Chinese Symbols & Their Meanings

Chinese symbolism is one of the world's richest and most distinctive, shaped by thousands of years of continuous civilisation and by three great currents of thought — Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism — that together formed the Chinese worldview. Its symbols are everywhere in Chinese life: the dragon and phoenix at weddings, the colour red at every celebration, the knots and characters pasted up at New Year, the yin-yang of cosmic balance, the lucky number eight, the bat that means good fortune. What makes Chinese symbolism especially fascinating is the central role of language: because Chinese is full of homophones, countless symbols mean what they mean because their names sound like other auspicious words. This primer sets the major Chinese symbols in the context of the beliefs and the linguistic wordplay that give them meaning, so they read as a coherent system rather than a collection of motifs.

Overview

Chinese symbolism draws on three intertwined philosophical and religious traditions, often called the 'three teachings.' Confucianism contributed an emphasis on harmony, social order, virtue, family, and the moral character of the cultivated person — values reflected in symbols of integrity (the lotus growing unstained from mud), longevity, and scholarly attainment. Daoism contributed the vision of the Dao, the natural Way underlying all things, and the dynamic balance of complementary forces — yin and yang — along with a love of nature, immortality, and the flow of cosmic energy (qi); the yin-yang symbol (taijitu) is its most famous emblem. Buddhism, arriving from India, brought the lotus, the concepts of karma and rebirth, and figures like Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion. These three blended rather than competed, and Chinese symbols often carry meanings from more than one.

Overlaying all of this is a uniquely Chinese mechanism: symbolism through homophones. The Chinese language is rich in words that sound alike, and this produced an enormous body of visual puns in which an object symbolises something else because their names sound the same. A bat (fú) symbolises good fortune (fú); a fish (yú) symbolises abundance and surplus (yú); the number eight (bā) means wealth (fā). This rebus principle means Chinese art is full of objects chosen for what they sound like as much as what they are, and decoding it requires knowing the language. Together with the philosophical traditions and the deep concern with luck, prosperity, longevity, and harmony that runs through Chinese culture, this gives Chinese symbolism its characteristic flavour: auspicious, balanced, family-centred, and full of clever wordplay.