SHOU-XING


Meaning of SHOU-XING in English

[Chinese] A stellar deity, one of the San-xing. His name means "Star of Longevity", and he has an enormously high bald head. He supports himself on a knotty staff. In his hand he holds the peach of immortality. Symbolically he is represented as a mushroom or a turtle. According to one legend there was once a boy called Zhao Yen who, as a child, was told the had only nineteen more years to live. He was advised to go to a certain field on a certain day and bring with him a jar of wine and dried meat. In that particular field he would notice two men playing draughts under a mulberry tree. He should offer them wine and meat, but under no account answer any of their questions. Zhao Yen followed that advise. When the men had partaken of the wine and meat, they discussed how they might best thank the boy for his hospitality. In the end they decided to reverse the digits of the number of years the boy could be expected to live, thus changing 19 into 91. He was later told that one of the players had b...

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Encyclopedia Mythica English dictionary.      Английский энциклопедический словарь греческой мифологии.