Edited by

Jerome Silbergeld
Eugene Y. Wang

the zoomorphic imagination

in Chinese Art and Culture
the zoomorphic imagination
in chinese art and culture
The Zoomorphic Imagination
in Chinese Art and Culture

edited by
Jerome Silbergeld and Eugene Y. Wang

University of HawaiiPress
Honolulu
2016 University of HawaiiPress
All rights reserved
Printed in China
21 20 19 18 17 16 6 5 4 3 21

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The zoomorphic imagination in Chinese art

and culture / edited by Jerome Silbergeld and
Eugene Y. Wang.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8248-4676-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Art, Chinese. 2. Animals in art. i. Silbergeld,
Jerome, editor. ii. Wang, Eugene Yuejin, editor.
n7340.z66 2016
704.9'4320951 dc23
2015021586

This publication is made possible in part by the

Barr Ferree Foundation Fund for Publications,
Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton
University.

Frontispiece: Unidentified artist (late twelfth

century). Gibbons Raiding an Egrets Nest (detail).
Han dynasty (206 bc ad220). Fan mounted
as an album leaf, ink and color on silk,
24.122.8cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
John Steward Kennedy Fund, 1913, 13.100.104.

University of Hawaii Press books are printed

on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Council on
Library Resources.

Designed by Binocular, New York

 Contents

vii Preface EugeneY. Wang

ix Acknowledgments Eugene Y. Wang and Jerome Silbergeld
xi Chronology of Chinese Dynasties

1 Trading Places: An Introduction to Zoomorphism and

Anthropomorphism in ChineseArt
Jerome Silbergeld

chapter1
21 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes
SarahAllan

chapter2
67 Labeling the Creatures: Some Problems in Han and
Six Dynasties Iconography
SusanBush

chapter3
95 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals as Beastly,
Human, andHybrid Beings in MedievalChina
Judy ChungwaHo

chapter4
137 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism:
The Case of Mount Baoding in Dazu, Sichuan
HenrikH. Srensen

chapter5
171 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound: The Evolution of
Soushan Tu Paintings in the Northern Song Period
Carmelita Hinton

chapter6
215 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings
QianshenBai
 chapter7
253 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology: Dragons and
Their Painters in Song and Southern SongChina
Jennifer Purtle

chapter8
289 The Political Animal: Metaphoric Rebellion in Zhao Yongs
Painting ofHeavenly Horses
Jerome Silbergeld

chapter9
341 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin: Intercultural Signification
in MingDynastyArts
Kathlyn Liscomb

chapter10
379 Weird Science: European Origins of the Fantastic Creatures
in the QingCourt Painting, the Manual of Sea Oddities
Daniel Greenberg

chapter11
401 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity
Kristina Kleutghen

433 Glossary
443 Contributors
447 Index

vi Contents
Preface

Most books on animals in Chinese art in Western language focus on

symbolism. They meet the public curiosity about what a particular animal
stands for in Chinese culture. The premise of symbolism, however, can
be misleading. Yes, a tiger may stand for this or that, but there is more to
that substitution. A book that indexes the symbolic values of animals is
serviceable, but it does not even begin to describe the dynamic nature of
what animals do in Chinese art and culture. Animals may be saddled with
the responsibility of particular symbolic values. What makes the Chinese
use of animal images distinct is not so much what they stand for as how
they stand in relation to each other. In other words, it is the way they all
add up and work in concert that matters most. The web of relationships
to which they are integrated is the key to Chinese animal symbolism. A
tiger is more meaningful if it is to be understood in relation to a dragon.
The dragon/tiger pair, in fact, covers vast terrains, at once signaling
mercury/lead, ascent/descent, sun/moon, south/north, fire/water, male/
female, heart/veins, pneuma/saliva, blood/semen, red/black, floating/
sinking, host/guest, self/other. The list can keep growing. It would be
maddening to keep track of all the equations or referential values. We
would have missed the point. If we take care to note how this system
works, we observe a pattern built on binaries. We then realize that it is
not so much that the dragon/tiger equates mercury/lead as it functions as
shorthand to correlating and corralling two sets of binary qualities. One
might even say that it is a computational device that can automate the
generation of the values the list can keep piling up. And we begin to
get the hang of it. Unlike other books on animal symbolism, this book is
about that system of values expressed through animal images.
Its appearance is timely. The book speaks to the recent resurgent
interest in animals, which stems in large part from our growing environ-
mental sensibility. We are now acutely aware of the inadequacy of our
profit-driven man-over-nature triumphalism that jeopardizes natural
resources. Chinas long history provides food for thought in that regard.
There was an ideal vision, as articulated around 139bc:

Birds beat their wings in the air in order to fly. Wild beasts stomp
on solid ground in order to run. Serpents and dragons live in
the water. Tigers and leopards live in the mountains. This is the

vii
 nature of Heaven and Earth. . . . Each accords with where it lives
in order to protect against the cold and the heat. All things attain
what is suitable to them; things accord with their niches. From
this viewpoint, the myriad things definitely accord with what is
natural to them, so why should sages interfere withthis?

Stances like this probably help foster a widespread perception about

the traditional Chinese exaltation of nature. Study of Chinese animal
images gives us a chance to examine closely what that allegedly exalted
nature amounts to. If we take nature to mean natural physical envi-
ronment and wilderness whose enormity and eco-diversity is beyond
any human ken or design, then that is not the kind of nature Chinese
art at least in its early phase is about. Early visions of natural envi-
ronment acknowledge the way it operates on its own. As soon as it is
filtered through human-designed schemes, however, nature becomes an
ordered state of affairs. Animal images play a large part in that schematic
ordering. Early representation of nature hardly goes without animal
images. Feathered creatures call to mind rivers; shorthaired animals
suggest mountain forests; scaled creatures epitomize mountains; furry
animals recall tombs and puddles; shelled creatures embody earth;
and directional animals evoke heaven. Animals, as it becomes clear,
amount to a taxonomy of topography.
As Chinese notions of nature focus largely on patterns of change and
evolving processes, animals also become figural building blocks of that
conceptual template. Seasonal changes are visualized in early classics as
swallows and sparrows diving into the sea, where they transform into
clams in winter; spring, in contrast, is marked by the transformation
of hawks into doves. Not that they physically do; rather, animal images
embody the changing states of natural processes. It is the pattern of change
that is the core of the Chinese notion of nature. Animal images are to be
understood in thisvein.
As is always the case however, concrete images embodying abstract
concepts can be an unruly state of affairs. The visual noises inadvertently
send unintended signals. Animals forces of nature take on lives
of their own as well. Hence the complexity of the signifying practices
involving animals that calls for some careful sorting out and accounts.
This is what this volume is about.

EugeneY. Wang

viii Preface
Acknowledgments

Like all complex projects, this book has been long in coming. A first note
of thanks goes to Alan Chong for when he was curator at the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum. In 2007, Alan initiated an exhibition involving
me and my graduate student, Michelle Wang. Our collaboration resulted
in A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of Early China, a beautifully produced
catalog edited by Michelle Wang, and an exhibition held in the Gardner
Museum. The symposium Alan and I convened featured a roster of
speakers whose papers inspired us to think of publication of a volume.
Oversized ambition overtook me and I began to harbor a larger plan. I
organized, in the following year, a workshop at Harvard and invited more
scholars on board, aiming at a more comprehensive volume on animal
images in Chinese art. The roster included the core group of authors of
the present volume.
Collecting and editing the essays subsequently turned into an
on-and-off affair for me. Soon other projects began to eclipse and over-
whelm this one. It began to dawn on me that the loss of momentum
might eventually doom this project. My longtime friend Jerome
Silbergeld, one of the authors I invited to the Harvard workshop, became
my deus ex machina. Jerome kindly answered my plea for help. As in a
long, drawn-out baseball game, Jerome was the most decisive closer. And
close it he did, not with a whimper but with a bang. He took over the
whole pile. With his care and nurturing, lo and behold, that unweeded
garden with things rank and gross turned into a fully revitalized nursery.
Moreover, Jerome also raised the main bulk of funding to offset the cost
of publication.
Things go in circles. Jerome left Seattle more than a decade ago to
take up the P. Y. & KinmayW. Tang Professorship of Chinese Art History
at Princeton. His bond with Seattle remains strong. Michael Duckworth,
formerly chief editor at the University of Washington Press at Seattle,
had put the Asian art publication in the map for the press. Jerome was
his sidekick, and vice versa. After an odyssean journey, Michael has now
come back from Asia after jump-starting Asian art publications at the
Hong Kong University Press. Now heading the University of Hawaii
Press, Michael treats this project as one of his homecoming pieces. It is
a happy reunion for the three of us. I was Michaels author when he was
in Seattle; Jeromes partnership with Michael has been unwavering. So

ix
the three musketeers have joined forces again, taking the imaginary
beachhead of Hawaii by storm, hoping that this endeavor will signal
another surge of Asian art publications. It looks like Jerome and I can
never accomplish anything without Michael being there for us. But we
know we are in good hands.

EugeneY. Wang
Cambridge,Mass.

Getting a multiauthored book from concept to cloth cover gives an

editor a lot to feel grateful for and many people to be grateful to. First
comes Eugene Wang, whose concept this was, who also served as casting
director, and who as production manager actually got this project off the
ground: there is the essence of the thing. Next come the contributors
he gathered, who individually comprise that thing. Their creativity
and scholarly experience were equaled, in my estimation, only by their
consistent preparedness to do what they were asked: tasks were assigned
and carried out, deadlines were given, deadlines met an editors dream,
and I am grateful for the many potential difficulties I was spared. I am
grateful to University of Hawaii Press director Michael Duckworth, a
longtime associate whose work I have admired for decades, who appreci-
ated the potential of this project from the outset and gave it life support
at several critical moments. In Honolulu, editors StephanieChun
and Emma Ching took turns guiding this book as it progressed from
disparate papers to a coherent whole, and managing editor Cheri Dunn
helped guide it down the home stretch. With a sharp eye for detail,
copy editor Drew Bryan contributed invaluably, and cheerfully, to its
readability. Essential to the look and feel that shape the reading experi-
ence, designers of the book, Joseph Cho and Stefanie Lew of Binocular,
created a harmonious blend in which visual style enriches the content,
so important for a book that has much to do with style. At Princeton, the
Barr Ferree Publications Fund provided generous financial support when
needed. To all the members of this far-flung team and to the University
of Hawaii Press as a whole, my most sincere gratitude.

Jerome Silbergeld
Princeton, N.J.

x Acknowledgments
Chronology of Chinese Dynasties

neolithic period ca.10,000 ca.2100bce

shang dynasty ca.1600 ca.1050bce
zhou dynasty ca.1046 256bce
Western Zhou ca.1046 771bce
Eastern Zhou ca.770 256bce
Spring and Autumn Period 770 476bce
Warring States Period 475 221bce
qin dynasty 221 206bce
han dynasty 206 bce 220ce
Western (Former) Han Dynasty 206 bce 9ce
Xin Dynasty (Wang Mang interregnum) 9 24
Eastern (Later) Han Dynasty 25 220
three kingdoms 220 265
Wei 220 265
Shu 221 263
Wu 222 280
jin dynasty 265 420
Western Jin 265 317
Eastern Jin 317 420
southern and northern dynasties 222 589
Southern Dynasties (Six Dynasties) 222 589
Wu 222 280
Eastern Jin 317 420
Liu Song 420 479
Southern Qi 479 502
Liang 502 557
Chen 557 589
Northern Dynasties 386 581
Northern Wei 386 534
Eastern Wei 534 550
Western Wei 535 556
Northern Qi 550 577
Northern Zhou 557 581
sui dynasty 581 618

xi
tang dynasty 618 907
Great Zhou Dynasty (Wu Zetian interregnum) 684 705
five dynasties (in the north) 907 960
Later Liang 907 923
Later Tang 923 936
Later Jin 936 947
Later Han 947 950
Later Zhou 951 960
ten kingdoms (in the south) 907 979
Former Shu 907 925
Later Shu 934 965
Nanping or Jingnan 924 963
Chu 927 951
Wu 902 937
Southern Tang 937 975
Wu-Yue 907 978
Min 909 945
Southern Han 917 971
Northern Han 951 979
liao dynasty 907 1125
song dynasty 960 1279
Northern Song 960 1127
Southern Song 1127 1279
western xia dynasty 1038 1227
jin dynasty 1115 1234
yuan dynasty 1271 1368
ming dynasty 1368 1644
qing dynasty 1644 1911
republic 1912 1949
peoples republic 1949

xii Chronology of Chinese Dynasties

the zoomorphic imagination
in chinese art and culture
Trading Places: An Introduction to Zoomorphism
and Anthropomorphism in ChineseArt
Jerome Silbergeld

Zoomorphism: by whatever name, it has been a part of the human

imagination and the visual arts throughout our history, from Egyptian
and Assyrian reliefs to Donald Duck, WileE. Coyote, Pogo Possum, and
Maus. The word itself means more than one thing, as does its correlate,
anthropomorphism. Its early use involved attributing animal character-
istics to deities, as with the Egyptian jackal-headed funerary god Anubis,
the composite Chinese taotie, the Holy Ghost rendered as a dove, God
described in male terms and man formed in Gods image.1 Literally,
zoomorphism has been defined to include virtually any depiction of
an animal, especially in a decorative manner or for symbolic purposes.
Practically speaking, and probably most commonly today, zoomorphism
refers to the attribution of animal characteristics to humans, whether
done verbally or visually, whether kindly or insulting. Conversely, fused
to this like the other side of a coin is anthropomorphism: to attribute to
an animal some distinctly human features, virtues, or vices or, likewise,
to render botanical or geological motifs with personified features a
tree that bends protectively over the man, a mountain that seems to
elevate a poet toward the sky upon which he can brush his inscription
as the Chinese painter Shen Zhou did so well (figs. i.1, i.2), and thus
to recognize in, or to read into, such renderings those qualities consid-
ered unique to humans. Often enough, these two isms are quite
inseparable: Animal Farms two-legged pigs in human clothing are
anthropomorphized, but to overlook the zoomorphized piggishness of
a certain group of humans whom they reference would be to miss the

1
figure i.1
Shen Zhou, Return from a
Thousand Li, 1496. Album
leaf mounted as a hand-
scroll, detail, ink on paper,
38.760.3cm (complete
album leaf ). Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art, Kansas
City, Missouri. Purchase:
William Rockhill Nelson
Trust, 46-51/2. Photo: John
Lamberton.

main point (fig.i.3). In Europe, despite religious resistance to theories

of evolution, artists from Leonardo, Charles Le Brun, and Peter Paul
Reubens on have explored the physiognomic relationship between
humans and animals, often in the most literal terms (fig. i.4).2
It is at a fairly sophomoric but oftentimes powerful level that we
brand our friends or (more likely) our enemies with zoomorphic labels,3
and the Chinese communist government, ever-populist in its appeal, has
never hesitated to apply such labels.4 Nationalists and other client states
of America were regularly designated as running dogs. Drawing on the
ancient belief in evil spirits seductively disguised as humans (cf.chapter5),
class enemies were denounced revealed, unmasked in the Anti-
Rightist Movement (1958) and the Cultural Revolution (1966 1976) as
cow ghosts and snake spirits (niu gui she shen), to be swept away.5
Dehumanized, these ideological victims could no longer expect any
better treatment than a common animal, which in China, both old and
new, has been none too good. Jiang Wens film about Chinese-Japanese
perceptions of each other during the Pacific War years, Devils on the
Doorstep (Guizi laile, 2000), is steeped in such dehumanizing verbal slander
and visual transformations: Chinese juxtaposed with scared chickens,
Japanese with obedient sheep, and so forth, used to explore the question
of whether there really is such a thing as national character.6 Similarly,
vowing to quell corruption at all levels, Chinese president Xi Jinping
recently pledged to capture both the tigers and the flies.7
These modern examples descended from an age-old Chinese zoomor-
phic tradition. For example, soon after the demise of the First Emperor,

2 Jerome Silbergeld
figure i.2
Shen Zhou, Man on a
Mountain, 1496. Album
leaf mounted as a
handscroll, ink on paper,
38.760.3cm. Nelson-
Atkins Museum of Art,
Kansas City, Missouri.
Purchase: William Rockhill
Nelson Trust, 46-51/4.
Photo: John Lamberton.

it was famously said that he had the heart of a tiger and a wolf. He killed
men as though he could never finish, he punished men as though he
were afraid he would never get around to them all, and the whole world
revolted against him.8 The event at which this was spoken, by Liu Bangs
charioteer Fan Kuai at the so-called feast at Hongmen, is depicted in
what now may be the oldest surviving image of a known historical event
in China, but there is no reference in this depiction to Fans zoomorphic
epithet.9 On the other hand, Su Shis later epithet for the famous political
reformer Wang Anshi, in 1085, grew directly from a painting he saw and
inscribed, by a scholar who today is known only as Candidate Yong,
depicting a variety of garden pests. Yongs image of a snail climbing a
wall inspired this snarky four-line poem by Su: Rancid saliva inadequate
to fill a shell. / Barely enough to quench its own thirst. / Climbing high,
he knows not how to stop, / And ends up stuck on the wall shriveled.
With that, Wang Anshi was defined by his political rival Su (who repeat-
edly got into deep trouble due to his unrestrained writings) as a spitting
rhetorician who had overextended himself and was now stuck with
thatfate.10
This tradition was also extended to incorporate foreigners and
national minorities into its fold. The names of foreign tribes surroun-
ding Chinese territory were traditionally written with characters that
included the dog-radical (e.g., the Hui Muslims of the west, the Xianyun
and Di tribes of the north, the Quan-Rong of the northwest highlands),
the sheep-radical (the Qiang or Jiang-Rong of the northwest), or the
insect-radical (the Man tribes of the deep south). This practice was

3 Trading Places
figure i.3
Ben Templesmith. Design
for an Animal Farm book
cover, 2008. From http://
tumblr_kyzu06KzHW1q
zu6nxo1_1280.

eliminated after 1949 in favor of a more overtly inclusive social rhetoric

(still heavily weighted in favor of Yellow River Valley peoples), with the
exception of the written character for Jews, which still includes the
dog-radical.11 As recently as the late Ming early Qing period, either out
of mere ignorance or sheer intolerance, past and present barbarian
tribes were the visual subject of zoomorphic fantasies, such as the Wusun
of the northwest, who were depicted as three-clawed hybrids covered
with rich swaths of bodily fur (fig. i.5).12
To explore ones relationship to the animal world is only natural.13
We all do it individually, and others do it for us culturally, collectively,
through a variety of shared media. In Yann Martels novel The Life of Pi,
and Ang Lees film adaptation of it (2012), the nature of interspecies
relationships and the question of whether or not there can be any real
grasp of another species inner life is presented as profoundly ambiguous,
requiring that two radically different versions of the tale be submitted
for the audiences contemplation. One is left, in the end, to speculate
whether the animals have been introduced to supplant the traumatic
memory of human bestiality or whether the debased, all-human version
has been presented for those who cannot believe in the capacity for
mutual intimacy between humans and wild animals.14 Various documen-
tary films have explored both sides of this question, such as Buck (2011),
about a real-life horse whisperer and his uncanny ability to train horses
through an understanding of their language and instincts. On the other

4 Jerome Silbergeld
figure i.4
Giambattista della Porta,
De humana physiognomonia
libriiiii, 1586. From (slaughtered and eaten by them) of amateur naturalist Timothy Treadwell
FlavioCaroli, Storia della (d.2003) is entirely unstinting in portraying the chasm between man
Fisiognomica: Arte e
piscologia de Leonardo a
Freud (Milan: Leonardo,
1995),73.
hand, Werner Herzogs documentary film Grizzly Man (2005) based
on the life (thirteen years living among the bears of Alaska) and death
and beast.15
The interaction between artistic creation and audience reception
mirrors the tight relationship between zoomorphic and anthropomor-
phic interchange. When a painter zoomorphizes human motives by
projecting them in animal form, then the accurate recognition of that
human element embodied in animal form (mentally anthropomor-
phizing it, with the need to not overinterpret) is a critical part of the
receptive process. The viewer is often left to judge whether the human-
animal interchange is more about the exploration of human nature
and human activities (humanity in animal clothing) or about animals
(in human clothing) that is, more about our differences from animals
or about their similarities to us. When Lassie comes bearing irrefutable
evidence of a bursting financial bubble that her human owners are
pathetically slow to recognize (fig. i.6), or when the cat confesses to the
mouse what the modern human male is so reluctant to admit to his
female companion that it is the inequality in their relationship which
he most enjoys about her (fig. i.7) we are not so much concerned with
animal behavior as with a mirror revealing human nature.16
Like the modern cartoon, language too can compact the distance
between man and animal. We all possess and express animalistic
5 Trading Places
figure i.5
Illustration of three-clawed
Wusun chieftain, 1607.
From Wang Qi, ed., Sancai
tuhui, renwu, juan 13,25.

feelings and expressions and are occasionally said to bark or to bray.

Cartoonist Gary Larson, whose work has regularly exchanged humans
and beasts (such as his famous cigarette-smoking dinosaurs, puffing
their way to extinction), has also spoofingly challenged the belief in
species transference (and thus the very basis of his own work) in his
double-cartoon What We Say to Dogs (Okay, Ginger! Ive had it! You
stay out of the garbage! Understand, Ginger? Stay out of the garbage or
else!) and What They Hear (blah blah ginger blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah ginger blah blah blah blah blah). Yet we continue
to be drawn irresistibly to depictions, including photographs and videos,
of animals behaving in ways that we might otherwise imagine as reserved
for people, reminding us that our supposed uniqueness as a species is at
best a limited truth (fig. i.8).17 People have rarely let their real differences
from animals deter them from imagining humans and animals trading
places in ways that are realistic, unrealistic, or anywhere in between.
If we examine the historical foundations of zoomorphic and anthro-
pomorphic arts, from a time when people were still closely surrounded
by the beasts of fields and forests and streams, one is obliged to consider

6 Jerome Silbergeld
the conclusion by Roel Sterckz in his study of perception of animals
and the animal world in Warring States and early imperial China:

Even in the poesis of the xing [stimulus or evocation], as Pauline

Yu has suggested, the selection of categorical correspondences
between natural imagery and human events rarely involves the
complete otherness of reference. Natural object and human
situation [Pauline Yu writes] were believed literally to belong to
the same class of events: it was not the poet who was creating
or manufacturing the links between them. The view that the
Chinese merely digested the natural fauna in order to illustrate
a human or social principle therefore only sheds partial light
on early Chinese perceptions of nature, since this approach
makes projections from one realm to explicate the other and
viceversa.18

While this may be a questionable or only a partial truth (Pauline

Yu extends it further to assert the inapplicability of Western concepts
of metaphor and allegory to Chinese literature19), not borne out in
comments attributed to Confucius, quoted below, it is the paradoxical
interplay between shared characteristics and radical differences that
facilitates and enlivens the zoomorphic visions considered throughout
this volumes collection of essays.
Everyone is deeply engaged with the lives of other animals. We have
seized their forests and fields to plant our food. We eat them, sometimes
by hunting but mostly now through domestication, and occasionally
they eat us. We have domesticated still others in order to extend our own
capacity, borrowing their eyes and ears for greater perception, their teeth
and claws for hunting, their legs for hauling and travel, and their pelts
for warmth and housing. From yet others we have symbolically borrowed
wings and feathers, night vision, physical strength, and powers of endur-
ance, longevity, and rejuvenation in order to extend our own reach into
the spirit realm, to facilitate shamanic rituals and enhance religious
performances. It is only natural that they should play a large role in our
hopes and fears, in our fantasies, and in our attempts to understand the
nature and limits of our own identity as a species. An engagement with
the zoomorphic imagination can help to reveal the attitude of an artist,
or a time period, or perhaps a whole culture, toward the other species
that share our planet and toward the planet that we share.
Turning our attention to China in search of such attitudes, we will
hardly be overwhelmed by any degree of cultural or historical consistency.

7 Trading Places
figure i.6
Tom Cheney, What Is It,
Lassie Is Timmy In
Trouble? 2009. Cartoon, When the stables were burnt down, when he returned from court the
from The New Yorker,
February 9/16, 2009, p.96.
figure i.7
Leo Cullum, Most of All
ILove Your Vulnerability, am not to be a man among other men, then what am I to be?21 A sharp
undated. Cartoon from
Leo Cullum, Cockatiels For
Two: A Book of Cat Cartoons
by New Yorker Cartoonist
Leo Cullum (New York:
HarryN. Abrams, 2004),
unpaginated.
In Confucian philosophy, for example, we find little attention given to,
or empathy for, our fellow species. The Analects pointedly records that
Master asked, Was anyone hurt? He did not ask about the horses.20
No less pointedly, the Master clarified his attitude toward the zoological
realm with this inquiry: One cannot herd with birds and beasts. If I
contrast may be drawn between this and the early Daoists, whose view
of human nature was to stress its faults and limitations. Zhuangzi, most
distinctively, claimed to understand the inner feelings of fish and happily
confused the inner workings of his own mind with that of butterflies.
It was he who recommended that we eschew thinking about things in
too rational a manner and be instead like the stupid newborn calf.22
Chinese rulers, as the chapters that follow will illustrate, drew freely on
both of these views.
The zoomorphic imagination was alive, also, for the Buddhists, who
stressed that for better or worse in the workings of karma, we arise from
the world of animals, to whom we are generically superior but without
compassion for whom we are bound to sink back into their realm. This is
given form in the rendering of another cat-and-mouse relationship, from
the Buddhist stone carvings at Dazu (cf.fig.4.11), demonstrating the
significant role of zoomorphism in Buddhist theology.
The impact on ecological history of Chinas deep-seated attitudes
or in some cases despite their attitudes was real and significant, as
stressed by Mark Elvin in his environmental history of China, The
Retreat of the Elephants. The war against wild animals generally, he
8 Jerome Silbergeld
figure i.8
Unknown photographer,
Cat vengeance. From
http://s2.favim.com
/orig/33/bowl-cat-cats-
dinner-mean-Favim
.com-263960.jpg.

writes, was a defining characteristic of the early Zhou-dynasty from

which classical China later emerged.23 Confucians fully embraced the
bias toward a human form of ordering the environment. Elvin quotes
Confucius disciple Mengzi as claiming that in the Shang, following the
orderly reign of the three Sage Rulers, the earlier farmlands were grad-
ually abandoned to wilderness beasts and birds, thickets and swamps,
and by the last reign of the Shang period the world was once again in
great disorder. In overthrowing the corrupt Shang, Mengzi claimed,
the good Zhou drove the tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, and elephants
far away, and the world was greatly delighted.24 Elvin produces a map
showing that far from this being mere anti-Shang political rhetoric, the
then-forested lower reaches of the Yellow River stretching all the way
north to modern-day Beijing had been occupied by elephants as late
as 900 bce but gave way in the middle Zhou to fields and farming.25
Through more than three thousand years, Elvin writes,

the Chinese refashioned China. They cleared the forests and the
original vegetation cover, terraced its hill-slopes, and partitioned
its valley floors into fields. They diked, dammed, and diverted its
rivers and lakes. They hunted or domesticated its animals and
birds; or else destroyed their habitats as a by-product of the
pursuit of economic improvements. By late-imperial times there
was little that could be called natural left untouched by this
process of exploitation and adaptation. . . . [The] landscape was in
fact tamed, transformed, and exploited to a degree that had few
parallels in the premodern world. . . . Almost all European farming,

9 Trading Places
 for example relied on rainfall, not irrigation, the basis of so much
of Chinese agriculture; and long European transport canals,
though briefly important, were more modest than those in China,
and built much later. . . . At the same time there developed among
the elite an artistic and philosophical attitude toward the land-
scape that saw it as the exemplification of the workings of the
deepest forces in the cosmos. The eye endowed with understan-
ding could see in a landscape the self-realizing patterns of the Way
. . . could perceive it as the serious playground, so to speak, of the
Immortals . . . [or] as an embodiment of the Buddha. . . . A paradox
thus lay at the heart of Chinese attitudes to the landscape.26

Elvin quotes Heiner Roetz to the effect that the sympathetic feeling
for nature [of the elite], such as that in the Zhuangzi, was simply a reaction
against the course being taken in an entirely opposite direction by reality
as it developed.27

* * *

We might ask the same question of Chinese paintings of animals that

is often asked of their landscape painting genre: why did the Chinese
make so many of them? One answer is that in the Chinese holistic view
and systematic shaping of reality, just as a landscape could take on
so many meanings beyond just that of a landscape, an animal could
embody so many meanings and provide so many different thematic uses.
Shaping the writings in this volume are two kinds of reality: the world
the Chinese lived in (the real world) and their cultural perceptions of it
(their interior reality, individual and collective), along with the complex,
often paradoxical relation between thetwo.
There is already a fair amount of writing on animals in Chinese art,
none better than Hou-mei Sungs study of early Ming paintings in her
Decoding Messages, but most focus on the subject as simple, one-for-one
symbolic equivalents, either one species at a time or in encyclopedic
surveys.28 For example, the frequently painted gibbon was idealized by
Confucians, Daoists, and Buddhists alike, but each for different reasons.29
Rarely do these writings pursue ways of thinking about the subject, then
and now, by Chinese or historians of China. Through its various chapters,
the intent of this volume is to explore the subject broadly, in depth, in
complexity, and in multiple dimensions, asking not only what but how
and why. Collectively, they cover all the Western dictionary definitions of
zoomorphism. But they also demonstrate the arbitrariness of definitions,
and as often as not their chosen artistic examples would fit into two or

10 Jerome Silbergeld
more aspects of the concept. Moreover, they cover virtually the entirety of
Chinese history, from the earliest age of writing, in the Shang dynasty, to
the present day, a period during which Chinese concepts were constantly
changing.
Most of these eleven chapters involve zoomorphized deities or
semidivine creatures. Sarah Allan adds to the age-old discussion of
the Bronze Age taotie, arguing that it represented the unrepresentable,
unknowable aspects of deity. This was suggested, more than depicted,
by borrowing and aggregating various characteristics from the animal
realm from the strong, from the sacrificed, from the long-lived, from
the night-sighted, from those that undergo radical transformation. But
transformation itself, she suggests, was the means by which the divine
was best represented by refusing to describe divinity as any one thing,
or anything at all for very long. Ritual bronze decor, therefore (and not
just bronzes but all the ritual arts of the age), had to become an art of
nonrepresentation, an art of energy and change.
By Han times, the unnumbered (one or more?), unnamed (unnam-
able?) deity (or deities?) of Shang had become a great many, had many
names, and had acquired many specific characteristics. But as Susan Bush
shows, trying to pin them down is not easy, and thinking of them as fixed
entities all ready for definitive, encyclopedic accounting is a mistake. And
even if everyone there and then agreed that there was something fixed
about each of them, each writer and virtually every artist had his own
view as to just what thatwas.
As every student of fengshui knows, the earth (place) is stable but the
heavens (time) are in constant motion, and timing is the key to every step
of the process of siting, thereby harmonizing earth with the heavens. Like
the Greeks, the Chinese determined early on which of the stars remained
in bright, stable patterns viewed from earth; but unlike them, the Chinese
identified every sector of their twenty-eight figured lunar mansions
(counterpart of the Western solar zodiac) with an abstract term. Judy
Chungwa Hos study of these figures, and of the four seasonal creatures
and the twelve calendrical (annual) animals depicted as human-animal
hybrids and all but the dragon based on real animals deals with many
aspects of early Chinese attempts to map the heavens, to pair heaven with
earth, and by an astral understanding of times passage to gain control of
earthly events. Knowledge of these animal cycles, from dragon through
tiger and back again, was the key to Chinese astrologys fate calculation
and to personality judgment, relating astral sequencing and animal char-
acter to human outcomes both in life and afterlife. Depictions of these
twelve animals in painting, sculpture, and cast metal, from temples to

11 Trading Places
tombs, constituted one of the early origins of realistic animal represen-
tation in China, in a lively thematic tradition that continues down to
the present day. Despite all efforts to develop a stable knowledge of the
ever-changing, Ho emphasizes the lack of consistency that characterized
the long history of this Chinese belief system, especially after Buddhism
imported Indias own calendrical zoomorphism in a period of intense
cultural interaction.
Henrik Srensen deals with a Buddhist kingdom of sentient beings
in which all the species are present and highly interactive, earthly in form
but cosmic in import, because all are attached to the same great Wheel
of the Law going around and around. Karmic forces can turn a mouse
into a cat, a cat into a mouse. But only when a person has tamed that
big, wild cat inside himself can he get off the wheel. Srensen defines six
zoomorphic modes in Buddhist art animals as mounts for the divin-
ities, as symbols, as metaphors, animals as animals (as in the Jtakas), as
divinities, and as mythic creatures. He bases his study on the superb
Tang-through-Song sculptural bestiary at the Tantric Buddhist cult site
of Mount Baoding, in Dazu Country, Sichuan (now a unesco World
Heritage site), where secondary Daoist and Confucian themes mingle
with the dominant Buddhistones.
The forest creatures in Carmelita Hintons study of the clearing
out the mountain demons theme provide the most spectacular animal
imagery of all a veritable menagerie of exotic, often hybrid creatures
and certainly the most violent. While spellbinding, it is hard to tell in
these paintings of creature combat who are the good guys and who are
the bad, let alone what the whole thing is about. As it turns out, one can
only begin to tell this by tracing these paintings Confucian function
back to their local Daoist significance and from there still further back
to Buddhist origins. To do so, Hinton navigates a maze of historical
and religious transformations as complex as the bestial hybridity itself.
How would any uninformed audience know just how, behind this
animal masquerade, lay the defense of the Buddhist law, the cult figures
(both heroes and demons) of localized Daoist movements and political
contests, and the ensurance by the Confucian state of the prosperity,
peace, and happiness of the people against any and all demonic threats?
For our purposes, something seldom seen in the long Chinese tradition
of harmonious landscape paintings is revealed here, something that
lurks beyond the imagined rustic wanderings of long-robed gentlemen,
beyond the planted fields and cultivated paddies of rural civilization, and
that is the danger that still darkened the untamed woodlands of Chinas
border regions. Given zoomorphic and human-animal hybrid form, these

12 Jerome Silbergeld
images betray a deep distrust of the undomesticated zoological realm,
together with a bestializing of those cultures being slowly purged from
Chinas ethnic hinterlands.
In Jennifer Purtles chapter, not only do the sacred dragons bring
down life-giving rain, so too does the artistic representation of them,
establishing a kind of equivalency between the represented and the
representational act that one can trace in theory back to Chinas earliest
landscape treatise, by Zong Bing.30 The artist, at least a great one like the
dragon painter Chen Rong of the late Southern Song who summoned
rain by spitting ink onto his image, creating a kind of visual onomato-
poeia was thus elevated to the level of priest-facilitator. Extending
modern reception theory backwards, Purtle emphasizes that it took
a viewer-believer to lend ritual vitality to the extended metaphor of
artist-dragon-rain. Never mind that, from a modern skeptics point of
view, if such ritual artistry was believed to work so assuredly, then viewers
(in that most rational of all periods, the Song) ought to have wondered
why a drought was permitted to occur in the first place; suffice it to say
that if the ritual seemed to work at all, even occasionally, the atavistic
faith in the supernatural powers of art was reinforced and the dragon
myth livedon.
A different ancient myth lives on in my own chapter, that of
auspicious horses, physiologically distinct from ordinary horses and
Heaven-sent. As horses translated into art, they might simply appear as
handsome steeds well depicted, but to understand the paintings in which
they appear one must know their literary origins, their various referential
possibilities, and, as with Carmelita Hintons forest demons, their polit-
ical context. Embodying in equal measure both endurance and docility,
any fine horse might potentially represent the fine scholar-official,
independent-minded yet eager to contribute to the public welfare. But
beyond that, the heavenly horse signaled a virtuous regime supported
by Heaven itself and thus able to recruit such fine civil servants. In this
case, as depicted by scholar-official artist Zhao Yong (son of the more
famous Zhao Mengfu) and explained by coded inscriptions above the
painting, their appearance lauded a victorious Mongol general at a time
of rising Chinese resistance and signaled the painters strong support for
a continued Mongol presence on the throne of China. Unlike the viewers
described by Jennifer Purtle, it was not necessary that observers of this
painting believe in the mythic characters and powers being referenced
from earlier times in order to understand or profit by the paintings
rhetorical function. Perhaps they did believe, perhaps they did not, but
they certainly had to be well educated.

