Red beans on Qixi

[carnivorousplant]

How did this begin?

[jayjay]

Why do we obsess over roses on Valentine’s Day? From what I could google, red beans were an ancient Chinese love token. It makes no less sense than our roses.

[Throatwarbler_Mangrove]

It’s a play on poem #227

王維

相思
    紅豆生南國， 春來發幾枝。
    願君多采擷， 此物最相思。 
Wang Wei

ONE-HEARTED
    When those red berries come in springtime,
    Flushing on your southland branches,
    Take home an armful, for my sake,
    As a symbol of our love. 

The given translation doesn’t do it justice. In this case, “berries” was substituted for “beans”. In modern parlance it is usually translated as “beans”.

I personally would translate it (I’m sorry if it isn’t as poetic) as thus:

The red beans sprout originally in the south (Nanjing, the city mentioned in the article, would be in “the south”.)

When the spring comes, the branches grow

I ask you, dearest, to gather them

They best show my pining for you

I’m unsure about the cultural significance of the red bean during this period (8th Century AD) when the poem was written.

It’s kind of cool though, I know of the poem but I’m never seen the symbology used in jewlery. Heck I’ve never even heard of this “Qixi” business when I lived in China, I was to busy cramming myself full of Marxist-Leninist dialectics. Ain’t Western marketing companies great?

[carnivorousplant]

Thanks, beast.
Again I am on the wrong side of fighting ignorance!