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ARCHITECTURE & ICONOGRAPHY

 

 

 

  Long Corridor bat iconography

 

China

In Chinese iconography, the bat (fig.) is an auspicious symbol and hence appears often as a decorative theme. It is here used in the form of a miao minge-style sign board inside the four octagonal gazebos of the Long Corridor (fig.) in the Beijing Summer Palace (fig.).

 

It is placed above the doorway, thus wishing good luck to all who enter or leave. The roof fittings (fig.) on this elongated gallery, though somewhat crude in their manufacture, also feature bat figures, as well as its stylized form (fig.) as a logo (fig.).

 

  Long Corridor bat iconography

 

In Chinese mythology, bats are a symbol for good luck, as the Chinese word foo, which means ‘good luck’, is a homonym of the word for bat.

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