Hai Collection, Middle Volume. Radical: Fish (yú). Character: Xiang. Kangxi stroke count: 19. Page 1472, Entry 04.
Pronounced xiang (rising tone). Dried fish or cured meat.
Record of the Wu Region (Wu di ji) states: When Helü sailed out to sea, he encountered winds and waves that severed his food supply, making it impossible to continue the journey. The King of Wu offered sacrifices and prayers, and saw a school of golden fish appear; the Wu army caught the fish to eat. Upon his return, he summoned his ministers and recalled the fish he had eaten at sea. The official in charge said: It has already been dried into fish jerky. When brought forth to be eaten, the flavor was exceptionally delicious, so the character for Xiang was created by taking the character for beautiful and placing the character for fish beneath it.
Collected Works (Lei pian) states: Sometimes also written in a variant form (feng).