Chi (mythology)
Encyclopedia
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
. Hornless dragons were a common motif in ancient Chinese art
Chinese art
Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...
, and the chiwen
Chiwen
Chiwen is one of the Nine Young Dragons in Imperial roof decorations and an ornamental motif in traditional Chinese architecture and art.This Chinese dragon name chiwen 螭吻 compounds chi 螭 "hornless dragon; young dragon" and wen 吻 " mouth; lips; kiss"...
螭吻 (lit. "hornless-dragon mouth") was an Imperial roof decoration
Imperial roof decoration
Chinese imperial roof decoration or roof charms or roof-figures or or was only allowed on official buildings of the empire. Chinese roofs are typically of the hip roof type, with small gables...
in traditional Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture refers to a style of architecture that has taken shape in East Asia over many centuries. The structural principles of Chinese architecture have remained largely unchanged, the main changes being only the decorative details...
.
Word
In Modern Standard Chinese usage, chi 螭 "hornless dragon" occurs in words such as:- chilong 螭龍 (with "dragon") "hornless dragon"
- chiniu 螭紐 (with "handle; knob") "carved dragon handle (esp. on cups)"
- chiwen 螭吻 (with "mouth; lips") "a roof ornament shaped like a dragon", compare the homophonousHomophoneA homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms...
variant 鴟吻 (with "owl; hawk") - chishou 螭首 or chitou 螭頭 (both with "head") "an architectural adornment; gargoyleGargoyleIn architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
" - panchiwen 蟠螭文 (with "coiled" and "pattern") "carved patterns of sinuous dragons (esp. on pillars/bronzes)"
- chibi 螭陛 (with "palace steps") "steps of the imperial palace; the EmperorEmperor of ChinaThe Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
"
Note that the following discussion of the word chi 螭's written forms and etymological origins requires using some jargon linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and sinology
Sinology
Sinology in general use is the study of China and things related to China, but, especially in the American academic context, refers more strictly to the study of classical language and literature, and the philological approach...
.
Characters
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
螭 for chi "hornless dragon" combines the "bug radical
Radical (Chinese character)
A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
" 虫 (typically signifying words for insect, reptiles, and dragons, e.g., shen
Shen (clam-monster)
In Chinese mythology, the shen or chen is a shapeshifting dragon or sea monster believed to create mirages.-Meanings:Chinese classic texts use the word shen to mean "a large shellfish" that was associated with funerals and "an aquatic monster" that could change its shape, which was later...
蜃) with a phonetic of chi or li 离 "mountain demon; leave". This phonetic element 离 is pronounced either chi when used for chi 螭 "demon; dragon" or li when used for li 離 ("with the "bird radical" 隹) "leave; part from; ☲ The Clinging bagua
Bagua (concept)
The bagua are eight diagrams used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. Each consists of three lines, each line either "broken" or "unbroken," representing yin or yang, respectively...
". The (ca. 3rd century BCE) Seal script
Seal script
Seal script is an ancient style of Chinese calligraphy. It evolved organically out of the Zhōu dynasty script , arising in the Warring State of Qin...
character for 螭, which is the earliest known writing, has the same radical-phonetic combination.
This chi 螭 "hornless dragon" is also a variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...
for chi 魑 (differentiated with the "ghost radical" 鬼) "mountain demon", which only occurs in the compound
Compound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
chimei 魑魅 "mountain and forest demons; evil spirits; goblins". Chimei 魑魅 is sometimes written 螭魅 or 螭鬽 with chi 螭. Note the "ghost radical" in the mei characters 魅 (with a phonetic of wei 未) and 鬽 (with the "hair radical" 彡 representing the demon's hair, cf. chi 螭's variant 彲).
The (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi
Shuowen Jiezi
The Shuōwén Jiězì was an early 2nd century CE Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary , it was still the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them , as well as the first to use the...
, which was the first Chinese dictionary
Chinese dictionary
Chinese dictionaries date back over two millennia to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which is a significantly longer lexicographical history than any other language. There are hundreds of dictionaries for Chinese, and this article will introduce some of the most important...
of characters, gives chi 离, 螭, and 魑 definitions (tr. Carr 1990:137, cf. Visser 1913:101).
