Five Toddlers Vying for Lotus Pods

Also a toddler-themed new year painting, this piece shows a joyful scene of five children vying for lotus pods, which were endowed with the wishes for “plenty of offspring” based on the pun of “lian zi” and “giving birth to babies one after the other” in mandarin Chinese. By portraying “five” toddlers, this picture, while expressing the meaning of “plural” or “plenty”, alludes to the anecdote recorded in the Chinese literary classic San Zi Jing, or the Three Character Classic, that an ancient Chinese brought up all his five children into renowned scholars or officials.