Chinese culture
By Canellita
@Canellita (12029)
United States
March 24, 2009 5:48pm CST
I saw this paragraph in a product description in the online catalog from Uncommon Goods and sometimes companies have their facts straight and sometimes they don't so I wanted to ask the myLot Chinese community if the following is true:
In Chinese, the word fish and the word abundance are both pronounced as "yu." In China, fish of all kinds represent prosperity because of this association, but goldfish are especially symbolic because "jinyu" translates to "gold in abundance."
1 response
@beryljiayou (27)
• China
25 Mar 09
Hey, Canellita! I'm a Chineses and I think I can give you a explanation. In mandarin,'abundance' means 'have more than needed' and is pronounced 'fu yu'(forth tone and second tone). 'fish' is also pronounced 'yu'(second tone). In this case, they both have the sound 'yu' which makes them have a kind of relation.
'goldfish', as we know, is a kind of fish and is pronounced 'jin yu'(first tone and second tone) in putonghua. You put the meaning of 'gold' and 'fish' together, literally it means 'you have more gold than needed' and that means you're rich.
Actually, the above is just the superficial understanding. Reason that Chinese people put 'fish', 'goldfish' in connection with prosperity is the deeper meanings of fish in Chinese culture. In traditional Chinese culture and arts, 'fish' and 'water' are a symbol of prosperity and arts. Fuwa(Five Friendlies) Beibei transmits the wish of prosperity.
Hope you like it.
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