- chi 离: "a mountain spirit and wild beast, [the pictograph] comes from its birdlike head, legs, and tail." 山神獸也从禽頭从厹从屮。
- chi 螭: "[a creature] like a dragon and yellow, in the north, they call it dilou, [the graph] comes from the "bug radical" and a chi 离 phonetic, or, a hornless [dragon] is called chi." 若龍而黃北方謂之地螻从虫离聲或云無角曰螭。
- chi 魑: "a kind of ghost/demon, [the ideograph] comes from the "ghost radical" and chi 离 "mountain demon radical" radical, which is also the phonetic." 鬼屬从鬼从离离亦聲。
This dilou 地螻 "earth cricket" compares with the tulou 土螻 "earth cricket," which the Shanhaijing (2, tr. Birrell 2000:23) mentions on 昆侖邱 ("Kunlun
Kunlun
Kunlun may refer to:*Kunlun fault, a geological fault on the northern side of the Tibetan Plateau*Kunlun Mountains, a long mountain chain in Asia*Kunlun Nu, a wuxia romance written by Pei Xing*Kunlun Pass, in Guangxi, China...
Mound"), "There is an animal here [Mound of Offspringline] which looks like a ram, but has four horns. Its name is the earth-cricket. It devours humans."
Etymologies
The etymologyEtymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
of chi "dragon; demon" is obscure. Carr (1990:138-139) reviews three proposals by Peter A. Boodberg
Peter A. Boodberg
Peter Alexis Boodberg in American spelling, was an American sinologist of Russian origin....
, Paul K. Benedict, and James Matisoff
James Matisoff
James A. Matisoff is a professor emeritus of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley and noted authority on Tibeto-Burman languages and other languages of mainland Southeast Asia....
.
Boodberg (1935, 1979:165-7) proposed that chi 螭 or 魑 etymologically descends frolm a Sino-Tibetan
Sino-Tibetan languages
The Sino-Tibetan languages are a language family comprising, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. They are second only to the Indo-European languages in terms of the number of native speakers...
root *brong-bri "wild oxen", from *brong "wild bull" and *bri or *brien "wild cow". He described this root as a "semantic atom, a referential complex with the meaning of 'wild' → 'wild animal' → 'couple'", and applied this etymon to many male and female animal couples, including *lywung < *blwong 龍 "male dragon" and *t'ia 魑 "female dragon". Compare how Yin and Yang
Yin and yang
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...
cosmology dichotomized rainbow-dragons
Hong (rainbow-dragon)
Hong or jiang is a two-headed dragon in Chinese mythology, comparable with rainbow serpent legends in diverse cultures and mythologies.-Chinese "rainbow" names:...
between Yang/male hong 虹 "primary rainbow" and Yin/female ni 蜺 "secondary rainbow".
Benedict (1976:190) noted how Bernhard Karlgren
Bernhard Karlgren
Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods...
(1957:26) inconsistently reconstructed Old Chinese
Old Chinese
The earliest known written records of the Chinese language were found at a site near modern Anyang identified as Yin, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, and date from about 1200 BC....
*t'lia for chi 离 "a mountain demon", 魑 "a kind of demon", and 螭 "a kind of dragon; a demon"; but *lia for all the other words in this phonetic series (e.g., li 漓 "drip", li 縭 "ornamental scarf"). Benedict reconstructed Old Chinese *xlia 魑 "a mountain demon", deriving from a Proto-Tibeto-Burman
Tibeto-Burman languages
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non-Chinese members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken thoughout the highlands of southeast Asia, as well as lowland areas in Burma ....
*sri(-n) "demon" root, also evident in Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
sri "a species of devil or demon; a vampire", srin-po "demons", and Lushai
Mizo language
The Mizo language is natively spoken by Mizo people in Mizoram, a state in the Indian Union; Chin State of Burma and in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The language is also known as Lushai , as Lusei people are the first clan who have an external exposure...
hri < *sri "the spirit believed to cause sickness". He additionally hypothesized the *xlia 离 phonetic was cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
with shen
Shen (Chinese religion)
Shen is a keyword in Chinese philosophy, Chinese religion, and Traditional Chinese Medicine.-Pronunciation:Shén is the Modern Standard Chinese pronunciation of 神 "spirit; god, deity; spiritual, supernatural; awareness, consciousness etc". Reconstructions of shén in Middle Chinese Shen is a...