13 Trading Places
 Belief systems also lie at the core of Kathlyn Liscombs study. The
giraffe presented to the royal Ming court in 1414 by a Muslim sultan
of Bengal helped to sustain the traditional belief that the appearance
of rare animals was a mark of Heavens favor, while their presentation
as gifts from afar demonstrated the superior moral authority of China
among its neighbors. Even to the doubtful, so strange a creature seemed
to confirm that such zoological oddities as described in the traditional
literature actually existed, and it came to be identified specifically as
the exceedingly rare and sacred qilin of ancient times, whose failure to
appear in Confucius lifetime the master so famously lamented as a mark
of the moral decline of the Zhou. To subscribe to the giraffe-as-qilin
was to believe in the young Ming dynasty as superior in strength and
excellent in moral virtue. In 1414, for the new, powerful, and usurpatious
ruler seated on a stolen throne, the flesh-and-blood giraffe arrived at a
most apt moment and rewarded genuine otherworldly belief or even a
cynically political manipulation ofit.
The three remaining chapters take a different turn. The various
zoomorphic transformations in the chapters already discussed feature
the transformation of human virtues into mythic beasts, such as the
turning of artistic skills into dragons and rain, and the legitimizing of
a young upstart ruler by converting an African exotic into a Chinese
mythic creature. In Qianshen Bais study of animal rebuses of the
Song period (which I treat here out of its sequence in this publication),
zoology morphs into linguistics, at a time when painting and poetry of
the Song elite began to interact with popular expressions. Traditional
auspicious animals disappeared, their place taken by new species and by
homophonic sound-alikes for given words, especially those that sounded
like some form of good fortune. Unless the viewer already knew the
trope, he was left to figure out those transformations for himself. The
rebus became a prominent, if not dominant, zoomorphic trope in later
centuries of Chinese culture, both visually and verbally, and the historical
transition from Heaven-sent auspicious images to quotidian well wishes
( la Hallmark greeting cards) may seem like quite a devolution. Yet as
Qianshen Bai demonstrates, the genre was popular in its origins and its
fashionability among the literary elite in the Song had to do with more
than their love of wordplay. Indeed, for a newly arisen elite, inherently
unstable at least at the individual level, the well-wishing rebus was inti-
mately linked to the auspicious image, one zoomorph to another, in a
functional spectrum benefiting those who needed all the luck they could
get in an environment of shrinking opportunity and who needed to feel
that success, should it come, was sanctioned by the wider community.

14 Jerome Silbergeld
 Daniel Greenbergs chapter in this volume is the one that comes
closest to just being about animals, but of course there is no such
thing in art. And so, it is about the translation of reality into depictions
of reality that one might choose to think of as art, with real animals
that nevertheless challenge the imagination, even today as they did in
the Qing dynasty. And, of course, their role was not then and is not now
simply a subject of zoological study. Greenbergs chapter introduces
a whole other set of new and exotic zoological species, known to their
Chinese artists only through illustrations imported from the West. All
that comes down to us today are images alone, with no written Chinese
explanations for them, and it was left to Greenberg to track down, date,
and demonstrate these European origins. So we can imagine, when
thinking back to earlier chapters, how this array of mind-bending
exotica, their reality affirmed by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century
Western scholarship, might have played into the zoomorphic imagina-
tion of the Chinese audience, especially those at the royal court where
the appetite for rare and auspicious appearances could never be wholly
satisfied. Like clocks, astrolabes, armillary spheres, lenses, and other
Heaven-calibrating apparatuses imported by the Qing court from the
West, these illustrations could be used as a tool to reaffirm and refine
ancient Chinese belief systems or, rather, to challenge them, orboth.
Coming down to our own times, an even more distinctively Western
turn is taken in Kristina Kleutghens study of Huang Yong Ping, whose
hybrid animals and weirdly indeterminate creatures, are intended, as
she demonstrates, to reflect his own experience as a displaced Chinese,
now French but a citizen of a modern and rapidly shrinking world, and
a strange world at that. By combining sources from around the world
and across time, Kleutghen writes, he purports to help us identify and
interpret the strange creatures that populate our contemporary physical
and mental landscape, but always leaving their meanings ambiguous,
offering multiple interpretations in light of a shared global heritage that
we must parse in order to survive in the twenty-first century jungle of
daily culture collision.
This last chapter concludes a historical cycle that begins and ends
with the strange: animals chosen for their strangeness but made stranger
still, foreign creatures that are also human or humanoid human ances-
tors or an ancestral presence in the human psyche. In the Chinese artistic
imagination, not bound to the world of reality but free to explore at the
limits of the known or beyond and even to generate other worlds, the
strange and unfamiliar forever held a special appeal. Yet along the way,
Chinese artists also created some of the most realistic animal depictions,

15 Trading Places
and they forever sought to bring the unfamiliar back into their own
world, to understand and make use of it. Compared to human society,
the animal realm was foreign, yet it was never wholly unfamiliar; it was
always a curious mixture of both. For the artist blessed with the ability
to render reality and, as well, to depict the wanderings through his own
imagination and display the purchase of his own curiosity for others to
see, what could have been more interesting to explore and describe than
the peculiarly flexible boundaries of what it meant to be human?
So, now the zoo is open. Readon.

notes
1 The word anthropomorphism has been traced back to 1753, zoomorphism
to 1840, but both have earlier roots, and their different forms as parts of speech
(-ic, -itism, and so forth) each take on slightly variant shades of meaning. The
Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1971), 91,3871.
2 Flavio Caroli, Storia della Fisiognomica: Arte e piscologia de Leonardo a Freud (Milan:
Leonardo, 1995). Chinese physiognomists related human features to the landscape,
but I do not know of any example in which they compared different facial or head
types to those of different animal species.
3 It was out of friendship that cartoonist Thomas Nast invented the Republican Party
elephant (1874), out of enmity that he popularized the jackass as a Democrat emblem
(1870).
4 Viz. chapter 5, The Force of Labels: Melodrama in the Postmodern Era, in Jerome
Silbergeld, China Into Film: Frames of Reference in Contemporary Chinese Cinema (London:
Reaktion Books, 1999), 188 233.
5 For a discussion of this, see Xing Lu, Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The
Impact on Chinese Thought, Culture, and Communication (Columbia: University of South
Carolina Press, 2004), 59 61.
6 See chapter 2, Body and the Beast, in Jerome Silbergeld, Body in Question: Image
and Illusion in Two Chinese Films by Director Jiang Wen (Princeton, N.J.: Tang Center for
East Asian Art and Princeton University Press, 2008), 71 135.
7 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-arrests-anti-corruption-
activists-even-as-it-pledges-to-oust-dishonest-officials/2013/07/23f74dcfa-f376-11e2-
a2fl-a7acf9bc5d3a_story.html?hpid=z4.
8 Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian of China, trans. Burton Watson (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1961),1:52.
9 See Jonathan Chaves, A Han Painted Tomb at Loyang, Artibus Asiae 30 (1968): 5 27;
Jerome Silbergeld, China Into Film: Frames of Reference in Contemporary Chinese Cinema
(London: Reaktion Books, 1999), 99 100.
10 The original painting no longer exists, but for one like it by Jian Baizi (or
Jianbaizi) inscribed with Sus text, see Alfreda Murck, Poetry and Painting in Song

16 Jerome Silbergeld
China: The Subtle Art of Dissent (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center
and Harvard University Press, 2000), 127 128; this translation follows that in Wu-chi
Liu and Irving Lo, eds., Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry
(Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1975), 345 346, and Murck, Poetry and
Painting in Song China, 128 and 326 note6.
11 This graph remains unchanged perhaps because the Jews in China were not
categorized as one of Chinas fifty-five ethnic minorities.
12 Cf. Silbergeld, Body in Question, 117 122.
13 For some of the better documentary literature on Chinese attitudes toward
animals, see Mark Elvin, Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004); George Schallar, The Last Panda
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993); George Schaller, Tibet Wild: A Naturalists
Journeys on the Roof of the World (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2012). In cinema, see
Lu Chuan, director, Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (Columbia Pictures, Huaiyi Brothers,
National Geographic, 2005), awarded best film at the 2004 Golden Horse Awards, 2005
Golden Rooster Awards, the Hong Kong Film Festival, and the Berlin International
Film Festival, with additional awards at the Shanghai Film Festival, Sundance, and
elsewhere. (The use of horses and roosters to brand such awards, along with Berlins
golden and silver bears and the Venice film festivals gold and silver lions, is also
notable.)
14 Yann Martel, The Life of Pi (Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1991); Ang Lee, director, The
Life of Pi (Fox 2000 Pictures, 2012). I have talked with numerous readers and viewers
who considered one version or the other of this ending to be conclusive, not recog-
nizing that others have assumed exactly the opposite. See the discussion of this in
Whitney Crothers Dilley, The Cinema of Ang Lee: The Other Side of the Screen, 2nd ed.
(New York: Columbia University Press, forthcoming).
15 Cindy Meehl, director, Buck (Cedar Creek Productions, 2011); Werner Herzog,
director, Grizzly Man (Lions Gate Films and Discovery Docs, 2005).
16 A genuine concern with animal societies in comparison with human cultures can
be found in studies like Frans de Waal, Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes
(New York: Harper and Row, 1982); Frans de Waal, Good Natured: The Origins of Right
and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,
1996); Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth, Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a
Social Mind (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007); James Marsh, director, Project
Nim (Lionsgate Films, 2011).
17 For a homemade video from Russia that went viral on YouTube of a crow
repeatedly snowboarding down an apartment roof on a small plastic ring, see
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/25/282572856/winter-blahs-got-you-
down-crowboarding-video-can-help?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Daily
Digest&utm_campaign=20140227.
18 Roel Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon in Early China (Albany: State University
of New York Press, 2002), 1, 11; for Pauline Yus original discussion, referenced here,
see Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1987), 57 65.
19 Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition, 32 33.
20 The Analects of Confucius, trans. Arthur Waley (New York: Vintage Books, 1938), 150,
slightly modified.

17 Trading Places
21 Ibid.,220.
22 The Complete Works of Chuang-tzu, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1970), 188 189, 49,237.
23 Elvin, Retreat of the Elephants,11.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid., 10. A pair of elephant-shaped zun vessels from the Hunan Provincial
Museum and the Freer Gallery are perfectly in accord with late Anyang style (phase5)
and might be northern but were found in Hunan Province near Changsha. See Wen
Fong, ed., The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from the Peoples Republic of China
(New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art and AlfredA. Knopf, 1980), 128 129 and plate
24 and http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm?ObjectNumber=F1936.6a-b;
the large bronze Shang period (phase4) elephant in the Muse Guimet, Paris is more
typical of a central Chinese style. On the other hand, the famous undecorated late
Shang early Zhou rhinoceros zun in San Franciscos Asian Art Museum and the
brilliantly decorated, massive (29lbs., 4oz.) third-century bce rhinoceros in Beijings
Historical Museum were discovered in Shouchang, Shandong Province (ca.1845) and
Xingping County, Shaanxi, respectively; see http://searchcollection.asianart.org/view
/objects/asitem/search$0040/18/title-asc/designation-asc?t:state:flow=fdc7a370-a769-
47f7-8b6c-e0879f69413d and Fong, 320 and plate93.
26 Ibid., 321,323.
27 Ibid., 324, quoting Heiner Roetz, Mensch und Natur im alten China: Zum Subjekt-
Objekt-Gegensatz in der klassichen chinesischen Philosophie: Zugleich eine Kritik des Klischees
vom chinesischen Universisimus (Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1984),85.
28 Hou-mei Sung, Decoding Messages: The Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal Painting
(Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum and New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,
2009); see also Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art (San Francisco:
Asian Art Museum, 2012).
29 Robert Hans van Gulik, The Gibbon in China: An Essay in Chinese Animal Lore
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1967).
30 Kiyohiko Munakata, Concepts of Lei and Kan-lei in Early Chinese Art Theory, in
Theories of the Arts in China, ed. Susan Bush and Christian Murck, 105 131 (Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983); Jerome Silbergeld, Re-reading Zong Bings
Fifth-Century Essay on Landscape Painting: A Few Critical Notes, in A Life in Chinese
Art: Essays in Honour of Michael Sullivan, ed. Shelagh Vainker and Xin Chen, 30 39
(Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012).

references
Books
The Analects of Confucius. Translated by Arthur Waley. New York: Vintage Books,
1938.
Bartholemew, Terese Tse. Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art. San Francisco: Asian
Art Museum,2012.
Caroli, Flavio. Storia della Fisiognomica: Arte e piscologia de Leonardo a Freud. Milan:
Leonardo,1995.

18 Jerome Silbergeld
Chaves, Jonathan. A Han Painted Tomb at Loyang. Artibus Asiae 30 (1968):5 27.
Cheney, Dorothy, and Robert Seyfarth. Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a
Social Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,2007.
The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University
Press,1971.
The Complete Works of Chuang-tzu. Translated by Burton Watson. New York:
Columbia University Press,1970.
de Waal, Frans. Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes. New York: Harper
and Row,1982.
. Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other
Animals. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,1996.
Dilley, Whitney Crothers. The Cinema of Ang Lee: The Other Side of the Screen, 2nd
ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015.
Elvin, Mark. Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China. New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,2004.
Fong, Wen, ed. The Great Bronze Age of China: An Exhibition from the Peoples
Republic of China. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art and AlfredA.
Knopf,1980.
Gulik, Robert Hans van. The Gibbon in China: An Essay in Chinese Animal Lore.
Leiden: E. J. Brill,1967.
Liu, Wu-chi, and Irving Lo, eds. Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of
Chinese Poetry. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press,1975.
Martel, Yann. The Life of Pi. Toronto: Knopf Canada,1991.
Munakata, Kiyohiko. Concepts of Lei and Kan-lei in Early Chinese Art Theory.
In Theories of the Arts in China, edited by Susan Bush and Christian Murck,
105 131. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,1983.
Murck, Alfreda. Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center and Harvard University
Press,2000.
Roetz, Heiner. Mensch und Natur im alten China: Zum Subjekt-Objekt-Gegensatz
in der klassichen chinesischen Philosophie: Zugleich eine Kritik des Klischees vom
chinesischen Universisimus. Frankfurt am Main: Lang,1984.
Schallar, George. The Last Panda. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1993.
. Tibet Wild: A Naturalists Journeys on the Roof of the World. Washington,
D.C.: Island Press,2012.
Silbergeld, Jerome. Body in Question: Image and Illusion in Two Chinese Films
by Director Jiang Wen. Princeton, N.J.: Tang Center for East Asian Art and
Princeton University Press,2008.
. China Into Film: Frames of Reference in Contemporary Chinese Cinema.
London: Reaktion Books,1999.
. Re-reading Zong Bings Fifth-Century Essay on Landscape Painting:
A Few Critical Notes. In A Life in Chinese Art: Essays in Honour of Michael
Sullivan, edited by Shelagh Vainker and Xin Chen, 30 39. Oxford:
Ashmolean Museum,2012.
Sima Qian. Records of the Grand Historian of China. Translated by Burton Watson.
New York: Columbia University Press,1961.

19 Trading Places
Sterckx, Roel. The Animal and the Daemon in Early China. Albany: State University
of New York Press,2002.
Sung, Hou-mei. Decoding Messages: The Symbolic Language of Chinese Animal
Painting. Cincinnati and New Haven, Conn.: Cincinnati Art Museum and
Yale University Press,2009.
Xing Lu. Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Impact on Chinese Thought,
Culture, and Communication. Columbia: University of South Carolina
Press,2004.
Yu, Pauline. The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition. Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press,1987.

Filmography
Herzog, Werner, dir. Grizzly Man. Lions Gate Films and Discovery Docs,2005.
Lee, Ang, dir. The Life of Pi. Fox 2000 Pictures,2012.
Lu Chuan, dir. Kekexili: Mountain Patrol. Columbia Pictures, Huaiyi Brothers,
National Geographic,2005.
Marsh, James, dir. Project Nim. Lionsgate Films,2011.
Meehl, Cindy, dir. Buck. Cedar Creek Productions,2011.

Websites
Asian Art Museum/San Francisco website, http://searchcollection.asianart.org
/view/objects/asitem/search$0040/28/title-asc/designation-asc?t:state:flow
=25a8a7b2-7438-4b71-b095-ed6dbc9aa382.
Freer|Sackler website, http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/singleObject.cfm
?ObjectNumber=F1936.6a-b.
Bill Chappell, blog on npr, Winter Blahs Got You Down? Crowboarding
Video Can Help, February 25, 2014, http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way
/2014/02/25/282572856/winter-blahs-got-you-down-crowboarding-video-
canhelp?utm_medium=Email&utm_source= DailyDigest&utm_campaign
=20140227.
Simon Denyer, As Bo Xilai Trial Hogs Spotlight, Arrests Show Xi Jinping
Consolidating Control, New York Times, August 26, 2013, http://www
.washingtonpost.com/world/as-bo-trial-hogs-spotlight-series-of-arrests-
show-xi-consolidating-control/2013/08/26/225f5c16-0e41-11e3-a2b3-
5e107edf9897_story.html.

20 Jerome Silbergeld
chapter1
The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes
SarahAllan

Pottery vessels filled with food offerings are found in tombs in China
early on in the Neolithic period. By the late Shang period (ca.1300 1050
bce), the cult of ancestral offerings had become the driving force in the
organization of a complex and far-reaching state, centered at Yinxu, near
Anyang, in Henan Province. The kings continually divined to ensure and
confirm that the sacrifices, including both animals and humans, were
appropriate in type, number, color, and combination, and slaughtered
according to the correct ritual. They often engraved these divinations
the so-called oracle bone inscriptions on elaborately prepared bones
and turtle shells (primarily plastrons). From these we know that the
Shang kings believed that their ancestors continued to maintain power
over the living and to require food offerings from their descendants,
without which they would curse them and destroy their land. This cult
of ancestral sacrifice served as the impetus for the development of a
technologically sophisticated bronze-casting industry, which was devoted
primarily to the production of vessels for the meat, grain, wine, and
water used in ancestral sacrifices and ritual weapons, rather than more
practical tools.

recognizing the taotiemotif

Late Shang bronze vessels were the supreme technological and aesthetic
achievement of ancient China. As soon as the technology allowed more
than the most rudimentary designs as decoration, bronze vessels were

21
figure 1.1
Gu wine vessel,
early Shang dynasty
(ca.1600 1300 bce),
excavated at Zhengzhou
Minggonglu, Henan
Province, bronze;
h.17.8cm. From
Zhongguo qingtongqi
quanji bianji weiyuanhui,
ed., Zhongguo qingtongqi
quanji (Beijing: Wenwu
chubanshe, 1996), vol.1,
pl.149.

figure 1.2
He spouted wine vessel,
early Shang dynasty
(ca.1600 1300 bce),
excavated at Zhongmou
Huangdian, Henan
Province, bronze; h.25cm.
From Li Xueqin, ed.
Zhongguo meishu quanji
(Beijing: Wenwu
chubanshe, 1985), vol.4,
pl.13. consistently adorned with a two-eyed zoomorph, traditionally called the
taotie. The taotie is notoriously difficult to define, but quite easy to recog-
nize. When it first appears on bronze vessels (in the early Shang period,
ca.1600 1300 bce), it is characterized by two eyes, and thus the sugges-
tion of a face, placed within a band of undifferentiated decoration. The
motif may be rendered in either thin relief lines or in thick ribbon-like
bands. By the late Shang period, it has been elaborated within the context
of an aesthetic language characterized by mutating zoomorphic forms.
The image is a continually changing composite of different animals,
including humans, but it always includes a pair of eyes, either round or
with canthi (see figs.1.1, 1.2, 1.3 , and 1.4a f).
In the late Shang period, horns or ears are usually found above the
eyes. The horns have distinctive types, presumably those of particular
animals, such as oxen (fig.1.6b), sheep (fig.1.6c), deer (fig.1.6e has the
stalks of a young male; fig.1.6g stylized antlers that have been trans-
formed into dragons). Tiger ears (fig.1.6a) may also take this position.
The identification of the horns in figures 1.5 and 1.6c is less certain, but
I take them as those of a goat. Human ears may be depicted at the sides
of the head (fig.1.6f, taotie on the back side of fig.1.31).1 Many taotie
have eyebrows, either in place of horns or between the eyes and horns
(figs.1.6b, 1.6f, 1.7). The mouth of the taotie is normally open and the
lower jaw is often abbreviated or absent altogether. The mouth frequently
has long fangs (figs.1.6a, 1.6b, 1.6g upper and lower jaw; 1.6c

22 Sarah Allan
figure 1.3
Jue tripodal wine vessel,
early Shang dynasty
(ca.1600 1300 bce), with a single leg or single pair of legs, since the image is in profile.
excavated at Zhengzhou
Minggonglu, Henan
Province, bronze;
h.17.6cm. From distinct individual parts (fig.1.6d). Or they may become whole crea-
Zhongguo qingtongqi
quanji bianji weiyuanhui,
ed. Zhongguo qingtongqi
quanji (Beijing: Wenwu,
1996), pl.69.
upper jaw only). I will argue below that this fanged mouth is associated
with tigers. Two bodies are commonly found on each side of the face,
This two-bodied creature is usually rendered as a split image. The
bodies may also be detached and dissolved, the whole suggested by
tures with their own heads (fig.1.6f). These creatures, which may occur
independently of the taotie, are conventionally called kui-dragons. These
dragon-like creatures often give way to birds, or take on bird aspects, and
both dragons and birds may occur in other registers. Even the horns of
the taotie may become independent dragon images (fig.1.6f). Although
one animal sometimes dominates the imagery on a vessel, that animal
normally has some features of another creature.
Elizabeth Childs-Johnson has suggested that all the horns on the
animals in the taotie motif represent those of wild animals, and she has
23 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes
 a b

c d

e f

figures 1.4a 1.4f
Rubbings of taotie motifs
onearly Shang bronze
vessels. From Shanghai
Bowuguan qingtongqi
yanjiuzu, ShangZhou
qingtongqi wenshi (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1984),
83 (nos. 222, 223), 27 (nos.
64, 63), 55 (no.147), 56
(no.154).
attempted to identify them with particular hunted wild species that are
mentioned in oracle bone inscriptions. Even though I do not think it
is possible to differentiate between domesticated and wild species of
animals in the formalized representations of the bovine and ovine horns
in the taotie motif, this is a tantalizing proposal. Hunting was a major
activity of the late Shang kings and a frequent topic of divination in
oracle bone inscriptions.2 As many anthropologists have observed, there
is a close conceptual connection between hunting and sacrifice in early
agricultural societies. Indeed, Walter Burkert has argued that sacrifice,
hunting, and warfare were symbolically interchangeable in the religions
of the ancient Near East and Europe and that feasting was an essential
aspect of all three activities.3 This same nexus is reflected in the appear-
ance of the taotie motif on artifacts associated with warfare and hunting,
such as ritual weapons, war helmets, and horse and chariot fittings, as
well as on vessels used for sacrificial offerings and ritual feasting.
Divinations about ancestral sacrifices in the oracle bone inscrip-
tions of the late Shang period frequently include humans, and there
are many divinations about hunting and capturing humans, often an

24 Sarah Allan
figure 1.5
The Qi fangyi wine
container, Shang dynasty
(ca.1300 1200 bce),
bronze, h.20.9cm.
Courtesy of the Muse
Rietberg, Zrich,
Switzerland (rch 47,
Sammlung Ernst Winkler).

animal-herding people called Qiang. These are listed together with

animal offerings, as either humans (ren) or Qiang and not given any
special prominence. Thus, if we accept Burkerts equation of hunting
and sacrifice, then the humans incorporated in the taotie motif could
have been classified as wild animals. We do not know whether hunted
people were ever eaten, but human skulls have been found in the bowls
of bronze yan-steamers, so some ritual cannibalism probably occurred
(see fig.1.7).4 This would also explain why pigs and dogs, which oracle
bone inscriptions frequently mention as sacrifices to the ancestors, are
not evident in the composite of animals that make up the taotie, at least
in any recognizable form.5

the context
Bronze vessels used in ritual sacrifice to the ancestors are habitually
decorated with the taotie. The motif, however, is not exclusive to either
ritual vessels or to bronze as a medium. It is also found on other para-
phernalia used in rites associated with feasting the ancestors, including

25 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

a

b c

d e

f g

26 Sarah Allan
< figures 1.6a 1.6g
Rubbings of taotie motifs
on bronze vessels, late
Shang dynasty (ca.1300 used in ritual performance. The lacquer and wood tomb furniture has
1050 bce). From Shanghai
Bowuguan qingtongqi
yanjiuzu, Shang Zhou
qingtongqi wenshi (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1984),
59 (no.165), 75 (no.205),
32 (no.81), 16 (no.35), 54 that the context for the taotie was mortuary associated with death,
(no.145), 74 (no.203), 51 killing, and the feeding of the ancestors.
(no.139).
vessels and eating implements made of bone, ivory, bronze, and jade. The
taotie also appears on musical instruments, probably because these were
almost entirely disappeared, but some stone mortuary furniture remains
have taotie (see fig.1.8). Moreover, it is frequently found on military
equipment, such as warriors helmets and chariot fittings, and on axes
used to dismember sacrificial victims (see fig.1.9). This pattern suggests
In contrast, some other types of artifacts are rarely decorated with
the taotie, including many types normally made of jade. Some of these
seem to have functioned in a set of rites that was distinct from the cult
of ancestral offering, for example, the bi (disks with a central hole) and
cong (square tubes with a round core) that later signified heaven and earth
and were of unknown meaning in the Shang period. Shang tombs also
include many relatively realistic, three-dimensional jade artifacts, such
as small animals and human figures. As far as I have been able to ascer-
tain, these do not include taotie, which presumably reflects their different
role in Shang ritual. Another reason is probably that the taotie originated
as a linear motif and did not have a three-dimensional incarnation. On
the other hand, jade vessels and weapons may be decorated with taotie.
Thus the ritual function of the artifact rather than the medium in which
it is made determined whether the taotie was an appropriate form of
decoration.
the name of themotif
Although this motif is ubiquitous on bronze ritual vessels in the Shang
dynasty, we do not know what the Shang called it. While sacrificial rites
were the primary topic of divination of oracle bone inscriptions, the
offerings were to ancestors and nature spirits; there is no name in the
inscriptions that can be matched to the ubiquitous taotie.6 This problem
has vexed scholars for at least three-quarters of a century. The use of the
term taotie for the bronze motif dates back to the Song dynasty (960
1279), when the antiquarian L Dalin identified the motif found on
bronze vessels with a description in the Lshi chunqiu, compiled by L
Buwei (290 235 bce): Zhou ding display the taotie. It has a head and no
body. It ate a person, but, before it could swallow it, it was destroyed
itself.7 As Wang Tao has observed, however, different Song dynasty
antiquarians identified the motif with other names they found in
ancient texts, but none of their arguments are historically convincing.
27 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes
figure 1.7 For example, Luo Bi (b. 1131) suggested that the motif represented
Bronze yan steamer
with human skull in bowl,
Chiyou, another figure whose name is found in ancient texts. And Luos
late Shang dynasty son, Luo Ping, glossed his fathers identification with the observation
(ca.1300 1050 bce), that [Chiyous] nature and shape were never consistent. Bronzes from
Anyang Yinxu, Henan
Province. Authors the three dynasties were often cast with Chiyous portrait to warn those
photograph, 1983, Yinxu who are greedy. The form of Chiyou is mostly like an animal, with the
Field Station Museum,
Anyang, Henan Province.
addition of wings of flesh.8 That Song dynasty antiquarians visualized
the bronze image as having something to do with eating is interesting in
figure 1.8
Zu ritual altar (partial, light of the argument I will make below that in Shang belief eating, tran-
seen from the top), scendence, and dying were associated with one another, but there is no
late Shang dynasty
(ca.1300 1050 bce),
early evidence that any of the names they suggested were applied to the
excavated from Large motif found on bronze vessels by Shang people.
Tomb m1001 at Anyang Wang Tao has suggested the term two-eyed motif in lieu of taotie.
Yinxu Xibeigang, Henan
Province, stone; l.21cm; This is appealing because two eyes are the only constant feature of
w.17.6 19.6. From Li the motif from its first appearance on bronze. But two-eyed motifs
Yongdi, ed. Yinxu chutu
qiwu xuancui (Taibei:
appear earlier in several Neolithic cultures, such as the Liangzhu
Zhongyang yanjiuyuan (ca.3300 2100bce) (see fig.1.10). Even if the two-eyed motifs found on
lishi yuyan yanjiusuo, the artifacts of one or more of these cultures were antecedents of the
2009), pl.134
(roo5033016). Shang bronze motif, their historical context and formal characteristics
are too different from those of the taotie to merit the same name with-
out causing confusion. Many Chinese scholars, recognizing that the
term taotie is inaccurate, use the name animal face (shou mian). But
the motif is not simply a face; it usually has at least the suggestion of
bodies. A similar objection applies to the term animal mask, used by
some Western scholars.9 I have therefore reluctantly opted for the tradi-
tional name, taotie, which was surely not used by the Shang but has the

