30 CHINESE METAPHORICAL ZOOLOGY 



story of Chii Yin ( l£ HI) of the Chin Dynasty, who studied at 

 night by the light of a bag full of fire-flies, as he could not 

 afford a lamp, and Sun K'ang (^ H), who worked by light 

 reflected from snow. They both naturally rose to be em- 

 minent officials, and provided a stimulating example for 

 subsequent generations ! A great scholar is compared to 

 a rising dragon and a soaring phoenix (H $£ IS JE), and a 

 literary hack will humbly designate himself as one who 

 spends his time engraving worms with little skill ( fill & 'b ■££), 

 though the actual fact may be that his yen moves like the 

 dragon and the snake (If ^ fl SfB), and his literary efforts 

 are exceedingly brilliant. A literary style full of delicate 

 allusions and recondite obscurities is compared to a dragon-fly 

 sipping water ($f $j£ l&k tK ), while a book-worm or pedantic 

 scholar may be said to love learning as a duck loves duck-tveed 

 (•jfe M ^ db). The student who is successful in passing a 

 literary examination is referred to as the fish which has leapt 

 the Dragon Gate ($t ^ II R) — an allusion to the belief that 

 the carp of the Yellow Eiver make an ascent of the stream 

 in the third moon of each year, and that those which succeed 

 in passing the rapids of Lung -men (ft f*J) in Honan, become 

 changed into dragons. 



As might be expected, ferocious creatures such as the 

 tiger, leopard, bear, etc., are generally emblematic of great 

 courage. One who is credited with a leopard's head and 

 tiger's eyes (it/ M Ik HH), a tiger's back and bear's loins 

 ( 8t W M ® ), or the gall of a soaring eagle (R H 2. M) 

 is valiant beyond compare, while he v/ho' moves like a dragon 

 and paces like a tiger ( SI ff J^ # ) has a brave and martial 

 bearing. 



The poor and needy are decidedly in the majority in 

 China. In a lecture on "Chinese Customs," delivered at the 

 request of the Senate of University College, Liverpool, 

 Mr. E. H. Parker stated that "90 per cent, of the Chinese 

 families live on annual gross incomes of less than £10 in 

 cash and in produce combined. Most of the peasants, living 

 as they do upon the produce of their own labour, probably 

 turn over less than £2 a year in actual cash ! It is no 

 exaggeration to compare a poor man to a fish out of water 

 (#n $t & 7jc), and, while he may be so fortunate as to be 

 suddenly enriched by an unexpected windfall, such as, figura- 

 tively speaking, a fat pig wriggling in at the door (BE ffi M PI), 

 there is no doubt that, most men being greedy, like a snake 

 swallowing an elephant (fit) 8& # 1ft), he would regard the 

 succulent porker as his rightful squeeze, especially in view 

 of its being as helpless as a sheep fallen into a tiger's mouth 



(^ mm p). 



