Geese (genus Anser) are an important motif in Chinese poetry. Examples of goose imagery have an important place in Chinese poetry ranging from the Shijing and the Chu Ci poets through the poets of Han poetry and later poets of Tang poetry such as Li Bai, Wang Wei, Du Fu, and the Xiaoxiang poetry, especially in the poetry of the Song dynastic era. Various poetic concepts could be communicated by the inclusion of the imagery of geese in a poem, and the understanding of allusions to a goose or geese can help provide key insights into the poems of Classical Chinese poetry. Chinese sources typically distinguish between two types of geese, the domestic goose, and the wild goose: of the two, the wild goose is the more important for poetry, whether as significant of migratory seasonal change, or as "bearing a message of love from afar", by persons separated by a great distance (generally north and south, since that is how geese generally migrate), or as the "lone goose", bereft of both mate and flock.
Background Geese of various species are typical to China, they may be domestic or wild. Due to their migratory nature, wild geese tend to be a seasonal presence, either as temporary, nomadic settlers in an area, or often as seasonal migrants whose flight path takes them over vast areas where they may or may not land to rest at night.
Biology
Geese are large birds belong to the family of the Anatidae, subfamily of the Anserinae, and the tribe of the Anserini. The geese in the genus Anser have a Holarctic distribution, and include the grey geese and white geese. White geese are sometimes included in Anser, and sometimes described as being in the genus Chen, and their breeding areas are in subarctic areas of North America and around the Bering Strait. The black geese are in the genus Branta and occur in the Palearctic realm: they are called "black" due to the coloring of their legs, bills, and parts of their plumage, which are black or dark grey. The family Anatidae includes ducks and swans. Unless domestic, geese are generally migratory, traveling lengthy distances in between their summer habitats in the north and their winter habitats in the south. In China, geese have been domesticated for thousands of years: these have primarily been bred from the wild species Anser cygnoides, and are also known as the Swan Goose or the Chinese Goose. True geese are difficult to differentiate into genus or species based on anatomical differences other than coloration, especially if the geese occur, as they often do in poetry, in the distance, flying, and perhaps even more heard than seen: but, the genus and species identification is not generally of importance in Chinese poetry, although whether the goose is wild or domestic is of importance. Geese are social animals, and tend to appear in flocks of many individuals; and, as they tend to pair up to mate, which as part of the process often includes a flying duet, with the male chasing the female through the air; and, often the flock will contain many breeding pairs. One of the distinctive features of flying flocks of geese is their typical "V" or wedge-shaped formation, and the loud vocalizations which accompany them on their flight. A lone goose is somewhat of an anomaly in nature. Geese and their eggs have been used for food, their feathers for thermal insulation and other purposes, and their arrivals and departures as seasonal indicators. Human interactions with geese have often included hunting wild geese with projectile weapons, raising and breeding domestic geese, or observing, and perhaps depicting them in paint or poetry.
Vocabulary: domestic versus wild
The Chinese language typically distinguishes between domestic and wild geese, with separate words and characters for each. The common character for "wild goose" is 鴈 (with variant form 雁, both are yàn in Hanyu Pinyin, *ngan4 in Tang). The elements which make up these two characters are the same, except the variation in the part representing a bird uses one or the other of 2 common choices for this: both characters can be analyzed as representing a bird (鳥 or 隹) which flies from (dwellings) on cliffs (厂) in flocks that are in the shape of the character 人 (rén, meaning "person": the actual form used [亻] is a variant for character composition). The Classical character for domestic goose is 鵝 (Hanyu Pinyin é, Tang ngɑ). Another character commonly used for a wild goose is 鴻 (Pinyin: hóng, Tang *hung4): this is sometimes translated as a "bean goose", in English; however, since these species are similar to other geese in the genus Anser, this is not particularly important for most poetry, especially since there is less than complete agreement among the scientific experts in regard to these taxonomical details. Similarly, what nuance in meaning (if any), different from "wild goose", is to be understood by the phrase 鴻雁 in the Shijing?
Geese in Chinese symbolism
Seasonal indications Anciently, the wild goose was one of the 9 Chinese gù (雇), or migratory types of birds employed (the modern meaning of the word) as seasonal indicators for initiating appropriate agricultural practices: the annual autumnal appearance of wild geese indicated the time to begin the harvest gathering (Wilder & Ingram, sub #361, 僱). The annual migratory pattern of geese makes their bi-annual appearances in spring and autumn symbolically useful, as poetic short-hand for the changing seasons. The place of geese in the cosmological order was indicated by the conceptualization that the geese fly south to avoid the effects of the rise of the cold and dark associated with the rise of the yin forces of winter, in the balance of yin-yang; and when, in the balance, the yang forces begin to predominate, the geese fly up north to avoid the accompanying excess heat of summer (Murck, 75). Yin-yang is a religico-philosophical concept of how opposite and contrary forces are operated in the process of the natural world: how they give rise to each other through natural dualities, such as light and dark, high and low, hot and cold, fire and water, male and female, and life and death. In this system of thought, geese are thought to be part and parcel of the natural world's physical manifestation of yin and yang.
