phoenix

i guess i have to take back everything that i said in my previous post about this hair clip. well, maybe that is an exaggeration but there's always more to things than first meets the eye. the mom told me today that the hair clip was designed in the likeness of a 'fenghuang' which explains the crazy design and color scheme. in english we translate 'fenghuang' as 'phoenix'.


here is a picture of a fenghuang below. actually really similar, huh? i learned before that the phoenix is the female counterpart to the dragon in chinese mythological thinking so i was quickly able to understand the meaning of the hair clip (after spending like 20 minutes trying to figure out what a fenghuang is. the mom is pretty young but she really sucks with computers haha). they confused me a little though because they said that either feng or huang represents the female phoenix and the other one represents the male phoenix. i guess it's an androgynous female.

so, new learnings, but this hair clip still remains the most chinese thing i own, hands down! i like it even more now that i know the meaning. i love the combination of old chinese ideas and modern chinese style. i hope it doesn't fall apart like some of the other crappy chinese things i have bought here.