The appearances of comets, and eclipses of the sun and moon, are believed to have a malign influence over the affairs of men.“In an astrological sense Mars symbolises fire, and rules the summer season. It is the author of punishments, and is the producer of sudden confusion. Saturn represents earth, and, when it meets Jupiter in the same ‘house,’ it portends good fortune to the empire. If, however, Saturn, with the four other planets, should appear white and round, mourning and drought are in store for the country; if red, disturbances are to be expected, and troops will take the field; if green, floods are to be looked for; if black, sickness and death will spread over the land; and if yellow, a time for prosperity is at hand. Venus represents gold, and is deemed a complacent planet, but, while in many of its phases it foretells peace and plenty, it at other times presages the movements of troops, and the disruption of the empire. If it at first looms large, and afterwards small, the national forces will be weak, and if contrarywise, they will be strong. If it appears large and extended, trouble will fall upon princes and nobles, and military expeditions, then undertaken, will begin fortunately and end with disaster; but, if it should appear compact and small, campaigns which begin in misfortune will end successfully. Mercury symbolises water, and, when seemingly of a white colour, it forecasts drought; when yellow, the crops will be scorched up; when red, soldiers will arise; and when black, floods are at hand. If it appears large and white in the East, troops beyond the frontier will disperse; if red, the Middle Kingdom will be victorious; in certain conjunctions with Venus, it portends great battles in which strangers will be victorious; and if it approaches Venus, several tens of thousands of men will meet in strife, and the men and ministers of the ruler will die.”14 (Vide also ASTRONOMY, FENG SHUI, MOON, STARS, SUN).
Astronomy
(天文)
Astronomy has from time immemorial been a favourite study with the Chinese, and the literature on the subject is extensive. Their knowledge of this science is considerable though not profound.“It has enabled them to calculate eclipses and to recognise the precession of the equinoxes, but it has left them with confused notions on subjects which are matters of common knowledge among western peoples. The earth, according to their notions, is flat, immovable, and square, measuring about 1,500 miles each way. The sun, the diameter of which is 333 miles, stands at a distance of 4,000 miles above it, but considerably below the sideral heaven, the distance of which from the earth has been found, by ‘the method of right-angled triangles, to be 81,394 li (3 li = 1 mile), 30 paces, 5 feet, 3 inches, and six-tenths of an inch! The months and seasons are determined by the revolution of Ursa Major. The tail of the constellation pointing to the east at nightfall announces the arrival of spring, pointing to the south the arrival of summer, pointing to the west the arrival of autumn, and pointing to the north the arrival of winter.”15
The Imperial Board of Astronomy (欽天監), was founded in the 13th century and joined to the Ministry of Public Instruction in 1913. Its chief function was the preparation, printing, and distribution of the calendar, which was a government monopoly. The Jesuit missionaries have done much in the development of the science of astronomy and regulation of the lunar calendar in China. The old Peking Observatory (觀星台) contains a number of bronze astronomical instruments, many of which date from the 13th century; some of these were removed by the Germans after the Boxer outbreak of 1900, and returned in 1921. (Vide also ASTROLOGY, MOON, SUN).
Axe
(斧)
Sanskrit, Parasu. The character fû (斧), axe, is said to be analogous to fû (甫), to begin, because to make any wooden article it is necessary to begin by cutting down a tree. In fashioning an axe-handle it is necessary to have another as a model; in contracting a marriage it is necessary to have a go-between; hence the axe has become symbolic of the marriage go-between.
It is one of the weapons or insignia pertaining to some of the Buddhist deities, and it is also the emblem of Lü Bān (魯班), a famous mechanic, who lived in the State of Lü about 500 B.C., and is now worshipped as the God of Carpenters.
Azalea
(杜嶋花)
“The Chinese botanists having observed that several Ericaceous and Solanaceous plants, having stamens whose anthers open by pores at the apex, are strongly narcotic, have lumped together species of Azalea, Andromeda, Rhododendron and Hyoscyamus under this heading.”16 The principal varieties are the nàoyánghuā (鬧羊花), or yángzhízhú, (羊歸獨), lit.: “goat-stupefying flower,” a species of Hyoscyamus; the Azalea procumbens or “tiger flower” (老虎花), and the Azalea pontica (
In the north-eastern provinces the hills are adorned with azaleas of gorgeous hue, especially in the neighbourhood of Ningpo and Wenchow. It is difficult to convey any idea of the charming aspect of these azalea-clad mountains, where on every side the eye rests on masses of flowers of dazzling brightness and surpassing beauty.
Prophylactic properties are attributed to the dried flowers of these handsome but poisonous plants, which are prescribed in rheumatism, paralysis, bronchitis, toothache, abscess, etc., on the Chinese principle that one poison must be counteracted by another.
The azalea is a great favourite, and provides a brilliant motif in painting and artistic decoration. It is an emblem of the fair sex.
Bamboo
(竹)
The bamboo, Bambusa arundinacea, commonly known as “the friend of China,” grows throughout the greater part of the country. By long cultivation and care, it has become sufficiently hardy to grow as far north as Peking. There are about ten species, but many variations of each. Some specimens attain a diameter of two or three feet and a height of some thirty or forty feet. The Spotted Bamboo (斑竹), is said to be marked with the tears of the two consorts of the Emperor Shùn as they wept over his tomb in the land of Cang Wu. The Spiny Bamboo (棘竹), attains a large size. The Coir Bamboo (掠竹), is solid-stemmed and used in the manufacture of fans. The Zhúpû (竹譜), or Bamboo Treatise, published in the 3rd or 4th century, gives a detailed account of the bamboo, and its uses in ancient times. The young shoots (竹荀) serve as food, the pulp in the manufacture of paper, the stems for pipes, buckets, masts, furniture, etc., the leaves for rain-coats, thatch, packing, etc., and decoctions of the seeds, leaves, sap, and roots are employed for medicinal purposes. In ancient times bamboo tablets were used instead of books.
The Chinese are exceedingly fond of borrowing figures and illustrations from the bamboo, and the character zhú, by which the tree is represented, enters into the composition of many characters expressing some action or object connected with the use of the bamboo. The foliage is often conventionally treated in Chinese designs. The bamboo is an emblem of longevity owing probably to its durability, and to the fact that it is evergreen and flourishes throughout the winter.
One of the twenty-four classical examples of filial piety, had a sick mother, who longed for soup made from bamboo shoots in winter, and he wept so copiously on her account in a bamboo plantation that his tears, like the warm rains of Spring, softened the hard wintry ground and caused the tender shoots to burst forth, in reward for his pious affection.
Bat
(幅編)
The biānfú