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Ancient love tokens

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2017-08-28 16:36The World of Chinese Editor: Yao Lan ECNS App Download

People in love always give gifts to each other. Flowers, chocolate jewelry… these things, however, are fairly cliche.

More creative kids have tried using 99 iphones or a bouquet made of meat as presents, with predictably terrible results. Instead, they could have taken tips from some ancient suitors who defied the strict controls placed on social life to deliver presents to the object of their affection.

Most of the gifts seemed humble, even boring, but contained within them were symbolic meanings of their love (and let's face it, "smuggling" and "ostentatious" are two things that are pretty challenging to mix.

Fruit

Ok, so these, admittedly, were for cheapskates, but a tasty piece of fruit is still quite nice. They were endowed with extra meaning thanks to the Shijing, or the Book of Songs, the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry. A famous piece in the Shijing titled Gift states that a romance began after a girl gave fruit to a young man and the man gave her jade and jewels in return. Shijing was traditionally said to have been compiled by Confucius, and all the scholars studied and memorized this book, because Confucius even said "If you do not study the Book of Songs, you will not be eloquent (不学诗,无以言)." Because of the popularity of Shijing, sending fruits as a symbol of love became a custom. Here is the poem:

 

A quince thou givest to me;

I have a gem for thee.

Not as requital I give,

But a token of eternal love.

 

A quince thou givest to me;

I have a jade for thee.

Not as requital I give,

But a token of eternal love.

A plum thou givest to me;

I have a jewel for thee.

Not as requital I give,

But a token of eternal love.

投我以木瓜,报之以琼琚.匪报也,永以为好也!

投我以木桃,报之以琼瑶.匪报也,永以为好也!

投我以木李,报之以琼玖.匪报也,永以为好也!

Jade pendant

Now you're talking! Jade was also mentioned in the poem above. This stone was endowed with many special meanings: Because a high-quality jade has a hard texture, smooth surface and clear color, it was usually connected with the character of junzi, referring to men of perfect virtue. As a saying goes, "A modest humble junzi is as gentle as jade (谦谦君子,温润如玉)". Adult men usually wore a jade pendant with them. It was said that "a junzi never takes off his jade for no reason ( 君子无故,玉不去身)". No man would give their jade to others casually, unless they had a faith that this woman was his true love. Women of course needed to pay back this gift. They usually made beautiful lanyards with silk threads for their lovers, to tie their jade pendants to their waistband.

Sachet

  

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