Above we have the continuation from the earlier post this week.

Images continue to be somewhat cryptic. But these are the Four Professions, the four important jobs in China.

Starting from the left we have

The scroll, one of the visual indications for a scholar. Following is the scroll seen earlier from the British Library, the oldest known scroll.

 

The next tile deals with agriculture.

 

You can see the signs of a farmer. The rake

(photo from WWF)

behind what is probably a hat, which seems to have four strings, two to be tied under the chin and two behind the head, keeping the hat secure. Perhaps the design on the tile is a shorthand version for this type of hat.

 

 

The next tile is also difficult to read, but it represents bundles of wood.

 

Here is a recent photograph of a Chinese villager carrying a huge bundle of wood.

 

And finally, the last calling is the fisherman.

Once again the tile is cryptic, but if you look carefully you can make out the straight fishing pole and the wavy fishing line. But what is the other object?

I had the good fortune to see a collection of baskets from around the world. Much to my delight I happened upon this one:

A Chinese fishing basket. Now you will be able to recognize the image on other tiles representing the fisherman.

 

And these are capture tiles, required by some types of play: The centipede that will get caught by the rooster, and the fish that will be caught by the fisherman. Given the wavy line coming out of the fish's mouth, the fisherman may have already caught his fish. The capture tiles, which are bonus tiles, when paired correctly allow for extra points/money.