< *[ly]yěn 神 "spirit; god" from Proto-Tibeto-Burman *[s-l]-rin < *[s-]rin.
Matisoff (1985:63) analyzes Benedict's *sri(-n) "demon" root as *s-r-i-n, and links Chinese *xlia 魑 with another Tibetan cognate hdre-srin "goblins and demons" (from hdre "goblin; demon; evil spirit").
Schuessler (2007:186) reconstructed Old Chinese *rhai for chi 离, 魑, and 螭 "mountain demon", and proposed a Sino-Tibetan etymology comparable with Tibetan ’dre < ɴdre "goblin; demon, evil spirit" and gre-bo "species of demon", Tangkhul
Tangkhul
Tangkhul is a Naga tribe living in the Indo-Burma border area occupying the Ukhrul district in Manipur, India and the Somra Tangkhul hills in Upper Burma. Despite this international border, the Tangkhul have continued to regard themselves as one nation...
rai "unclean spirit", Bodo
Bodo language
Bodo is a language that belongs to the branch of Barish section under Baric division of the Tibeto-Burman languages and spoken by the Bodo people of north-eastern India and Nepal...
ráj "devil", and possibly Proto-Kam–Sui
Kam–Sui languages
The Kam–Sui languages are a branch of the Tai–Kadai languages spoken by the Kam–Sui peoples. They are spoken mainly in eastern Guizhou, western Hunan, and northern Guangxi in southern China. Small pockets of Kam–Sui speakers are also found in northern Vietnam and Laos.-Classification:Kam–Sui...
la:l "devil; ghost" borrowed from Chinese.
Meanings
Chinese classic textsChinese classic texts
Chinese classic texts, or Chinese canonical texts, today often refer to the pre-Qin Chinese texts, especially the Neo-Confucian titles of Four Books and Five Classics , a selection of short books and chapters from the voluminous collection called the Thirteen Classics. All of these pre-Qin texts...
use chi 螭 to mean both "a hornless dragon" and "a mountain demon". The following discussion focuses upon earliest recorded usages in pre-Han
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
texts, some of which have uncertain dates of compilation.
Hornless dragon
The (ca. 239 BCE) Lüshi ChunqiuLüshi Chunqiu
The Lüshi Chunqiu is an encyclopedic Chinese classic text compiled around 239 BCE under the patronage of the Qin Dynasty Chancellor Lü Buwei...
quotes Confucius comparing long 龍 "dragons", chi 螭 "hornless dragons", and yu 魚 "fish".
The dragon eats and swims in clear water; the one-footed dragon eats in clean water but swims in muddy water; fish eat and swim in muddy water. Now, I have not ascended to the level of a dragon but I have not descended to that of fish. I am perhaps a one-footed dragon!" (舉難, tr. Knoblock and Riegel 2000:505)
The reason for translating "one-footed dragon" is unclear, compare the legendary Kui
Kui (Chinese mythology)
Kui is a polysemous figure in ancient Chinese mythology. Classic texts use this name for the legendary musician Kui who invented music and dancing; for the one-legged mountain demon or rain-god Kui variously said to resemble a Chinese dragon, a drum, or a monkey with a human face; and for the...
夔 "a one-footed dragon".
The (ca. 2nd century CE) Chuci uses chi 螭 five times, which is more than any other Chinese classic. Two contexts mention xuanchi 玄螭 "dark/black hornless-dragon"; (遠遊, tr. Hawkes 1985:198) "They lined water monsters up to join them in the dance"; and (思忠, tr. Hawkes 1985:275) , "Driving black dragons, I travel northwards." Another mentions qingqiu 青虯 "green horned-dragons" and 白螭 "white hornless-dragons"; (涉江, tr. Hawkes 1985:160) "With a team of azure dragons, white serpents in the traces." Two final contexts mention chi 螭 with long 龍 "dragons"; one describes a team of four dragons, (河伯, tr. Hawkes 1985:114) "I ride a water chariot with a canopy of lotus; Two dragons draw it, between two water-serpents"; the other uses the compound chilong 螭龍 "hornless dragon", (大招, tr. Hawkes 1985:233), "And water dragons swim side by side, swiftly darting above and below."
