The ancients liked to use the homophonic sound of the word fish.

China auspicious totem-double carp and a paper book

The ancients liked to use the homonym "Yu" to express their yearning for a better life. Because fish is homophonic with "fish" and "green" is homophonic with "auspicious", there are many images about fish in China folk art works such as paper-cutting, porcelain, wallets and New Year pictures. There is always a cute fat doll holding a huge carp in the picture for many years, and there will be lotus flowers or lotus flowers in the background.

One goldfish after another is connected in a circle with a clear pond in the middle, which is a picture of happiness from now on. The pictures in "Ten Thousand Years" and "Happy Ever After" have pinned people's good wishes for a rich life and a full house of children and grandchildren.

In ancient times, some people put silk books in the belly of fish and sent them to people far away, so letters were also called "Fish Notes" or "Fish Elements". When the uprising broke out, Chen Sheng hid the silk books with the words "Chen" in the belly of fish. Later, people sent letters between two fish-shaped bamboo slips, so letters were also called "double carp".

Some people put letters in fish-shaped wooden mailboxes for carrying. There is a saying in Yuefu poems that "the ruler is like a remnant of snow, forming a pair of carp". To know what's in your heart, read the book in your stomach first. Among them, "geometer" is a letter, and "geometer" has become synonymous with delivering letters.

The legend of "Fish Leaping at the Dragon Gate" is recorded in the book Sanqin. Longmen is a ferry crossing on the Yellow River, with cliffs on both sides. Legend has it that when Dayu was controlling the water, he dug a dragon gate between the mountains to let the Yellow River flow, so the speed of the dragon gate was so fast that it was difficult for the whole fish to swim. Every March, thousands of carp come here from the lower reaches of the Yellow River to compete with the current.

Legend has it that no more than 72 carp can swim to Longmen in a year. As long as the carp has just boarded the Longmen, lightning will follow, and a fire will fall from the sky and burn its tail. Then, it became Jackie Chan. Those carp that didn't jump over the dragon gate fell from the air, leaving a black scar on their foreheads. Therefore, most of the carp we see have a black scar on their foreheads.