Literally, I mean. In China, the peanut (huasheng 花生) is an auspicious symbol because its second character (sheng 生) means “to give birth.” That’s why you can buy cute plastic peanut-shaped toys which open to play a jingle.
Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
Agrobiodiversity is crops, livestock, foodways, microbes, pollinators, wild relatives …
Literally, I mean. In China, the peanut (huasheng 花生) is an auspicious symbol because its second character (sheng 生) means “to give birth.” That’s why you can buy cute plastic peanut-shaped toys which open to play a jingle.
Hey, thanks for that. I collect the word for peanuts in various languages and store them in my phone. I’m allergic. So for me it could me: to give death. But it’s still handy to know…
I collect peanut names (and peanut toys) too, and was unaware that in Chinese it has this auspicous symbolic connotation that has been transferred even to toys for good luck. A very interesting cultural context for this plant, especially considering that it is not native to China but was an early introduction, probably at least 500 years ago, if not more. China is now the world’s biggest producer of peanuts.