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>I am currently reading "Nothing to be Frightened of", >and came across the reference to Sibelius and "the >lemon table" (page 24 in my paperback). Sibelius and >some friends meet at the Kamp Restaurant in Helsinki, >at the "lemon table" to talk about death, as is the >way of morbid Scandinavians. "The lemon", Barnes >writes, "being the Chinese symbol of death". > >The thing that caught my eye was the idea that the >Chinese would have a symbol for death. Unlike Western >art which contains both negative and positive >iconography, Chinese art is entirely positive. Its >imagery is an unending steam of metaphors for >everything good in life. The Chinese believe that by >depicting it, you invoke it. And the opposite of this >idea; that mentioning or depicting bad luck is >creating it. Where exactly would the Chinese use a >"symbol of death"? On a grave? In a temple? Who >amongst the Chinese would dare hang it on their wall? > >Driven by my niggle, I have searched in a dozen books >about Chinese art and symbolism, word puns, >literature, and can find nothing whatsoever about the >lemon representing death. > >There a handful of examples of bad things being >depicted. The Five Poisonous Creatures (wŭdú), >all of which can kill – centipedes, lizards, >scorpions, snakes and toads – are stitched into >childrens' bed clothes, pillows, slippers and hats, as >an appeasement. Or perhaps like inoculation. They are >accompanied by the figure "wang" meaning king, almost >the most potent positive symbol, placed in amongst >them as an antidote. > >Fruit (zĭ) is a common motif, it generally stands >for fertility, of all sorts. But as far as I can >establish, the lemon, as a symbol, positive or >negative, is pretty much absent from Chinese art. (It >is not alone in that, you cant find limes, ants or >owls either.) > >The inedible finger citron, a kind of lemon at a >stretch, used ornamentally in China, has long, gnarled >growths extending from its body. It is called fó >shŏu in Chinese, Buddha's hands, and is >understood to represent blessings. It is commonly >shown in art in a trilogy with the peach and >pomegranate, the peach (táozi) is the emblem of >immortality, and the pomegranate stuffed with seeds >stands for fecundity. This set of fruit is known as >the Three Abundances (sānduō). Hardly death, >rather its exact opposite. > >Direct depiction or mention of death (sĭ) is a >taboo in Chinese culture. It closest homonym is four >(sí), and anyone who has been in Chinese lift or hotel >knows that, like the Western dread of 13, it is simply >omitted. > >The only possibility to support Mr Barnes' usage that >I can see comes via Hong Kong. Here the Cantonese >sometimes use a simplified Chinese, like everything in >Chinese culture, based on word sounds. In this >specialised written form, ning meng (lemon) sounds >similar to ling (zero). And a zero looks like a lemon. >When you buy lemons, the store receipt will show a >zero as the grapheme. Oh, you bought nothing? No, >lemons. > >Might this commercial short-hand have made its way up >to Finland? Did Sibelius buy a lemon from a Cantonese >sailor (because I doubt Helsinki had a resident >Cantonese population in the 1900s)? And this sailor – >before till receipts existed – wrote a zero, which >Sibelius, apparently ever mindful of death, poetically >translated into non-existence? > >I think Sibelius and his friends contrived the idea of >the lemon, and fancifully attributed it to China. >China has always been a repository for dreams of the >fantastic. Like Borges' story which imagined a Chinese >encyclopedia, the Heavenly Emporium of Benevolent >Knowledge, with a catalogue of impossible animals; >"those that tremble as if they were mad" and "those >that at a distance resemble flies". I can see Sibelius >thinking: I like the sound of the lemon table, and >anything you say of China is bound to be partially >true, and anyway it is to far away for the truth to >matter. And Mr Barnes, despite his fêted research >skills, in a moment of weakness, just parroted this >fallacy. > >Unless I am wrong of course. But, given Chinese art's >devotion to auspiciousness, I think not. Take a look >yourself.

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