Are you afraid of small insects such as spiders? Why do we see this tidy dangling creature a popular motif used in traditional Chinese art? There is a secret here…

Pun design:

Spider + descending from the sky

Punning mechanism:

‘Zhi zhu (蜘蛛, spider)’ has a nickname ‘xi zi (蟢子)’ or ‘xi zhu (喜蛛)’ meaning the ‘lucky one’ or ‘lucky spider’.

Its first character ‘xi 喜(蟢)’ for ‘happiness (good luck)’ is then combined with the ...