28 Sarah Allan
figure 1.9
Yue axes, late Shang
dynasty (ca.1300 1050
bce), excavated from the
tomb of Fu Hao (m5) at
Anyang Yinxu, Henan
Province, bronze; left:
overall length, 39.3cm;
blade 38.5; right: overall
length, 24.4cm; blade
14.8cm. From Zhongguo
shehui kexueyuan kaogu
yanjiusuo. Yinxu Fu Hao
mu (Beijing: Wenwu
chubanshe, 1980), 106,
fig.66.

advantage, at least, of a thousand years of usage. For similar reasons, I

use the term kui to refer to the various one-legged dragon-like creatures
found on Shang bronzes.

the problem of interpretation

The ubiquity of the taotie in mortuary contexts and on vessels used to
make food and wine offerings to the ancestors is evidence that it was
of central importance in Shang religious belief. This association with
religious belief is reinforced by visual impression. We may not under-
stand the vocabulary of Shang bronze art, but the taotie does not strike
even the uninitiated viewer as ornamental. Nor does its strangeness
strike the viewer as merely due to unfamiliarity. The taotie and other
motifs that appear on ritual vessels are strange in themselves, a distortion
of any possible reality. They appear, in the original sense of the word,
aw(e)ful, and inspired with a sense of the sacred. This is not surprising
in light of their function; the vessels were containers for wine and food
offered to the ancestors and water used in ritual ablutions, the weapons,
for killing in warfare, sacrifice, or ritual performance.10
All attempts at understanding the taotie motif are faced with the
overriding problem of its mutability, especially in the late Shang period.
Aesthetically, although one animal may dominate a particular expression
of the taotie motif, the identification with that animal is almost always
undermined by conjunctions with other animals, bifurcated or dissolved

29 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figure 1.10
Cong square tube with
round core, Liangzhu
culture (ca.3300 2000
bce), excavated at Wujin
Sidun, Jiangsu Province,
jade; h.7.2cm, w.8.3
8.5cm. From Li Xueqin,
ed. Zhongguo meishu
quanji (Beijing: Wenwu
chubanshe, 1985), vol.9,
p.40.

imagery, etc. Bronze vessels were made in workshops and the casting
technique involved joining composite parts. Nevertheless, each bronze
vessel was a whole, individual work; few vessels precisely duplicate other
ones. This variation of the motif is deliberate and an essential aspect of
its aesthetic form. The effect of the formal devices used to prevent any
single reading and mutability of the imagery is that the taotie cannot be
imagined as a depiction of any particular creature, real or imagined, or
even a set of creatures. This suggests that, as Max Loehr observed, the
taotie could not be meaningful in a traditional literary sense.11
The question then arises, if the taotie is too mutable to be a depiction of
any real or imaginary creature or creatures, how can it express meaning
or, indeed, does it? The key to understanding this problem is, I believe,
Loehrs caveat of a traditional literary sense. In order to understand the
meanings implicit in the taotie, we must not only examine the religious
context in which the taotie functioned, but we must expand our inter-
pretive techniques beyond the European aesthetic tradition.12 In this
chapter, I will trace the development of the taotie from its appearance in
Erlitou culture (ca.1900 1500 bce) to the late Shang. I will argue that the
taotie first appears as a simple two-eyed motif in a very specific context:

30 Sarah Allan
figure 1.11
Detail of border of the
Chu Silk Manuscript,
ca.300 bce, reputed to
have been found in a tomb
at Zidanku, Changsha,
Hunan Province, ink on
silk fabric. From The Chu
Silk Manuscript: Translation
and Commentary (Canberra,
Australia: Australian
National University,
1973),2.
in association with religious interlocutors or spirit mediums, who used
wine in the performance of ritual sacrifices. This initial context and the
sacrificial cult in which it functioned provide the keys to understanding
the development of the motif during the Shang dynasty.13
meaning in shang bronzeart
The Western anthropological tradition, with its tripartite division of
myth, art, and ritual, privileges language. Myth, understood as narrative,
is primary, with ritual taken as enactment (or performance in current
theoretical language) and art as depiction. Furthermore, our art historical
tradition has tended to assume realism as an inherent aesthetic goal. Yet
much so-called primitive art is not only unconcerned with realism, but
deliberately flaunts its violations of it, employing various formal tech-
niques, such as multiple perspectives and impossible conjunctions, to
prevent any simple reading of its imagery. Such art is not, in fact, prim-
itive. Its forms frequently have long cultural histories and the aesthetic
techniques may be complex and sophisticated. This type of art is so
widespread in cultures across the world that the breach of realism and
avoidance of a single or simple reading is surely both purposeful and
essential to its means of expression.
With the development of literature (rather than writing per se), people
begin to externalize their thoughts. Once written down, ideas have a life
of their own and it is possible to think about them critically and contem-
plate their reality. Thus a mode of aesthetic expression may develop in
which art is secondary to language, illustrating stories and ideas that are
essentially verbal and creating symbolic systems of meaning that may
be decoded. In cultures without a developed literature, on the other
hand, art frequently attempts to directly express religious experience. In
Chinese art, we may compare the difference between late Shang bronze
art and the drawings around the border of the Chu silk manuscript from
Zidan (third and fourth century bce). On the Chu silk manuscript, we see
the artist struggling to represent the verbalized idea of a god with three
heads (fig.1.11).
The most conventional definition of myth is stories of the supernat-
ural, but supernatural is a problematic term when the spirits are not
gods who were different in kind than humans, but rather ancestors
dead people who still need food.14 Myth, I propose, is more properly
defined as linguistic formulae in which the strictures of the natural
world are breached. Similarly, so-called primitive (or, as I prefer to call it,
mythic) art breaches natural reality in order to signify its sacred nature.
31 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes
In so doing, it does not attempt to depict or represent the perceptual world
or to illustrate myth. Inevitably, however, it shares the same cosmolog-
ical and conceptual framework as the myths of the same culture and it
will inevitably allude to shared themes and motifs as well as to religious
experience.
In late Shang bronze art, the taotie has eyes, an open tiger mouth,
and horns of various animals that allude to animals that were offered in
sacrifice, but it does not depict any particular creature. Indeed, it uses
various techniques, such as lack of definition, multiple perspectives, and
the conjoining of different animals, to suggest that the image is beyond
our comprehension. By such means, the bronze motifs create a sense
of the other, that which is not limited by the physical realities of this
world and which can never be precisely defined. Not only are the motifs
of Shang bronze art continually transformed, their primary allusions are
to transformations of states of being eating and sacrifice, the watery
underworld of the dead, the dragon that is also a bird, snakes that slough
their skins, deer that shed their antlers, the cicada that emerges winged
from the earth.
Although Shang art shares formal similarities with the arts of peoples
without writing, we know from divination inscriptions that the people
at Yinxu had a well-developed writing system.15 Divination on bone and
shell was a massive industry. David Keightley has estimated that some
six bovids and thirteen turtles would have been needed every ten days,
and some three million man-hours were devoted to pyromancy during
the Yinxu period.16 To fulfill this requirement, scapulae and plastrons
were sent to Yinxu from other regions, including plastrons from as far
away as Burma or Indonesia.17 Although the cycle of offerings became
increasingly routinized during the course of the late Shang period, the
overwhelming impression of the oracle bone inscriptions is one of
fear and the need to stave off ever-impending disaster by providing
appropriate and acceptable offerings. These included both animals and
humans, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. Indeed, the purpose of
oracle bone divination was not to foresee the future, but rather to ensure
that present actions would not incur a disastrous future.18 If the offer-
ings were not made properly and the ancestors were not satiated, then
the king and his people would be cursed: their harvest would fail or they
would become ill, meet with accident, or be defeated in warfare.
This need to feed the dead provides the context in which we may
understand the meaning of the motifs on sacrificial vessels. In this
light, bronze vessels may be understood as the agents of transcen-
dence between this world and the next, the means by which the Shang

32 Sarah Allan
communicated their sacrifices to the ancestors. Thus they are decorated
in the sacred language of the other world. Weapons, which were used
to kill, metaphorically or otherwise, share this decorative vocabulary.
The taotie alludes to various animals and thus to the sacrificial cult in
which the bronzes and other ritual paraphernalia functioned. As I shall
discuss again below, the eyes refer to the visions of seers and also to
the powers that see us but cannot be seen or comprehended. The open
tiger mouth refers to the passage to the other world. The horns and ears
are those of animals used as offerings: cattle or buffalo, sheep, goats, deer,
and humans. Dragons and birds suggest the watery underworld and the
skyabove.

the neurological foundations of neolithic art motifs

In Inside the Neolithic Mind, David Pearce and David Lewis-Williams argue
that hypnagogic experiences visions or hallucinations, which range
from vivid mental imagery in a state of semiwakefulness to altered states
of consciousness, induced by such means as alcohol, rhythmic music
and dancing, or psychotropic drugs are neurologically engendered,
common among all people in all cultures.19 Thus Neolithic imagery
throughout the world tends to emphasize eyes. Brain experiments
show that these hypnagogic experiences have common characteristics,
including seeing bright geometric patterns, passages through tunnels,
floating or flying images, and transformations of animals and humans
into one another, among others. The strangeness and vivid detail of these
visions make them a rich source of imagery in ancient cultures, and their
similarity across cultures explains the occurrence of similar motifs in
unrelated Neolithic cultures.
Since sensations of descent into a tunnel or vortex, sounds associ-
ated with water, and visions of flight are neurological and activated by
altered states of consciousness, there is a near universal belief in a tiered
cosmos.20 This tiered cosmos commonly takes the form of a celestial
tier above, associated with birds and heavenly bodies, and a watery tier
below (precisely that of the Shang).21 An important aspect of Pearce and
Lewis-Williams hypothesis is that these experiences are not limited to
spirit mediums or other religious specialists, but general and relatively
common among people in all societies; they are, they assert, hard-wired
in the human brain. Shamans are simply people who have especially
well-developed powers that are common to everyone. They are able to
negotiate more readily between the tiers of the cosmos than other people,
but their experiences are not unique.

33 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

the origin of the taotiemotif
In the following, we shall see that current archaeological evidence suggests
that in its earliest extant form in Erlitou culture the taotie was closely
identified with shamans and characterized by two eyes that emphasized
their power of vision. In the early Shang period, these eyes become those
of the bronze offering vessel. Although the early Shang taotie does not
yet have clearly delineated bodies, a computer-generated reconstruction
of an early Shang pottery shard from Zhengzhou shows a double-bodied
human, his smiling head flanked by the open mouths of snakes or
dragons. As the taotie motif develops, it takes on an open tiger mouth,
suggesting transition to the other world, and vagueness is replaced by
the transformations in which animals with horns of different animals
are conjoined with one another so the motif can never be read simply.
Li Xueqin has pointed to the two-eyed motif found on many jade arti-
facts from the Liangzhu culture (ca.3300 2000 bce), centered in Zhejiang
and Jiangxi Provinces, as the origin of the taotie. Significantly, this motif
has two forms of eye: a human one, with canthi, and a round, animal one
(see fig.1.10 above). In its most simple form, there are only eyes above
a bar; in the most elaborate, a human and an animal are intermingled
(fig.1.12). It is most commonly found on jade cong.22 This ritual form
a square tube with round core persists and is found at Yinxu (fig.1.13).
Nevertheless, the elaborated form of the Liangzhu jade motif is formally
quite different from the taotie: the human probably a spirit medium or
shaman as he is wearing a feathered headdress is intermingled with an

34 Sarah Allan
< figure 1.12 animal but the human is above the animal so that he sometimes appears
The elaborate form of
the Liangzhu man/animal
to be astride it. In late Shang taotie, on the other hand, the human
motif incised on a jade facial elements may be incorporated in the face of the taotie or, in the
cong, Liangzhu culture man-in-animal-mouth motif, which I will discuss below, the human face
(ca.3300 2000 bce),
excavated from Tomb is below that of the animal. For this reason, it is difficult to imagine the
m12 at Fanshan, Jiangsu Yinxu motif as a development of the Liangzhuone.
Province, jade. From
Wenwu (1988.1): 12,
fig.20.
erlitou culture
figure 1.13
Cong with cicada motif, The Erlitou site was the core site of an elite culture, which first crystal-
late Shang dynasty
(ca.1300 1050 bce),
lized in the early second millennium bce and was centered at Yanshi
excavated from the tomb Erlitou in Henan Province. This elite culture established a cultural
of Fu Hao (m5:1051) at hegemony over the Chinese continental region by the end of the Shang
Anyang Yinxu, Henan
Province, jade. After dynasty.23 Key to its formation was the association of bronze with ritual
Zhongguo shehui ke- practice and the development of metallurgy primarily for casting ritual
xueyuan kaogu yanjiu-
suo, Yinxu de faxian yu
vessels used in offering rites to the ancestors.24 The vessels found at
yanjiu (Beijing: Kexue Erlitou were already cast using the piece-mold technique that is char-
chubanshe, 1994), 329, acteristic of later Chinese bronze metallurgy, but the technology was
fig.185.
still relatively simple and the walls of the vessels were still thin, so they
were not decorated except for a small number of vessels at the end of the
Erlitou period, which have rudimentary geometric designs (small circles
and bosses). Nevertheless, an early form of the taotie motif is found on
bronze plaques, inlaid in turquoise, and on a lacquer fragment, as I shall
discuss below.
At least sixteen such plaques, including those now in collections
abroad, are known. Besides those excavated at Erlitou, other examples
include three found at Sanxingdui in Sichuan Province (two excavated
from a sacrificial pit at Zhenwu and one found at Gaopian).25 The dates
and origin of these examples are uncertain, but the different type of
stone and more abstracted style of design suggests that although they
mimic Erlitou artifacts, they were produced locally rather than imported
from the Central Plains. The motif on the plaques has two eyes and the
suggestion of a body. The eyes are of two types, with and without canthi
(figs.1.14 and 1.15). Those plaques that were scientifically excavated were
found on the chest of the deceased. They have two loops on each side,
indicating that they were attached to something, perhaps clothing.
An elaborate dragon-like figure, made of more than two thousand
small turquoise pieces glued onto a perishable backing material, perhaps
cloth, has also been found in a second period tomb (m3, sector v).26 It
is about 65cm long (fig.1.16). The head of the creature is trapezoidal,
mounted on a base that is 13.6 ~ 15.6cm wide and 11cm long, with eyes

35 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figure 1.14
Turquoise-inlaid plaque,
Erlitou culture (ca.1900
1500 bce), excavated from
Tomb m11, sector vi,
Yanshi Erlitou, Henan
Province, turquoise and
bronze; l.16.5cm. From
Zhongguo qingtongqi
quanji bianji weiyuan-
hui, ed., Zhongguo qing-
tongqi quanji (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1996),
vol.1,20.

figure 1.15
Turquoise-inlaid plaque,
Erlitou culture (ca.1900
1500 bce), excavated from
Tomb m4, sector v, Yanshi
Erlitou, Henan Province,
l.14.2cm. From Zhongguo
qingtongqi quanji bianji
weiyuanhui, ed., Zhongguo
qingtongqi quanji (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1996),
vol.1,21. green and white semicircular pieces of jade form the ridge of the nose,
made of a white stone. It was laid in the vicinity of the chest, with the
tail of the creature resting across the body of the corpse. Three groups of
with a round green stone as its tip. A separate horizontal strip inlaid
with pieces of turquoise was found below the dragon, perhaps another
piece of the same artifact.The position of the head of the beast on the
chest of the corpse suggests that it had a function similar to the later
turquoise-inlaid two-eyed bronze plaques. The bronze clapper-bell found
at the waist position also suggests that the deceased had a similar role to
the people with the plaques.
Wearing turquoise-inlaid plaques with prominent eyes on the chest
undoubtedly served to stress the power of the vision of the person
wearing them. Although turquoise-inlaid plaques are not found in
later times, a small jade figure from the tomb of Fu Hao, a wife of King
Wu Ding, who reigned at Yinxu in the thirteenth century bce, has a
stag-horned taotie motif incised on its chest, probably indicating that it
was part of the figures costume (fig.1.17).27 Below the taotie is a stylized
cicada design; the unusual life cycle of cicadas makes them a natural
symbol for transformation or metamorphosis and they are commonly
found in Shang art and in art of many other cultures. Snakes also deco-
rate the figures arms and legs. The design on the figures back resembles
the pattern on the turquoise plaques of the Erlitou period. The figure is
kneeling and has the bare feet associated with shamans in many cultures.
His head is also bare, with his hair in an unusual style (drawn up and
braided from the center of his head).

36 Sarah Allan
figure 1.16 A more detailed examination of the tombs in which the turquoise
Remains of turquoise-inlaid
artifact in dragon form
dragon and turquoise-inlaid bronze plaques are found suggests that the
and bronze clapper-bell, people who wore the plaques were specialist seers, who also used wine
Erlitou culture (ca.1900 in ritual performances, wore or rang clapper bells, beat drums, and had
1500 bce), excavated from
Tombm3, sectorv, Yanshi special paraphernalia of jade. Alcohol, a mind-altering drug, is closely
Erlitou, Henan Province; associated with shamanistic and other religious ceremonies throughout
l.65cm. From Kaogu
(2005.7): pl.6.
the world from ancient times. Music and dance may also induce trance
or visions. Fermented beverages were known in China as early as the
figure 1.17
Kneeling figure with taotie seventh millennium bce.28 The sets of ritual pottery vessels found in
motif on chest, late Shang Erlitou tombs also include wine vessels.29 (The term wine is used loosely
dynasty (ca.1300 1050
bce), excavated from
herein to mean fermented beverages. Grain, rather than grapes, was
tomb of Fu Hao (m5), their primary ingredient.) With the exception of a single ding (tripodal
Anyang Yinxu, Henan
Province, jade; h.8.5cm.
From Zhongguo shehui
kexueyuan kaogu yanjiu-
suo, Yinxu de faxian yu
yanjiu (Beijing: Kexue
chubanshe, 1994), 141,
fig.200.4.

37 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figure 1.18
The Xue ding tripodal
food vessel, late Shang
dynasty (ca.1300 1050
bce), bronze; h.21.8cm.
Courtesy of the Staatliche
Museum fr Vlkerkunde
(oa22.426), Munich
(formerly collection of
Hans Luerchen von
Lochow).

food vessel), found in a fourth-period tomb, all the bronze vessels from
the Erlitou culture thus far discovered were wine vessels. Jue, tripodal
spouted vessels used for warming wine, are by far the most common, but
the closely related jia (round rim) and jiao (with a spout) warming vessels,
as well as he (covered spouted vessel with hollow bulbous legs) and gu
(tall vessel with flared lip) have also been found. Early Shang examples
of jue, gu, and he are illustrated in figs.1.1, 1.2 , and 1.3 ; late Shang ding
and gu are illustrated in figs.1.18 and1.19).
The Erlitou site is usually divided into four periods. The tomb in
which the turquoise dragon discussed above was found (m3, sector v)
was one of a group of second-period tombs that were discovered in the

38 Sarah Allan
figure 1.19 courtyard of Palace3 and excavated in 2002. This placement is unusual
Gui food vessel,
late Shang dynasty
and suggests that they had some unusual significance even though they
(ca.1300 1050 bce), are not large enough to have been royal tombs. The tomb was 2.2meters
bronze, h.15.6cm. long, about 1.2meters wide at the mouth, and 0.5meters deep. The
Trustees of the
British Museum deceased was a male, thirty to thirty-five years old, buried with his head
(1957, 0221.1, donated to the north. There were no traces of a coffin, but the floor of the tomb
by P. T. Brooke Sewell).
had traces of red sand (zhu sha), conventionally interpreted by Chinese
archaeologists as cinnabar, but quite possibly the remains of lacquer
artifacts. The mortuary artifacts, other than the turquoise dragon that lay
over the chest, included a bronze bell with a jade clapper, found near the
waist of the deceased, and a jade artifact with a bird head, near the head
of the corpse. Remains of textile and the red skin of a lacquer vessel (or
other artifact) were found adhered to the bell. Three small white pierced
pottery pieces, shaped into conical bamboo-hat shapes, and beads were
found above the head, suggesting a special type of headgear. The tomb
also held ten pottery vessels and numerous lacquer objects, including
gu wine vessels, bowls, and handled containers. The precise number and
details were not included in the excavation report, presumably because
of their poor state of preservation.30

39 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figure 1.20
Clapper-bell, Erlitou
culture (ca.1900 1500
bce), excavated at Yanshi
Erlitou, Henan Province,
bronze; overall h.7.7cm.
From Zhongguo qing-
tongqi quanji bianji
weiyuanhui, Zhongguo
qingtongqi quanji (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1996),
vol.1, pl.23. The remains of a lacquered drum were also found, further evidence of
figure 1.21
Baton-like artifact incised
with human faces, Erlitou
culture (ca.1900 1500 (seefig.1.20).32 There was also a shaft-shaped (bing xing) or baton-like
bce), found in 1975, Yanshi
Erlitou, Henan Province;
jade, l.17.1cm. into the late Shang and are mostly undecorated, but the finely carved
Tomb m4, in sector v at Erlitou, also included a turquoise plaque,
found in the chest region. This tomb belongs to the second (or possibly
third) period, and it also seems to be the tomb of a specialist religious
interlocutor. The tomb measured 2.5 by 1.16 meters. There was a thick
layer of red sand at the bottom of the pit, as much as 8cm thick in
places, and the coffin had been coated with red lacquer. The vessels
included a pottery he (covered wine pourer with three bulbous legs)
and the remains of various lacquer vessels, including a gu, bowl, etc.31
shamanic activity. Aside from the bronze plaque in the chest region, a
small bronze clapper bell with a loop on top was found near the waist
jade artifact. The purpose of these artifacts is unclear. They persisted
face motifs on an example found in sector v in 1975 are evidence that
it had a ritual purpose (fig.1.21). The shape of the bird-headed jade
artifact in Tomb m3 from sector v, discussed above, is roughly similar
(long and thin, but rounded rather than squared) and may have had a
similarfunction.
The other two tombs in which inlaid plaques were found are both
fourth-period and include bronze vessels. Tomb m57 measured 21.05
meters; Tomb m11, 20.95 meters. As in the earlier tomb (m4), the
turquoise-inlaid plaques were found in the chest region of the deceased
and small bronze bells were found near the waist. m57 also included a
40 Sarah Allan
figure 1.22
Fragment of lacquer vessel
with taotie motif, Erlitou
culture (ca.1900 1500
bce), excavated from
Tombm2, sector iii, Yanshi
Erlitou, Henan Province.
From Zhongguo shehui
kexueyuan kaogu yanjiu-
suo Erlitou gongzuodui,
1980 nian Henan Yanshi
Erlitou yizhi fajue jianbao
1989, Kaogu (1983.3): 203,
fig.9.9.

figure 1.23
Painted design with two
eyes and diamond motif on
li-vessel, Lower Xiajiadian
culture (2000 1400 bce), bronze jue; m11 had a jue and a jia. m57 included two jade shaft-shaped
excavated from Tomb
m612, Dadianzi, Aohan
Banner, Chifeng, Inner
Mongolia, pottery. From
Zhongguo kexueyuan
kaogu yanjiusuo, Dadianzi:
Xiajiadian xiaceng wenhua
yizhi yu mudi fajue baogao
(Beijing: Kexue chubanshe,
1996), 105, fig.54.5.
artifacts, and m11 had three. Both tombs also included various jade
artifacts, pottery, cowry shells, etc. There was a rich layer of lacquer on
the floor of Tomb m57 and the remains of a lacquer container were found
in Tomb m11.33 In sum, the clear implication of the two-eyed plaques
worn on the chest, wine vessels, bells and drum, jade baton-like artifacts,
and unusual headgear is that the figures buried in all four tombs were
specialist seers.
That an early form of the taotie so quickly appears on almost all
decorated bronze vessels in the early Shang period suggests that the
motif already existed in another medium and was transferred to bronze
vessels. Pottery in this culture usually has only simple geometric designs
or none at all, so it is not the source. Very little of the lacquer materials
from Erlitou has survived, except as red sand, but a lacquer fragment
with a two-eyed motif may be a precursor to the taotie motif of the early
Shang period was excavated from a third-period tomb (fig.1.22).34 Thus,
the taotie motif on early Shang bronze vessels probably derives from an
established motif that appeared on perishable materials such as wood
and lacquer and was transferred to bronze as soon as metallurgical
techniques developed sufficiently to allow complex decoration on the
walls of vessels.35
Although lacquerware seldom survived in the tombs of Northern
China, pottery vessels excavated at Dadianzi, a site of the Lower Xiajia-
dian culture contemporaneous to Erlitou culture, provide a possible clue
to their decoration. Dadianzi in Inner Mongolia is far from Erlitou, but
this site has yielded many artifacts that clearly reflect cultural influence
or interchange with Erlitou culture.36 Most notably, pottery jue and jiao
(tripodal wine vessels), similar in form to the pottery and bronze vessels

41 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figure 1.24 found at Erlitou, have been found at Dadianzi. A relatively well-preserved
Shard from a pottery
li with incised drawing
lacquer gu has also been found.37
of double-bodied snake The pottery of the lower Xiajiadian culture found at Dadianzi is
with diamond motif on painted in striking red, white, and black designs. As Louisa Fitzgerald-
forehead, Erlitou culture
(ca.1900 1500 bce), Huber has already pointed out, the patterns of C curves in interlocking
excavated from Ashpit arrangements, organized so that the primary units comprising the
h57, sector iii, Yanshi
Erlitou, Henan Province.
patterns are each the mirror image of the two adjacent ones, are similar
From Ye Wansong and Li in pattern to the turquoise-inlaid bronze plaques found at Erlitou.38
Defang, Yanshi Erlitou Their painted decoration may also include eyes in association with a
shouwen tongpai kaoshi,
Kaogu yu wenwu (2001.5), diamond motif (fig.1.23). As we shall see below, this motif also appears
43, fig.8. on the forehead of a double-bodied snake found on an incised pottery
shard at Erlitou. A turquoise-inlaid plaque in the collection of Paul
Singer similar to those found at Erlitou has a diamond pattern on the
forehead.39 If Dadianzi painted pottery shared motifs with Erlitou, then
it is possible that the Erlitou versions were expressed in lacquer or wood
that did not survive the millennia.40
Although Erlitou pottery is generally undecorated, a few pottery
shards with incised motifs have been excavated. These provide evidence
of a more complex decorative vocabulary that is related to the later
taotie. One such shard (fig.1.24) has a double-bodied snake, the head
of which is rendered in a manner similar to that above the taotie on the
Shang dynasty fangyi in figure1.5 . The snake on the Erlitou shard has
a diamond-shaped mark on its forehead; this is found on the taotie on
the fangyi.41 Diamond shapes are frequently found on the forehead of
late Shang taotie (see figs.1.6a, 1.6b, 1.6e , and 1.6g and both registers
of the stone artifact in fig.1.8). Many snakes, including poisonous ones,

42 Sarah Allan
are diamond-backed, and diamond-backed snake bodies are common
in Shang bronze art, but I have not identified any species of snake with
a diamond on its forehead. The persistence of this diamond shape and
its prevalence on the foreheads of taotie and animals that are related to
the taotie in Shang art, such as tigers, is striking, but it is not possible to
identify it with any particular animal.
As discussed above, the presence in Erlitou tombs of wine vessels
and other artifacts, such as bells at the waist and jade baton-like
artifacts, suggests that the people buried with the bronze plaques were
specialist religious interlocutors who performed rituals using alcohol
and wore costumes with eyes prominently displayed upon their chests
to demonstrate their power of vision. Thus the earliest context in which
a two-eyed motif appears in association with bronze is shamanic. This
tends to confirm Pearce and Lewis-Williams theory that the prominence
of eyes in early religious imagery is associated with seers and altered
consciousness. It also provides an explanation for the formal charac-
teristics of this type of art; that is, it evokes a religious experience that
includes visions of mutating forms.

the early shang period (erligang culture)

The taotie first appears as decoration on bronze vessels in the Erligang
culture of the early Shang dynasty. The type site for Erligang culture
is at Zhengzhou in Henan Province. The walled settlement there is
thought to be one of the capitals of the early Shang dynasty. Another
walled settlement from the early Shang period, known as Shangcheng,
has been found in Yanshi County, not far from Erlitou.42 There are many
sites outside this Central Plains region (including important sites at
Panlongcheng in Hubei Province, Chenggu in Shaanxi, and Liuan in
Anhui) that have yielded bronzes that are very similar to those found in
the Central Plains. Indeed, vessels from the early Erligang period are so
similar wherever they are found that the question of when bronze vessels
began to be cast beyond the confines of the Central Plains is still a major
issue despite evidence that ores were mined and smelted in regions
other than the Central Plains.43 For the purposes of the present study,
the important point is not when or whether vessels were cast outside the
Central Plains region; it is that the taotie motif is their characteristic
motif, wherever they may be found, from the early Shang onwards.
As bronze-casting technology became more sophisticated in the early
Shang period, the repertoire of vessel types cast in bronze expanded to
include a full set of ritual vessels. The wine vessel types found at Erlitou

43 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

continue into Erligang culture, but there is now a larger repertoire, with
wine storage vessels (zun, lei, you, hu), more cooking vessels (li, yan, gui),
and vessels for ritual ablutions with water ( pan and yu).44
As discussed above, when bronze vessels begin to be decorated at
the beginning of the early Shang period, the decoration of these vessels
almost always includes a taotie similar to that found on the lacquer
fragment from Erlitou mentioned above. The motif is placed within a
band of decoration. There are two forms of eyes: round, like those of an
animal, or with canthi, like those of a human. Sometimes the eyes are
surmounted by ears or horns and a nose may be suggested, but the eyes
are always present. Patterns of hooked lines on both sides of the face
seem to suggest two bodies, as in later taotie, but there is no separation of
image and the ground and the form of the bodies is not clearly delineated.

the significance of the eyes

When a two-eyed image is worn on a persons chest, the effect on the
viewer is to emphasize the special power of vision of the shaman or
person who is wearing the image. When the two eyes are placed on a
vessel, the power of sight or communication between different tiers of
the cosmos belongs to the vessel, which was a conduit between those
making the offerings and the ancestral spirits. In this case, the religious
interlocutor and the audience for the ritual is not seeing, but being
seen; that is, the eyes are not those of the shaman, but evoke those of the
spirits who must be satisfied by the offerings placed in the vessel.
Pearce and Lewis-Williams have hypothesized that in many cultures,
seeing and death were understood as similar to one another or even the
same. Death was understood not as annihilation but as a transition to
the other world like that undergone in an altered state of consciousness.
Those who have specially developed powers of seeing were thus regarded
as having mastered death by their return from the other world; that is,
the shamans journey is similar to death, except that he is able to return
to the world of the living. It follows, therefore, that the dead were also
understood as seers. Sacrifice is therefore posited on a notion of transi-
tion between cosmological realms; that is, the offering is sent from one
part of the cosmos to the other.45
According to this theory, the importance of eyes in primitive art
derives from neurologically engendered visions. The experience of being
seen or watched, however, also has a neurological effect, producing a
sensation of unease or even fear in those who feel they are being watched.
This is why images with eyes often have an apotropaic function.46 We