The (ca. 139 BCE) Huainanzi
Huainanzi
The Huáinánzǐ is a 2nd century BCE Chinese philosophical classic from the Han dynasty that blends Daoist, Confucianist, and Legalist concepts, including theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. It was written under the patronage of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, a legendarily prodigious author...
"Peering into the Obscure" chapter (覽冥訓) mentions chichi 赤螭 "red hornless-dragon" and baichi 白螭 "white hornless-dragon". The former occurs with qingqiu 青虯 "green horned-dragon"; (tr. Le Blanc 1987:144) "When the red hornless dragon and the green horned dragon roamed the land of Chi 冀, the sky was limpid and the earth undisturbed." The latter occurs with benshe 奔蛇 "fast snake", (tr. Le Blanc 1987:162), the chariot of Fu Xi and Nüwa
Nüwa
Nüwa is a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven.-Primary sources:...
was "preceded by white serpents and followed by speeding snakes."
The (ca. 100 BCE) Shiji "Records of the Grand Historian
Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name Shiji , written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the Magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time...
" biography of Sima Xiangru
Sima Xiangru
Sima Xiangru, also known as Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju was a Chinese writer. He was a minor official of the Western Han Dynasty, but was better known for his poetic skills, jiu business, and controversial marriage to the widow Zhuo Wenjun after both eloped...
includes two of his fu
Fu (poetry)
Fu is a kind of rhymed prose, or poetry style essay, popular in ancient China, especially during the Han Dynasty. The term fu is often used in a multiway contrast with the more purely poetic shi style, with the fixed-rhythm forms of poetry , and with various more explicitly prosaic forms of...
賦 poems (tr. Watson 1993:2:309, 312) that mention chichi 赤螭 "red hornless dragons." "The Shanglin Park" 上林賦 mentions them with jiaolong 蛟龍, "Here horned dragons and red hornless dragons"; "Sir Fantasy" 子虛賦 mentions them with qingqiu 青虯, "red hornless dragons and green horned dragons."
The above texts describe black, white, and red chi 螭 "hornless dragons", which contradicts the Shuowen Jiezi "like a dragon and yellow" definition. However, a possible explanation might be found in the Hanshu (揚雄傳) commentary of Wei Zhao
Wei Zhao
Wei Zhao , style name Hongsi , was a scholar and politician of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history....
, which describes the chi 螭 demon as "resembling a tiger with scales".
Many later dictionaries define a contrast between qiu 虯 "horned dragon" and chi 螭 "hornless", for instance, the (ca. 230 CE) Guangya
Guangya
The Guangya was an early 3rd century CE Chinese dictionary, edited by Zhang Yi during the Three Kingdoms period. It was later called the Boya owing to naming taboo on Yang Guang , which was the birth name of Emperor Yang of Sui.Zhang Yi wrote the Guangya as a supplement to the centuries older...
, (997 CE) Longkan Shoujian
Longkan Shoujian
Longkan Shoujian is a Chinese dictionary compiled during the Liao Dynasty by the monk Xingjun . Completed in 997, the work had originally been entitled Longkan Shoujing , but had its title changed owing to naming taboo when it was later printed by the Song publishers...
, and (ca. 1080 CE) Piya
Piya
The Piya was a Chinese dictionary compiled by Song Dynasty scholar Lu Dian . He wrote this Erya supplement along with his Erya Xinyi commentary...
.
Groot (1910:5:1141-2) provides a picture of a sepulchral stone tablet decorated with a chi and the Gujin Tushu Jicheng
Gujin Túshu Jíchéng
The Gujin Tushu Jicheng , is a vast encyclopaedic work written in China during the reigns of Qing emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng, completed in 1725. The work was headed initially by scholar Chen Menglei , and later by Jiang Tingxi. It contained 800,000 pages and over 100 million Chinese characters...
illustration of this hornless dragon.
