Goose is a migratory bird and a common bird in ancient China. Therefore, in the process of blind date between ancient characters and me, the goose was endowed with many personalized symbolic meanings and became an important literary image in ancient literature.
Yan, there are two pronunciations, one is yān and the other is Yan. When reading Yan, the Modern Chinese Dictionary explains it like this: a family of birds, with sharp and long wings and tails parted like scissors. Catching insects is good for crops. It is migratory birds that fly to the north in spring and to the south in autumn. In ancient poetry, Yan is the messenger of spring, so "new Yan" is a common image in early spring.
The swallow is a typical migratory bird. During the wintering period, this swallow not only spreads all over Southeast Asia, but also reaches as far as northern Australia. On the ocean, they fly south along the island chain, sometimes they don't eat for two or three days. Swallows born that year, some died on the flight because of lack of endurance. They have amazing memories and return to their former homes every year, and the rate of returning to their nests is extremely high. According to the statistics of zoologists, the homing rate of old swallow is 47. 1%, and that of young swallow is 16%. Some swallows can return to their nests for four years in a row. So whenever swallows fly back, there is always a feeling of "deja vu".