44 Sarah Allan
know from the oracle bones of the late Shang period that the ancestral
spirits were still living in the sense that they continued to need food and
to be able to interfere with the lives of the living. This suggests that they
could still see. Here, I do not mean that the eyes on the vessels were
those of any particular ancestor, but that in a more general sense, the
two eyes of the taotie alluded to the spirits of the dead, who could see but
not be seen. Because their forms were unknown and unknowable, these
spirits could not be depicted in a more specific manner.
In describing Neolithic art motifs, Pearce and Lewis-Williams seem
to imply that the motifs they associate with hypnagogic experiences were
depictions of actual experiences of the artist. I am not suggesting that
Shang motifs were depictions of particular visions; this is highly unlikely.
My argument is that the taotie and other motifs of Shang art drew upon
such visions in a more general sense, as a source of imagery that evoked
the other world to which the sacrificial offerings were being conveyed.
David Keightley has argued that Shang art with its composite, modular
forms was largely impersonal.47 In this regard, Shang art is similar to
other religious art in traditional societies (including European ones) that
is produced in workshops and repeats the same core religious motifs,
with varying aesthetic effect. Shang bronzes were made in stages by many
artisans, but we may reasonably assume that each vessel had a designer
who was responsible for its content and appearance. Thus each vessel was
an individual creation, of greater or lesser aesthetic power, depending
upon the effectiveness of its design and the quality of its manufacture.

a bifurcated human on a pottery shard from the

early shang dynasty
A pottery shard excavated in 1975 at the early Shang site of Shangcheng,
Zhengzhou, Henan Province, provides evidence for the persistence of
shamanic activity and for a more complex history for the taotie motif
than a simple development from the two-eyed motif found in this
same period. The shard was found in the tamped earth foundation of a
large building, datable by other pottery remains to the second period of
the Lower Erligang culture, the dates of which fall within the fifteenth
century bce. It appears to be a fragment of a band of ornament on a
pottery vessel. A breakthrough was made in 2008, when Tang Wei and
Zhang Wei, recognizing that the remaining part of the neck and chest
on the right side of the shard indicates that the image was originally
symmetrical, published a drawing in which the extant right side was
mirrored on the left (fig.1.25).48 In figure1.26 , I have followed their

45 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figure 1.25 lead and produced a computer-generated image of the left section by
Reconstruction of human-
face pottery shard with
mirroring the original image (on the right).
image mirrored on left, As reconstructed, the image is of a person with a single face, shown
early Shang dynasty frontally, below which the neck divides into two, each section attached
(ca.1600 1300 bce),
excavated at Zhengzhou to a human body, shown in profile with its chest facing downwards. The
Shangcheng, Henan head and neck of a snake-like creature with a forked tongue is seen in
Province. Based on Tang
Wei and Zhang Wei,
profile above each body. The person is smiling broadly, although the
Zhengzhou Shangcheng forked tongues of the snake-like creatures lap at its ears. The positions
ren shou muti taopian of the bodies of the figure are unnatural. At first glance, they seem to be
tuan fuyuan, Zhongguo
lishi wenwu (2008.1), 39, crawling. The legs are flexed and drawn up under the body, but rather
fig.6. than resting on the hands, the thumb and fingers are turned inwards.
figure 1.26 If we rotate the bodies so that the feet are on the ground, however, the
Human-face pottery shard figure assumes a crouching position with flexed legs and arms, a position
with computer-generated
mirrored image on left, familiar from later Shang jade pendants (see fig.1.27a). Thus the motif
early Shang dynasty appears to consist of a vertical, crouching figure that has been turned
(ca.1600 1300 bce),
excavated at Shangcheng,
horizontally and mirrored to fit within the band of ornament.
Zhengzhou, Henan The figures on Shang dynasty jade pendants that assume this position
Province. After Henan- are generally part human, part bird. The finest is a small, carved figure
sheng wenwu kaogu
yanjiusuo, Zhengzhou excavated from a Shang-period tomb at Xingan, Dayangzhou, in Jiangxi
Shangcheng: 1953 1985 Province (fig.1.27b). The Xingan jade figure has a bird beak and crest,
nian kaogu fajue baogao
(Beijing: Wenwu chuban-
human arms and legs, and wings on its thighs. The flexed position of
she, 2001), color pl.6.1. the arms and legs is identical to that of the person on the Zhengzhou
shard. Furthermore, the human shoulder is rendered with the same type
of curling line on each image. Although the Xingan site is far outside

46 Sarah Allan
figures 1.27a 1.27e
Images of bird-human
motifs with flexed legs
andarms.

a. Image of body on pottery

shard in Figure 1.25 rotated
90 degrees.

b. Shaman figure, late

Shang dynasty (ca.1300
1050 bce), excavated at
Dayangzhou Xingan,
Jiangxi Province, overall
h.11.5cm. After Jiangxi-
sheng Bowuguan, Jiang-
xi sheng wenwu kaogu
yanjiusuo, and Xingan
Xian Bowuguan, Xingan
Shangdai da mu (Beijing: a b
Wenwu chubanshe, 1997),
158, fig.80.1.

c, d, e. Incised pendants
from tomb of Fu Hao (m5),
Shang dynasty, 1300 1200
bce, Anyang Yinxu, Henan
Province, jade; (c) m5 : 576,
h.9.2cm; (d) m5 : 470,
h.11.5cm (drawing flipped
horizontally); (e) m5 : 598,
h.9.8cm (drawing flipped
horizontally). After Zhong-
guo shehui kexueyuan
kaogu yanjiusuo, Yinxu de
faxian yu yanjiu (Beijing:
Kexue chubanshe, 1994),
342, fig.202.2, 202.6;
Jessica Rawson, Chinese
Jade: From the Neolithic to
the Qing (London: British
Museum, 1995), 219, fig.1b. c d e

the core region of the Shang state, a number of flat jade pendants found
at the late Shang-period capital at Yinxu in present-day northern Henan
Province are incised with similar part-human, part-bird figures. See, for
example, figure1.27c , from the late thirteenth century bce tomb of
Fu Hao, one of the wives of the Shang ruler Wu Ding. It has a bird crest
and flexed human legs, with the knees drawn up in front and arms bent
at the elbows, with the hands or claws turned inwards, as on the
Zhengzhou shard and the Xingan jade pendant. It is also wearing an
armlet, like that on the Xingan jade, and has a cross in it drawn on the
thigh, the position where the Xingan figure has its wings.49

47 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

 The recurrence of this imagery suggests that the crouching position,
with knees drawn up, elbows bent, and hands turned inwards, was an
aesthetic convention used for beings who were part bird or had bird-like
characteristics. In many cultures, shamans are believed to have the power
of flight and often wear bird costumes in performance or are represented
as bird-like. Similarly, this double-bodied figure, with his head placed
between the mouths of snake-tongued creatures, should be a shaman
or spirit medium. This serves to explain why he is smiling even though
creatures with the forked tongues of a snake lap at his head; he is not an
ordinary human, but one who can transcend the boundary between this
world and that of the ancestors.
The bifurcated form of the motif on the Zhengzhou shard a face,
viewed frontally and attached to two bodies, shown in profile on each
side within a band of ornament is immediately recognizable to anyone
familiar with Shang bronze art as related to the zoomorphic taotie motif.
The bodies of the taotie on bronzes, however, are never human. Indeed,
the taotie on bronzes contemporaneous to this shard do not even have
clearly delineated bodies. The image on the shard is carefully executed,
apparently carved in wet clay. Although carved pottery is common in the
late Shang period, pottery vessels with carved decoration are very rare in
the early Shang period. Therefore, the motif may be mimicking a type of
design more commonly found in another medium, such as carved wood
or lacquer.
In a number of pioneering studies, K. C. Chang placed Shang bronze
art forms within the larger context of Pacific Rim shamanism.50 My argu-
ment herein supports his fundamental insight that there is a relationship
between Shang bronze art motifs and shamanism. However, I think it
unlikely that the Shang rulers personally acted as shamans.51 As I have
argued above, the mortuary context in which the taotie first appears in
Erlitou culture suggests that the tombs were those of specialist seers, but
the tombs in which these artifacts were found are not large enough for
rulers. Moreover, in the late Shang period, vast resources were devoted
to divination on oracle bones, which involved reading physical signs
made by applying heat to the bones. The kings duty was to organize the
elaborate process in which the bones and shells were acquired, prepared,
cracked, and inscribed, and he often interpreted the cracks himself.
While it is possible that the king sometimes acted as a seer himself and
that he employed seers to assist him in communicating with the spirits,
his spiritual and political power was surely based primarily on his ability
to divine using bone and shell and to the schedule of suitable offerings to
his ancestors.52

48 Sarah Allan
 In sum, the allusions to shamanic transcendence inherent in the
history of the taotie motif are generalized and not associated with king-
ship per se. This is also consistent with the widespread use of the taotie
on artifacts from relatively small as well as large tombs and in remote
outposts of Shang influence as well as in the Shang capitals.

the man in the animal mouth

A notable aspect of Shang bronzes is that their imagery is almost never
narrative. The motifs are arranged in relationship to one another, but
the elements do not act upon one another, so the relationship is static.
To my knowledge, the only exceptions to this generalization, aside from
the motif on the Zhengzhou pottery shard discussed above, are artifacts
decorated with a motif in which a mans head is placed in a tigers mouth.
Perhaps because of this similarity to the man-in-tiger-mouth motif, the
first excavation report described the shard as a portrayal of that motif.
While this was a misreading of the visual evidence the snake head is
clearly not that of a tiger the shard does provide a key that clearly links
the man-in-tiger-mouth motif to the taotie.
The man-in-tiger-mouth motif is the primary one on four bronze
vessels two similar zun, one excavated in Funan, Anhui Province, and
the other at Sanxingdui, Guanghan, Sichuan Province,53 and two almost
identical you, thought to have been found in Hunan Province, and now
in the Muse Cernuschi and Sumitomo collections.54 Because these four
examples are from the south and exhibit stylistic features associated with
the south, many scholars believe that the man-in-tiger-mouth motif is
southern and not related to the development of the taotie. I have argued,
on the other hand, that they are simply more explicit renderings of a
motif shared with the Central Plains.55
Of these four vessels, the one most pertinent to understanding the
implications of the shard is the zun from Funan in Anhui Province,
illustrated in figures 1.28a and 1.28b. The long neck of the vessel and
naturalistic modeling mark are characteristics of southern bronzes. The
tiger is bifurcated or double-bodied like the man on the shard, a conven-
tion also found on the double-bodied taotie. It has the diamond motif on
its forehead, first found on the forehead of the double-bodied snake on a
pottery shard at Erlitou mentioned above (fig.1.24). The head of a man,
shown facing us, with bent arms and legs to his sides is partially within
the tigers mouth. Like the man on the Zhengzhou shard (figs.1.25 and
1.26), he has a wide smile on his face.56 This motif is also found on the
opposite side of the vessel. The other two sides have more conventional

49 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figures 1.28a 1.28b
Zun wine vessel,
late Shang dynasty
(ca.1300 1050 bce).
Excavated at Funan
Yueyahe, Anhui Province,
bronze; h.50.5cm.
From the catalog of the
exhibition, Prized Treasures
of Chinese Art from the
National Museum of China,
at the Tokyo National
Museum, from January2
to February25, 2007, pl.19.

figure 1.29
Rubbing of the handle of
the Simu Wu ding, Shang
dynasty, 1300 1200 bce,
bronze. From Shanghai
Bowuguan qingtongqi
yanjiuzu, Shang Zhou
qingtongqi wenshi (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe,
1984),589.

taotie motifs, and an archaistic, early Shang-style taotie is found on the

footrim.
Although these four vessels are all southern, the same motif is found
at Anyang in an abbreviated form. One example is on the handle of the
Simu Wu ding, found in the tomb of a wife of King Wu Ding (fig.1.29 ; the
tiger-eared taotie in the main frieze of the ding is illustrated in fig.1.6a).57
The other is on a yue-axe (see fig.1.9), found in the tomb of another
wife of Wu Ding, Fu Hao.58 On both examples, the tiger is split into two

50 Sarah Allan
separate images shown in profile and a human head is found between
their mouths. On the axe, the fanged tiger mouth of the animals shown
in profile is repeated at the bottom of the register, so that the blade
becomes an extension of the mouth. The same tiger mouth is found on
the taotie on another axe, with the blade extending from it. Since yue-axes
were used to kill or mutilate sacrificial victims, there can be no doubt that
the open mouth of the tiger that extends to the blade refers to the passage
of death and transition from the human world to that of the spirits.

the tiger and the taotie

By the late Shang, the taotie conventionally has an open mouth, often with
long fangs from both jaws or, if the lower jaw is abbreviated, from the
upper jaw alone. Although tigers are not the only animals with fangs, the
oracle bone character for tiger (and similar large cats such as leopards)
used a fanged open mouth as the characteristic that distinguishes them
from others. As in the man-in-tiger-mouth motif, the open mouth of the
taotie on bronze vessels serves as an allusion to the transition to the other
world, for the contents of the vessels must be consumed by the dead.59
In oracle bone writing, animals are depicted simply in profile
and distinguished by one or two characteristic features. For example,
elephants have a long curved trunk and horses have a big eye and a mane.
The character for tiger (hu) has an open mouth and fangs, represented by
a short line on the upper and lower jaw, and clawed feet (figs.1.30a c).
Since only the tiger has this type of fanged open mouth, we may surmise
that the open-fanged mouth of the taotie motif is also that of a tiger.
In the early Shang period, the most common ear or horn form
for the taotie is a rounded T-shape (see figs.1.1, 1.2, 1.4d, 1.4e, 1.4f).
This ear form persists; see, for example, the ears on the yue-axes from
the tomb of Fu Hao in fig.1.9 . The variants of the character for tiger
have two types of ears. One is the rounded T-shaped ear mentioned
above, and the other, found on the two man-in-tiger-mouth you in the
Muse Cernuschi and Sumitomo collections, is pointed like the ears
of a domestic cat (fig.1.31).60 My analysis of the inscriptions, using the
new periodization first proposed by Li Xueqin, suggests that in the
inscriptions of the Shi, the earliest royal diviner group, the tiger graph
has rounded, T-shaped ears. In the royal inscriptions Bin diviner group,
however, which was dominant in the reign of Wu Ding, the graph has
pointed ears.61 This graphic form is the one found in Zhou dynasty
bronze inscriptions and later in the Shuowen jiezi dictionary (second
centuryce).62

51 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

figures 1.30a 1.30c
Oracle bone inscription
variants of the character
for tiger (hu). Late
Shangdynasty (ca.1300
1050bce).

That there are two distinctive manners of representing the tiger, one
with rounded ears and one with pointed, in both the artistic and paleogra-
phic traditions of the Shang is undoubtedly significant in understanding
Shang history, but we do not yet have enough evidence to draw any defi-
nite conclusions about regional or other relationships. We should note,
however, that the paleographic tradition of rounded ears represented by
the Shi diviner group corresponds to the form of ears found on Erligang
culture bronzes, whereas the dominant Bin diviner group draws its form
from some other source, represented in bronzes by two southern vessels.
The Greeks described the fire that burned the corpse in a cremation
ritual as tearing the person apart with a furious jaw.63 Animals of prey
are particularly important in sacrificial rituals throughout the world, and
large cats, from the jaguars of South America to the lions of the Middle
East to tigers in China, play a special role in myth and art. As K. C. Chang
and others have observed, the gaping mouth of a beast, especially one that
brings death, readily serves as an archetypal symbol of the separation of
one world from another.64 Large cats are night hunters and meat eaters,
preying on human beings as well as other animals, so their open mouths
readily signify the passage of death, or at least to another cosmological
tier. The common hypnagogic sensation of entering a tunnel or vortex
might also play a role in the popularity of this theme in different cultures.
The special role of tigers in hunting is clear from Shang oracle bone
inscriptions. Divinations were made before hunts about the possible
capture of tigers.65 They are also given special prominence in records of
successful hunts.66 Almost all Shang dynasty divination inscriptions are
incised on bones (usually the scapulae of oxen) or on turtle shell (usually
plastrons), but other types of bone are occasionally used for special
purposes. For example, human skulls are sometimes used to record
sacrifices, apparently of the victim himself if he is unusually important.67

52 Sarah Allan
figure 1.31 Tiger bones sometimes also play this special role. Thus, for example, a
Man-in-tiger-mouth you,
late Shang dynasty
beautifully written display inscription on the humerus of a tiger records
(ca.1300 1050 bce), the successful capture of a particularly large and ferocious tiger and a
bronze; h.35cm (overall), subsequent ritual offering. The bone may be that of the tiger in question.
32cm (vessel). Courtesy
of the Muse Cernuschi, The other side of the bone is carved and inlaid, a further indication of its
Paris (mc6155). special importance.68
In the later Chinese literary tradition, tigers were regarded as the
most ferocious of wild beasts. Just as we know the lion as king of
the jungle, the tiger, according to the Shuowen, was the lord of the
mountain beasts.69 Warriors also invoked the ferocity of the tiger. Zhou
dynasty bronze inscriptions refer to war chariots as having a tiger
canopy, perhaps one made of tiger skin or else decorated with tiger
images,70 and a sixth-century bell refers to great warriors who had
numinous strength like a tiger.71 Bronze vessels are a medium for

53 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

transmitting offerings to the ancestors. As part of the taotie motif on
sacrificial vessels, the tiger mouth may thus be understood as a general-
ized allusion to this passage from one world to another.

As we have seen above, the characteristic feature of the taotie from its
first appearance is two eyes and a lack of definition. The taotie of Erlitou
culture is found in a mortuary context that suggests an association with
shamanism; that is, the dead wore bronze inlaid plaques with a two-eyed
motif on their chests that was the forerunner of the taotie motif later
found on bronze vessels. The dead were also accompanied by bronze wine
vessels, bells, and jade instruments. The eyes on the plaques tell us that
they were seers, people with a special power of vision, who performed
ceremonies using wine. Secondary evidence suggests that a form of this
motif was also found on perishable artifacts such as lacquer vessels. Thus,
when bronze technology developed in the early Shang period, the motif
was transferred to bronze vessels.
In the early Shang period, the eyes within an undefined face on
bronze vessels suggest not only seers that transcend the boundary of this
world and that of the dead, but an unknown power that sees but cannot
be seen, thus producing a sense of fear or unease in the viewers. The
lack of definition and separation between image and ground serves to
increase this sense of the unknowable. The pottery shard of a bifurcated
human flanked by snakes found at Zhengzhou suggests that a more
complicated iconography existed in other media, such as lacquered wood.
By the late Shang, we have a more fertile aesthetic vocabulary and range
of techniques, which prevent a single reading of the taotie and other
motifs. The taotie face includes horns and ears of animals, including
humans, that were hunted and/or used in sacrificial rites. The use of bird-
and dragon-like creatures in the overall composition further suggests a
tiered cosmos, with sky above and water below.
Some late Shang bronzes, particularly those from the south, are rela-
tively naturalistic in their renderings of aspects of particular animals and
we occasionally find whole animals without any admixture of another
creature. Pan, water basins used for ritual ablutions, are sometimes
designed to suggest a pond and may even have a cosmic turtle at the
center. But the man-in-animal-mouth motif is the only one in Shang
bronze art in which two creatures are in active relationship with one
another. In other words, there is an implicit narrative in which the man
enters the animals mouth. Other motifs on Shang bronzes include admix-
tures of animals and humans, but the relationship between the motifs
is passive; each motif is an element within the larger composition of the

54 Sarah Allan
vessel. This composition usually includes allusions to birds and thus a tier
above, and allusions to dragons and thus a watery underworld below.
Visions of animals being transformed into one another or into
humans are common in the neurologically engendered hypnagogic expe-
riences often associated with shamanic trance. Although one animal may
dominate the image of the taotie, even when it is presented in a relatively
naturalistic manner, the realism is almost always broken by conjoining
it with a different animal. Moreover, the bodies, with only forelegs, are
inconsistent with the four-legged animals to which the horns and ears
allude. Thus we are presented with an image of endless transformation in
which one animal is turning into another or into a human being. These
animals are those the Shang hunted or reared and used in the sacrificial
rites for which the bronze vessels were cast. The presence of an unseen
power is suggested by the eyes of the taotie; the passage to the other world
is suggested by the tiger open mouth.
Finally, although I have not attempted to trace the development of the
taotie motif into the Zhou period, I should note that in the early Western
Zhou dynasty, wine vessels lose their ritual status. At about the same time,
the taotie is replaced as the major motif on bronze vessels. This is further
confirmation that the taotie had a particular association with rituals in
which wine was used as a means of transcendence to the other world.

notes
1 See Sarah Allan, The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art and Cosmos in Early China (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1991), 138 149. The identification of the so-called
bottle horns (fig.1.6e) as those of a Muntjak deer was first made by J.Leroy Davidson,
The Riddle of the Bottle Horn, Artibus Asiae 22 (1999): 15 22, and is supported by
examples with deer ears or sprouting antlers. The identification of twisted horns, like
those in figure1.6g, as those of a deer was first made by Elizabeth Childs-Johnson
in a conference paper presented at Anyang in 1988. For her more recent, detailed
examination and attempt to match them with known species, see Elizabeth Childs-
Johnson, The Metamorphic Image: A Predominant Theme in the Ritual Art of Shang
China, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 70 (1998): 20 31.
2 Magnus Fiskesj, Rising from Blood-Stained Fields: Royal Hunting and State
Formation in Shang China, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 73 (2001):
48 192, includes a detailed summary of archaeological and inscriptional evidence for
hunting in the late Shang.
3 Walter Burkert, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and
Myth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983), 47 48.
4 One was excavated in 1984 at Xibeigang, the other in 2000 at Liujiazhuang. See Tang
Jigen, Yinxu: Yige wangchao de beiying (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2009),160.
5 Even the species identification is not always clear. For example, I believe that the

55 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

horn types in figures 1.6b and 1.6c should be distinguished, whereas Childs-Johnson
groups them together and takes them both as buffalo. See Childs-Johnson, The
Metamorphic Image, 107 108.
6 Although most scholars agree that the taotie motif does not correspond to any
spirit found in the oracle bone inscriptions, a few have attempted to match it with a
particular ancestral spirit. Most notably, Hayashi Minao identifies the motif with the
highest Shang ancestor, whose name he transcribes as kui. Hayashis argument rests
upon the problematic identification of the head and foot elements in the character
that represents the name of this ancestor in oracle bone inscriptions with the head
and foot of the taotie. See Hayashi Minao, In Sh jidai no ibutsumotsu ni arawasareta
kishin, Kgaku zasshi 46, no.2 (September 1960): 129, and Iwayaru ttetsumon wa
nani o hy shita mono ka, Th Gakuh 56 (March 1984): 1 97. This identification has
been endorsed by Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, The Ghost Head Mask and Metamor-
phic Shang Imagery, Early China 20 (1995): 80, and The Metamorphic Image: A
Predominant Theme in the Ritual Art of Shang China, 55 56. There is however no
evidence in the oracle bones that associates this ancestor (or any other spirit) with the
bronze motif. Moreover, the taotie motif appears on the bronze vessels of people who
would not have worshiped Shang ancestors. The instability of the motif is another
reason to doubt the identification of the motif with any particular ancestor or spirit.
7 Chen Qiyou, Lshi chunqiu jiaoshi (Shanghai: Xuelin, 1984), 947 ( juan 16.1).
8 Wang Tao, A Textual Investigation of the Taotie, in The Problem of Meaning in
Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes, ed. Roderick Whitfield, 102 118 (London: Percival David
Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1993).
9 Jordan Paper, The Meaning of the Tao-Tieh, History of Religions 18 (1978): 18 41,
and Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, The Ghost Head Mask and Metamorphic Shang
Imagery, Early China 20 (1995): 79 92, have argued that a mask was actually the origin
of the taotie motif. But I do not think that this position can be supported by the
historical development of the taotie because the more mask-like forms do not appear
until quitelate.
10 For a history and critique of earlier Western approaches to interpretation, see
Sarah Allan, Chinese Bronzes through Western Eyes, in Exploring Chinas Past:
New Discoveries and Studies in Archaeology and Art, ed. Roderick Whitfield and Wang
Tao, 461 496 (London: Saffron, 1999); and, from a very different viewpoint, RobertW.
Bagley, Max Loehr and the Study of Chinese Bronzes: Style and Classification in the History
ofArt (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2008).
11 Max Loehr, Ritual Vessels of Bronze Age China (New York: Asia House, 1968), 13.
Loehrs argument was not simply based upon mutability; it was also influenced by
his belief that Shang bronze art could be traced to the patterns found on Yangshao
culture ceramics, as well as by Suzanne Langers theory that form comes first. For
a detailed review of the development of Loehrs argument, see Bagley, Max Loehr and
the Study of Chinese Bronzes, esp. 49 97.
12 See Sarah Allan, Art and Meaning, in The Problem of Meaning in Early Chinese
Ritual Bronzes, ed. Roderick Whitfield, 9 33 (London: Percival David Foundation
of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1992), and The Shape of the
Turtle, chap. 6. See also Robert Bagley, Meaning and Explanation, in The Problem of
Meaning in Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes, ed. Roderick Whitfield, 34 55 (London: Percival
David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1992), for a
critique; and my response in the Epilogue, 161 176.

56 Sarah Allan
13 I first formulated the theory that follows concerning the nature of and relation-
ship between myth and art in cultures without a developed literature in The Shape
of the Turtle. I further advance that argument with the recognition that the religious
experience from which mythic art derives has a neurological origin, which allows it
to be divorced from the visions of professional shamans and related to a common
human experience.
14 It may be significant that ancestors function as gods in many of the African and
American cultures associated with primitive art forms.
15 In Allan, The Shape of the Turtle, 16, I suggest that Shang writing focused on and may
have been limited to divination and ritual. This was not accepted by WilliamG. Boltz,
The Origin and Development of the Chinese Writing System (New Haven, Conn.: American
Oriental Society, 1994), or Robert Bagley, Anyang Writing and the Origins of the
Chinese Writing System, in The First Writing: Script Invention as History and Process, ed.
StephenD. Houston (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 190 249, but the
evidence for limited use of writing has been convincingly developed by Adam Daniel
Smith, Writing at Anyang: The Role of the Divination Record in the Emergence of
Chinese Literacy (PhD diss., University of California at Los Angeles, 2008).
16 DavidN. Keightley, Sources of Shang History (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1978), 89,169.
17 Li Xueqin, Qi Wenxin, and Ai Lan (Sarah Allan), Yingguo suocang jiagu ji (Oracle
bone collections in Great Britain), part 2 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1991), vol.1,248.
18 See Allan, The Shape of the Turtle, 112 123.
19 Although the hypothesis formulated by David Pearce and David Lewis-Williams,
Inside the Neolithic Mind (London: Thames and Hudson, 2005), focuses on Neolithic
societies and I am concerned here with the early Chinese Bronze Age, it is neverthe-
less valid for understanding the development of the taotie for the reason to which I
have referred above; that is, it is the development of a literary tradition, rather than
writing per se or the stage of social development, that results in the transformation of
artistic expression from one that derives from experience to one that derives meaning
in association with the articulated ideas.
20 Pearce and Lewis-Williams, Inside the Neolithic Mind, 68, describe this belief in a
tiered cosmos as hard-wired in the human brain. I think it is more likely to be the
logical conclusion of the neurologically engendered complementary experiences of
descent and flight.
21 See Allan, The Shape of the Turtle, 27 30.
22 Xueqin Li, Liangzhu Culture and the Shang Dynasty Taotie Motif, in The Problem
of Meaning in Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes, ed. Roderick Whitfield, 56 66 (London:
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, 1992).
23 See Sarah Allan, Erlitou and the Formation of Chinese Civilizaton: Toward a New
Paradigm, Journal of Asian Studies 66, no.2 (2007): 461 496, esp. 485 486.
24 In State Formation in Early China (London: Duckworth, 2003), Liu Li and Chen
Xingcan have argued that the Erlitou remains may appropriately be designated those
of a state, citing as evidence a regional settlement pattern in which the Erlitou site
dominated smaller centers and villages in a four-tiered settlement hierarchy, as well
as the large extent of the Erlitou site in comparison to all earlier and contempora-
neous remains.

