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The Nine Great Beasts of Ancient Times

Ancient China refers to the creatures represented by the above ancient six gods that can be found in the Chinese classics. These creatures come and go without a trace, but it is often mentioned in classical Chinese books and legends that the common modern scientific view is that these are images of real animals.

Some ancient Chinese divination had an important position, especially Qimen Dunjia and Liuyao. Now let’s learn about what has been passed down in Chinese history.

The First ancient Chinese mythical beasts: Qinglong

Qinglong, in China, the status of the dragon is much higher than that of India. Because in China, the dragon is a fetish, the supreme, and the symbol of the emperor.

Qinglong is also the representative of the East. Among the five elements, it belongs to wood, and because cyan belongs to wood, there is a saying that there is a left green dragon and a right white tiger.

The second ancient Chinese beast: the white tiger

In China, the white tiger is the god of war and the god of slaughter. Tigers have various divine powers, such as warding off evil, bringing disasters, praying for abundance and punishing evil, promoting goodness, making money and getting rich, and marrying a good relationship. And it is one of the four spirits, and of course it is also transformed from the constellation.

Among the twenty-eight constellations, there are seven Western constellations: Kui, Lou, Wei, Ang, Bi, Gu, and Shen. Therefore, it is the representative of the West, and its whiteness is because it is the West. The West is metal in the Five Elements, and its color is white. That’s why it’s called a white tiger not because it’s white, but from the Five Elements.

The Three Ancient Chinese Beasts: The Phoenix

In China, the phoenix is ​​a spiritual thing that represents happiness. There are many forms of it. Such as golden pheasants, peacocks, eagles, eagles, black birds (swallows), etc., it is also said that the Buddhist Dapeng Garuda has become.

In mythology, the phoenix has the head of a chicken, the jaw of a swallow, the neck of a snake, and the tail of a fish, and has five-color patterns. There are also five varieties of phoenixes, which are divided by color: red is phoenix, blue is phoenix, white is swan, and yellow and purple phoenix can be said to be vermilion or mysterious bird.

Xuanwu

The Fourth of the ancient Chinese mythical beasts: Xuanwu

Xuanwu is a kind of spiritual thing composed of turtles and snakes. The original meaning of Xuanwu is Xuanming, Xuan means black; Ming means Yin. Xuanming originally described the turtle divination: the turtle’s back is black, and the turtle divination is to invite the turtle to go to the underworld to ask the ancestors, bring the answer back, and show it to the world in the form of a fortune-telling.

Turtles live in rivers, lakes and seas (including sea turtles), so Xuanming has become the god of water; tortoises are long-lived, and Xuanming has become a symbol of immortality; the original underworld was in the north, and the oracle bone divination of Yin and Shang was “the divination must go north”, So Xuan Ming became the god of the north again.

The Five Ancient Chinese Beasts: Chaos

Chaos is an ancient evil spirit. Legend has it that it is fat and round in shape and as red as fire. It has four wings and six legs. Although it has no five senses, it can master singing and dancing.

There is also a saying that Chaos is an animal like a dog or a bear. Humans cannot see it or hear it. It often bites its tail and smirks; if it encounters a noble person, Chaos will be violent; if When encountering wicked people, Chaos will obey his commands.

The sixth ancient Chinese beast: 梼杌 (táo wù)

There is a beast, its shape is like a tiger with dog hair, it is two feet long, with a human face, tiger feet, pig mouth and teeth, and its tail is ten feet and eight feet long. Used as a metaphor for someone who is stubborn and has a vicious attitude.

Legend has it that he was the son of Zhuanxu, the Northern Heavenly Emperor. He was also named Ao Ren and Difficult to Train. From these names, one can roughly infer his actions. Like Qiongqi, Yutu later became one of the four murderers.

The Seven Ancient Chinese Mythical Beasts: Qiongqi

In Chinese legends, the evil god who suppresses good and promotes evil is the size of an ox, looks like a tiger, is covered with hedgehog fur, has wings, and has a poor bark like a dog. It eats people for a living. It is said that Qiongqi often flew to the scene of the fight and bit off the nose of the righteous party; if someone committed evil deeds, Qiongqi would capture the beast and give it to him, and encouraged him to do more bad things.

However, Qiongqi also has a beneficial side. In a ghost exorcism ceremony called “Da Nuo”, there are twelve kinds of beasts that devour evil spirits, called twelve gods or twelve beasts, and Qiongqi is one of them.

Eighth Chinese ancient mythical beasts: gluttonous food (tāo tiè)

Legend has it that Xuanyuan fought against Chiyou, Chiyou was beheaded, and his head fell to the ground and turned into a gluttonous glutton. There are clouds in the Shanhaijing, and there are beasts, whose shape is like a sheep’s body and human face, its eyes are under the armpit, tiger teeth and human claws, and its sound is like that of a baby. It is called roe deer and owl. There are also legends that it is one of the nine sons of the “Nine Sons of the Dragon”.

Taotie is very greedy, he eats whatever he sees, and because he eats too much, he is finally killed. It is a symbol of greed.

Nine of ancient Chinese mythical beasts: 犼 (hǒu)

In the East China Sea, there is a beast named 犼, which can eat dragon brain, fly up and down, and is abnormally fierce. Every time he fights with a dragon, he breathes fire several feet from his mouth, and the dragon is invincible. It is like a horse, one or two feet long, has scales, and is wrapped in fire; it can fly and is extremely ferocious.

When fighting with a dragon, the mouth breathes fire, and the dragon is defeated. It is described in “Shu Yi Ji” that the dragon feeds on the dragon, and is said to be the ancestor of the unicorn.