Mountain demon
Bound morpheme
In morphology, a bound morpheme is a morpheme that only appears as part of a larger word; a free morpheme is one that can stand alone.Affixes are always bound. English language affixes are either prefixes or suffixes. E.g., -ment in "shipment" and pre- in "prefix"...
in chimei, but mei 魅 occurs in other expressions such as meili 魅力 (with "power") "enchantment; fascination; charm". Both modern Chinese and Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
normally use "ghost radical" 鬼 characters to write chimei or chimi 魑魅 and wangliang or mōryō 魍魎, but these were not regularly used in classical texts. The (111 CE) Hanshu first wrote chimei as 魑魅, but earlier texts (e.g., Zuozhuan below, and [91 BCE] Shiji) wrote it as 螭魅, with the "hornless dragon" variant. The (ca. 4th century BCE Guoyu
Guoyu (book)
The Discourses of the States or Guoyu is a classical Chinese history book that collected the historical records of numerous states from Western Zhou to 453 BC. Its author is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to Zuo Qiuming, a contemporary of Confucius...
) first wrote wangliang as 魍魎, but more classics (e.g., Shuoyuan, Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...
, Huainanzi, and Chuci) phonetically wrote it as 罔兩, without the "ghost radical".
Chimei 螭魅 is joined with wangliang in the expression chimei-wangliang 魑魅魍魎 "demons and monsters; evil spirits". Since some commentators differentiate between chimei "demons of the mountains and forests" and wangliang "demons of the rivers and marshes", notes Carr (1990:137), chimei-wangliang can mean either "'demons, monsters' generally or 'mountain and water demons' separately". Groot (1910:5:505) describes chimei as "another demon-tribe" because the "Chinese place in their great class of hill-spirits certain quadrumana
Quadrumana
Quadrumana and Bimana form an obsolete division of the primates: the Quadrumana are primates with four hands , and the Bimana being those with two hands and two feet...
, besides actual human beings, mountaineers alien to Chinese culture, perhaps a dying race of aborigines."
The (ca. 389 BCE) Zuozhuan commentary to the Chunqiu has the earliest textual usages of both chimei 螭魅 and chimei-wangliang 螭魅罔兩.
Both the chimei contexts concern banishing evildoers into dangerous wilderness regions. The former (文公18; tr. Legge 1872:283) refers to the Sixiong 四凶 "Four Fiends" (Hundun 渾敦, Qiongqi
Kamaitachi
is a Japanese yōkai, most common in the Kōshin'etsu region.There are several conceptions of how it looked or operated, but the most common is one of a trio of weasels with sharp claws, riding on a gust of wind and cutting people's skin on the legs...
窮奇, Taowu 檮杌, and Taotie
Taotie
The Taotie is a motif commonly found on ritual bronze vessels from the Shang and Zhou Dynasty. The design typically consists of a zoomorphic mask, described as being frontal, bilaterally symmetrical, with a pair of raised eyes and typically no lower jaw area...
饕餮); the legendary ruler Shun, "banished these four wicked ones, Chaos, Monster, Block, and Glutton, casting them out into the four distant regions, to meet the spite of the sprites and evil things". Du Yu
Du Yu
Du Yu , style name Yuankai , was a military general of Cao Wei during the late Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He served the Jin Dynasty after the end of the Three Kingdoms period. Also a prolific author, it is said that Du Yu read the Zuozhuan so often that he was addicted to the book...
's commentary glosses chimei demons as "born in the strange qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
of mountains and forests, harmful to humans". The latter context (昭公 9, tr. Legge 1872:625) only mentions the villainous Taowu; "The ancient kings located T'aou-wuh in [one of] the four distant regions, to encounter the sprites and other evil things."
The chimei-wangliang 螭魅罔兩 context (宣公3 , tr. Legge 1872:293) records how Yu the Great
Yu the Great
Yu the Great , was a legendary ruler of Ancient China famed for his introduction of flood control, inaugurating dynastic rule in China by founding the Xia Dynasty, and for his upright moral character....
, legendary founder of the Xia Dynasty
Xia Dynasty
The Xia Dynasty is the first dynasty in China to be described in ancient historical chronicles such as Bamboo Annals, Classic of History and Records of the Grand Historian. The Xia Dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors gave his throne to him...
, cast nine instructional bronze ding
Ding (vessel)
A ding is an ancient Chinese cauldron with legs, a lid and two handles opposite each other. They were made in two shapes with round vessels having three legs and rectangular ones four....
