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The phrase ‘gua die mian mian 瓜瓞绵绵’ is a variation of a line from a poem in the Classic of Poetry, Shijing 诗经, compiled in China during the period between the 11th to 7th centuries BCE, 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 ‘dié 瓞’ to their young ones. Derived from the classic text, pictorial depictions of melons with spreading vines became a popular subject to wish the family prosperity of the patron. Later, in order to liven the composition, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/butterfly/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">butterflies </a>were added because the character ‘dié 蝶’ for ‘butterfly’ or possibly ‘moth’ makes a pun on ‘dié 瓞’ for ‘small melons’ in the original phrase.
Related motif on the same topic:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/grape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grape</a>
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Note: this pun picture is to be differentiated from a pictorial allusion <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 </a>in <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pictorial_category/motifs-symbols/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Motifs &amp; Symbols</a> section.

May the male line in your family clan continue and flourish (pun picture)

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‘Guan 冠’ in the Chinese name ‘ji guan hua 鸡冠花’ for ‘cockscomb’ is a pun on ‘guan 官’, which means ‘high-ranking official’. The crest on the head of a rooster is also called ‘guan 冠’ in Chinese. Thus, the appearance of both the cockscomb and rooster in a picture represents the auspicious saying ‘guan shang jia guan 官上加官’, which is literally &#8220;an official plus an official&#8221; and is used to wish an official to get promotion after promotion.
As a variation, the popular auspicious good wish in the bureaucratic world can be expressed with a substitution of a grasshopper (guo guo’er 蝈蝈儿 in Beijing dialect) for the cockscomb plant. In Beijing dialect, the name of the grasshopper sounds similar to the word for ‘high official (guan’er 官儿)’. A further variation of the visual pun replaces the rooster with a jar. The jar, which is guan’er 罐儿 in Beijing dialect, puns on the word for ‘high official (guan’er 官儿)’.
This saying can be abbreviated as <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-get-promoted/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘jia guan 加官’</a>.
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-do-well-in-civil-service-examinations-and-go-on-to-enjoy-riches-and-prestige/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you do well in exams and enjoy wealth and prestige 功名富贵</a>
<a style="color: #0000ff;" 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>
Related motif:
<a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rooster 公鸡</a>

May you have repeated promotions

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The saying ‘jia guan 加官’ is an abbreviated form of the saying ‘<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-repeated-promotions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guan shang jia guan 官上加官</a>’:
‘Guan 冠’ in the Chinese name ‘ji guan hua 鸡冠花’ for ‘cockscomb’ is a pun on ‘guan 官’, which means ‘high-ranking official’. The crest on the head of a <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rooster </a>is also called ‘guan 冠’ in Chinese. Thus, the appearance of both the cockscomb and rooster in a picture represents the auspicious saying ‘guan shang jia guan 官上加官’, which is literally ‘an official plus an official’ and is used to wish an official to get promotion after promotion.
Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-your-chance-of-promotion-be-just-round-the-corner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May your chance of promotion be just round the corner</a> 指日高升
<a 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
<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

May you get promoted

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Pun Design ：
Official Hat + Wine Vessel
Punning Details：
The combination of ‘jia 加 putting on’ and ‘guan 冠 hat’ &#8211; ‘jia guan 加冠’ is a pun on ‘jia guan 加官’, meaning ‘receiving an official title’.
The action of presenting the wine vessel is called ‘jin 进’ in Chinese, which puns on ‘jin 晋’ meaning ‘promoting’. ‘Jue 爵 bronze wine vessel’ puns on ‘jue 爵’ (the same character) for ‘high official rank’. Hence, ‘jin jue 进爵 presenting the jue cup’ puns on ‘jin jue 晋爵’ for ‘getting promotion to higher rank’.
In some compositions, a child wearing a seemingly unfit official cap, which is a ‘guan 冠’, is offering a dignitary a jue cup. Since both ‘guan 冠 cap’ puns on ‘guan 官 official title’ and ‘jue 爵 bronze wine cup’ puns on ‘jue 爵 high official rank’, the image communicates the message of ‘jia guan jin jue 加官晋爵’.
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Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-get-promoted/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you get promoted</a> 加官
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-your-chance-of-promotion-be-just-round-the-corner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May your chance of promotion be just round the corner</a> 指日高升