57 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

25 Wang Qing, Xiangqian tongpaishi de chubu yanjiu, Wenwu (2004.5): 65 72; Ye
Wansong and Li Defang, Yanshi Erlitou shouwen tongpai kaoshi, Kaogu yu wenwu
(2001.5): 40 47.
26 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, Henan Yanshishi Erlitou yizhi
zhongxinqu de kaogu xin faxian, Kaogu (2005.7): 15 20, pl.6, 7; Xu Hong, Henan
Yanshi Erlitou yizhi faxian daxing lsongshi longxing qi, Zhongguo wenwu bao,
January 21, 2005; Erlitou Fieldwork Team, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences, A Large Turquoise Dragon-Form Artifact Discovered at the Erlitou
Site, Chinese Archaeology 5 (2005): 10 12.
27 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, Yinxu Fu Hao mu (Beijing: Wenwu
Chubanshe, 1980), 151, 153, fig.80.2, color plate 24.2, plate 130.1 (m5:372).
28 Mai Gewen (Patrick McGovern) et al., Shandong Rizhaoshi Liangchengzhen yizhi
Longshan wenhua jiu yicun de huaxue fenxi, Kaogu (2003.3): 73 85; Patrick McGovern,
Ancient Wine (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993), 314 315.
29 Zheng Guang, Erlitou taoqi jicui (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1995),
illustrates the sets of ritual pottery vessels in numerous Erlitou tombs.
30 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, Henan Yanshishi Erlitou yizhi
zhongxinqu.
31 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo Erlitou gongzuodui, 1981 nian
Henan Yanshi Erlitou muzang fajue jianbao, (Kaogu 1984.1): 37 40; Ye Wansong and
Li Defang, Yanshi Erlitou yizhi shouwen tongpai kaoshi, 40, argue that the tomb
should be classified as third-period on the basis of its pottery forms.
32 An earlier bell, smaller but of similar shape, was found in a tomb of the late
Neolithic period in Shanxi Province, Xiangfen Taosi (m3296). See Zhongguo shehui
kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo Shanxi gongzuodui and Linfen diqu wenhuaju, Shanxi
Xiangfen Taosi yizhi shouci fajue qingtongqi, Kaogu (1984.12): 1068 1071; Wangping
Shao, The Interaction Sphere of the Longshan Period, in The Formation of Chinese
Civilization: An Archeological Perspective, ed. Sarah Allan, 91 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 2005).
33 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo Erlitou gongzuodui, 1984 nianqiu
Henan Yanshi Erlitou yizhi faxian de jizuo muzang, Kaogu (1986.4): 318 323 (m11);
Zhongguo Shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo Erlitou gongzuodui, 1987 Yanshishi
Erlitou yizhi muzang fajue jianbao, Kaogu (1992.4): 294 303 (m57); see also Ye
Wansong and Li Defang, Yanshi Erlitou shouwen tongpai kaoshi.
34 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo Erlitou gongzuodui, 1980 nian
Henan Yanshi Erlitou yizhi fajue jianbao, Kaogu (1983.3): 199 205, 219 (203, fig.9.9).
35 Robert Bagley, Erligang Bronzes and the Discovery of the Erligang Culture,
in Art and Archaeology of the Erligang Civilization, ed. Kyle Steinke with Dora C. Y.
Ching (Princeton, N.J.: P. Y. and KinmayW. Tang Center for East Asian Art and the
Department of Art and Archeology, Princeton University, 2014), 42, states, We no
longer need to invoke lost prototypes in other materials. We have the prototypes
and they are bronze. Nevertheless, there is considerable evidence for wood vessels
decorated with lacquer from the early second millennium bce onwards. It would be
odd if bronze art developed in isolation fromit.
36 Rowan Flad, Ritual or Structure? Analysis of Burial Elaboration at Dadianzi,
Inner Mongolia, Journal of East Asian Archaeology 3, no.3 4 (2001): 23 52; Li Yanxiang,

58 Sarah Allan
Gu Haixin, and Zhu Yanping, Dadianzi mudi chutu tongqi chubu yanjiu, Wenwu
(2003.7): 78 84; Allan, Erlitou and the Formation of Chinese Civilization, 480 483.
37 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, Dadianzi: Xiajiadian xiaceng wenhua
yizhi yu mudi fajue baogao (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1996), 350, pl.20.1.
38 LouisaG. Fitzgerald-Huber, Qijia and Erlitou: The Question of Contacts with
Distant Cultures, Early China 20 (1995):22.
39 Wang Qing, Xiangqian tongpaishi de chubu yanjiu, 66, fig.1.4.
40 See also Fitzgerald-Huber, in Xiaoneng Yang, New Perspectives on Chinas Past:
Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,
2004), 155 158.
41 Ye Wansong and Li Defang, Yanshi Erlitou yizhi shouwen tongpai kaoshi, 43, fig.8.
42 See Robert Thorp, China in the Early Bronze Age: Shang Civilization (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 62 73, for a summary of these finds.
Important Chinese reports include Henansheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, Zhengzhou
Shangdai jiaocang (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1999), Zhengzhou Shangcheng: 1953 1985-
nian kaogu fajue baogao (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2001), Zhengzhou Shangcheng
xin faxian de jizuo Shang mu, Wenwu (2003.4): 4 20; Du Jinpeng, Yanshi Shangcheng
yizhi yanjiu (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2004).
43 A succinct summary of these finds may be found in Thorp, China in the Early
Bronze Age, 74 116. A central hypothesis of Li Liu and Xingcan Chen, State Formation
in Early China, is that casting was a monopoly of the early Shang state. Li and Chens
argument that no vessels were cast outside the core region, even though there is
evidence of smelting elsewhere, is based on a lack of discovery of molds and casting
workshops, but this can be attributed to the limitations of the excavated evidence.
For example, they argue that the vessels found at Panlongcheng in Hubei were all
cast at Zhengzhou. It is noteworthy, however, that the vessels found at Panlongcheng
generally have higher lead content than those from northern sites; see Hubeisheng
wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, Panlongcheng (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2001), vol.1:
529 532. I also suspect that a careful analysis of their forms and decoration will reveal
minor differences, suggesting that at least some of the vessels were locally cast in
emulation of Zhengzhou prototypes.
44 Yang Yubin and Sun Guangqing, Henan kaogu tansuo (Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou guji,
2002), 319 324; Boqian Li, Patterns of Development among Chinas Bronze Cultures,
in New Perspectives on Chinas Past: Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century, ed. Yang
Xiaoneng, 188 199 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004).
45 Pearce and Lewis-Williams, Inside the Neolithic Mind, 100; J. D. Lewis-Williams,
Quanto?: The Issue of Many Meanings in Southern African San Rock Art Research,
The South African Archaeological Bulletin 53, no.168 (1998): 86 97, 93. This hypothesis is
based upon anthropological analogy with the San people of South Africa, who equate
shamanic trance with death. Although Lewis-Williams analysis of the San evidence
has been challenged, it does not affect our argumenthere.
46 E. H. Gombrich, The Sense of Order: A Study in the Psychology of Decorative Art
(Oxford: Phaidon, 1979), 264 ff. See also William Watson, Style in the Arts of China
(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974), 29, for the attribution of this effect to the taotie.
While it is likely that the descendant of the taotie found on doors in the Han Dynasty
had this purpose, it does not make sense as an explanation of the motif on ritual
vessels for presenting food offerings.

59 The Taotie Motif on Early Chinese Ritual Bronzes

47 DavidN. Keightley, The Science of the Ancestors: Divination, Curing, and Bronze-
Casting in Late Shang China, Asia Major, Third Series 14, no.2 (2001): 177 181.
48 Tang Wei and Zhang Wei, Zhengzhou Shangcheng ren shou muti taopian tuan
fuyuan, Zhongguo lishi wenwu (2008.1): 34 48. I have previously discussed this sherd
and related artifacts in He Flies Like a Bird, He Dives Like a Dragon, Who Is That
Man in the Animal Mouth? Shamanic Images in Shang and Western Zhou Art,
Orientations 41, no.3 (April 2010): 45 51.
49 See Jessica Rawson, Chinese Jade: From the Neolithic to the Qing (London: British
Museum, 1995), 218 219, for further examples. Elizabeth Childs-Johnson has related
such images to shamanic ideas of metamorphosis, and she takes the crouching form
as fetal; see Childs-Johnson, Jade as Confucian Ideal, Immortal Cloak, and Medium
for the Metamorphic Fetal Pose, in Enduring Art of Jade Age China, vol.2 (New York:
Throckmorton Fine Art, 2002), 15 24.
50 K. C. Chang, Changing Relationships of Man and Animal in Shang and Chou
Myths and Art, in K. C. Chang, Early Chinese Civilization: Anthropological Perspectives
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard-Yenching Institute, 1976), 175 196; The Animal in Shang
and Zhou Bronze Art, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 41, no.2 (1981): 527 554; Art,
Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1983), 44 55.
51 This hypothesis was first proposed by Chen Mengjia, Shangdai de shenhua yu
wushu, Yanjing xuebao 20 (1936), 486 576.
52 Scholars who have disputed the evidence for the Shang king as shaman include
Lothar von Falkenhausen, Reflections on the Political Role of Spirit Mediums in
Early China: The Wu Officials in the Zhou Li, Early China 20 (1995); 278 300; DavidN.
Keightley, Shamanism, Death, and the Ancestors, Asiatische Studien 52, no.3 (1998):
763 783; Gilles Boilleau, Wu and Shaman, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African
Studies 65, no.2 (2002): 350 378.
53 Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji bianji weiyuanhui, ed. Zhongguo qingtongqi quanji
(Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1996), vol.1, 116 117, vol.13, 87 88; see also RobertW.
Bagley, ed., Ancient Sichuan: Treasures from a Lost Civilization (Seattle and Princeton, N.J.:
Seattle Art Museum and Princeton University Press, 2001), 140 141.
54 Vadime Elisseeff, Bronzes Archaiques Chinois au Muse Cernuschi (Paris: LAsiatique,
1977), 122 131 (no.46); RobertW. Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes in the ArthurM. Sackler
Collections (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987), fig.179.
55 Allan, The Shape of the Turtle,149.
56 The similar vessel from Sanxingdui is more crudely cast and the face is not
delineated.
57 Shanghai bowuguan qingtongqi yanjiuzu, Shang Zhou qingtongqi wenshi (Beijing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1984),589.
58 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, Yinxu Fu Hao mu, 105 106, figs.66
67, color pl.13.1.
59 For a more complete discussion of the role of the tiger in the transitional period,
see Sarah Allan, The Tiger, the South, and Loehr Style iii,in Proceedings of the
International Conference: Chinese Archaeology Enters the Twenty-first Century (Yingjie ershiyi
shiji de Zhongguo kaoguxue), ed. Beijing daxue kaoguxi (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe,
Beijing, 1998), 149 182.

60 Sarah Allan
60 Some scholars distinguish these variants as different characters; see Zhao Cheng,
Jiaguwen jianming cidian (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1988), 202 203, and Shima Kunio,
Inkyo bokuji srui (Tokyo: Kyuko Shoin, 1971), 225. Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu
yanjiusuo ed., Jiaguwen bian (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965), 224 225 (no.0619), and
Yao Xiaosui, ed., Yinxu jiagu keci leizuan (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju), 635 636, however,
group them together. In my opinion, the pattern of graphic variation suggests different
diviner traditions rather than different animals, so I have followed the latter scholars.
61 My classification of diviner groups is based upon Li Xueqin and Peng Yushang,
Yinxu jiagu fenqi yanjiu (Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1996). For Shi diviner group
inscriptions, with rounded-T-shaped ears, see Guo Moruo, ed. Jiaguwen heji (Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju, 1982), nos. 17849, 20463, 20706 20713, 21385 21392 (hereafter Heji);
Li, Qi, and Ai, Yingguo suocang jiagu ji, nos. 1779, 1799. The T shape develops into a
wedge or mushroom shape; see, for example, Heji, nos. 27339, 32552.
62 For examples from the Bin diviner group, see Heji, nos. 10196 10208.
63 Walter Burkert, Homo Necans,43.
64 K. C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual, 73 75. Chang cites Nelson Wu, Carl Hentze, and
others. By means of analogy with shamanism in other cultures, he argues that the
animal is a familiar that is, a supernatural being that takes animal form and
assists the shaman, and relates the animal breath to the winds. This set of beliefs is
also discussed by Pearce and Lewis-Williams, Inside the Neolithic Mind, 139 140, but I
do not think there is sufficient evidence to relate it to the Shang.
65 Heji, nos. 10201 10205.
66 Heji, nos. 10196 10198.
67 See Rao Zongyi, Yindai zhenbu renwu tongkao (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University
Press, 1959), vol.1,13.
68 Chin-hsiung Hs, Oracle Bones from the White and Other Collections (Toronto: Royal
Ontario Museum, 1979), no.1915; William Charles White, Bone Culture of Ancient China
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1945), 96 98.
69 Yucai Duan, Shuowen jiezi zhu, by Xu Shen (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji, 1981), 210
(shan shou zhijun).
70 See Ma Chengyuan, ed., Shang Zhou qingtongqi mingwen xuan (Beijing: Wenwu
chubanshe, 1988), vol.3, 118 note 6 (no.180).
71 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo, ed., Yin Zhou jinwen jicheng (Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju, 1984), 1.276, 1.285.

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Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiusuo . Dadianzi:
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66 Sarah Allan
chapter2
Labeling the Creatures: Some Problems in Han
and Six Dynasties Iconography
SusanBush

Fantastic beings proliferated during the Western Middle Ages, orna-

menting codices and capitals and morphing into heraldic emblems.
In a comparable fashion, the first six centuries of the Common Era in
China can be seen as a prime time for imaginary creatures. Dragons and
phoenixes, monsters and winged lions reached their definitive forms,
bristling with energy. Still there were differences between such imagery
in the West and the East. In China, written inscriptions often emphasized
the auspicious or apotropaic aspects of such beings. Moreover, literary
descriptions from Han times on enabled viewers to identify their auspi-
cious sightings and formed the basis of classifications attempted by later
scholars. But just as fantastic animals tend to be shape shifters, so the
labels applied to them can be subject to various interpretations. This
chapter is written with appreciation for those early designers vibrant
forms and for the work of the scholars who wrote about them. We share
alove of creatures of the imagination.
The main body of this chapter will consider issues posed by words
or phrases relating to creatures labeled as qianqiu wansui (thousand
autumns, ten thousand years), qilin (unicorn), and tianlu bixie (heav-
enly blessings; averting evil). What is in a name? Do names refer to a
specific entity or to a category of beings? Can they indicate the function
of a creature or even add a separate layer of meaning to an image? Given
the homophonic character of the Chinese language, may the names
themselves suggest multiple interpretations? The introductory section
will first consider how literary sources have complicated a problem of

67
figure 2.1
Feilians (?) and thunders
with linked drums. Ca. 530s
ce. Northern quadrant of
the ceiling of Cave 285 at
Dunhuang. Photo 285-28.
The Lo Archive.
general classification in dealing with Feilian, the Wind Earl, or a group of
feilian creatures. It will then focus on the one case where specific names
are applied to thunder monsters once associated with a protective Chiyou
troop before treating more ambiguous examples such as messenger birds,
unicorns, and guardian beasts.
questions of interpretation:
feilian, chiyou, and the thunders
Prime examples of shape shifting, Feilian and Chiyou were two pre-Han
rebels, bronze founders, and storm deities who took on various animal
forms in Han art.1 Feilians identity as the Wind Earl derives from his
appearance in the entourage of the Li sao poet of the Chuci, and he
emerges as an auspicious animal in the Fu on the Shanglin Park of
Sima Xiangru (d.117 bce). Several bronze feilian were on a Feilian Tower
built by Han Wudi ca.109bce; moved to Luoyang, they were melted
down for cash ca.190ce. Contradictory descriptions are given of this
type of creature: thus for one Han shu commentator feilian is a divine
bird that brings wind; for another, it is deer-bodied and bird-headed
with horns, a serpent tail, and leopard spots. From this evidence and a
Huainanzi commentary describing a feilian steed as a winged beast with a
long tail, Sun Zuoyun identified this creature as the flaming-shouldered
quadruped that appears on the ceiling of Dunhuang Cave 285 (fig.2.1),
68 Susan Bush
figure 2.2
Long Tongue and a
feilian(?). Rubbing from
one side of Lady Yuans
epitaph tablet of 522ce.
Boston Museum of
FineArts. From Nagahiro
Toshio, Rikuch jidai bijutsu
no kenky (Representational
art of the Six Dynasties
period) (Tky: Bijutsu
Shuppan-sha, 1969),
pl.15, detail.

as well as the tiger-like chimeras that served as stone grave guardians.

For Sun, feilian, rather than bixie or tianlu bixie, is the correct designation
of such beasts which fit into the general category of the feima (flying
horses) that lined funerary paths up through Tang times.2 Relying
on a Shiji commentary by Guo Pu (276 324) stating that feilian was a
bird-bodied, deer-headed dragon sparrow3 and on references to feilians
wind-raising wings in post-Han poetry, I identified as possible feilian
the hoofed, deer-headed birds that occur four times on Lady Yuans
epitaph tablet of 522 ce (fig.2.2).4 Thus, on the basis of multiple literary
sources and later interpretations, the term feilian, with a lower-casef,
might conceivably serve as an overarching categorization of all the myth-
ical creatures to be described below. This is one example of possible
difficulties in classification.
Problems of interpretation can also occur when one specific literary
source is lacking, as in the case of monsters individual names on Lady
Yuans epitaph tablet. Then the source of the imagery itself must be
investigated and evidence looked for in literature or popular practices,
or even in foreign texts. Winged feilians raising the wind on this tablet
complemented the eighteen monsters identified as thunders on the
basis of ninth-century descriptions. Similar monsters with blue bat
wings and linked thunder drums or meteoric stones appeared on early
sixth-century ceilings in Luoyang tombs and Dunhuang caves. This
southern monster type found on contemporary Northern Wei epitaph
tablets is first seen in developed form decorating Liang funerary monu-
ments at Nanjing. On Xiao Hongs stele of ca.526 ce, armed monsters
include a central Chiyou with bow held overhead in the pose of the Han
war god leading the storm spirits (fig.2.3), an appropriate military escort
for the grand marshal of Liang. In the Fu on the Beplumed [Imperial]
Hunt by Yang Xiong (53 bce 18 ce), both Chiyou and Feilian serve as

69 Labeling the Creatures

figure 2.3
Chief monster in Chiyou
pose. Rubbing from the
back of Xiao Hongs stele
of 526 ce near Nanjing.
From Sekino Tadashi,
Shina hiketsu keishiki no
hensen (Tky: Zayh
Kankkai, 1935), pl.5, no.7.

outriders with Bili (Thunder Clap) and Liechue (Flashing Crack) on the
emperors spirit flight. Thus this prose poem might have been a poten-
tial source for funerary imagery under the literary Liang.5 Contemporary
popular Daoism, however, could also have played a role at a Liang court
where Buddhist and Daoist beliefs commingled.6
The Han war god Chiyou still had protective efficacy under the Liang
even when shown with a Buddhist flaming jewel and swirling floral
twists. We know that the Daoist master Tao Hongjing (456 536) presented
a magic sword with a Chiyou image on its hilt to Liang Wudi (r.502 550).
Earlier, at the end of the Han, a fierce Chiyou image with a tigers mask
guarded the central chamber of the Yinan tomb flanked by the animals
of the four directions.7 These Four Spirits are the Blue Dragon, Red Bird,
White Tiger, and Black Tortoise. With the addition of the qilin unicorn
or the white two-headed deer, they form the wuling or five heraldic crea-
tures that illustrate the cosmic five phases theory of Han. Along with its
raging Chiyou troop, Xiao Hongs stele has pairs of dragons and birds
on its sides plus a single deer and a winged feline (fig.2.4). Thus, with
its tortoise support, it may contain a full complement of the auspicious

70 Susan Bush
figure 2.4 animals. Noting that contemporary Daoist adepts hung up images of
Armed thunder band
and auspicious animals.
the five creatures to create a protective space, Sofukawa Hiroshi also
Rubbing from one side commented that Yuan Huis Northern Wei epitaph tablet of 520 ce
of Xiao Hongs stele of presented the classical wuling since two unicorns joined the paired Four
526 ce. From Nagahiro
Toshio, Rikuch jidai bijutsu Spirits (fig.2.5).8 As a governor, Yuan Hui would have functioned as a
no kenky (Representational civil official and so perhaps qualified for the benevolent beasts by them-
art of the Six Dynasties
period) (Tky: Bijutsu
selves on his tablet base. His filial daughter, Lady Yuan, died just two
Shuppan-sha, 1969), 117, years later, yet the main guardians of her epitaph tablet were frenetic
fig.27.

71 Labeling the Creatures

figure 2.5 storm monsters, presumably because she was married to a Northern Wei
Qilin. Rubbing from
a side of Yuan Huis
general.
epitaph tablet of 520 ce. Lady Yuans tablet and cover are unique in providing what are the only
Hall of Inscriptions, clear-cut examples of proper names for such fantastic beings. Running
Xian Museum. From
Nishikawa Yasushi, Seian clockwise on the tablet from the back side as exhibited in the Boston
hirin (Tky: Kdansha, Museum of Fine Arts, they can be read: Crunch Stone, Seize Heaven Run
1966), pl.124, detail.
Forth, Clutch Stone, Wuhuo (Black Seizer?), Cracking Lightning, Snatch
Up, Scratch Up, Flashing Lightning, Happiness, Good Luck, Rebounding
Light, Carry Afar by the Horns, and Long Tongue (see fig.2.2). A repet-
itive quartet appears on the cover: Seize Heaven, Carry Afar, Hold in
Mouth, and Carry with Head Up. Two of the labels, Happiness and Good
Luck, are conventional wishes for good fortune that underline the auspi-
cious aspect of the images: huanxi and shoufu, or happiness and joy
and longevity and prosperity. Translations of these terms as Happy
and Lucky would have tamed these monsters, as would have the name
Speedy used for chedian, a term that became Flashing Lightning on
the basis of a third-century verse. Nagahiro Toshio identified Wuhuo as
a pre-Han strongman and Changshe or Long Tongue as the name of a
monster and its hill in the Shanhaijing, the bible of Han iconographers.9
But neither he nor I could locate a single text with these names, terms
that are for the most part descriptive of their respective monsters and
generally appropriate for storm deities.
A more recent report on an excavated Northern Wei sarcophagus
also provided a full list of Lady Yuans monsters names and possible

72 Susan Bush
figure 2.6
Paired bird spirits with
animal heads. Rubbing
from Ke Jings epitaph
cover of 528 ce. Hall
of Inscriptions, Xian
Museum. From Nishikawa
Yasushi, Seian hirin (Tky:
Kdansha, 1966), pl.140.

Chinese literary sources.10 Significantly, the authors of this report did not
discover a single text with these names, but they obviously did consider
them Chinese names. That is not the case for Shi Anchang, who has
attempted to reconstruct their pronunciation in three regional Sogdian
dialects and has come up with three potential Sogdian names or deities
out of the eighteen phrases. The pre-Han strongman Wuhuo (Black
Seizer) became Waxsu or Oxus; Juetian (Seize Heaven) became Xwty
or Heavenly Lord; Juetso (Snatch Up) was read as Taxsic or Taxsich, a
god that received blood sacrifices. On the edges of Lady Yuans epitaph
cover, Shi saw such animals as the lion, ox, sheep, dog, deer, plus an eagle
and rooster.11 In my sighting they are eight hornless deer with lion tails
holding leafy sprigs; they flank flaming jewels and are followed by hoofed
birds or leonine creatures. These fantastic beings carved by different
hands are not the specific animals that served as farn or Zoroastrian
sacrificialfood.
On Ke Jings epitaph cover of 528 ce, two human-headed birds
face a spray of lotuses while two animal-headed birds flank a Buddhist
flaming jewel (fig.2.6). Noting Kes possible Sogdian ancestry, Shi
Anchang thought that this angular jewel motif on a lotus base repre-
sented a Zoroastrian fire altar and called the bird spirits the Persian
Dog Bird, Semurv or Simurgh, which is usually single in myth. No
doubt motifs can be read differently depending on context, yet a small
black tortoise imbedded in cloud scroll below is a traditional Taoist
feature. Moreover, in focusing on a Persian bird deity, Shi overlooks the
Chinese origins of paired bird spirits that function as messengers of
immortality. This topic will be discussed below in the section on qianqiu
wansui, where the problem of inscriptions versus names or general labels
again comes to thefore.

73 Labeling the Creatures

problems in classification

Qianqiu Wansui
There is a general tendency on the part of early connoisseurs and modern
art historians to interpret two-character phrases as the names of crea-
tures or kinds of creatures. Although Shoufu and Huanxi, or Good Luck
and Happiness, may seem unlikely designations for monsters, there is
no doubt that they appear to be names rather than auspicious phrases
on Lady Yuans tablet. A less clear-cut case is the molded inscription
qianqiu wansui (a thousand autumns, ten thousand years) on a Deng-
xian tile with the two problematic bird spirits (fig.2.7).12 In an article
on a late Southern Dynasties-to-Tang grave at Changzhou, a tile of the
animal-headed bird has been published under the misleading caption,
Qianqiu Wansui. At one point in the text it is referred to as Wansui, or
a wansui, thus indicating that its mate, the human-headed bird, must
be Qianqiu, as would be indicated by the disposition of these phrases
to each side on the Dengxian tile. But these creatures are also grouped
together under the general heading of qianqiu wansui, as if the writers
of the article considered them to be a category of beings or a species
composed of complementary pairs like the fenghuang, male and female
phoenix, or the comparable qilin or indeed the tianlu bixie, a logical early
precedent that will be discussed below. Another animal-headed bird
appears in flight at the top of the back wall to the north and is thought
perhaps to refer to the attainment of immortality.13 When dealing with
Chinese labels for mythical creatures or with inscriptions associated with
them, one inevitably encounters this kind of ambiguity.
It is even possible that a name can shape the form, as in the case of
Bianqiao, the Qin doctor, who applies acupuncture on Han reliefs as
a human-headed bird, no doubt because the last character of his name
means crow. There is strong evidence suggesting that qianqiu wansui on
the Dengxian tile is simply a conventional phrase of auspicious import.
The tradition of bird spirits as divine messengers bringing immortality,
such as the magpies of Xiwangmu, must underlie the wish for longevity
on this tile. Of the many type of human-headed birds mentioned in the
Shanhaijing, the most pertinent might be Gou Mang, the spirit guardian
of the East, who promised Duke Mu of Qin nineteen extra years of life
as well as prosperity for his state.14 Nevertheless, Qianqiu would not be
an inappropriate name for the human-headed bird since this type of
creature is considered to be an immortal in contemporary literature.
Understandably, in the Western Han tomb of Bu Qianqiu at Luoyang,
this image has been thought to represent either the transformed spirit

74 Susan Bush
figure 2.7
Bird spirit pair with
human and animal heads.
Ca. 500 ce. Colored
tile inscribed qianqiu
and wansui from a grave
at Dengxian, Henan.
38cm19cm8cm.
From Dengxian caisi
huaxiang zhuanmu (Bejing:
Wenwu chubanshe, 1959),
color pl.2.

of the deceased or an immortal. It wears a long streaming cap, the

immortals distant voyaging hat, in the Three-Chambered Tomb at
Tonggou, Korea, which has led Sun Zuoyun to identify it as Wang Ziqiao,
the immortal whose cult was popular at Luoyang.15 In its first appearance
in the Nanjing region on tiles from the Zhenjiang tomb of 398 ce, the
human-headed bird wears a distinctive hat with a candle-like top.16
Rather than take the Dengxian inscription qianqiu wansui as the desig-
nation of a species like fenghuang, or as creatures names like Huanxi and
Shoufu on Lady Yuans tablet, I would still prefer to read it as conven-
tional wishes for longevity and/or immortality, sung by bird spirits of the
Gou Mang type. A similar example occurs in the Zhenjiang grave, where
the molded inscription on the tiles representing the Black Warrior, or
tortoise and snake of the north, ends by expressing hopes for the pros-
perity of the deceaseds descendants: anshou wansui (peace and longevity
for ten thousand years). A contemporary tile from one of the Tonggou
tombs in Korea reads qianqiu wansui yonggu (a thousand autumns, ten
thousand years permanently fixed); still earlier, the first four characters
had decorated Han roof tiles.17 Similar uses of auspicious phrases were
the good luck characters woven into Han silks or the quotations from
the Chuci or Huainanzi found in mirror inscriptions. One might note that
in Han Luoyang tombs, when single characters like hao (good) or kong
(fear) are written by auspicious or apotropaic imagery, they are never
read as the names or labels of creatures. Yet the reverse seems true of
compound inscriptions of thistype.
The animal-headed bird is a particularly popular image in Korean
tomb murals. Different bird spirits appear with inscribed cartouches
in the ceiling of the Dokhung-ni tomb near Pyongyang, the grave of a
Chinese migr named Zhen who died in 409 ce. A deer-headed bird
with feline legs is labeled a local representation or tu xiang (earthly

75 Labeling the Creatures

manifestation) of jili (good fortune), and a more dragonish bird
below is labeled as a representation of fugui (prosperity). Both are
common Chinese New Years wishes, here presumably expressed for the
deceaseds descendants. Interestingly enough, two human-headed birds
are identified separately as representations of qianqiu and wansui, while a
human-headed animal nearby is termed the xingxing, a mythical ape-like
creature who cries for his homeland.18 The only generalization one can
make about these bird spirits is that they audibly convey auspicious
wishes. At any rate, with such a plethora of examples and interpretations,
qianqiu wansui is not likely to survive as a speciesname.

Qilin
As noted above, tianlu bixie (heavenly blessings averting evil) offers a
logical precedent for the interpretation of qianqiu wansui as the names
of bird deities. Hence it is of interest that the writers of the report on
the Changzhou tomb discuss both types of creatures in adjacent para-
graphs. They would identify a pair of quadrupeds on molded bricks as
a tianlu and a bixie because they have one and two horns respectively. No
illustration is provided, but these animals are described as being like
the long-tailed, deer-like unicorn on the Dengxian tile that is inscribed
qilin. Since the commentary of Guo Pu on the Shanhaijing states that in
the qilin pair the qi is hornless and the lin is a unicorn, the authors argue
that at Changzhou these beasts cannot be qilin and must be tianlu bixie.
They refer to the classical definition of the taoba lions (or taoba and lions)
mentioned in the Persian tributes of exotic animals like the rhinoceros
in the Han shu. A third-century commentary by Meng Kang noted, The
taoba, also named the fuba, resembles a long-tailed deer; the unicorned
one is a tianlu (Heavenly Deer?); the bicorned, perhaps a bixie.19 Here
one might wonder whether questions of classification should be decided
solely on the basis of the number of horns. Later on, in mandarin
squares the qilin will have two horns. Hence, as Schuyler Cammann has
pointed out, its inevitable identification with the Western unicorn in
the course of translation is misleading.20 The Changzhou grave is likely
at least a hundred years younger than the Dengxian tomb of around
500ce, so the one- and two-horned pair of beasts may be transitional to
the Tang qilin type that incorporates flaming shoulders and a lion tail on
its way to resembling the creature on Kirin Beer labels. Indeed, Sofukawa
Hiroshi has placed the Changzhou beasts in one such qilin chart, which
makes it possible now to see that they are hoofed.21
The Changzhou report did not comment on the presence of hoofs or
claws, perhaps the most relevant feature for purposes of classification.

76 Susan Bush
figure 2.8
Qilin or flying horse (?).
Ca. 500 ce. Tile from
a grave at Dengxian,
Henan. 38cm19cm
6cm. From Dengxian
caisi huaxiang zhuanmu,
30:38.

It is significant that the qilin alone of single-horned Han beasts in

literature and art manages to survive with hoofs intact, possibly because
its characters were written with the horse radical in Han. On Sui mirrors,
under the spell of the lion, the Buddhist King of Beasts, a real walrus(?),
or jueduan, of the Han imperial zoo became a fire-eating feline, while
an emblem of justice, the xiezhai, changed from a unicorned ram to a
book-holding lion. Only the leading benevolent beast, the qilin, resisted
this fashion, no doubt because it was a good vegetarian associated
with Confucius.22 Flaming shoulders and a long wavy tail energize the
inscribed qilin at Dengxian. Its curling horn and horses hoofs are other
features that distinguish it from the classical Han representation at
the Wu family shrine, which has a flesh-tipped horn and deers hoofs.
Asecond image at Dengxian on an uninscribed tile is nearly identical
to the first; the chief differences are three-taloned claws andthe tail of
a lion (fig.2.8). Although here the only horse-like aspect is a muzzle,
the authors of the Dengxian report labeled the image a feima, or flying
horse, as we have seen, a general term for this type of creature as for
guardian beasts in front of tombs.23 Falling into the common practice
of using qilin to classify such animals, I termed it a unicorn, which is
literally true but perhaps doubly misleading. Hoofs can be as important
as horns in representations of the mythical unicorn.

