According to Buddhist tradition, on the eve of his birth, the Buddha descended from the Tushita heaven—one of the Buddhist paradises—into his mother’s womb in the form of a six-tusked white elephant. Buddhist scholars debated the exact moment at which he assumed human form. In China, artists addressed this question by portraying the Buddha’s descent as a tiny human figure riding on an elephant’s back, visually resolving the transition between divine and human forms while reinforcing his royal lineage.
Given such an array of positive symbolism, elephants were closely associated with Chinese emperors. Several Ming dynasty (1368–1644) imperial tombs feature a long spirit path (shéndào 神道) lined with monumental statues of elephants, alongside other representations of imperial strength and wisdom. These stone sculptures, part of an elaborate funerary tradition, were believed to offer protection and demonstrate the emperor’s enduring authority in the afterlife.
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description by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>

Elephant

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‘Xuan 萱’ comes from ‘xuan cao 萱草’, the Chinese name for ‘lily’. In traditional Chinese decorative arts, lily flowers symbolise motherhood and maternal bonds with children, and they figure prominently on articles created for mothers, expecting or being a birthday girl.
Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-mother-live-up-to-a-ripe-old-age/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May mother live up to a ripe old age</a> 萱耋
Related Motif &amp; Symbol:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/happy-birthday-mother/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Happy Birthday, Mother!</a> 萱寿

Lily

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How the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lily/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">daylily</a>, whose Chinese name is ‘xuan 萱’, came to become a symbol for motherhood in Chinese culture is explained in the blog ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/cultural-differences-in-the-symbolic-meaning-of-lily/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cultural Differences in the Symbolic Meaning of Lily</a>’. The daylily can be combined with <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/butterfly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">butterflies </a>to create the pun rebus design ‘Xuan Die Tu 萱耋图’, meaning <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-mother-live-up-to-a-ripe-old-age/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘May Mother live up to a ripe old age’.</a> This potent feminine symbol can also be paired with <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/longevity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">longevity </a>symbols in Chinese culture such as the so-called ‘longevity rock’, shoushi 寿石 in Chinese, and pine trees to form a variation on the same theme: Xuan Shou Tu 萱寿图, which conveys the most elegant <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/how-to-choose-a-gift-for-a-mother-who-loves-chinese-art/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">birthday wishes to Mother</a>.
literature research by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>

Happy Birthday, Mother!

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The motif of Yi Ba Lian 一把莲 is also called ‘yi shu lian’ (一束莲). It is presented as ‘a ribbon-tied bouquet of <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-lian-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lotus </a>in bud, full bloom, and seed pods accompanied by leaves, with or without some other water plants such as arrowheads’. The earliest example of this design can be traced back to those found on Yaozhou ware potted in the Song dynasty (960–1279).
The motif of blue-coloured lotus (青莲 qing lian) has gradually become a pun rebus for the meaning of ‘being uncorrupted’ (清廉 qing lian) in Ming and Qing dynasties.
Related motif:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-he-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lotus (He Hua)</a> 荷花

Lotus bouquet

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Children at Play is a classical motif in traditional Chinese art, portraying lively scenes of children engaged in games and daily amusements. These depictions often feature children flying kites, kicking balls, turning somersaults, enjoying lanterns, performing lion or dragon dances, tending flowers, playing with birds and animals, or mimicking adult roles such as scholars, officials, or ceremonial attendants.
This motif can be traced back to the Warring States period and gained prominence during the Song dynasty. It reached a refined artistic height under painters like Su Hanchen—his celebrated work Children Playing in an Autumn Garden exemplifies the genre. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the theme flourished in decorative arts such as porcelain, lacquerware, and embroidery, especially for festive occasions like weddings, birthdays, and Lunar New Year celebrations.
Beyond its charming portrayal of childhood, this motif also conveys auspicious meanings. One of the most iconic is the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/hundred-children" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hundred Children</a> composition, symbolising Confucian ideals of a flourishing lineage and family prosperity. Many works also incorporate puns and visual metaphors, conveying blessings such as May you have continuous noble offspring (连生贵子), May you get promotion step by step (步步高升), and May everything goes as you planned (必定如意). These pun-based images will be explored further in dedicated entries on Tutuhaoyi.
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summarised by <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/rachel-ma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rachel Ma</a>
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Related Motifs &amp; Symbols:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-three-successive-promotions-unexpectedly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you have three successive promotions unexpectedly!</a> 平升三级
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/teaching-the-child/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teaching the child</a> 课子图