"tripod cauldrons" to acquant people with all the dangerous creatures in China's Nine Provinces.
Anciently, when Hea was distinguished for its virtue, the distant regions sent pictures of the [remarkable] objects in them. The nine pastors sent in the metal of their provinces, and the tripods were cast, with representations on them of those objects. All the objects were represented, and [instructions were given] of the preparations to be made in reference to them, so that the people might know the sprites and evil things. Thus the people, when they went among the rivers, marshes, hills, and forests, did not meet with the injurious things, and the hill-sprites, monstrous things, and water-sprites, did not meet with them [to do them injury].
Note how Legge translates each chimei-wangliang "demons; monsters" syllable individually: chimei "injurious things, and the hill-sprites" and wangliang "monstrous things, and water-sprites".
Wang Chong
Wang Chong
Wang Chong , courtesy name Zhongren , was a Chinese philosopher active during the Han Dynasty. He developed a rational, secular, naturalistic and mechanistic account of the world and of human beings and gave a materialistic explanation of the origin of the universe. His main work was the Lùnhéng...
's (late 1st century CE) Lunheng 論衡 (tr. Groot 1910:5:506) considers the chimei as a dragon hybrid, "Those who give their opinion on the ch‘i, state that they are dragon-like beings; therefore, as the word mei is copulated to (the name of) a dragon, the mei must be a congener of this animal."
Mythic parallels
.jpg)
Chinese folklore
Chinese folklore includes songs, dances, puppetry, and tales. It often tells stories of human nature, historical or legendary events, love, and the supernatural, or stories explaining natural phenomena and distinctive landmarks.-Folktales:...
and art, most dragons, including the long 龍, are represented with two horns. Besides the chi 螭, only a few dragons supposedly lacked horns, for instance, jiaolong
Jiaolong
Jiaolong or jiao is a polysemous aquatic dragon in Chinese mythology. Edward H. Schafer describes the jiao.Spiritually akin to the crocodile, and perhaps originally the same reptile, was a mysterious creature capable of many forms called the chiao . Most often it was regarded as a kind of lung – a...
蛟龍 "aquatic dragon; hornless dragon; crocodile" or qiulong
Qiulong
Qiulong or qiu was a Chinese dragon that is contradictorily defined as "horned dragon" and "hornless dragon".-Name:This Chinese dragon name can be pronounced qiu or jiu and written 虯 or 虬.-Characters:...
虯龍 "horned dragon; hornless dragon".
In comparative mythology
Comparative mythology
Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes...
as well, horned dragons are generally more common than hornless ones. Based upon the chishou 螭首 "hornless-dragon head" roof adornment, Kroll (1989:329) translates chi as wyvern
Wyvern
A wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, two legs , and a barbed tail. The wyvern is found in heraldry. There exists a purely sea-dwelling variant, termed the Sea-Wyvern which has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail...
, "a footed winged dragon with a serpent's tail, becoming in medieval times an oft-pictured heraldic beast."
External links
- 螭 entry, Chinese Etymology
- 螭 entry page, 1716 CE Kangxi DictionaryKangxi dictionaryThe Kangxi Dictionary was the standard Chinese dictionary during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Kangxi Emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty ordered its compilation in 1710. The creator innovated greatly by reusing and confirming the new Zihui system of 596 radicals, since then known as 596 Kangxi...
- Jade awl of a chi dragon, Warring States PeriodWarring States PeriodThe Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
, National Palace MuseumNational Palace MuseumThe National Palace Museum is an art museum in Taipei. It is the national museum of the Republic of China, and has a permanent collection of over 677,687 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world. The collection encompasses over 8,000 years of... - Marble chishou hornless dragon head, Yuan DynastyYuan DynastyThe Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
, Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of ArtThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.... - Lacquerware vase with hornless dragon design, Qing DynastyQing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, National Palace Museum - Hornless dragon on a porcelain plate, Qing Dynasty, Royal Alberta MuseumRoyal Alberta MuseumThe Royal Alberta Museum is located in Edmonton, Alberta and was named the Provincial Museum of Alberta until 24 May 2005 when Queen Elizabeth II visited, bestowing royal patronage. It has a natural history exhibit, a wildlife exhibit, an entomology exhibit, a Native Culture exhibit, as well as...