Tianlu Bixie
On first reading, like qianqiu wansui, the phrase tianlu bixie (heavenly
blessings averting evil) might seem to be an auspicious phrase. Indeed
there is some archaeological evidence that might support such a reading.
But the phrase has traditionally been associated with various types of
fantastic animal guardians, and tianlu and bixie have been used separately

77 Labeling the Creatures

as classifying terms. Since texts have played a large role in this develop-
ment, it is not a fly-by-night phrase, as it were, like qianqiu wansui.
Our beginning and ending point must be one type of horned and
feathered feline that served as a tomb protector in late Eastern Han. The
beasts mentioned above fall into Barry Tills Han category I, with unified
wing feathers in a hooked c-curve and marked yang and yin features of
one or two horns and vertical or horizontal striations. Engraved on the
sides of several such pairs in southern Henan were the characters bixie
and tianlu, which were taken to be the names of the individual animals.24
As one might expect, the interest of influential Northern Song literati in
such inscriptions established this reading as a tradition.
In a ground-breaking study of Southern Dynasties tomb monuments,
Zhu Xizu traced the line of transmission, citing an important commen-
tary by Li Xian of the Tang on the Hou Han shu: Nowadays, to the north
of Dengzhou, Nanyang District, there is the stele of Zong Zi (d. 167 ce),
and to the side are two stone beasts with engravings on their shoulders;
one says tianlu, the other says bixie. These inscriptions in Han seal
script were of particular interest to Song antiquarians like Ouyang Xiu
(1007 1072) and Shen Gua (1030 1094), who both saw the engravings in
situ and obtained rubbings of them. By Ming times the inscriptions
were no longer visible and a local connoisseur thoughtfully had them
recut after those at the tomb of Zong Zis grandfather, Zong (or Song)
Jun (d.ca.76 ce). Similar inscriptions on stone beasts at the grave of
a certain Zhou Bao of the Eastern Han appear in the twelfth-century
Jinshilu by Zhao Mingcheng. Six centuries earlier Li Daoyuan had already
recorded these engravings in Shuijing zhu. Ultimately the set of seal char-
acters was reproduced from rubbings in the Feng brothers Jinshi suo of
1822. In Zhu Xizus estimate there were at least three pairs of such crea-
tures in the Nanyang District and possibly four pairs in Baofeng District.
Illustrations are given of two remaining beasts from Nanyang, one of
which is said to be the formerly inscribed two-horned bixie from Zong
Zis tomb. Sway-backed, with rearing necks and toothless mouths, they
are evidently the two now raised on blocks at the Nanyang Museum.
In the Southern Dynasties, when similar stone guardians were erected
at emperors graves at Nanjing and Danyang, they were popularly called
qilin unicorns and sometimes shizi lions. Thus the Unicorn Gate at
Nanjing was named after the earliest extant beasts at the tomb of Song
Wudi (d.422) and areas near other emperors grave sites called after their
stone lions. Even nearly contemporary texts could be inconsistent in
their nomenclature; the gigantic stone creatures that bounded in place
inauspiciously at the Danyang tomb of Liang Wudis parents are called

78 Susan Bush
 qilin in the Liang shu and bixie in Xu Songs Jiankang shilu of Tang times.25
Here bixie is used as a general term that covers both members of a pair,
as in popular usage. Modern Chinese scholars have struggled with the
problem of fitting traditional Chinese terminology to these animals.
Winged lions do guard the Liang princes graves, but they are not really
lions but fantastic hybrids, and the emperors stone beasts cannot
properly be put in the qilin category because they are not hoofed and have
varying numbers of horns. Labeled archaeological finds bear out these
distinctions: on the Dengxian tiles a qilin is hoofed and unicorned while
a shizi is wingless with plumed, upraised tail.26
On the basis of the early evidence given above, Zhu Xizu argued that
tianlu and bixie were the correct names for the emperors tomb guardians
at Nanjing and Danyang, and he referred to the third-century commen-
tary by Meng Kang to name the Liang princes winged lions. Laurence
Sickman summarized Zhus conclusions about the sculptures: those
with one horn are properly called tianlu, and those with two horns bixie,
while taoba, apparently an imported word applies equally to both. In
a.d.87 the Yuezhi sent a delegation to China with fuba lions, and Zhu
suggests that fuba is the proper term for the hornless creatures.27
Nonetheless, Zhu continued to use traditional terminology in popular
usage to label the photographs of such guardian animals. Thus the
horned felines are termed qilin after the usage of Southern Dynasties
histories, and the winged lions are called bixie as in catalogs from Song
times on, particularly with reference to Jin pottery containers in leonine
form. These labels still appear in recent Chinese and Japanese publica-
tions and can result in confusion. In one article, Zhu Xizus son, Zhu
Xie, mentions qilin (tianlu or bixie) but identifies the winged lions as bixie
as opposed to qilin. In another article, on the basis of tomb orientation
and horns, a single-horned beast to the right on the grave path is labeled
qilin while its two-horned mate on the left is called a tianlu, as is now
commonly the case.28
Faced with these labels, plus the confusing taoba shizi (or taoba and
lions) and the similar fuba, Westerners have tended to seek refuge in
classical terminology.29 The beasts with upright manes at the tombs of
Liang princes are indeed sometimes called lions despite their wings,
scaled bodies, and lowered tails. The horned felines of imperial graves
are labeled chimeras, appropriately enough considering that a distant
ancestor was probably the Achaemenid griffin. Both types are likely to
have evolved from Near Eastern imports via Persia and Bactria. Actually,
were it not for the Song catalogers, one could call all such guardian
animals bixie, or evil averters, but chimera is also a good choice.

79 Labeling the Creatures

 Literary reports from the sixth century on suggest that tianlu bixie
might be the correct names of the inscribed stone animals that guarded
funerary paths, and Chinese antiquarians and connoisseurs who so
interpreted these terms also applied them widely to similar protective
felines in pottery or bronze. What other evidence do we have of their
existence in Han times? Tianlu has always been a multivalent term since
the character for lu (blessings/salary) is homophonous with that for lu
(deer), which in turn looks like the lin of qilin. Does this necessarily
mean that the tianlu of heavenly blessings is the name of an animal? In
the Han histories, this form of tianlu is used in connection with archi-
tectural or mechanical features. According to a Tang commentator, the
Tianlu Hall, a palace library built by Han Wudi (r.141 87 bce), was so
called after a type of animal like the comparable Qilin Hall. Zhu Xizu,
who discussed cast bronze animals in front of entrances at Changan and
Luoyang, considered it possible that the Tianlu Hall was named after
such sculpture, just as an architectural feature determined the title of
the nearby library, the Stone Drain Hall.30 It is noteworthy, however, that
the last building got its name from a new type of underground drainage
system that ran beneath it. Could the Tianlu Hall have had overhead
drainage features or water collectors to protect the library against fire? Is
it significant that lu (dew) is another homonym for lu (blessings) and
that pre-Han bronze basins collected auspicious dew, ganlu? These are
valid questions to pose here because of the tianlu xiamo, a water-lifting
mechanism cast in metal by Bi Lan in 186 ce outside the main gate of
Luoyang. For Joseph Needham, xiamo (Spread-Eagled Toad) (as seen in
the moon), referred to the spoked wheel of a noria, and tianlu (Heavenly
Payoff ) indicated the buckets that poured out water from above. Of
course decorative animal imagery might have been present here as in the
seismograph invented by Zhang Heng in 132 ce.31
Was there a Heavenly Deer of Han in deer form that differed from
the chimera grave guardian inscribed as tianlu? Later on, distinctions
were blurred, an example of names sound determining form. On Tang
imperial jade seals the lu (blessings) was used in carvings of clawed
deer for extra good luck, and by Song times these antlered deer also
had hoofs.32 Recumbent Han deer guardians with antlers and auspicious
plum-blossom or cowrie-shell spots do occur on an engraved stone slab
from Suiningxian, Jiangsu.33 If the Han Heavenly Deer did indeed exist
as a deer, how did it relate to the contemporary White Deer, so inscribed,
a creature of good omen then and in later times? This question cannot
be answered, but the Heavenly Deer, as pure spirit, or ling, was apparently
distinguished from the White Deer in the Auspicious Omens section of

80 Susan Bush
figure 2.9
Hanging bi and auspicious
creatures. Late first century
bce. Side detail of hollow
tile tomb pediment from
grave 61, Luoyang, Honan.
From Kaogu xuebao (1964.2),
color plateI.

the Song shu. White deer were commonly used in the imperial sacrifices
of Han Wudi, and deer are painted white in murals of Han and later.
Prominent white deer with wings and speckles rise above the animal and
monster melees on the sides of the central tomb pediment in Luoyang
Tomb 61 (fig.2.9).34 Of course the characters for White Deer, bailu, could
sound like a hundred blessings or salary, thus ensuring continued
representations of this beast in later paintings.
As for the zoomorphic Heavenly Deer, so written it was part of
Eastern Han imperial garb. According to the Hou Han shu, the tianlu and
the bixie plus a bear, a tiger, a red bear, and a mythical bull appeared as
the six animals on golden hairpins worn by the empress on visits to the
ancestral temple. The heir apparent was said to have a bixie head (like a
taotie?) on his gold belt buckle inlaid with pearls. Now the tiny chimera
pair from the grave of the ruler of the Zhongshan state, Liu Chang (d.174
ce) at Dingzhou, Hebei, can give us some idea of similar gold ornament
inlaid with semiprecious stones (fig.2.10).35
Of course, as Heavenly Blessings, the tianlu in animal form is
usually paired with the bixie and more evidence about the latter is to be
found from the inscriptions and imagery on Han mirrors. What type of
creature then is the bixie? Bernhard Karlgren suggested that one particu-
larly interesting mirror inscription was a travelers charm. It read in part:

81 Labeling the Creatures

figure 2.10
Pair of chimeras. Eastern
Han dynasty (25 220).
From the tomb of Liu
Chang (d.174), Dingzhou,
Hebei. Gold inlaid with
semiprecious stones. Max.
height 4cm. Dingzhou
Municipal Museum. From
James C. Y. Watt et al.,
China: Dawn of a Golden
Age, 200 750 ad (New York:
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 2004), no.11.

there are the [bixie] and the hornless dragons; the roads are passable.36 A
horned feline protector like the stone guardians of funerary paths might
be a suitable companion for the chi or hornless dragons. Other inscrip-
tions place the bixie with the White Tiger and the lion, the two most
eminent feline protectors. One ends with a medley of beasts: The [ juxu]
and the [bixie] eliminate all noxious influences; the lion and the [tianlu]
assemble there; may you forever have sons and grandsons; great good
luck and felicity. Here the bixie is matched as an active protector with a
fantastic creature often cited in initial lines as the [ juxu], king of horned
animals, every day brings delight.37 This beast is indeed shown with
horns on tlv mirrors, but its literary descriptions in early dictionaries
are far more reminiscent of a kangaroo.
Artistic evidence for the identity of the bixie on mirrors with inscrip-
tions is not clear-cut. Sometimes two or three feline types with horns
occur along with the inscribed term; sometimes the protective crea-
tures simply seem to be the Green Dragon and White Tiger, the chief
directional guardians of Han. Frequently the inscriptions, particularly
on privately cast mirrors, appear to bear no relation to the cast deco-
ration of animals and birds. Hayashi Minao has noted that although a
tianlu is supposed to be single-horned and a bixie double-horned, this
distinction is not upheld consistently on inscribed mirrors. Both the
bixie and the tianlu are unicorns in the drawings of Han mirrors he pres-
ents as illustrations.38 Both types also have a noticeable similarity to the
chimera-dragons that enwrapped late Eastern Zhou jade bi disks and were
inevitably single-horned, since they were shown in profile view. Perhaps
some such model explains the preference for the unicorned variety in
mirror ornament. Double- and single-horned creatures of the tianlu bixie
type do occur along with a tiger and a heavenly horse on an animal band

82 Susan Bush
mirror excavated at Shaoxing in Zhejiang and likely dating from the Wu
dynasty (222 280), but similar twisting felines from a century earlier are
unicorned.39 Some inconsistency is natural when fantastic creatures are
mass-produced in decorative art. Nonetheless it is possible that the bixie,
like the tianlu, remained an ambiguous animal partly because of itsname.
The term bixie, averting evil or evil averter, is so general that
it might be applied to any apotropaic imagery or function. Bi is of
course commonly used as a verb on mirror backs as in the phrase bi bu
xiang, averting the inauspicious (shortened inauspiciously to bi xiang
in one inscription). The phrase chu xiong bi bing, remove misfortune
and avert weapons, appears on a mirror of 221 bce from Tianshuixian,
Gansu. Its decoration consists of a crude pair of curlicued animals
roughly conceived in the form of figure eights. With back-turned heads
that sprout single two-pronged horns, they protrude enormously long
tongues across their bodies.40 In the Chu tradition of antler and tongue,
they must obviously be thought of as evil averters, but they are a simpler
creature than the dragon-tigers on Three Kingdoms mirrors, and a
far cry from the dewlapped chimeras or tongue-protruding lions of
the Southern Dynasties. In form and function they are an example of an
important type of bixie imagery at the end of theHan.
Another piece of evidence is given in the record of the engravings in
the late Han tomb 151 ce at Cangshan in Shandong. When the inscrip-
tion inside the antechamber is compared with the pictorial stone reliefs
placed in specific locations, the meaning of missing characters can be
inferred. Triple-knotted pairs of dragons are carved on the central pillars
of the entranceway and the back of the antechamber. Three characters are
illegible in the phrase applying to the exterior of the tomb, but it likely
reads, In the middle [are] [the knotted] dragons [averting] the inauspi-
cious, with bi or chu being the missing verb at the end.41 The phrases
relevant to the central inner pillar in front of the double grave chamber
can be translated, In the center [is] a pillar with a pair of knotted
dragons that control the Impluviums averting of evil (bixie).42 The final
term bixie is most likely used in a verbal sense here governed by the
initial verbs zhushou. It does not indicate a specific type of creature, the
bixie, but simply emphasizes the apotropaic function of the dragons.
This inscription highlights two facts: first of all, the most important
protective imagery was placed at the main exterior and interior
entrances; secondly, knotted dragons were considered to be inherently
evil averting. Significantly, the configuration of their bodies recalls that
of the Marquess of Dais dragons on the Western Han spirit banner.43
These creatures are interlaced through jade bi disks similar in shape to

83 Labeling the Creatures

figure 2.11
Entwined dragons.
151 ce. Rubbings of
relief engravings on the
central facade-column
(a) and the facade pillar
at the entrance to the
rear chamber (b) of
the Cangshan tomb,
Cangshan, Shandong.
From Shandong Provincial
Museum and Cangshan
County Cultural Bureau,
The Stone Relief Tomb
of the First Year of Yunan-
jia at Cangshan, Shandong
Province, Kaogu (1975.2):
131:2, 4. Dragons entwining
bis (c). Late Eastern Han.
Rubbing of tomb relief
engraving from Shilipu,
Xuzhou, Jiangsu. From
cpam, Jiangsu Province
and the Nanjing Museum,
The Han Dynasty
Tomb with Stone Reliefs
Discovered at Shihli-pu,
Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province,
Kaogu (1966.2):73:1. the rounded curves of the knotted forms on the Shandong reliefs. Were
the apotropaic dragons at Cangshan tied as it were in bi knots, and was
there any association of the bi, in itself an auspicious symbol, with the
term bixie? The answer to the first of these questions seems to be yes,
since two intertwined dragons are threaded through three bi disks in
an Eastern Han funerary relief from Jiangsu Province (fig.2.11).44 The
second can probably also be answered in the affirmative since the bi of
bixie was homophonous with the jade bi and also used interchangeably
with this character in Han. Jade disks were placed over doorways, and it
is noteworthy that the character pi, to open, consists of the gate radical
and the bi of bixie. Painted bi disks proliferate on both sides of the hollow
tile pediment that divides the grave chambers in Luoyang Tomb 61, and a
half-opened door is depicted on the farther side. Jonathan Chaves points
out that the dotted disks represented the auspicious jade gu bi, which had
a raised grain pattern.45 As the chief status symbol of pre-Han China,
the bi disk would be an appropriate emblem of the apotropaic efficacy
of wealth. It is of interest that the criss-cross configuration of knotted
dragons both with and without a bi is retained in the linked wuzhu coin
pattern on molded bricks in late Han and Jin graves.46 All this evidence
suggests that the bi of bixie has the same auspicious ambiguity as the lu
oftianlu. What can the xie of bixie tellus?

84 Susan Bush
figure 2.12
Two tigers. Western
Han (206 bce 9 ce) (?).
Drawing of designs
incised on tomb tiles.
Formerly in Xicheng
Museum, Sichuan.
From Kte Finsterbusch,
Verzeichnis und Motivindex
der Han-Darstellung, vol.2
(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,
1971), Szuchuan: 256,257.

A pair of tomb bricks in a Chengdu museum may shed some light

on the bixie problem. On them, two tigers who faced a grave entrance
are painted red and have their function underlined by the incised char-
acters chu xiong and bi xie, reading toward the front of the grave on each
side (fig.2.12). Down to modern times, chu xiong, remove misfortunes,
was a term used by exorcists on perforated coin charms to expel the five
poisons. Zheng Dekun notes that the phrases stress the function of these
White Tiger types, which seems evident. But he goes on to say that the
bixie is only depicted with three legs, and he notes elsewhere that Han
tomb entrances were guarded by the bixie, chuxiong, tianlu, and juxu.47
Presumably his evidence for the chuxiongs role comes from the inscribed
brick. The juxu was called king of horned beasts in mirror inscrip-
tions, but I am not aware of evidence that it served as a grave guardian.
Although, despite what one might have hoped, these bricks do not seem
to have finally settled the question of whether the bixie is an animal or
an apotropaic term, they may illuminate the meaning of xie. In the bixie
phrase, xie (evils) a combination of the classifying radical 163 with
radical 95, ya (teeth), is written with a variant character that looks rather
like a tooth, and the tigers teeth are emphatically bared, as is common
in such imagery. Should teeth be thought of as a classifying factor like
horns and hoofs? Is it possible that the side panels of the front of the

85 Labeling the Creatures

figure 2.13
Chimera. Eastern Han
(25 220). From the tomb
of Liu Xiu (r.25 57),
Mengjin, Henan. Stone.
Length 293cm. Luoyang
Museum. From James C. Y.
Watt et al., China: Dawn of
a Golden Age, 200 750 ad
(New York: Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2004),
no.1.

inner pediment in Luoyang Tomb 61 read visually as bixie?48 After all, the
auspicious or apotropaic creatures that circle the suspended bi disk do
have one thing in common: they all have teeth, some clearly in evidence
as in the monsters type of Halloween grins (cf.fig.2.9). Such ideas can
only be speculations; nonetheless teeth imagery was important in early
Eastern Han since the epithet Tiger Teeth was added to certain generals
titles then. Indirectly, the Nanyang Zongs who fought as generals in the
civil war can point the way back to Zong Zis chimeras and the political
connotations of tianlu, or heavenly salary.
Zong Tiao, a member of the Nanyang clique that abetted the rise of
the Eastern Han emperor, Liu Xiu (r.25 57), was a general later enfeoffed
with a small kingdom. Could his be the third grave with stone guardians
in the Nanyang District? Now new archaeological evidence can give us
an idea of what an Eastern Han chimera looked like without its teeth
knocked out. It is the monumental stone beast, nearly ten feet long,
which was found near Liu Xius tomb and is thought to have protected
his grave (fig.2.13).49 Compared to this finely carved feathered feline,
Zong Zis weathered guardians appear to be crudely done knockoffs, but
they are still definitely modeled on the emperors beast (fig.2.14). The
men who put up such creatures had power in their districts and held
official positions of the third rank. Zong Zi governed a commandery and
employed the strict Confucian Fan Pang. His grandfather Zong/Song

86 Susan Bush
figure 2.14
Chimera. Eastern Han
(25 220). From the tomb
of Zong Zi (d. ca.167 ce),
Nanyang, Henan. Stone.
Nanyang Museum. From
Artibus Asiae 42 (1980):
271, fig.9. Courtesy of
BarryTill.

Jun was an enlightened colonial administrator who established schools

in the south. Since tian, or Heaven, could also refer to the imperial
throne, could the phrase tianlu (heavenly blessings/salary) be somehow
indicative of imperially conferred official position? The term occurs in
Mencius in a passage distinguishing the demands of public service from
private friendship. In any case, the importance of regional and political
ties is evident in the rise of the Zong clan and illustrated in the styles
of Zong Zis beasts. Now, because of recent research, distinct dynastic
models of Southern Dynasties chimera can also begin to be defined. The
most magnificent examples in the Liu-Song style have raised relief and
fine detail, while Southern Qi animals, derived from Zong Zis type, are
slimmer-bodied with wing extensions and elaborate dewlaps. Since Liang
Wudis father, Wendi, was posthumously ennobled in 502 ce, his tomb
beasts are still Qi in style, presumably a sign that lifetime dynastic affilia-
tion mattered.50
More research along these lines may further clarify the background
of Han chimera types and their inscriptions. But no matter what comes
to light, it is unlikely to alter the received opinion reinforced by Song
authors that tianlu and bixie are the names of two kinds of animal protec-
tors. Again and again in the course of writing this chapter, theories have
been put forth only to be overturned, and labels have been applied only
to come unstuck. Nonetheless it is still conceivable that the inscribed

87 Labeling the Creatures

tianlu (heavenly blessings) might stress the beneficent side of these
evil averters just as the bixie characters could underline their apotropaic
aspect. After all, two of Lady Yuans fierce thunder monsters were given
the names Happiness and Good Luck, and we know that to name is to
tame the useful demonic.

notes
1 For changes of the names of pre-Han pseudo-historical figures to designations of
animals, see Bernhard Karlgren, Legends and Cults in Ancient China, Bulletin of the
Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 18 (1946): 199 263.
2 See Sun Zuoyun, Dunhuang hua zhong de shenguai hua, Kaogu (1960.6): 29 30,35.
3 For longqiao (dragon-sparrow) as applied to knotted dragons in a record of 151 ce,
see Shandong Provincial Museum and Cangshan County Cultural Bureau, Shandong
Cangshan Yuanjia yuannian huaxiang shimu, Kaogu (1975.2): 127, 128:2.
4 For Feilians origins, see Susan Bush, Thunder Monsters and Wind Spirits in Early
Sixth Century China and the Epitaph Tablet of Lady Yan, Boston Museum Bulletin 72,
no.367 (1974): 49 50, 53 note 47; Karlgren, Legends, 317 318, 323 324.
5 Bush, Thunder Monsters, 47, also 32 ff.; Susan Bush, Floral Motifs and Vine
Scrolls in Chinese Art of the Late Fifth to Early Sixth Centuries, a.d., Artibus Asiae38
(1976): 40 83. For an Eastern Han thunder in monster form in a drum chariot, see
Kte Finsterbusch, Verzeichnis und Motivindex der Han-Darstellung2 (Wiesbaden: Otto
Harrassowitz, 1971): 158, fig.596. Note that Southern Qi motifs influenced northern
art for more than fifty years; see Cixian wenhuaguan (Ci County Cultural Bureau),
Hebei Cixian Dong Wei Ruru gongzhu mu fajue jianbao (Excavation of the Eastern
Wei tomb of the princess of the Ruru at Ci county in Hebei), Wenwu (1984.4): pl.1,
no.2; James C. Y. Watt, et al., China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200 750 ad (New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004), 34, fig.28.
6 Liang Wudis brothers, such as Xiao Hong (d. 526 ce), were practicing Buddhists,
hence their monuments at Nanjing also exhibit some Buddhist motifs; Xiao Hui (d.
524 ce), once dreamt that both a Buddhist monk and a Daoist adept came flying to
cure his eye disease; see Alexander Coburn Soper, Literary Evidence for Early Buddhist
Art in China (Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1959), 25 note 83,63.
7 As a metal smith, Chiyou is linked to rainmaking; hence he is shown with storm
spirits like the thunders on Xiao Hongs stele. As an exorcist, he appears as a bear
armed with five weapons on Han belt buckles. See Mark Edward Lewis, Sanctioned
Violence in Early China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), 109: n.72, 175,
181 211. For texts describing Chiyou, see Karlgren, Legends, 283 285. For a potential
travelers charm in gold with the Four Spirits as in prayers to the god of the road, see
Watt, China, no.12. Also see note 48 below.
8 See Sofukawa Hiroshi, Nanch teiy no sekiju to senga (Stone animals and
tile reliefs of the Southern Dynasties), Toh gakuh 63 (1991): 180. Note that Daoists
could have emigrated from the south after Liang Wudis proscription in 517 ce and
possibly influenced funerary art; see Michel Strickmann, A Taoist Confirmation of
Liang Wu-tis Suppression of Taoism, Journal of the American Oriental Society 98, no.4
(1978): 467 475; On the Alchemy of Tao Hung-ching, in Facets of Taoism: Essays in

88 Susan Bush
Chinese Religion, ed. Holmes Welch and Anna Seidel, 123 192 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1979).
9 Nagahiro Toshio, Rikuch jidai bijutsu no kenky (The representational art of the Six
Dynasties period) (in Japanese, English summary) (Tky: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1969),
119 123.
10 Huang Minglan, Luoyang Bei Wei huaxiang shiguan (The engraved stone
sarcophagus of the Northern Wei dynasty from Luoyang), Kaogu (1980.3): 229 ff.;
cf.Bush, Thunder Monsters, 52, notes 18 19.
11 Sogdian influence in Chinese art appears in the later half of the sixth century,
but it is questionable whether it occurs on Northern Wei epitaph tablets despite
some references to the sun and moon and a contemporary empresss worship of a
barbarian god. See Shi Anchang, Bei Wei Feng Yong qi Yuanshi muzhi wenshi kao,
Kaogu (1997.2): 73 85; Bei Wei Ke Jing muzhi ji wenshi kao, Kaogu (1998.2): 21 29
(phonetic table on p.28) (summarized in China Archaeology and Art Digest 2, no.2:
173 174; 3, nos. 2 3: 296 297); also see Kaogu (1999.2): 70 78.
12 See Annette Juliano, Teng-hsien: An Important Six Dynasties Tomb (Ascona: Artibus
Asiae, 1980), 44 46, fig.28.
13 Changzhou Municipal Museum, Changzhou nanjiao Qijiacun huaxiang
zhuanmu, Wenwu (1979.3): fig.20.
14 See Bush, Thunder Monsters, p.54 note 56; also Wenwu (1972.6):48.
15 Sun Zuoyun, Luoyang Xi Han Bu Qianqiu mu bihua kaoshi, Wenwu (1977.6): 8,
21 22.
16 Zhenjiang Municipal Museum, Zhenjiang Dong Jin huaxiang zhuanmu, Wenwu
(1973.4): 54 57, illus. 10 11. Note that two human-headed birds were paired on the
Marquess of Dais banner.
17 Ibid., 52, 54, 56; Ikeuchi Hiroshi and Umehara Sueji, Tsk, 2 vols. (Tky:
Nichiman Bunka Kykai, Zauh Kankkai, 1938 1940) 1:20 (English summary),
pl.lviii.
18 J. P. Park, Nostalgia for Homeland and Lamentation Over Lost Power: The
Oxherd and the Weaver in Dokhung-ni Tomb, Orientations 35, no.5 (June 2004): 32 37,
figs.9 11; Choson yujok yumul togam 5 (Pyongyang, 1988): 190, 192. Another cluster of
animal-headed birds amid stars occurs at the top of the ceiling in the late Koguryo
Shishinzuka tomb; see Juliano, Teng-hsien, fig.149.
19 Wenwu (1979.30): 35; cf.Morohashi Tetsuji, Dai Kan-Wa jiten (Tky:Taishkan
Shoten, 1943), 3.515, no.5833.1495.
20 See Schuyler Cammann, Types of Symbols in Chinese Art, in Studies in Chinese
Thought, ed. ArthurF. Wright (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953),211.
21 Sofukawa Hiroshi, Nanch teiy no sekiju to senga,186.
22 See Alexander Soper, The Jen-shou Mirrors, Artibus Asiae 29 (1967): 62 66.
23 Juliano, Teng-hsien, 44, figs.24 and 27. Because the qilin of Han had the body of a
horse, Juliano wonders whether the two tiles might still form a complementarypair.
24 See Barry Till, Some Observations on Stone Winged Chimeras at Ancient Chinese
Tomb Sites, Artibus Asiae 42 (1980): 261 281, figs.9, 10. Till classifies two kinds of Han
tomb guardians and differentiates them from Southern Dynasties chimera types.

89 Labeling the Creatures

25 Zhu Xizu, Tianlu bixie kao (A study of the fable animals tianlu and bixie), in
Liuchao lingmu diaocha baogao (The tombs of the Six Dynasties) (Zhongyang guwu
baoguanwei yuanhui [Monumenta Sinica] 1) (Nanjing: Zhongyang guwu baoguanwei
yuanhui, 1935), 183 187.
26 See Juliano, Teng-hsien, figs.24 and30.
27 Laurence Sickman and Alexander Soper, The Art and Architecture of China, 2nd ed.
(Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1960), 292 note 14; Zhu Xie, Tianlu bixie kao, 198.
28 Zhu Xie, Danyang Liuchao lingmu de shike, Wenwu (1956.3): 51 56; Zhu Xie,
Xiufu Nanjing Liuchao lingmu guji zhong zhongyao de faxian, Wenwu (1957.3): 44 45.
29 See Victor Segalen, The Great Statuary of China (Chicago: Chicago University Press,
1978), 86 90.
30 Zhu Xizu, Tianlu bixie kao, 190 192.
31 Joseph Needham, Science & Civilization in China, vol.4, part 2 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1965), 107, 131, 345 346, pl. clx, fig.425. Note that the
term for siphons was thirsty crows. For the seismograph with dragon heads and
frogs, see ibid., vol.3 (1959), 628 629.
32 Zhu Xizu, Tianlu bixie kao, 187 188.
33 See Finsterbusch, Verzeichnis 2: 150, fig.561. For two deer mat weights of bronze
with cowrie shell bodies, see MichelleC. Wang, A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of
Early China (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2006), no.8.
34 See Jonathan Chaves, A Han Painted Tomb at Loyang, Artibus Asiae 30 (1968):
19 20, fig.3; Harada Yoshito, Ta kobunka kenky (Tky: Zayh Kankkai, 1940), 317.
The White Deer was included in the animal imagery that decorated the Western Han
palace of Lu; see Wang, A Bronze Menagerie, 68 69.
35 Fan Ye, Hou Han shu (Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1987), 3676 3677; Bernhard Karlgren,
Early Chinese Mirror Inscriptions, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 6
(1976): 50 51; Watt, China, no.11.
36 Karlgren, Early Chinese Mirror Inscriptions,16.
37 Ibid., 50 and27.
38 Hayashi Minao, Kandai no kishin no sekai, Toh gakuh 46 (1974): 235 236, pl.30.
39 Anneliese Bulling, The Decoration of Mirrors of the Han Period (Artibus Asiae
Supplementum xx) (Ascona: Artibus Asiae Publishers, 1960), 72 73, pls.54 55.
40 See Wenwu (1979.8):96.
41 Kaogu (1975.2): 126 127, 131. Also see Wu Hung, Beyond the Great Boundary:
Funerary Narrative in the Cangshan Tomb, in Boundaries in China, ed. John Hay, 94,
99 (London: Reaktion Books, 1994).
42 Wu Hung, Beyond the Great Boundary. For Impluvium, zhongliu (under the
eaves), the location of a chief household god, see Derk Bodde, Festivals in Classical
China: New Year and Other Annual Observances during the Han Dynasty, 206 b.c a.d. 220
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1975),55.
43 See Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha Mawangdui yihao Han mu, 2 vols.
(Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1973), 2, pls.71 72. Cloud-like dragons interlace a bi on
the end of an inner coffin in this tomb; see ibid., pl.36.

90 Susan Bush
44 See cpam, Kiangsu Province Cultural Relics Administration Committee and the
Nanjing Museum, Jiangsu Xuzhou Shilipu Han huaxiang shimu, Kaogu (1966.2):
70:2, 73:1 2.
45 Chaves, A Han Painted Tomb, 19 20, figs, 3, 8; cf.Kaogu (1975.2): 129:2. I am
indebted to Jean James for some of the suggestions above.
46 For linked bi and entwined dragon patterns of Han, see Finsterbusch, Verzeichnis 2:
133, figs.503, 504; fig.134, 507; 242, figs., 11, 12; also 190, fig.750.
47 Cheng Te-kun, Yin-yang Wu-hsing and Han Art, in Studies in Chinese Art (Hong
Kong: Chinese University Press, 1983), 124, 133, pl.87, c and d; also see Finsterbusch,
Verzeichnis 2: 61, figs.256 and257.
48 They do at any rate flank the highly potent image of a monster surrounded by the
directional Four Spirits, a forerunner of the tomb at Yinans central protector; see
Zheng Zhaoyu, Yinan guhuaxiang shimu fajue baogao (Beijing: Wenhuabu wenwu guanli
ju, 1956), pl.29, fig.8.
49 Liu Xiu came from Nanyang as did the Zongs. For Zong Tiao, see Hans Bielenstein,
The Restoration of the Han Dynasty. Vol.2: The Civil War, Bulletin of the Museum
of Far Eastern Antiquities 31 (1959): 20, 21 note 1, 54; for the epithet tiger teeth, see 31:
30, 200. For Zong Zi, or Song Zi, was an upright administrator best known for his
relations with Fan Pang, an influential member of the Proscribed Faction of scholars;
see Hou Han shu ( juan 67): 2203 2209. Zong Juns family name was written without
one stroke as Song on his stele, and he is Song Jun in Hou Han shu ( juan 41): 1411 1414.
For all the Zongs, see Rafe de Crespigny, A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the
Three Kingdoms (23 220 ad) (Leiden: Brill, 2007). For the Mencius passage, see James
Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol.2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1895),378.
50 The tomb animals formerly identified as guarding the grave of Chen Wendi (d.
566 ce) are now known to be those of Song Wendi (d. 453 ce); see Luo Zhongzhen,
Nan Chao Song Wendi ling he Chen Wendi ling kao, Nanjing Museum Journal 7 (July
1984): 77 80. Sofukawa Hiroshi has argued convincingly that in Qi emperors graves
the ennobled fathers tombs were placed to the viewers left of the sons and that Qi
Mingdis grave must be the one at Jinjiacun rather than the first in the lineup of
Liang tombs; see Sofukawa, Nancho teiyo no sekiju to senga, 130, fig.10, 240. For a
convenient chart of wing patterns and dewlaps, see Ann Paludan, The Chinese Spirit
Road: The Classical Tradition of Stone Tomb Statuary (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1991), 71. Song and Qi examples are to the left; five Liang types of different
periods are on the right, plus the early Song-style guardian of the entrance to all the
Danyang tombs.

