Cicadas are actually quite prominent in Chinese literature, art and culture, says Haiyan Lee, a professor of east Asian languages and cultures and of comparative literature at Stanford University. They re even part of military strategy, she adds. Among the legendary
Thirty-Six Strategems, a collection of essays a little like
The Art of War, is a maneuver called Slough off the Cicada s Golden Shell. It refers to creating a decoy to escape from a stronger enemy. Wang Zhen, Cicada on tree branch, Modern period, 1919, Fan mounted as album leaf, ink on gold-flecked paper, Gift of Robert Hatfield Ellsworth in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art, F1998.222.2