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The Chinese Character in the center of this ceramic dish stands for the word "longevity"
There are two key words in Chinese which describe the head of a traditional Shar-pei.
-Head of longevity (Sau ji tau)
-Calabash head (Wu Lo tau)
Head of longevity
To understand the significance and importance of this concept, one must first understand the Chinese character for "longevity". As we often see the character being used for decoration in many places and occasions, this is an auspicious icon loved by the Japanese, Korean, and the Chinese.
The structure of this Chinese character consist of many horizontal strokes, and this structure is being adopted by the Chinese to describe the wrinkles at the forehead of the Shar-Pei. This character provides both a figurative and auspicious meaning to the head of Shar-Pei.
"Sau ji tau" is Cantonese pronunciation for "head of longevity. "Sau" means longevity, "ji" means character, and "tau" means head.
Traditional Chinese Shar-pei standard can be found in the Sharpei Club Hong Kong website.
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In Chinese caligraphy, the word "Sau" (longevity) can come in many forms. But one thing common in all of the different "Sau" characters is the numerous horizontal strokes. |
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Here, the "Sau" (longevity) character is being used as a design on pendants of necklace. |
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Calabash head (Wu lo tau)
Calabash refers to the fruit of a vinery plant grown in Asia. In Cantonese is "Wu lo". In China, "Wu lo" comes in two variety. One type has a very defined central constriction (bottle gourd) and the other a pear shaped fruit.
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A pear shaped calabash which can give a better picture of a big round head of a traditional Shar-Pei. |
| Bottle gourd. When modern Chinese says "Wu lo", it is this type that they usually refer to and imagine, but in reality the pear shaped calabash is more common and native to be seen grown in the field. |
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Dried calabash fruits.
Children in art class paint and draw on the surface. |
| A dried bottle gourd. A Shar-pei head can not possibly looking like this! A Shar-pei head should look like a pear shaped calabash. (Photo below) |
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Head like calabash
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| Fresh fruit of calabash compared with a head of Shar-Pei seen from the top. The comparison is quite straight forward. |
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Introduction
Head of Longevity
