The article deals with the Chinese auspicious animal symbols, which constitute a significant part of the Chinese cultural heritage, as they embody the whole of the philosophy and the world view of the Chinese people, accumulated for thousands of years. Understanding of the meaning of the symbols is crucially important for cross cultural communication.Auspicious symbols are mostly based on the homophonic puns, often with a huge cultural background, which can pass unnoticed or not properly understood, so this article is intended to present a list of common or representative auspicious symbols along with their origin and meaning.