Children at Play

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A fish is an ancient symbol of material prosperity and fertility in China, both because it <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/goldfish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">puns with another word yu 余 meaning ‘abundance’</a>, and because of the <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-your-household-be-piled-high-with-gold-and-jade/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">huge quantities of fish in Chinese lakes</a> and rivers. In some parts of China, people would eat the flesh of fish, and then offer the heads as a sacrifice to Zhao Gongming, the god of wealth.
The invention of fishing is often attributed to Fuxi (believed to have reigned 2852–2737 BCE), the first of the Three Sovereigns – China’s mythical earliest rulers – and fish has certainly been a staple of the Chinese diet for millennia. Fisherman was one of the respected Four Occupations for common people, the other three being peasant farmer, woodman and scholar.
Fish is a common dish at festivals, especially Chinese New Year, when the fish is served with its head and tail intact, indicating a wish for prosperity from the beginning of the year to the end.
Fish swimming in water are thought to be joyful and so represent a happy marriage, as well as sexual intercourse.
Carp sometimes swim upriver, against the current, and are, therefore, emblems of perseverance associated with those commoners who struggle to pass civil-service examinations in order to enter a different social arena. See ‘<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish-turning-into-dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fish turning into dragon</a>’ (鱼化龙)
Related Pun Rebuses:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-remain-pure-clean-and-incorruptible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you remain pure, clean, and incorruptible</a> 清白廉洁
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-couple-live-a-harmonious-life-and-enjoy-prestige/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you couple live a harmonious life and enjoy prestige</a> 并蒂双贵

Fish

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Ordinary <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fish</a> in the pond was hoped by ancient Chinese people to turn into a vigorous and powerful <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dragon</a> flying in the sky. It can be traced back to as early as Song dynasty in Chinese literature for children or young people who studied hard and had high expectations from their elder generations. In old days, passing examinations with flying marks is one of the very few ways to achieve high official positions thus receive high income.
Related Motif: 
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/goldfish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Goldfish </a>
Related Pun Picture:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-remain-pure-clean-and-incorruptible/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you remain pure, clean, and incorruptible 清白廉洁</a>
Related blog:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/the-great-value-of-deciphering-pictorial-scenes-on-traditional-chinese-artworks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Importance of Deciphering Pictorial Scenes on Chinese Antiques</a>

Fish turning into dragon

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The flower of the annual herbaceous species Papaver rhoeas has many different names in the West, such as common poppy, corn poppy, corn rose, field poppy, Flanders poppy, and red poppy. One of its names in China is yumeiren (虞美人), literally meaning ‘Yu the Beauty’. It was named after Yu Ji (虞姬), Consort Yu of Xiang Yu (项羽, 232 BCE – 202 BCE), the ‘Hegemon-King of Western Chu (西楚霸王)’, during the Chu–Han Contention period (206 BCE – 202 BCE) of China. According to folklore, Yu Ji committed suicide in order to prevent her husband from being distracted by his love for her after the couple were trapped by Liu Bang’s (刘邦, 256 BCE – 195 BCE) army in the Battle of Gaixia (垓下). She danced her last dance passionately with Xiang Yu’s sword and killed herself with it. Red poppies grew where her blood splashed. Later, various cultivars of the species, regardless of their colours, were referred to as ‘Yu the Beauty’. Papaver rhoeas has a cousin called Papaver somniferum, i.e., the opium poppy, which also come in variations but usually have larger fruits.
article written by Dr <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a>
Blog articles discussing the symbolic meanings of flowers:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/culture-and-customs/cultural-differences-in-the-symbolic-meaning-of-lily/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cultural differences in the symbolic meaning of lily</a>
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/heavenly-immortals-and-fairies-are-celebrating-your-birthday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heavenly immortals and fairies are celebrating your birthday</a>
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/who-is-the-scholar-riding-a-donkey-looking-for-plum-blossom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Who is the scholar riding a donkey looking for plum blossom?</a>

