Bowl with interior auspicious design of bats

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Bowl with interior auspicious design of bats

Description

Although bats have negative associations in the West, in China they benefit from a lucky coincidence: the word for bat, fu, is pronounced just like the words for “blessings” and “riches” (even though the written characters are different). The red bats, seen here, are examples of another pun, as the word for red, hong, sounds like the word for “vast”; combining bats and the color red thus creates a wish for vast blessings and wealth. Furthermore, the group of five bats itself refers to the “Five Blessings”: long life, health, wealth, love of virtue, and a peaceful death.