I am lucky to have a job that lets me learn interesting but hardly useless information. While researching ancient Chinese art the other day I saw a picture of a gorgeous piece of porcelain decorated with peaches and bats. Sort of an odd combination, but one that I definitely take delight in, being that I like mysterious things. Anyway, I read about the history of the "fruit bats" and it turns out the mystery was solved as follows:
"Peaches are symbols of longevity, and the chinese character for bat, "fu", sounds like the character for "blessings" when pronounced. Therefore, bats + peaches = "May you possess both blessings and longevity." - From AsianArt.org - http://www.asianart.org/hiddenmeanings.htm
Pretty cool.
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Sounds like the premise for a John Bellairs novel. The peaches and the bats would be a cryptic message leading to the tomb of a 19th century American ex-pat who dealt in the Chinese opium trade.
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