Wandering Through China

We humans communicate through signs—the written and spoken word, gestures and images, etc.—that relay information that helps us navigate through life. The use of symbols in art, myth, religion, and ritual reflects an inner psychological and spiritual world that moves beyond the rational mind. 

I’ve traveled in China to the places of origin of some of the meditation and martial arts practices that I have learned over the years. Each has its own symbolic treasures that reflect that practice and culture and some of our shared human experience. Here are a few places and their associated symbols I encountered there.

Red ribbons tied to trees, rails, fences, and other objects can symbolize good fortune, but they are most commonly offered as prayers for the health and safety of family and loved ones. A photo from an arduous climb up Hua Shan (Flower Mountain) shows a common display of such offerings. Ribbons are purchased in the village at the base of the mountain, and for a few yuan more, a small padlock may be added, symbolically ensuring one’s prayer will endure. 

The martial art Liu Ho Pa Fa Ch’uan, which I learned from Grandmaster Wai-lun Choi, originated on Mount Hua. 

The 12 Animals 

The ancients were captivated by the motions of the stars and planets as well as by the cycles and seasons on earth and their relation to each other. Each of the 12 animals represents a single year in a 12-year cycle, with each animal symbolizing idealized attributes of our human potential combined with a symbolic element of the earth. 

The photo, taken at White Cloud Daoist Temple in Beijing, shows a carving of each animal and a single image of the snake, smiling in its ability to transform and change by shedding its skin. This is the year of the wood element, representing springtime, new growth, and rebirth—a particularly potent combination when paired with the snake in this cycle.

Seal Script 

This was one of the earliest forms of writing in China and was common around 500 bc. The characters were symbolic ideograms that evolved into modern Chinese characters. 

The photo of a long wall at Hangu Pass in Henan Province, China, leads to the place where Lao Tsu wrote the classic philosophical work the Tao Te Ching. The entire Tao Te Ching is carved into the wall in ancient Seal Script. 

Fruit and Flowers 

Fruit is abundant at street markets and always present on altars, as shown here, in the Eight Immortals Temple in Xian. Most commonly seen are apples, thought to bring peace and harmony, and peaches, symbols of longevity and immortality. Flowers represent beauty, creation, and the manifestation of energy moving outward from the center. 

Cranes

Cranes are symbols of wisdom, longevity, immortality, and the Dao. The yin and yang cranes carved into a wall at Golden Heaven Temple (on the top of the South Peak on Mount Hua) represent opposites that cannot be separated in the continual flow of movement and energy

New year’s celebrations are rife with symbols for renewal and hope for the year ahead. Cultivating a practice creates consistency; consistency is about being adaptable; being adaptable allows one to change; by being able to change, you become aligned with the always-changing world. When the date changes, you’ve already changed with it.