Papaver Rhoeas

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The zhi pheasant 雉, also called Huachong 华虫 in ancient China, is one of the most popular birds depicted in traditional Chinese art. Due to its characteristic multicoloured long-tail, the pheasant is associated with the wide-ranging literary talents of the emperor. It is also used in pun rebus pictures, as ‘zhi’ pheasant in the bird’s full Chinese name ‘chang wei zhi 长尾雉’ (long tailed pheasant) puns on another Chinese word ‘zhi 治’ (meaning ‘to regulate’). Artworks containing this motif express the wish to the emperor to govern a country for a long time.
The pheasant is often presented in combination with shou shi (寿石, rocks symbolising for longevity), the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/peony/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">peony </a>or the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/quail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quail </a>to serve their symbolic or pun rebus purposes.
Due to its unique look, the pheasant is to be differentiated from the ordinary <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rooster</a>, the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/phoenix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">phoenix</a>, and the <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/crane/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crane</a>.
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Related Pun Rebus Picture:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-the-country-enjoy-peace-and-good-order-permanently/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May the country enjoy peace and good order permanently</a> 长治久安
Related Symbolic Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/what-does-a-daily-life-scene-of-cooking-have-to-do-with-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What does a daily life scene of cooking have to do with politics?</a>

Pheasant

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In the current form of the character 竹 zhu, the image of two bamboo stems side by side is still clear. Other ancient forms of the character show the pair gently bending toward one another, illustrating the flexibility of this highly esteemed plant. ‘Young bamboo bends easily’ is one of the many common sayings that refer to bamboo, and no other plant features so often in Chinese folklore, song and art.
Bamboo’s popularity derives primarily from its usefulness, and this fast-growing plant &#8211; although in fact it is technically a grass &#8211; is still put to a vast range of uses in China. It is useful almost as soon as it starts growing &#8211; young shoots are eaten as a delicacy, while thick, mature stems are used as scaffolding, which may seem precarious to the Western eye but in fact is strong and supple. It was once the main raw material for writing &#8211; paper being made from bamboo strips, and bamboo stems of varying widths being made, as they still are, into brush handles and pots. So revered was this plant that porcelain brush pots were often made in imitation of their bamboo counterparts.
Bamboo represents youth and suppleness, but also old age, because it is long-lived and evergreen &#8211; it is one of the Three Friends of Winter, together with the pine and <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/prunus-plum-blossom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plum</a>. The word for bamboo, zhu 竹 is a homophone for ‘wish 祝’ and the plant is therefore also depicted in art to reinforce wishes for a range of blessings.
Bamboo’s noble characteristics derive from its ability to bend with the wind while remaining firmly rooted. It therefore represents humility and endurance (sometimes depicted by bamboo with a rock), while the hollow centre symbolises an open heart that is able to learn. These are historically the virtues of the literatus, the gentleman scholar-official, who is often pressured to bow to the wishes of his masters and is subject to the whims of the political climate.
Reference: 
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/about-us/dr-yibin-ni/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Yibin Ni</a> (2009), 一百个漢字 <a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/news/book/book-review-symbols-art-and-language-from-the-land-of-the-dragon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Symbols, art, and language from the land of the dragon</a>: The cultural history of 100 Chinese characters, Duncan Baird Publishers Ltd, London
Related Pun Rebus:
<a data-internal-link="true" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/sending-you-a-safe-and-sound-message/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sending you a safe-and-sound message 竹报平安</a>

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