May promotion be yours; May you advance in official rank

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The accumulation of family wealth in traditional China was lauded as jin yu man tang 金玉满堂 &#8211; a household is piled high with gold and jade. This saying was visually expressed with a design of <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/goldfish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goldfish </a>in a pond; jin yu 金鱼 (goldfish) makes a pun on jin 金 (gold) and yu 玉 (jade), while the state of a pond (tang 塘) being filled with <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fish </a>(man tang 满塘) sounds the same as mang tang 满堂 ‘a hall being filled with something.’
Other auspicious wishes:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-the-whole-universe-prosper-in-eternal-spring/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May the whole universe prosper in eternal spring 六合同春</a>
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-do-well-in-exams-and-enjoy-wealth-and-prestige/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you do well in exams and enjoy wealth and prestige 功名富贵</a>

May your household be piled high with gold and jade

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Pun Design: nine + <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/quail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quail</a>
Punning Details：
The Chinese word ‘jiu 九’ for ‘nine’ puns on the word ‘jiu 久’ for ‘lasting’. The word ‘an 鹌’ in ‘an chun 鹌鹑’ for ‘quail’ makes a pun on ‘an 安’ for ‘peace’. Thus, the image of nine quails can be used to cue the auspicious message of ‘May peace bless you forever’.
Related Pun 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
<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

May peace bless you forever

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Pun Design: <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/quail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Quail </a>+ Long-tailed <a style="color: #3366ff;" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/pheasant/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pheasant</a>
Punning Details: 
The word ‘an 鹌’ in ‘an chun 鹌鹑’ for ‘quail’ makes a pun on ‘an 安’ for ‘peace’. The combination of the first and third words in ‘chang wei zhi 长尾雉’ for ‘long-tailed pheasant’ is ‘chang zhi’ and it puns on the phrase ‘chang zhi’ for ‘long-term good order (in a country)’. Thus, these natural motifs form a pun rebus to convey the intended auspicious message.
Some images will depict nine quails to make a pun on the number ‘nine (jiu 九)’ for ‘jiu 久’ meaning ‘for a long time’.
Also named as ‘<a style="color: #3366ff;" href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-the-country-enjoy-peace-and-good-order-permanently/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chang Zhi Jiu An 长治久安</a>’.
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画面要素: 鹌鹑 + 长尾雉
谐音详情: ‘鹌鹑’中‘鹌’与‘安’谐音; ‘长尾雉’中首尾二字与‘长治’谐音, 寓意祝长期国泰民安

May the country be in peace and order forever

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This <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pictorial_category/pun-pictures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pun rebus picture</a> consists of four essential pictorial elements: bird, <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/deer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deer</a>, bee, and <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-have-an-imminent-promotion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monkey</a>. The word ‘que 雀’ for ‘small bird’ in Chinese puns on the word ‘jue 爵’ for ‘high official rank’ or ‘peerage’. The word ‘lu 鹿’ for ‘deer’ shares the same sound with ‘lu 禄’ for ‘emolument’ or ‘salary’. The word ‘feng 蜂’ for ‘bee’, is a pun on ‘feng 封’ for the verb ‘to be granted’ and the word ‘hou 猴’ for ‘monkey’ is a pun on ‘hou 侯’ for ‘marquis’, which represents high ranks in the government in general. Thus, the juxtaposition of the four elements is used to convey the auspicious message of ‘May you be created a peer and earn a handsome official income’.
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/blogs/commonly-misunderstood-images/a-bear-or-a-monkey-understanding-the-meaning-of-pictorial-art-in-the-light-of-chinese-pun-rebus-culture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Curios bearing such motifs</a> have been used as treasured gifts passing among friends and colleagues to lubricate the social machinery.
Related Pun Pictures:
<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/pun-pictures/may-you-get-promoted/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">May you get promoted 加官</a>
<a 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 马上封侯 </a>

May you be created a peer and earn a handsome official income

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Pun Design:
Persimmon + Chicken/ rooster/ cockerel
Punning Details:
&#8211; ‘shi 柿’ in ‘shi zi 柿子 persimmon’ is a pun on ‘shi 市 business’
&#8211; ‘大鸡 da ji’ for ‘large <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/rooster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cockerel</a>’ makes a pun on ‘大吉 da ji’ for ‘tremendous good luck’
This image can be expressed as a good wish for someone who has just started a new business venture.

May you have tremendous luck in your new venture

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<a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/fish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fish </a>(鱼 yu) puns with the word yu 余 meaning ‘abundance’, therefore it symbolises wealth and prosperity. <a href="https://tutuhaoyi.com/motifs-symbols/lotus-lian-hua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lotus </a>(莲 lian) puns with the word lian 连 meaning ‘to continue’ or ‘to connect’, and it is associated with the Chinese phrase lian nian 连年 meaning ‘year in, year out’. Hence, a fish and a lotus together signify ‘wealth for all the future’ by a double wordplay.
Relater Pun Pictures:
<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 玉堂富贵</a>
<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 平安多利</a>