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. A Taoist confirmation of Liang Wu-tis Supression of Taoism. Journal
of the American Oriental Society 98, no.4 (Oct. Dec.1978): 467 475.
Sun Zuoyun . Dunhuang hua zhong de shenguai hua
(The identification of some fantastic representations in the murals of
Dunhuang). Kaogu (1960.6): 29 32.
. Luoyang Xi Han Bu Qianqiu mu bihua kaoshi
(A study of the murals of the Western Han grave of Bu Qianqiu at
Luoyang). Wenwu (1977.6): 17 22.
Till, Barry. Some Observations on Stone Winged Chimeras at Ancient Chinese
Tomb Sites. Artibus Asiae 42 (1980): 261 281.
Wang, MichelleC. A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of Early China. Boston:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum,2006.
Watt, James C. Y., et al. China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200 750 ad. New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art,2004.
Wu Hung. Beyond the Great Boundary: Funerary Narrative in the Cangshan
Tomb. In Boundaries in China, edited by John Hay, 81 104. London:
Reaktion Books,1994.
Zeng Zhaoyu . Yinan guhuaxiang shimu fajue baogao
(Excavation report of an ancient stone tomb with pictorial images at
Yinan). Beijing: Wenhuabu wenwu guanli ju,1956.
Zhenjiang Municipal Museum . Zhenjiang Dong Jin huaxiang
zhuanmu (An Eastern Jin tomb with representational
bricks at Zhenjiang). Wenwu (1973.4): 51 58.
Zhu Xie . Danyang Liuchao lingmu de shike (Stone
sculpture of Danyang Six Dynasties tombs). Wenwu (1956.3): 51 56.
. Xiufu Nanjing Liuchao lingmu guji zhong zhongyao de faxian
(Important discoveries during restorations of
Six Dynasties tomb sites at Nanjing). Wenwu (1957.3): 44 45.
Zhu Xizu . Liuchao lingmu diaocha baogao (The tombs of
the Six Dynasties) (Monumenta Sinica vol.1): 183 199. Nanjing: Zhongyang
guwu baoguanwei yuanhui,1935.

94 Susan Bush
chapter3
Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals
as Beastly, Human, and Hybrid Beings in
MedievalChina
Judy ChungwaHo

Rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog,
and pig are commonly known today as the Chinese zodiac, the patron
animals or shengxiao (birth signs) of individuals in personal horoscope
and global astrology, and also the animals of the twelve-year cycle in the
traditional Chinese calendar.
In 2010, the artist Ai Weiwei began a worldwide installation Circle of
Animals with bronze and gilt sculptures of the calendrical series based
on bronze animal heads looted from the European gardens of the
Yuanming Yuan in 1860. Designed by Italian and French Jesuits working
as court artists of the Qing dynasty, these looted heads appear to be natu-
ralistic in the sense of eighteenth-century European realism, but they
once belonged to sculptures of animal-headed creatures with human
bodies.1 The robed, seated figures were originally sculpted in stone, fitted
with heads cast in bronze that operated as fountains spouting water at
clock-like intervals. As an ongoing, global installation, Ai Weiweis Circle
of Animals provides a fresh perspective on issues of original and replica,
national identity and global politics, as it continues to add new meaning
to the calendrical animals.
The historical origin of the calendrical animals is shrouded in
mystery. Counterparts of calendrical animals can be found in the Old
and New World, yet there is no exact equivalent of those in China.2 Their
origin in China has also been a subject of controversy.3 If Ai Weiweis
installation sheds light on the early history of the calendrical animals, it
would be to show that they evolved at the intersection of different beliefs,

95
cultures, and artistic styles, and questions of origin are unanswerable and
irrelevant as they are today.
Especially meaningful in medieval tomb decoration from the fifth
through the tenth centuries, sets of twelve calendrical animals can be
found in bronze mirrors, stone epitaphs, murals, and sculptures as an
integral part of tomb design.4 But beyond the mortuary context, the
calendrical animals serve other purposes as they continue to evolve as
aliving culture.
Evidence of animals as tutelary spirits for worship is scant, and
practices of totemism and shamanism in prehistoric China are not well
substantiated.5 An investigation of the calendrical animals may help
fill in this gap in our knowledge of the Chinese belief in animal spirits.
Unlike the classic Western zodiac signs that include both animals and
humans, the Chinese birth signs are all animals.6 Each animal also
became the nexus of myths and legends in the late imperial period as a
fantastic creature with powers of intervention in the human world.7 Less
is known about the early Chinese belief in the twelve calendrical animals.
Visual materials from the fifth through tenth centuries indicate that their
depictions range from beasts to hybrids to humans.8 These materials
provide the most direct evidence of how the belief in animals as arbiters
of human fate came into place in medieval China.

spatiotemporal coordinates
The duodenary series can be traced to the most ancient day-count
system derived from twelve characters called dizhi (earthly branches
) or shier zhi (twelve branches ): zi , chou , yin , mao
, chen , ji, wu, wei, shen, you, xu, hai, in combina-
tion with ten characters called tiangan (heavenly stems ): jia,
yi, bing, ding, wu, ji, gang, xin, ren, gui, to make
sixty stem-branch combinations designating sixty days in a sexagenary
cycle.9 The stem-branch combinations and the sexagenary cycle were
applied to the year-count by the end of the Western Han dynasty, so that
each stem-branch combination designates one year in a sixty-year cycle.
Stem-branch combinations are applied to compass directions and, as an
abstract numerical series, broadly used for counting, as in book volumes,
chapters, sections, etc. The exact origins of these denary and duodenary
systems and the stem and branch characters are unknown.10 The stem-
branch system and sexagenary day-count cycle were used in Shang
dynasty oracle bone and tortoise shell inscriptions to divine affairs of the
state.11 They constituted a calendrical system that developed independent

96 Judy Chungwa Ho
of observations of starry movements, but further advancement in the
counting of hours, months, and years and the mapping of sky, earth,
and compass directions did rely on astronomy.
Beidou (Northern Dipper) is a key constellation according to the
ancient perception of the sky as a canopy ( gaitian) rotating around an
axial pole, the top of the pole being the constantly visible Northern
Dipper, the pivot of the sky over the square earth.12 Another important
identification is the twenty-eight xiu (lodgings), defining constella-
tions as well as sectors of the sky crossed by the moon.13 Marking the
four seasons and four compass directions are the four quadrants of the
sky called tiangong, or celestial palaces, with seven xiu subsumed under
eachpalace.
Unlike the Western zodiac that demarcates twelve segments of the
ecliptic, the Chinese zodiac divides the sky along the equator into twelve
segments called chen that can also be aligned with the compass directions.
Chen is used in observations of the conjunction of stars and constella-
tions with the moon, sun, and planets.14 The twelve months (shier yueci)
are occasioned by the crossing of the moon over the twelve chen. The
suns path over the chen marks the twelve hours of the day; hence the
twelve hours are called shier chen or shiershi.
The importance of the year-count arose with planetary observations.
As the sidereal period of Jupiter is almost twelve years, Jupiters move-
ment is the basis for the twelve-year cycle. Furthermore, a shadow Jupiter
was invented so that its path across the sky in the opposite direction of
the planet itself would be exactly twelve years. Jupiter earns the name
Suixing (Year Star), while the shadow planet is called Taisui (Great
Year) or Suiyin (Shadow Year).15

animals and cosmology

In the set of twelve calendrical animals, why are certain animals selected
and not others?
The pairing of the earthly branch characters with animals is of
ancient origin. Recently discovered daybooks from Qin dynasty burials
at Shuihudi and Fangmatan indicate that, at least by the Warring States
period, the branches were matched with animals that deviated only
slightly from the later standard ones. Foretelling and determining of
auspicious and inauspicious days were based on the stem-branch combi-
nations of days; the stem-branch of ones birthday was used to determine
the naming of the individual, and even physiognomy and behavior of
thieves were related to the branch animals of their birthdays.16

97 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

 These fragmentary texts do not provide a complete picture of how the
earthly branches became paired with animals, but underlying the admo-
nitions and recommendations for practical living in the daybooks is the
incipient belief in the correspondence between human events and the
natural environment, later known as correlative cosmology. To those who
believe in correlative cosmology, the calendrical animals are not merely
birth signs that control personal fate; as a duodenary series they signify
the subtle workings of the entire universe.
The systematized form of correlative cosmology is associated with
Dong Zhongshu (ca.179 104 bce), who meshed the interaction theory
of mutual production and mutual conquest of wuxing (five phases/
elements: fire, metal, water, wood, earth) with the yinyang (female/
male, negative/positive) theory of bipolarity and dualism to formulate a
comprehensive explanation of the universe.17 Symbols of triple broken
and straight lines called trigrams from the Yijing (Book of changes) are
used to mark the cyclical rise and fall of yinyang and wuxing interactions,
forming patterns such as the bagua (eight trigrams) or hexagrams of six
broken and straight lines with sixty-four permutations.18 As a symbolic
system, it is meant to explain all the subtleties of cosmic change
including the permutations of human fate, hence the wide application
of the system in scientific exploration as well as prognostication in
premodern China.
By the first century of the present era, the animal cycle was inte-
grated with wuxing theory, and the list of the twelve animals from that
time remains the same to this day. The pairing of animals and branch
characters are: rat for zi, ox for chou, tiger for yin, hare for mao, dragon
for chen, serpent for ji, horse for wu, sheep for wei, monkey for shen, cock
for you, dog for xu, boar or pig for hai. The animals matched with the
branches are then known as shier zhi shou (twelve branch animals). The
order of the animals begins with rat for the first year and ends with pig
for the twelfth year, then repeats again as the twelve-year cycle.
According to Wang Chong (27 ca.89 104), wuxing theory is nonsense.
Horse is correlated to fire, rat is correlated to water that is supposed to
conquer fire, but why do rats not chase after horses?19 Apparently for
Wang Chong, wuxing does not offer an adequate explanation of animals
as they behave in the natural world.20 Even if counterintuitive or idiosyn-
cratic, yinyang and wuxing theories probably determined the selection and
order of the branch animals that are far more cosmologically significant
than their earthly counterparts. As integral elements of the duodenary
series, they stand for all the essential forces that dictate cosmic change
and renewal.

98 Judy Chungwa Ho
figure 3.1
Burial with Clamshell
Mosaics of Tiger and
Dragon. Neolithic period.
Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan.
From Puyang shi wenwu
guanli huiyuanhui, Henan
puyang xishuipo yizhi
fajue jianbao (Brief report
on the excavations at
Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan),
Wenwu (1988.3): pl.1.

animalstars
Besides correlative cosmology, there may be another determining factor
in the composition of the twelve calendrical animals. They may have
originated as visualizations of emblematic animals, or xiang, that are
projected into the firmament as a way of reading patterns of stars and
constellations, thereby rendering them incarnate as markers of time and
human events.21 While animal asterisms in Mesopotamian and western
Mediterranean civilizations are better known, the naming of stars and
astronomical phenomena after animals is also an ancient practice
inChina.
Neolithic artifacts suggest that Beidou, the constellation of the
Northern Dipper, as a constant visible presence in the sky, was consid-
ered a spirit with various zoomorphic correlates including the boar.22
The burial site at Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan Province, dated in the
Neolithic period, has drawn attention because of the sophisticated use
of clamshell mosaics to represent various zoomorphic shapes in perhaps
the earliest extant sky map in China (fig.3.1).
According to Feng Shi, the main burial uses clamshell mosaics to
depict tiger as the western celestial palace and dragon as the eastern
celestial palace, while an arrow-like shape with two femur bones and
a triangular clamshell mosaic stands for the Northern Dipper.23 More

99 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

specifically, the two large clamshell mosaics of tiger and dragon may be
an archaic expression of dualistic cosmology that is deeply rooted in the
remote past. At least by the Western Zhou dynasty, tiger became recog-
nized as the symbol of yin and dragon as the symbol of yang, and together
they constitute a key motif signifying life renewal in later Daoist religion
and in mortuary decoration.24 The mapping of the cosmos in burials also
remains remarkably unchanged in later centuries.
The identifications of tiger and dragon are not universally accepted,
but the reading of the burial as a sky map may be bolstered by the choice
of clamshells as the medium. Clams were a food source, especially during
spring in the hunting and gathering society of the Paleolithic period, and
during the Neolithic period, clamshells were fashioned into farm tools.
More specifically, as bivalves rhythmically open and close, clams can
signify alternating day and night, yin and yang, the cyclical life of the sun,
moon, and stars.25 If the clams stand for stars, clustered together they can
signify constellations.
Because of the lack of corroborative examples from such an early date,
the Puyang burial will continue to generate controversy.26 This does not,
however, detract from its value as an early example of lifelike portrayal
of animals. Despite the cumbersome medium, the clamshell mosaics
effectively convey animal strength and vitality. Large, spanning almost
the length of the human skeleton, the so-called dragon has a prominent
head, open jaws, and clawed feet, features reminiscent of a giant croc-
odile, while so-called tiger, with its front legs spread apart, is stepping
forward in a catlike prowl. Details of anatomy and movement must have
been grounded on real animal encounters. These images convey the
sense of awe and admiration for animals felt by humans at thetime.
It is as a form of magic that such technical skill displayed in the
mosaic is best understood; by manipulating key details, the sculp-
tures operate on the magical principle of like produces like to evoke
the presence of large beasts.27 Furthermore, the proximity of the two
animals to the human skeleton evokes sympathetic magic by conta-
gion.28 Through observation of earthly animals as well as star gazing, the
ancients who lived and died in Puyang, and probably generations before
them, visualized these animal emblems in the sky as vital markers of the
seasons, agricultural activities and the human life cycle. They are the ulti-
mate form of eternity conceivable by humans at the time, and at the event
of death, the magical replication of these animal stars and constellations
is believed to transform death into life again.
Ancient star gazing and conviction about correspondences between
the sky, earth, and human events gave rise to the visualization of animal

100 Judy Chungwa Ho

stars and constellations. At least by the late Eastern Zhou period, the four
quadrants of the sky the celestial palaces (tiangong) are believed to
be governed by animal spirits called sishen (four animal spirits): White
Tiger in the west correlated to autumn, Dark Warrior (Xuanwu), a tortoise
intertwined with the snake, in the north correlated to winter, Blue
Dragon in the east correlated to spring, Red Bird in the south correlated
to summer. The assigning of these four animals is not arbitrary, as the
key constellations in the four quadrants bear certain resemblances to the
four corresponding animal emblems.29
A similar process of visualization may have resulted in the identifi-
cation of various stars or celestial phenomena as the twelve calendrical
animals. Scholars in the past were able to trace the etymological links of
only some of the twelve branch characters to animal asterisms, but the
astral background of all twelve calendrical animals may no longer be
retrievable due to the ravages of time.30 In any case, according to astro-
logical literature from the Sui dynasty, the twelve birth signs emanated
from the Northern Dipper as energetic vapors that held sway over human
destiny.31

beasts, hybrids, or humans?

The calendrical beings are depicted as beasts, hybrids, and humans. The
belief in animal stars may have at least contributed to their depiction as
animals, but what convictions and ideas are expressed by their represen-
tations as hybrids and humans?
If correlative cosmology offers a seemingly abstract explanation of
the universe, there is still room for believing in star gods and celestial
divinities as well as earthly deities, ghosts, and demons generally called
spirits (shen). They can be benevolent or malevolent. They have the power
to transform themselves between species. Some reveal or conceal them-
selves at will. Ghosts are also commonly believed to be transformations
of deceased human ancestors. As liminal beings, they are not subordinate
to the constraints of the cosmological system, yet as part of the totality of
existence they have to be propitiated and appeased through magic.32
The idea of cosmic forces does not preclude the belief in spirits
with special powers to control these very same cosmic forces. Yet there
is no central authority to regulate or unify such beliefs; this phenom-
enon is characteristic of what is best described as everyday religion.33 As
mentioned earlier, Jupiter is the basis of the twelve-year cycle in China,
and the evolution of calendrical beings as spirits is intimately related to
Jupiter worship. A line drawing of a court scene, True Forms of Taisui

101 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

(Jupiter) and Twelve Yuanchen (Primal Chronograms) Tallying Lucky
and Unlucky Days, is included in an almanac for the year 978 under the
Northern Song dynasty (fig.3.2).34 Jupiter presides behind a desk like a
magistrate encircled by twelve robed courtiers donning hats with animal
emblems; they must be the calendrical beings enacting their role as regu-
lators of the fate of those humans born under their respective signs.
Jupiter worship integrated external elements with the introduction of
horoscopic astrology from the West during the Tang dynasty.35 Associated
with this practice was the proliferation of star gods in later centuries. The
stem-branch combination extended to form the sexagenary year-count;
subsumed under the twelve calendrical animals are sixty year gods, one
for each year of the sixty-year cycle, and as an elaborate assembly the sixty
year gods are still avidly propitiated on the second day of the first lunar
month in Chinese communities.36
The bureaucratic paradigm at work in Jupiters court scene represents
an enduring tradition in astronomical and astrological observation in
China.37 At least since the beginning of the imperial era, the terrestrial

102 Judy Chungwa Ho

< figure 3.2
True Forms of Taisui
(Jupiter) and Twelve
Yuanchen (Primal
chronograms) Tallying
Lucky and Unlucky Days
(line enhanced). Northern
Song dynasty. Ink on
paper. From almanac dated
978, l.8.5 ft. Recovered
from Dunhuang, China,
now in the Stein Collection
(S.612) of the British
Museum. From Derek
Walters, The Complete
Guide to Chinese Astrology:
The Most Comprehensive
Study of the Subject Ever
Published in the English
Language (London: Watkins
Publishing, 2005), fig.3.3.
bureaucracy was mapped onto the celestial palaces; wuxing were believed
to have wuguan (five presiding officials) in charge of all phenomena
governed by their respective element.38 In existence long before the Tang,
this fenye or doctrine of sky-earth correspondences matured into an intri-
cate system in Tang times, when all regions of China were matched with
twelve celestial zones.39 Celestial spirits as bureaucrats can be found in
the terminology of chess games in the pre-Tang period. The dynamics
of the universe were perceived as a game of chance that was nonetheless
subject to rules of manipulation. Obvious astronomical and astrological
references are common in cosmic chess games in which the chessmen
were named after celestial and terrestrial forces and spirits.40 Some
chess pieces were fashioned as celestial officials carrying ivory scepters.
Undoubtedly the image of the official is the most familiar face of gods
and deities in China. The depictions of calendrical animals as anthropo-
morphic officials, as will be discussed later, is a natural extension of this
tradition.
The calendrical animals are sometimes represented as fantastic
beings, each with a single animal head on a human body clad in official
robe (figs.3.12 3.15 ). The split image is a graphic expression of its dual-
istic nature as celestial spirit (animal head) and terrestrial administrator
(human torso). An uncanny hybrid, it is the very image of mystical power.
The genealogy of this hybrid form is more difficult to trace. While
animal worship is not prominent in early China, nevertheless except
for Di (God on High) or Tian (Heaven), supreme deities in Shang and
Zhou times the multitude of spirits have been conceived in terms
of animal or hybrid forms since the Warring States period. The develop-
ment of the Chinese pantheon of zoomorphic spirits and demons has
been characterized as following two contradictory principles: one, the
identification of man with the animal world, and two, euhemerization,
or the transformation of mythical beings into ones of authentic history,
and a wide spectrum of hybrids, semihumans, and semianimals in
between.41
Hybrids can be found in the silk manuscript from a Warring States
tomb in Changsha, where twelve spirits that regulate the cosmic order of
the months are depicted along the four sides of a text; with outlandish
appendages and limbs, they defy categorization as animal or human
(fig.3.3).42 They have invited comparison with the monsters in the Shan
hai jing (Classic of mountains and seas) or the nature gods, spirits, ghosts,
and demons in the bamboo daybooks.43 The arrangement of the twelve
spirits around the text can be understood as a cosmic symbol, and the
entombment of the silk manuscript meant that it functioned as a charm
103 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China
figure 3.3
Schematic Drawing Showing
Peripheral Figures of the
Twelve Spirits on the Chu
Silk Manuscript. Warring
States. From Li Ling,
Zhongguo fangshu kao
(Astudy of the Chinese
art of fate calculation)
(Beijing: Dongfang Press,
2000), fig.47.

or magical talisman to benefit the deceased in the afterlife.44 While their

hybrid features are certainly not horrific like Tibetan demons, they signi-
fied mysterious powers.45
The Great Exorcism performed at the Han court in preparation for
the coming of New Year involved a ritual dance in which palace atten-
dants impersonate twelve beasts by wearing furs, feathers, and horns in
order to invoke the twelve spirits (shier shen) to drive away demons, pesti-
lences, and other evils.46 Wang Chong also mentions twelve household
spirits and twelve celestial spirits; these, and probably more sets of twelve
divinities, included star gods.47 Underlying the exorcism is a belief in
the extrahuman powers of animals as well as a faith in magic, whereby
humans donning animal masks, skins, and horns would gain access to
such zoomorphic powers.48 Twelve stone masks have been recovered
from a Western Han dynasty tomb at Matianping, Hunan.49 Although
these masks do not appear to be particularly frightening, they probably
had apotropaic and prophylactic functions in the tomb to benefit the
deceased.

104 Judy Chungwa Ho

 The zoocephalic creatures with a single animal head and human torso,
unlike the hybrids in the Chu silk manuscript, are relatively unusual in
the pantheon of Chinese spirits and deities. Prior to investigating their
antecedents, we shall first examine the use of the duodenary series in
mantic tools, designs, and techniques.

fate calculation and the manticarts

The Chinese attitude toward fate, or ming, has been characterized as an
optimistic mentality, an inherent conviction in the efficacy of magic and
in the human ability to predict or even alter the future.50 This concern for
ming is the driving force behind the development of the mantic arts in
traditional China, inextricably bound with advancements in science and
technology.
The calendrical animals play an important role in tuiming (fate calcu-
lation), a branch of fortune telling for individuals based on stem-branch
calculations and yinyang and wuxing theories.51 The practice of naming an
individual by ones birth year was of great antiquity among the northern
nomads, but it became more widespread in China only after the Han
dynasty.52 Guan Lu, the master of magical arts from the Three Kingdoms
period, predicted his life span of forty-seven to forty-eight years on the
basis of his birth year of the tiger, in conjunction with the lunar eclipse.53
Since then the birth year became the most important factor in individual
fate calculation.54
Later, tuiming did include astronomical observations and astrology.
Synthesizing different approaches is a complex personality horoscope
that is based on ones bazi (eight characters), that is, the stem-branch
characters of the year, month, day, and hour of an individuals birth,
and ones burial date was calculated on the basis of ones birth year and
animal sign.55
An ancient tool for prognostication is the diviners board called shi,
composed of a pointer and a circular disc (symbol of Heaven) rotating
over a square (symbol of Earth); fate is calculated by rotating the circular
disk and reading the resulting alignment of the pointer with all the
markings on both disks. The shi is generally recognized as a model of the
universe; a rudimentary form can also be seen in the Chu silk manuscript
discussed earlier.56 Stem and branch characters form an integral part of
this microcosm as spatiotemporal coordinates; in the context of the shi
they have also become the symbols of cosmic totality and continuity.
This diviners board, the earliest extant example of which was exca-
vated from a tomb dated 165 bce, uses a scheme called the liuren board

105 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

figure 3.4 (fig.3.4).57 The Northern Dipper, believed to be the key determinant of
Drawing of Diviners Board
with Round Top Disc and
fate, is represented at the center of the upper round disc as a pattern of
Bottom Square Board. connected dots, the names of the twenty-eight xiu are inscribed on the
Western Han dynasty. outer band with a pinhole for each name on the inner band, and char-
Lacquered wood. Diameter
of top 9.5cm, length of acters of the twelve months are inscribed on the innermost band. The
square 13.5cm. Excavated twenty-eight xiu are inscribed on the outer band of the square board,
from tomb dated 165 bce
at Fuyang, Anhui Province.
the middle band has the twelve earthly branch characters, while eight
From Anhui sheng wenwu heavenly stems are inscribed in the innermost space. With both top and
gongzuodui et al., Fuyang bottom fitted together, they symbolize the alignment of Heaven and
shuanggudui xihan ru-
yinhou mu fajue jianbao Earth, cosmic totality and unity.
(Brief archaeological Later diviners boards are marked with twenty-four points that
report on the Western Han
tomb of Duke of Ruyin at
comprise the twelve branches, eight stems, and four of the eight trigrams
Shuanggudui, Fuyang (bagua) from the Yijing to highlight all permutations in nature and
County), Wenwu (1978.8):
human events. Names of various celestial spirits and star gods are also
25, fig.10.
found in diviners boards. During the Six Dynasties, the thirty-six beasts
(sanshiliu qin), an expansion of the twelve calendrical animals, were
believed to be zoological spirits that wielded power over human fate
according to their various conjunctions with the twenty-eight xiu; their
names are found in a diviners board from the late sixth century.58
Fengshui, or geomancy, originated as an ancient art of siting for
tombs. Although the precise date of inception is unknown, archaeolog-
ical finds confirm that the southern entrance of tombs, an important

106 Judy Chungwa Ho

figure 3.5
Ink Rubbing of Song
Zhens Epitaph Cover.
Tang dynasty. Stone,
h.60cm, w. 60cm.
From tomb excavated
at Xingyuan, Yanshi,
Henan (dated 706).
From Zhongguo shehui-
kexueyuan kaogu yanjiuso
henan dier gongzuodui,
Henan yanshi xingyuan
di liuzuo jinian tang mu
(Six Tang tombs at Xin-
yuan, Yanshi, Henan),
Kaogu (1986.5): 433,
fig.11.

fengshui principle, was already adopted across Tang society, and that tomb
furnishings were used to compensate for deviations from this southern
orientation.59 As the well-being of the deceased in the afterlife as well
as the happiness of ones progeny in this life are dictated by the same
spatiotemporal coordinates, the bond between the dead and the living is
reinforced through the event of burial.60
One type of furnishing that would enhance the efficacy of the tombs
orientation is the stone epitaph that evolved during the sixth century
and became widely used during the Tang and subsequent periods. Stone,
like bronze, carries intrinsic value, evoking permanence, durability, and
eternity. With the dome top as Heaven and the square base as Earth, the
epitaph reiterates the symbolism of the tomb as a model of the universe.61
The base of the epitaph is usually inscribed with the biography or eulogy
of the deceased, while the cover displays the reign period and official title
or cognomen of the deceased in large characters. Enclosing the inscrip-
tions are the sishen, eight trigrams, and twenty-eight xiu, and all forms
of the calendrical animals as beasts, animal-headed figures, and humans

107 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

appear either on the periphery of the text or along the four sides of the
stone base.62 Earthly branch characters continue to be used as a succinct
cosmic symbol of eternity as well (fig.3.5). If the name, title, and biog-
raphy stand for the person, the stone epitaph is a microcosm in which
the person is situated in the ideal position at the center.
A tool for fengshui calculation is the luopan, a dial made up of adjust-
able concentric rings with symbolic markings including the twenty-four
compass points, the same ones found in the early diviners boards.63 The
twenty-four points are also used in the Chinese magnetic compass.64
The inception date of the luopan is unknown, and early fengshui manuals
are rare, but it seems that the twenty-four compass points were already
in use in medieval China. One of the earliest extant burial manuals, the
Dahan yuanling mizang jing (Scripture on secret mausoleum burials of
the Great Han) exemplifies many applications of fengshui principles;
although written in the twelfth century, this text is firmly rooted in Tang
and earlier traditions.65 According to this text, the ideal tomb layout for
all social classes is a south-facing rectangle with the twenty-four compass
points marking the four sides, a scheme that also determines the posi-
tioning of tomb figurines. Both tomb layout and furnishings ensure
that the deceased in the center would receive maximal contact with the
cosmic forces. In adopting the centrality of the square, tombs in medieval
China are ritual spaces for magical manipulation.66

animal mirrors
Mirrors are not only functional objects for reflecting images. Suspended
on ceilings, they are used as charms to ward off evil and as an implement
in fengshui alignment. These functions of mirrors continue to this day.
Han dynasty mirrors, when placed in the tomb, were located next to the
body of the deceased.67 As Daoism became more fully developed as a reli-
gion, bronze mirrors became a key ritual object and talisman.68 As potent
implement and amulet, the bronze mirror shares its magical power with
its various components, including the calendrical animals.
Some Han dynasty mirrors have the so-called tlv patterns that
imitate handles found in diviners boards and those for the gambling
game called liubo (fig.3.6).69 With the square, the symbol of Earth,
inscribed with the earthly branch characters on all four sides and the
round mirror itself as the circle, the symbol of Heaven, the tlv mirror
is a cosmic symbol. Unlike the fortuitous alignment that results from
turning the handles of a game board or the disc on a diviners board, the
cosmic alignment on the mirror is forever fixed. Similar to the stone

108 Judy Chungwa Ho

figure 3.6
Ink Rubbing of a tlv mirror.
Dated 15 ce, Wang Mang
interregnum (5 15),
diam.16.6cm. From
Chen Peifen, Shanghai
Bowuguan cang qingtong
jing (Shanghai Museum
collection of bronze
mirrors) (Shanghai:
Shanghai shuhua
chubanshe, 1987), pl.38.

epitaph, bronze mirrors continue to use characters of the twelve earthly

branches as cosmic symbols.70
Images of the calendrical animals became popular in Sui and Tang
bronze mirrors, with earlier prototypes that can be dated to the Six
Dynasties.71 One design displays the circle of animals around an octag-
onal center with eight radiating trapezoids containing separate motifs;
Xiwangmu and Dongwangfu, facing each other, are interspersed with the
sishen and two fantastic beasts (fig.3.7).72 The duodenary series, depicted
as naturalistic animals, are mingled with other fantastic beings in a
counterclockwise procession.73 The design of this mirror probably devel-
oped during the Six Dynasties based on an even earlier prototype, the
so-called shenshoujing (mirror with pattern of animal spirits) from the
Eastern Han dynasty.74
A pattern used in Sui dynasty mirrors is to frame each calendrical
animal in its own trapezoidal space in a segmented circle (fig.3.8). The
center of this mirror has the sishen distributed around the central knob,
and the Dark Warrior is aligned with the calendrical rat on the outer rim.
Swirling clouds accompany the sishen as well as the calendrical animals,

109 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

figure 3.7
Mirror with Xiwangmu,
Dongwangfu, and Twelve
Calendrical Animals. Sui
dynasty. Bronze, diam.
24cm. Excavated from
Xian, Shaanxi Province.
Shaanxi Provincial
Museum. From Shaanxi
Sheng Bowuguan, Sui Tang
wenhua (Sui-Tang culture)
(Hong Kong: Zhonghua
shuju, 1990), fig.20.

figure 3.8
Mirror with Four Animal
Spirits and Twelve
Calendrical Animals. Sui
dynasty. Bronze, diam.
16.8cm. Excavated from
Xian, Shaanxi Province.
Shaanxi Provincial
Museum. From Shaanxi
Sheng Bowuguan, Sui
Tang wenhua, fig.21.

