Sacred splashes: ancient Chinese ritual of ‘elephant washing’ for good fortune
Por Fran Lu — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Trending in China People & Culture Trending in China Sacred splashes: ancient Chinese ritual of ‘elephant washing’ for good fortune
The tradition came to an end in the late Qing dynasty, after a parade elephant went rogue, crushed a general’s carriage, and killed a eunuch
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Fran Lu in Beijing Published: 10:50am, 9 Oct 2026
In ancient China, royal families washed elephants to pray for good fortune – until one elephant went rogue and brought the tradition to an end.
Elephants had been spotted and documented in China as early as 4000 BC. They are believed to have once been familiar animals in the Central Plains before gradually migrating south to more remote regions.
From the Han dynasty (202 BC–220), elephants were presented as tribute to the royal court. They carried deeply auspicious meanings: the Chinese word for “elephant”, xiang, is a homophone for auspiciousness, xiang – the core half of ji xiang, which means “good fortune.”
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