Chinese Decorative Elements
Symbols of happiness, wealth, and
long life
Daoist symbols
• Xiwangmu--mother of the West; has magic peaches (party
with 8 Immortals)
• Three Star Gods--happiness, wealth and long life
• Fuxing-God of Blessings and Happiness especially wishes
regarding marriage and the birth of sons; holds a scroll;
often accompanied by children
• Luxing- God of a good salary and rank; carries Jade badge
of office (dresses in court official cloth)
• Shouxing-God of Longevity and immortal; carries the
peach of immortality which came from Xiwangmu and a
staff with scroll attached
•
Celestial Worthy of Numerous Treasure
The Immortals
Daoism
• Eight Immortals (flower basket, flute of the
youthful, castanets, fan, bamboo, fish drum with
metal beaters, the lotus, the sword, and the fly
whisk, and a double gourd with iron crutch
• One hundred boys--were the 99 natural sons and
one adopted son of the wise and benevolent King
Wen of Zhou (for wedding gift)
Numbers
• 5 is important; five directions, five
elements, five blessings (long life, riches,
health, love of virtue and a natural death
• 8 is an auspicious number; it is an even or
feminie yin number, which in the balance of
things rules a man’s cycles of growth and
completion; many groups of 8: 8 trigrams, 8
precious things, and the 8 Buddhist symbols
Landscape painting
• Landscape paintings may not only represent
particular places at particular moments but
also symbolically combine mountains and
water, or yang and yin, symbolized the
primary forces that create the universe
• Chinese gardens are decorated carefully
with rocks and water together with trees and
flowers
Dragon
Dragon with five claws symbolized the Emperor;
yellow is the color associates with him
Phoenix symbolized the Empress; red is the color
associates with her
Qilin symbolized high ranking officials; symbol of
the bringer of babies
Peonies can be used only by the royalty
Flowers
• Flowers symbolized the four seasons
• Lotus symbolizes purity (growing out of mud)
• Lotus and cintamani or lotus and scepter meaning
“May your wishes come true”
• Peonies-wealth and rank
• Magnolia (yulan) is a pun for jade (wealth and
rank)
Fruit
• Gourd-the emblem of the New Year
• Three Plenties (sanduo)-peach, pomegranate and a
Buddha’s hand citron
• Pomegranate--symbol of fertility (has many seeds)
• Peach--symbol of longevity
• Citron shaped like a Buddha’s hand with long
curving fingers, has the name foshou which makes
it a rebus for blessing and longevity
Animals
• In Tang period (618-916), pairs of birds, fish, and plants
used to symbolize harmony and devotion in marriage; the
forms are full and rounded and the decorative element are
elegant
• In Song Dynasty (960-1280), crane and deer symbolized
longevity
• Ming Dynasty (1368-16440, plant and animals are popular
symbols; pomegranate, tiger and Five Poisonous Animals
(snake, scorpion, centipede, spider and toad); Symbolism
using a play on words was first systematically employed
• Riddles are used as part of the elaboration of annual
holidays
Animals
• Bats and coin--”Blessing in front of your eyes,” “Blessings
right here and now”
• Bat in Chinese is fu which pronouced the same as a
character for happiness or blessing; coin is qian which
means “in front of you”
• Bat and deer (immortality; found immortal fungus)
• Bat and peaches--symbols of long life and happiness
(commonly 8 peaches-8 immortals and 5 bats for five
Happiness)
• Red bats are especially auspicious, not because the color
red wards off demons but also because hong is a rebus for
enormous.
Animals
• Butterfly and melon (wish for many sons)-”continuous like
a vine or “everlasting”
• Toad--symbol of wealth
• Cat (mao) is a rebus for 70-80 years old
• Butterfly (die) means aged 80
• Tiger-fights Five Poisonous animals
• Horse (ma or shang) means “on top of” or up
• Monkey (hou) is a word for high marquis
• Horse and monkey together means “May you be elevated
to the rank of marquis immediately”
Qiao Mansion
Trees
• Evergreen symbolizes constancy and
longevity
• Bamboo symbolizes gentle man because it
always stands straight; it is also part of the
“Three Friends of Winter,” bamboo, pine
and plum
• Persimmon symbolizes fertility
Animals
• Elephant-rebus for strength and wisdom, and also
associates with the Buddha; washing an elephant
means happiness and good luck; riding an
elephant meant good fortune and luck