Editing Calabash (section)

=== China ===
The ''húlu'' ([[wiktionary:葫芦|葫芦]]/[[wiktionary:葫蘆|葫蘆]]), as the calabash is called in [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]]'','' is an ancient symbol for health. Hulu had fabled healing properties due to doctors in former times carrying medicine inside it. The ''hulu'' was believed to absorb negative, earth-based ''[[qi]]'' (energy) that would otherwise affect health, and is a [[traditional Chinese medicine]] cure. The bottle gourd is a symbol of the [[Eight Immortals]], and particularly [[Li Tieguai]], who is associated with medicine. Li Tieguai's gourd was said to carry medicine that could cure any illness and never emptied, which he dispensed to the poor and needy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ho |first=Kwok Man |others=Translated and edited by Joanne O'Brien |title=The Eight Immortals of Taoism: Legends and Fables of Popular Taoism |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |year=1990 |isbn=9780452010703 |pages=93–94}}</ref><ref name="britannica2">{{cite web|date=2008|title=Li T'ieh-kuai|url=http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9048083|access-date=26 October 2008|website=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> Some folk myths say the "gourd had spirals of smoke ascend from it, denoting his power of setting his spirit free from his body,"<ref name="wilson">{{cite journal|last=Wilson|first=Eddie W.|date=April 1951|title=The Gourd in Folk Symbolism|journal=Western Folklore|volume=10|issue=2|pages=162–164|doi=10.2307/1497969|jstor=1497969}}</ref> and that it "served as a bedroom for the night..."<ref name="britannica2"/> The gourd is also an attribute of the deity [[Shouxing]] and a symbol of longevity.<ref>{{cite book |first=E. T. C. |last=Werner |author-link=E. T. C. Werner |year=1922 |title=Myths & Legends of China |publisher=George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. |location=New York |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15250 |access-date=2021-10-10}}</ref>

Dried calabash were also used as containers for liquids, often liquors or medicines. Calabash gourds were also grown in earthen molds to form different shapes with imprinted floral or arabesque designs. Molded gourds were also dried to house [[Crickets as pets|pet crickets]]. The texture of the gourd lends itself nicely to the sound of the insect, much like a musical instrument. The musical instrument, ''hulusi'', is a kind of flute made from the gourd.{{clarify|date=December 2017}}

<gallery>
File:Gourd katydid cage with pressed flower design.JPG|A [[Qing dynasty]] cricket cage
File:FSbottlegourd.jpg|A bottle gourd
File:Wang Li playing an hulusi (calabash flute) - 2012 Richmond Folk Festival.jpg|A ''[[hulusi]]'', the calabash gourd flute or bottle gourd flute
</gallery>