Taoist philosopher who has discovered the sacred fungus of immortality
318
Pû Xián mounted on a white elephant
323
The Taoist Queen of Heaven with her two attendants
325
Sceptre and head
330
Scrolls
332
Examples of Chinese seals
333
Seal of the first emperor of the Qín Dynasty
334
Dream of Buddha’s mother of his incarnation
339
The new-born Buddha washed by the nine dragons
339
Buddha, Mahayanistic type
339
Death of Buddha
339
Buddhist monks with rosaries
340
Pawnshop sign
343
The Emperor Shùn
344
The three star gods of happiness, affluence and longevity, with auspicious emblems
352
Mirror of the Táng period
354
Dôu Mû, the mother of the bushel, accompanied by two attendants, Yòu Bì and Zuô Fû
355
The meeting of the Cow-herd and the Spinning-maid on the borders of the Milky Way
356
The Poet Sü Dōngpō
361
Sauvastika with crampons to the left
364
Swastika, or svastika, with crampons to the right
364
Types of swords
366
The tàijí or Ultimate Principle of all things
364
Bodhidharma, the Blue-eyed Brahmin
368
The Three Pure Ones of the Taoist Trinity
372
The Pearly Emperor Yù Huáng seated in his court of justice
373
God of Thunder
375
Tiān Mû, the Goddess of Lightning
375
Léi Gōng, the God of Thunder, assisted by Tiān Mû, the Goddess of Lightning
376
The meeting of the dragon and the tiger, the two great forces of the universe
377
Liú Hâi, the Immortal, sporting with the three-legged toad
380
Twelve ornaments
386
Charm depicting the yïn and yáng, the Eight Diagrams, and the symbolic animals or Twelve Terrestrial Branches
388
Unicorn
391
Mâra the tempter, arch fiend of the Buddhists
394
The Lord of the Rain
396
The spirit of the Yellow River
397
The sacred wheel of Buddhism
399
The Lama Wheel of Life
401
A plate of willow ware
404
Five-fold (cinta) mani, or wish-granting gem
413
The evolution of Chinese writing from ancient to modern form
416
Inscribed bone fragments of great antiquity unearthed in Honan
418
Facsimile of inscription on ancient stone drums in a Confucian temple at Peking
418
The six scripts or categories of written symbols (ancient and modern style)
420
The six forms of writing
422
Xï Wáng Mû mounted on the crane
424
The souls of the dead arraigned before Yama, the God of Hell, and placed before the mirror, which shows the forms under which they will be reincarnated
427
Tortures of the Buddhist Hell
428, 430-1
Emperor Yáo
432
Flags of China, 1931 (in colours)
inside back cover
Introduction to the New Edition
The surge of American interest in Chinese culture following the visit of President Nixon to China in 1972 has highlighted the healthy trend of recent years to look at China in a realistic way. Since the thirteenth-century visit of Marco Polo to China, the country has been regarded by the West as an exotic Flowery Land—a Celestial Kingdom, remote and forbidding. Until the sixteenth century it was a land that did not come under strong foreign, then Western, influence. The Japanese occupation of Manchuria in the 1930s, followed by the emergence of Chinese communism after World War II, gave the world a sober picture of a vast country intent on asserting its own destiny. The explosion of a Chinese atomic bomb, followed by recognition as a nation in the United Nations Organization, obliged the United States to recognize the Chinese nation of 800,000,000 people.
For ordinary people in Western countries an easy way to comprehend Chinese culture and history is through books on traditional arts, literature, and folklore. American tourists may now visit China in organized groups, yet for most of us China and the Chinese will remain something only to read about or to watch on a television screen. For those interested in ancient Chinese culture, books must remain the principal reference source, supplemented by visits to museum collections.
Outlines of Chinese Symbolism & Art Motives, in the words of the author, C.A.S. Williams, is “a practical handbook of the science of Chinese symbolism as based on the early folklore.”
At the root of Chinese life, art, and literature are certain basic ideas that can and should be grasped by anyone studying China. To achieve a sound
out the universe
