Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/189

 to be commonly used as a synonym for "felicity." Occasionally five bats are found in combination. They symbolise the five blessings, namely, longevity, riches, peace, love of virtue, and a happy death.

19.—The eight trigrams, known as the Pa-kwa. "They consist of combinations of broken and entire lines, each differently placed. The entire lines represent the male, strong, or celestial element in nature, and the broken, the female, weak, or terrestrial. Each group has its own name, and even the dishes at a feast are arranged in accordance with these diagrams. They are said to have been first published by Fuh-hi, the legendary founder of the Chinese polity, who is stated to have lived 3852 to 2738, and to whom they were revealed by a dragon horse. By them the Chinese philosophers attempted to explain all the secrets of nature and of being. The diagram shows the oldest arrangement, in which they are supposed to be connected with the points of the compass, the north and south being, however, reversed, according to the Chinese system (i.e., the south represented by three entire lines, the north by three broken). "The circular figure in the centre is the mystical device, the Yang and Yin, the male and female elements of nature. This device is not infrequently employed as an ornament in China."

Among the figures depicted on porcelain none are so common as the Pa Sien, or Eight Immortals, legendary beings of the Taoist sect, said to have lived at various times and attained immortality. They are found sometimes in combination—especially where the decoration consists of red and blue sous couverte, the Pa Sien being then depicted in blue among a diaper of red waves—and sometimes they are shown as separate figures, of which there are two sets, one standing the other seated. In other cases they are represented riding upon various animals among the waves of the sea. Each figure has an emblem of its own, and occasionally the emblem, or symbol, occurs