Chats on Oriental China

by J. F. Blacker

Fig. 1.—THE FIVE CLAWS.

Fig. 2.—HO-HO BIRD.

The designs and symbolical marks copied from China have the same meaning to the Japanese.

The dragon is often found as a design, in various colours and in gold. The place of dragons in Buddhism explains their frequent appearance—indeed, they are "the masters of the world." If they are offended they punish men with plague, pestilence, and famine. Hence they must be propitiated.

Fig. 3.—DOG OF FÔ.

Fig. 4.—THE KYLIN.

Fig. 1 shows the five claws of the best kind of dragon-decorated Oriental, said to be made for Imperial use.

Fig. 2 is the Fong-Hoang, sometimes called the Ho-Ho bird. This was the symbol of the sovereigns of China before the five-clawed dragon. Drawings of this bird vary very much; when represented in the air the feet are thrown back.

Fig. 3 is the dog of Fô, or Buddha, often called the Korean lion, still more often, and wrongly, the kylin. The one is the lion transformed, and