The two fishes that are swimming in company compare to the inextricable love between husband and wife.

The carp (li yu 鯉魚) is the most common fish in China. It symbolises marital harmony and cannubial felicity. Legend has it that if one of these very ordinary fish can leap the rapids at the fictional Dragon Gate (Lung-men 龍門) in its ascent of the river, it will turn into a dragon - an obvious allusion to attaining high office through power. It is a story that is often used to spur people on to greater effort and achievement so that they too may be like the carp that leapt over the Dragon Gate.