"Cat Butterfly" and "octogenarian" are homophonic. When cats and butterflies play, they mean "octogenarian", which means longevity. The artistic form and style of Cat and Butterfly also reflect the interest of literati.
Cats were considered as "lucky cats" in ancient times and even now. Combining the beautiful meaning of "auspiciousness" behind cats, it is not incomprehensible to derive cats and butterflies into "longevity".
A long time ago, butterflies were appreciated by people because of their beauty in body, shape, color and emotion, and were told by people through the ages. Butterfly is the most beautiful insect, known as "flying flower" and "beauty of insect country", and it is a symbol of elegant culture. Traditional literature in China often regards the flying butterfly as a symbol of free love, which expresses people's yearning and pursuit for free love.
Interpretation of "cats and butterflies show each other"
"Cats and butterflies show off each other" often appears in ancient paintings in China. Cats can catch mice and kill pests for others. Butterflies are gorgeous and give people a sense of beauty. The combination of the two has the special significance of longevity.
In the history of Chinese cat culture, the image of cats is vivid and changeable, with both positive images of loyalty, courage, wealth and longevity and negative images of coquetry.
Both cats and tigers are cats. Because of their similar images, they are often mentioned together. Cats are often called "Uncle Tiger" and "Little Tiger". As the saying goes: draw a tiger according to a cat. He Zunshi, a painter who painted cats in the Song Dynasty, also thought that cats were similar to tigers. "The secular world also called cats tiger teachers".
Butterfly means "metamorphosis". From caterpillars to butterflies, butterflies sublimate from ugliness to beauty, and so does life. Just like wine-making, wine takes time to settle, and so does the wisdom of life. In a sense, a long-lived and wise old man has completed the ideological transformation, so such an old man is not a valuable asset.