Flocking versus single The symbolic connotations of geese depend somewhat on whether they appear in single, in pair, or in a flock; also whether they are wild or domestic. Geese have been thought to take one partner for life, male and female, thus the goose can symbolize marital bliss; and, due to their seasonally migratory nature, geese are symbolic of seasonal change and the passage of time, and the mutual presentation and exchange of geese may form part of marriage rituals (Eberhard, 132, sub "Goose"). Eberhard also here remarks on the "very old custom" of the use of a goose as an engagement present (attested to in the Shijing). The lone goose is a symbol of loss: either the loss of a mate, or of the whole flock, and thus is used as an image to evoke feelings of sadness or pity.
Seasons of the goose
Geese are not used as one of the 12 "Chinese zodiac" animals which are used as signs to represent particular periods of time. However, in poetry, the seasonal migratory flights of geese are used poetically in connection with the passage of the seasons: often poems use geese in connections which hint at what season it is by relating this to the direction which the geese are flying, north in spring for the summer and south in the autumn for the winter. When the weather warms, and the geese fly north, beyond ken of the poet, perhaps even beyond the northern borders, the poem may speak of the geese flying beyond the mountains, or beyond purple passes, or to a foreign land (Murck, 75). Geese migrating to the south, perhaps to the Heng mountains of Hunan or to the sand bars and sandy shores of the lakes and rivers of the Xiaoxiang region of in south and central China. A flock of geese making a landing on level sand is enough of an image to convey both that the geese are flying south and that the season is the fall. Thus, the southern migration of geese often poetically symbolizes the decline associated with the autumn season, including the rise of the forces of yin versus the yang force. (Murck, 75).
Other birds
Other birds besides geese are featured in Chinese poetry. Some are mythological, drawn from the vast realms of Chinese mythology and folklore, though they may share features with geese. Others are birds related to geese, such as swans or ducks. A poetic substitution in the course of an allusion has not been uncommon, especially as a poet's own experience intersects with that of an earlier work. Anne Birrell discusses the role of swans (close relatives of geese) versus other birds in several Han dynastic era ballads, contrasting the role of "owls, pigeons, and sparrows", which are used to portray human foibles, with the role of swans. She discusses "An Old Ballad, Two White Swans" (53-54): "The moral of the verse fable here seems not so much related to individual human behavior as to the behaviour of the individual in so far as he is a member of a group or community." She mentions in this ballad how the pair of swans arrive at the poem's beginning "as part of a flock flying in formation". She goes on to give the moral of the poem as: "Without the flock the individual is nothing; survival depends on social cohesion." Similar poems which substitute geese for swans exist. Another common motif in poetry is the bird as a messenger, bringing news from afar. Examples of messenger birds include the goose, and the Qingniao, "blue bird of happiness".
Geese in poetry In poetry, geese may symbolize unjust exile (Murck, 74). Geese appear in some of the earliest collections of Chinese poetry, and have continued to reappear, on a regular basis.
Shijing geese
The earliest specialized collection Chinese poems is the Shijing, also known as the Book of Odes, Book of Songs, and the Classic of Poetry. Geese are used as allusions in various ways.
Social implications
One appearance of the Shijing geese is as an allusion for society. In the poem "Wild Geese" ("鴻雁" - "Hong Yan" [小雅 - Lesser Odes, 彤弓之什 - Decade Of Tong Gong]), the geese appear as an allusion to a people wandering with woeful cries, seeking for a home (Murck, 74; and, note 6, 312). Translated by James Legge (1815 – 1897):
The wild geese are flying about; Su-su goes the rustle of their wings. [There were] those officers engaged on the commission. Pained were we and toiled in the open fields; All were objects of pity, But alas for those wifeless and widows!
The wild geese are flying about; And they settle in the midst of the marsh. [There were] those officers directing the rearing of the walls; - Five thousand cubits of them arose at once. Though there was pain and toil, In the end we had rest in our dwellings.
The wild geese are flying about, And melancholy is their cry of ao-ao. There were they, wise men, Who recognized our pain and toil; If they had been stupid men, They would have said we were proclaiming our insolence.
Other translations differ, in certain points, but the general imagery of wild geese, forlornly crying during their quest for a home to rest is clear. Alfreda Murck points out the contrast between the geese here landing in the marsh, and the later Xiaoxiang poetry convention of geese and the level sand (80).
Engagement gift The use of the goose for an engagement gift has been noted by Wolfram Eberhard (sub "Goose"): this is attested to in the Shijing ("匏有苦葉" - Pao You Ku Ye [verse 3], 國風 - Airs of the States, 邶風 - Odes of Bei, Legge translation):
The wild goose, with its harmonious notes, At sunrise, with the earliest dawn, By the gentleman, who wishes to bring home his bride, [Is presented] before the ice is melted.