110 Judy Chungwa Ho

perhaps referring to the numinous energies emanating from their bodies.
Another mirror with a similar segmented circle had been recovered from
the tomb of Li Jingxun (buried 608), the nine-year-old granddaughter
of the Sui emperor Wen (r.581 604).75 This discovery suggests an earlier
production date for this type of mirror in the sixth century. Found at the
feet of the deceased, this mirror was used as an amulet to protect and
bring good fortune to the deceased in the afterlife.76
Besides the sishen and the eight trigrams, the twenty-eight xiu as
patterns of connected dots are also synthesized in some mirrors to
form a compact yet comprehensive cosmic image.77 This type of mirror
generated its own lore.78 According to the story, during the Sui dynasty
a man by the name of Wang Du was given an ancient cosmic mirror
replete with all the cosmological patterns. A magic mirror, it revealed the
true forms of ghosts, exorcised demons, and warded off baleful forces.
It gave a clear sound when struck; it radiated light that brightened and
dimmed according to the rhythm of the heavenly bodies. When Wang
Du lent the mirror to his brother, his brothers career flourished. The
mirror appeared in a dream and spoke like a human, then mysteriously
vanished from its case after making a loud noise like the dragons howl
or the tigers roar; this was in 617, the year of the fall of the Sui dynasty.
This cosmic mirror not only had an effect on individual fate but on the
rise and fall of dynastic rule. It behaved like an animal spirit, even like a
perfected Daoist immortal.

the eternalsky
If the calendrical animals had ancient roots among the stars, tomb
paintings of the heavens in later periods further convey the power of the
calendrical animals as arbiters of human fate for all eternity.
Since the imperial era, tombs in China had layouts to signify micro-
cosms to be further enhanced by tomb furnishings such as figurines
called mingqi.79 As the belief in immortality became more developed
during the Western Han dynasty, afterlife came to be understood as a
form of existence in the natural world located in tombs, in the sky above,
or elsewhere.80 Paintings are used to further this theme and scintillating
pictures of the sky form an essential part of this microcosm.81 Yet there is
no sign of the calendrical animals in Western Han tomb murals.
It must have been during the period between the end of the Western
Han dynasty and the north/south division that the calendrical animals
became included in these pictures of the heavens. Archaeological
evidence from the sixth century confirms that the calendrical animals

111 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

figure 3.9
Ox and Animal Spirits in
the Sky. Detail of ceiling in
tomb of Lou Rui (buried
570). Northern Qi dynasty.
Mural with color, 2.37
1.07 m. From Beiqi Lou Rui
mu (Northern Qi tomb of
Lou Rui) (Beijing: Wenwu,
2004), fig.20.
are clearly given a prominent position among the celestial spirits. A
schematic ceiling design can be found in a Northern Qi tomb of a
mid-ranking military officer at Shuozhou, Shanxi.82 The twelve calen-
drical animals are depicted along the springing of the vaulted ceiling,
encircling the upper part of the chamber, and above them, separated by
a red line, are the sishen and other fantastic beasts, while the dome of the
ceiling shows the firmament with the Milky Way, sun, moon, and stars.
This design is reminiscent of the cosmic mirror discussed earlier.
A more descriptive celestial scene is found in the Northern Qi tomb
of Lou Rui (dated 570).83 The mural is severely damaged and survives only
in fragments in which one can discern a thunder god, the calendrical
animals rat, hare, tiger, and ox, and miscellaneous beasts with flickering
flames emanating from their bodies. Some bear resemblance to the
adjacent calendrical animals; for example, left of ox is a hooved, ox-like
animal with horns, and close by is a third horned animal seen from its
back (fig.3.9). As mentioned earlier, the thirty-six beasts or shanshiliu qin,
closely affiliated with the twelve calendrical animals, were incorporated
into the divinatory arts and mantic tools from the late sixth century. The
original ceiling may have illustrated these thirty-six beasts.
112 Judy Chungwa Ho
figure 3.10
Drawing of Cross-section
of Passageway and Burial
Chamber, tomb at Wan-
zhang, Ci xian, Hebei
Province. Northern Qi
dynasty. From Zhongguo
shehuikexueyuan kaogu
yanjiuso, et al., Ci xian
Wanzhang bihua mu (Ci
xian Wanzhang mural
tomb of the Northern
Dynasties period) (Beijing:
Science Press, 2003),
fig.4b.

The large tomb at Wanzhang, Cixian, perhaps the mausoleum of

Gao Yang (550 559), founder of the Northern Qi dynasty, has a main
chamber with a celestial scene painted on the ceiling. Below the ceiling
is a horizontal band subdivided into nine rectangular compartments on
each wall, with the image of one animal in each compartment, so that
a total of thirty-six animals are depicted on all four walls around the
chamber (fig.3.10). Although extensively damaged, this tomb mural can
be compared to that in Lou Ruis tomb as another possible depiction of
thesanshiliu qin.84

tomb sculptures
All three forms of the calendrical beings as beasts, hybrids, and humans
came into play in medieval tombs, suggesting that they serve analogous
functions.
Written information concerning the mortuary function of tomb figu-
rines is meager, but the Tang courts attempt to enforce sumptuary laws
indirectly sheds light on their popularity across the social spectrum.85
Fashioned out of unglazed or tricolor-glazed earthenware, bronze, or
iron, stone, and wood, these free-standing figurines derive prowess from
the intrinsic value of these materials, according to wuxing theory.86 Their
mode of installation or position inside the tomb further integrates them

113 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

figure 3.11
Drawing of Calendrical
Tiger in Pottery Altar with
Flame-halo. Northern
Wei dynasty. Gray earthen-
ware with white slip and
vermilion paint, h.23cm.
Excavated from tomb m10,
Linzi, Shandong Province.
From Shandong sheng
wenwu kaogu yanjiuso,
Linzi beiqao cuishi mu
(Northern dynasty tombs
of the Cui lineage at Linzi),
Kaogu xuebao (1984.2):
pl.25.4.
figure 3.12
Calendrical Beings with
Animal Mascots on their
Heads (a d), Animal-
Headed Calendrical Beings
(e i). Suidynasty. High-
fired stoneware, h.20cm.
Excavated from tomb in
Xiangyin, Hunan Province
(dated 610). From Xiong
Chuanxin, Hunan xiang-
yin xian sui daye liunian
mu (Tomb from the sixth
year of Daye Era of the
Suidynasty from Xiangyin,
Hunan Province), Wenwu
(1981.4): 42, fig.12 16.
with the rest of the tomb design as a microcosm. Extending the pre-Tang
practice of installing the calendrical figurines in niches on both walls,
Tang tombs are built to have niches with calendrical beings on all four
surrounding walls.87 As beasts, animal-headed beings, or humans, these
tomb sculptures share a similar arrangement so they could magically
situate the deceased in the sacred center, thus anticipating the tomb
layouts described in the Da Han yuanling mizang jing.88
Free-standing sculptures of the calendrical beings as animals are
found in a tomb belonging to the Cui lineage at Linzi, Shandong
Province, from the Northern Wei dynasty (fig.3.11). Painted in white
slip with traces of vermilion, these earthenware figurines were orig-
inally housed in individual pottery altars attached to the wall of the
circular, single-chamber tomb.89 While animal forms of the calendrical
beings often appear in bronze mirror design and in engravings of stone
epitaphs, this is the earliest extant example in the form of sculpture,
and comparable examples are rare. Furthermore, this particular example
may be associated with Buddhism, a topic that will be discussed in a
separatesection.
Zoocephalic forms of the calendrical beings are often found in tomb
figurines and as engravings in stone epitaphs. In a tomb in Xiangyin,
Hunan, two sets of calendrical beings, one as seated animal-headed crea-
tures, the other as humans with animals climbing behind their shoulders,
are housed together in twelve niches along the lateral walls of the tomb
(fig.3.12). Also found is a land contract inscribed in stone recording the
purchase of an afterlife plot by the deceased, with a date equivalent to 610
in the Sui dynasty.90 This not only provides a firm date for the figurines
but offers a glimpse of the belief in the afterlife as a tangible existence.
In the set of zoocephalic figurines, the animal heads are made
separately so that they would fit into the sockets of the lower bodies as
a b c d
114 Judy Chungwa Ho
 moveable parts. Wearing wide-sleeved robes that overlap in front in the
style of the traditional Chinese official garments, they clasp their hands
in front in a traditional gesture of respect. The separation of heads and
bodies may have facilitated some unknown ritual performance.
A different approach is suggested in the set of humans with animals.
Wearing wide-sleeved robes that open at the front similar to the garments
of Buddhist figures, the seated humans have half-closed eyes and display
enigmatic smiles. The animals, slightly smaller in scale than in life, are
shown standing on the shoulders of the humans with their hind legs.
These animals must be the birth signs, while the humans are their alter
egos, or the other way around. Another example from a Sui dynasty tomb
shows a monkey sitting in the lap of the seated human, a bearded official
wearing a hat and flowing robe (fig.3.13). The closeness between human
and animal is mesmerizing.
Returning to the Hunan tomb, why are there two sets of calendrical
beings in the same tomb? The real purpose is unknown, but it is
reasonable to assume that the sets, when seen together, would affirm
the fluid identities of calendrical spirits embodied in diverse forms
of beasts, hybrids, and humans. According to Ge Hong (282 363), the
scholar-official and religious practitioner of the way of transcendents
(xian), the calendrical spirits move freely between human and animal
bodies and exercise their powers on days under their branch signs.91
The Hunan tomb is located close to the birthplace of Ge Hong, and the
presence of both sets of calendrical beings may reflect this belief in their
power of transformation.
Examples from different tombs probably signify different interpre-
tations of the role of these animal-headed beings. The figurines from
a Tang dynasty tomb in Sichuan Province are shown clasping scepters
in both hands, clearly highlighting their authority (fig.3.14). A range of

e f g h i

115 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

figure 3.13
Calendrical Monkey. Sui
dynasty. Gray earthen-
ware, h.31.8cm. Excavated
in 1956 from tomb in
Zhoujia dawan, Wuchang,
Hubei. Collection of
the Chinese Historical
Museum, Beijing, China.
From Suitang diaosu.
Zhongguo meishu chuanji:
diaosu pian 4 (Sculpture
of the Sui-Tang dynasties.
Chinese Art Series.
Sculpture Section, vol.4).
(Beijing: Xinhua shuju,
1988), fig.38.

idiosyncratic facial expressions can be found in another set of figurines

from the tomb of the powerful eunuch Yang Sixu (654 740) in Xian
(fig.3.15).92 With heads turned in different directions, they display
different emotions and attitudes, perhaps reflecting the surging interest
in personality horoscope at thetime.
Calendrical beings also come in the form of reliefs installed in walls
as part of a three-dimensional painted and sculpted cosmic environment.
One example is from the tomb of Wang Chuzhi (dated 923), a powerful
military governor during the Five Dynasties, where the twelve calendrical
beings are installed in turret-like structures on the upper part of the four
walls, while the lower walls are painted with the flora and fauna of a lush
garden.93 The ceiling above is painted with the heavenly bodies and stars,
while cranes and auspicious clouds in the space between the calendrical
figures further trumpet them as harbingers of good fortune.94 In close
contact with the body of each figure is the designated calendrical animal;

116 Judy Chungwa Ho

figure 3.14
Animal-Headed Calendrical
Figurines Dragon, Horse,
Ram. Tang dynasty. Glazed
stoneware, h.18cm.
Excavated from tomb
(dated 654) in Wanxian,
Sichuan Province. From
Sichuan Sheng Bowuguan,
Sichuan Wan xian Tang
mu (Tang dynasty tomb
from Wan Prefecture,
Sichuan Province), Kaogu
xuebao (1980.4): pl.4.1 4.3.

figure 3.15
Animal-Headed Calendrical
Figurines Monkey, Cock,
Pig. Tang dynasty. Earthen-
ware, h.60.5cm 66.5cm.
Excavated from tomb of
Yang Sixu (dated 740),
Xian, Shaanxi Province.
From Zhongguo shehui
kexueyuan kaogu yanjiuso,
Tang Changan chengjiao
Suitang mu (Sui and Tang
tombs from the suburb of
Tang Changan) (Beijing:
Wenwu, 1980), pl.103

rat is held in the palm of one figure, dragon is rearing its head from
behind the drapery folds of another figure, cock is perched on the arm of
one figure, a diminutive horse is at the feet of another figure (fig.3.16).95
The variety of poses brings to life the affinity between man and beast
reminiscent of the figurines from the Sui dynasty (see fig.3.13).
In the Kang mausoleum in Hangzhou, the twelve calendrical
beings are found in the burial chamber of Lady Ma, concubine of Qian
Yuanhuan, second king of Wuyue state during the Five Dynasties.96
On the ceiling of the burial chamber is a stone engraving of the starry
sky, and this celestial theme is continued on the lateral walls with
painted images of the sishen and stone reliefs of the twelve calendrical
beings. As human officials, these calendrical beings occupy individual
niches framed in gold foil; uniformly shown in frontal pose, they have
solemn facial expressions as they carry miniature animals in both hands
(fig.3.17). Unlike the relatively large and interactive animal companions

117 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

figure 3.16
Calendrical Being with
Horse, from antechamber
of tomb of Wang Chuzhi
(dated 923), Five Dynasties.
Painted stone relief,
h.0.52cm. From Hebei
sheng wenwuyanjiuso,
Wudai Wang Chuzhi mu
(Wang Chuzhis tomb of
the Five Dynasties period)
(Beijing: Wenwu, 1998),
color pl.31.

figure 3.17
Calendrical Being with
Horse, from burial
chamber of Lady Ma,
Kang Mausoleum (dated
939), Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Province. Five Dynasties.
Painted stone relief, height
of niche 90cm, width
45cm. From Hangzhou
shi wenwu kaogusuo,
Zhejiang Linan Wudai
Wuyueguo Kang ling fajue
jianbao (Excavation of the
Kang Mausoleum of the
Wuyue State during the
Five Dynasties at Linan, of celestial deities in Wang Chuzhis tomb, these diminutive animal
Zhejiang), Wenwu (2000.2): emblems seem to be held like the precious talismans of magicians.
16, fig.23.
Located close to the level of the funerary couch in the middle of the
burial chamber, the calendrical beings in Lady Mas tomb chamber are
literally encircling the body of the deceased. The principle of sympathetic
magic by contagion seen in the Puyang burial four thousand years ago
seems to be operative here aswell.

animal bodhisattvas
An ever-perplexing issue is the origin of the calendrical animals. Whether
the calendrical animals had Buddhist origins or not, they certainly inte-
grated Buddhist beliefs as they circulated in China.
Buddhism and its cult of images from India were introduced into
China during the first century, a time that also saw the flourishing of
the cult of immortality and the rise of religious Daoism. The post-Han
environment of trade and cultural interchange fostered the mingling of
diverse beliefs and the practice of image making and worship.
Zoomorphic spirits and deities abound in the religious pantheon
of ancient India. The Brahmanical tradition of cosmology, including

118 Judy Chungwa Ho

the belief in transmigration of souls through the realms of hell, animal,
human, heaven, titan, and hungry ghosts, was incorporated into
Buddhism. The Buddhist wheel that is still in use today to illustrate
the doctrine of samsra (wandering on), the inescapable cycle of life,
death, transmigration, and rebirth, probably was in circulation before
the advent of Buddhism. Painting style and iconography vary through
time and in different regions, but the basic design includes a wheel with
several concentric segmented circles and a center showing three animals
standing for the Three Poisons: cock (greed), snake (hatred), and pig
(delusion); with one animal biting the other ones tail, they demonstrate
the perpetual cycle of lifes basic conditions.97
As discussed earlier, the calendrical animals are shown in a
segmented circle in some Sui bronze mirrors (see fig.3.8). Without
precedence in earlier mirror design, this segmented circle is reminiscent
of the Buddhist wheel. Furthermore Buddhism must have cast a new
light on the meaning of the wheel as a cycle. If the circle of calendrical
animals stands for eternity, it could also be understood as illustrating
samsra.
Sixth-century China was under the sway of Mahyna Buddhism,
with its messianic doctrine of bodhisattvas, or saviors.98 Translated in
several recensions is the story of twelve calendrical animals as transfor-
mations of bodhisattvas.99 According to the story, the twelve calendrical
animals found shelter in caves formerly occupied by bodhisattvas, and
journeying from these caves they would roam the world and exercise
their miraculous powers to save those born under their respective birth
signs. It has been suggested that in some sixth-century Buddhist cave
shrines in Dunhuang, the depictions of mountainous retreats with
animals may be referring to these animal bodhisattvas.100
It is no coincidence that the earliest extant figurines of calendrical
animals recovered from the Linzi tomb suggest a connection with
Buddhism (see fig.3.11). The flame-shaped brackets above the altars are
reminiscent of niches containing Buddhist icons in contemporary cave
temples such as those in Longmen.101
Although no epigraphical evidence for dating this particular tomb
has been recovered, another tomb from the same Cui family cemetery
contains a stone epitaph dated 525, naming the deceased as Cui Hong and
his wife. As a member of an elite lineage recruited to serve the Northern
Wei court, Cui Hong made his career as a historian; his father Cui Jingyu
(d.514) was well-versed in Buddhist scripture and was known for his
charitable work during his life, while his uncle Cui Guang (451 523) was a
court erudite and devout Buddhist.102 Small amounts of thin mica sheets

119 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

figure 3.18
Drawing of Celestial Ceiling
Painting from Tomb of
Zhang Gongyou. Liao
dynasty. From tomb of
Zhang Gongyou (dated
1117) at Xiabali, Xuanhua,
Hebei Province. From
Zhangjiakou shi wenwu
shiye guanliso et al.,
Hebei Xuanhua Xiabali
Liao Jin bihua mu (Liao-
Jin Tombs at Xiabali,
Xuanhua, Hebei), Wenwu
(1990.10): 9, fig.17.

and fragments of gold foil were also found in the tomb with the calen-
drical animals, materials deemed appropriate for dressing the corpse
of a person of high social status.103 Other figurines recovered from this
tomb are stylistically commensurate with those from late fifth-century
tombs. Accordingly the tomb occupant could be someone from Cui
Hongs previous generation, such as his father Cui Jingyou or his uncle
Cui Guang, who would likely be familiar with the Buddhist story of the
animal bodhisattvas.
Since there is no extant Sanskrit text, it is not clear whether the
original story came from India, Central Asia, or China, where it may
have been a product of the cross-fertilization of cultures. In the end, the
calendrical animals gained prestige as benevolent saviors of humankind
while Buddhist saviors became more familiar to the Chinese populace.
The duodenary animals surface in another context. During the Tang
dynasty, the Buddha of Healing generated a cult following, and according
to legend, twelve generals, called yakshas in India, vowed to protect
worshippers from pain and suffering; depictions show these yakshas
as ferocious warriors wearing traditional Chinese military garb with

120 Judy Chungwa Ho

calendrical animal emblems decorating their helmets.104 The Buddhist
warrior generals must have been assimilated with the calendrical animals
because of their common role as protectors of humankind.
Buddhisms impact can be seen from a different angle. Western
astrology was introduced to China since the third century with the
transmission of Buddhism, stimulating the development of personal
horoscopic astrology in China.105 Visual evidence of the Chinese
assimilation of the Western zodiac can be found in the ceiling painting
of a tomb (dated 1117) belonging to Zhang Gongyou in Xuanhua, Hebei
Province.106 A similar painting is also found in the tomb of his father,
Zhang Shigu, whose cremated remains were buried in the same year as
his sons.107 The apex of the ceiling has a large lotus. Circling around
it are twelve discs with the Western zodiac signs, an outer ring of the
twenty-eight xiu as patterns of connected dots, and a red sun and yellow
moon in opposite directions, all against a blue sky demarcated by a
circular line; outside this blue circle are the twelve calendrical beings as
officials with animal emblems on their hats (fig.3.18). As delineated in
this celestial painting, the Western zodiac is seamlessly meshed with the
Chinese astronomical and astrological system of the twenty-eight xiu
andthe duodenary series.
The lotus design in the apex of the ceiling is a Buddhist symbol
of enlightenment; Zhang Gongyou, following Buddhist custom, was
cremated, and the Zhangs were known for their Buddhist devotion
during their lifetime, all factors that would support a Buddhist inter-
pretation of the ceiling as a mandala based on esoteric scriptures.108
The profound impact of the Buddhist concept of enlightenment in
Chinese religious belief is a topic that is beyond the scope of this study.
But as indicated by the ceiling painting in Zhang Gongyous tomb, the
calendrical beings continue to find their place in this integrated vision
of the afterlife. Standing outside the heavenly sphere, thus more inti-
mate with the human realm, the calendrical beings are assigned a place
more appropriate to their role as worldly bodhisattvas and saviors of
humankind.
For most people in medieval China, there was probably no conflict in
pursuing the goal of everlasting life and acceptance of Buddhist enlight-
enment, as the Zhangs adhered to the traditional burial custom while
also practicing cremation. The calendrical animals also gained prestige
in their affiliation with bodhisattvas, but in the end, they remained
outside the prerogative of the Buddhist establishment as the everyday
religion of personal welfare continued on its heterogenous course to the
present.

121 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

antecedents of animal-headed beings?

While there are many hybrid monsters, specifically zoocephalic beings,

creatures with a human body and head of a single animal, are rare in the
Chinese pantheon of spirits. A prototype of courtly animal-headed beings
can be found no earlier than the late Han dynasty.
In searching for antecedents of courtly animistic beings, one could
turn to the court of Xiwangmu (Queen Mother of the West), the first
major deity in the cult of immortality. In Eastern Han stone reliefs,
Xiwangmu is often shown wearing a courtly robe, sitting atop an
hourglass-shaped mountain, the immortal realm of Kunlun, presiding
over a celestial court attended by beastly and anthropomorphic
beings.109 Sometimes Xiwangmu is attended by animal-headed beings.
Dongwangfu (King Father of the East) is a later addition to comple-
ment Xiwangmu as her male counterpart, thus completing the cosmic
yinyang symbolism.110 In a stone relief from Jiaxiang, Shandong, the top
tier of the scene shows the presiding deity Dongwangfu, a bird perched
on either shoulder, attended on the left by a horse-headed figure and
on the right by chicken-headed and dog-headed figures (fig.3.19). To
the left, two hares are busily stirring a pot held up by the toad. The
animal-headed beings all have wings; wearing long robes, kneeling and
clasping a scepter with both hands in front, they are the respectful atten-
dants of the celestial court.
Animal-headed beings associated with the realm of immor-
tality are also found in recently excavated Eastern Han tombs in the
northern frontier city of Shenmu, Shaanxi Province. On the lintel of a
tomb entrance is a stone relief of an ox-headed figure sitting atop an
hourglass-shaped mountain, and a chicken-headed figure is similarly
depicted on the right (fig.3.20). The discs with a bird in the sun and
a toad in the moon at either end are regularly found in depictions of
Xiwangmu and Dongwangfu, and the shape of the mountains is remi-
niscent of Kunlun, the immortal abode.111 While the identity of these
animal-headed figures awaits further investigation, the setting suggests
that they must be immortals analogous to Xiwangmu and Dongwangfu.112
What is the significance of these animal-headed beings? They may
be immortal deities like Xiwangmu and their animal heads signify their
status as celestials. Meanwhile their human bodies belie the subsump-
tion of their service to humans, much like the zoocephalic gods of
ancient Egypt.113 But a further reading is possible if the perception of
otherness of the animal-headed figure is taken into account.114 Although
Xiwangmus beastly aspects are largely suppressed in Han depictions,

122 Judy Chungwa Ho

figure 3.19
Ink Rubbing of Stone Relief
with Dongwangfu (detail).
Eastern Han dynasty.
Stone relief, h.60 70cm,
w. 64cm. Original stone
removed and reinstalled in
a tomb at Jiaxiang,
Shandong Province. From
Jiaxiang xian wusici
wenguansuo, Shandong
Jiaxiang Songshan faxian
han huaxiangshi (Han
stone pictures from
Songshan, Jiaxiang,
Shandong Province),
Wenwu (1979.9): 4, stone
picture no.6.

figure 3.20
Ink Rubbing of Animal-
Headed Beasts Atop Hour-
glass Shaped Mountains.
Eastern Han dynasty. Door
lintel from tomb m18,
Shenmu, Dabaodang,
Shaanxi Province. Stone
relief, h.34.5cm, l.193cm. Xiwangmus messengers, much like the Christian evangelical saints, with
From Shenmu Dabaodang:
Handai chengzhi yu muzang
kaogu baogao (Dabaodang,
Shenmu: Archaeological
report of the Han city
site and tombs) (Beijing:
Science Publishing House,
2001), fig.89.
textual sources indicate that Xiwangmu is a hybrid monster with the
likeness of a person, tail of a leopard, and teeth of a tiger, features that
are suggestive of her foreign origin.115 If Xiwangmu appears gentrified
and sinified in Han depictions, her courtiers as animal-headed figures
could signify other subjugated marginalized groups; they could even be
animal heads that are better suited to their task of converting and saving
people in other peripheral regions.
While the present study is mainly based on available archaeological
materials, that such data are random and incomplete cannot be over-
emphasized, and their analysis is tentative at best. In focusing on the
medieval period, the intention is to consider a loosely related body of
materials that is not yet subsumed under the established religions such
as Buddhism and Daoism; beliefs and practices associated with the calen-
drical animals may occasionally fall under the rubric of one or the other
religion, but they were never exclusively regulated by any religious or
official institution. Instead of presenting a coherent history of the calen-
drical animals in China, this chapter proposes to regard the calendrical
animals as epitomizing the heterogenous nature of everyday religion as
they continue to embrace disparate ideas, cults, and practices and are
kept alive by this very lack of uniformity.
Beyond their application as individual birth signs in todays horo-
scopic astrology, the calendrical animals once played a more critical
role in the human consciousness. As a complete duodenary series that
stood for the cosmic order, the calendrical animals came into existence
on the presumption that human well-being depended on that of the

123 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

natural world. The twelve calendrical animals have been depicted as
beasts, hybrids, and humans without being entirely controlled by any
central authority. Underlying these diverse images is the fluid and fluc-
tuating perception of the animal and human relationship, ranging from
the recognition of animals as a separate existence, to a mystical bond
between animals and humans, to an abstraction of animals as symbols
subsumed by their service to humans. The variation in representation
not only signifies the lack of codification, but is a reflection of optimism
in the varying human abilities to intervene on behalf of their own destiny.
It is also an acceptance of the changing nature of animals and their
ultimate unknowability.

notes
1 Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals, ed. and intro. Susan Delson (Munich: Prestel Verlag,
2011), contains various essays on the installations; for an engraving of the now
destroyed fountain sculpture, see 14 15, fig.1.
2 See DavidH. Kelley, Calendar Animals and Deities, Southwestern Journal of
Anthropology 16, no.3 (1960): 317 337.
3 Some scholars propose the foreign origin of the animal cycle, such as Eduoard
Chavannes, Le Cycle Turc des douze animaux, Toung Pao ser.2, 7 (1907): 51 122. For
summary of opposing views, see Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956 1962), 3:396 406.
4 Judy Chungwa Ho, The Twelve Calendrical Animals in Tang Tombs, in Ancient
Mortuary Traditions of China, ed. George Kuwayama, 60 83 (Los Angeles: Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, 1991).
5 Roel Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon in Early China (Albany: State University of
New York Press, 2002), 61 63.
6 The dragon may seem to be fantastic but it still counts as an animal. According to
Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen kaoguxue (Archaeoastronomy in China) (Beijing: China
Social Science Documentation Publishing House, 2001), 303 311, the dragon was
inspired by the patterns of constellations, then further correlated to animal counter-
parts on earth such as the crocodile.
7 For legends of each of the twelve animals, see Minakata Kumagusu, Junishi k
(Astudy of the twelve branches), 3 vols. (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1972).
8 For surveys of archaeological materials see Xie Mingliang, Chutu wenwu suojian
zhongguo shier zhishou de xingtai bianqian (Changing forms of the twelve branch
animals according to archaeological artifacts), Gugong xueshu jikan (1985 1986.3):
59 105; Chen Anli, Gu wenwu zhong de shier shengxiao (Ancient cultural relics
ofthe twelve birth signs), Wenbo (1988.2): 41 50.
9 Needham, Science, 3:396 398.
10 Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen, 144 149, relates the denary system to the myth of ten
suns and the duodenary system to that of twelve moons in primitive society.

124 Judy Chungwa Ho

11 Needham, Science, 2:346 349; Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu kao (Beijing: Dongfang
Press, 2000), 57 68.
12 This is one of three theories: gaitian (sky as cover), huntian (sky as celestial
sphere), and xuanye (sky as infinite empty space). Needham, Science, 3:210 228.
13 Similarities with Indian and Arabic systems have led scholars to consider the
foreign origins of xiu; see Needham, Science, 3:242 259. In support of a Chinese origin
is Xia Nai, Kaoguxue he kejishi (Essays on archaeology of science and technology in
China) (Beijing: Science Press, 1979), 29 50; also Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen, 258 275.
14 Needham, Science, 3:249 250, for the ancient meaning of chen as celestial marker.
15 The distinction between Jupiter and its shadow planet was not known to the popu-
lace, and Jupiters stations, called ci, originally had peculiar names that were later
replaced by the duodenary branch characters. See Needham, Science, 3:402 404.
16 Poo Mu-chou, In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1998), 69 92; Poo Mu-chou, How to Steer
Through Life: Negotiating Fate in the Daybook, in The Magnitude of Ming: Command,
Allotment and Fate in Chinese Culture, ed. Christopher Lupke, 107 125 (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 2005).
17 Needham, Science, 2:232 265.
18 For the Yijing symbolic system and its wide applications, see Needham, Science,
2:304 322.
19 Wang Chong (27 ca.89 104), Lunheng (Doctrines evaluated), 4 vols. (Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju, 1979), 1:210 211.
20 According to JohnB. Henderson, The Development and Decline of Chinese Cosmology
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1984), 97 103, Wang Chong was not a true
skeptic as he still subscribed to correlative thinking.
21 For the function of xiang as a basis for astronomical observation as well as the
development of sky lore, see Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen, 258 261.
22 Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen, 89 129.
23 This is the most important of three burials with clamshell mosaics; for analysis of
all three, see Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen, 278 301.
24 For the yin/yang symbolism of tiger and dragon on a stone sarcophagus, see
Stephen Little, Taoism and the Arts of China (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago,
2000),130.
25 The ancient meanings of clams and correlation between the oracle bone scripts
of clams and stars (chen) have been discussed by many scholars, as summarized in Lu
Sixian and Li Di, Tianwen kaogu tonglun (Notes on astronomically considered relics
and monuments of China) (Beijing: Forbidden City Publishing House, 2000), 28 31.
26 The burial was excavated in two stages and reported in Puyang shi wenwu guanli
weiyuanhui, Henan puyang xishuipo yizhi fajue jianbao (Brief report on the exca-
vations at Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan), Wenwu (1988.3): 1 6, and Puyang xishuipo yizhi
kaogudui, 1988 nian henan puyang xishuipo yizhi fajue jianbao (Brief report on the
1988 excavations at Xishuipo, Puyang, Henan), Kaogu (1989.12): 1057 1066. The first
report gives a confusing account of the stratification of five layers, opening up ques-
tions of dating, but the second report not only covers more excavations but gives a

125 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

more detailed account of the stratification of seven layers and confirms the Neolithic
dating. To cite the voluminous ensuing discussions, mainly in Chinese publications,
would be unwieldy here, but the main issues concern identification of the animals
represented by the clamshell mosaics, the nature of the burial, and the status of the
deceased.
27 Marcel Mauss, A General Theory of Magic, trans. Robert Brain (London: Routledge
Classics, 2001), 84 87, discusses how the law of similarity works in magic.
28 Mauss, Magic, 81 82, concerns the law of contiguity.
29 For analysis of the sishen, see Feng Shi, Zhongguo tianwen, 302 320. For their depic-
tions in the Western Han dynasty, see Lillian Lan-ying Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early
China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asian Center for the Harvard-Yenching
Institute, 2011), 236 264.
30 Lopold de Saussure, Le cycle des douze animaux et le symbolisme cosmologique
des chinois, Journal Asiatique, ser.11, 15 (1920): 55 88. As criticized in Needham, Science,
3:396 401, not all the earthly characters have etymological links with asterisms.
31 Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu, 230 231.
32 BenjaminI. Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1985), 374 375; for the nature of ghosts and spirits, see Poo,
In Search of Personal Welfare, 53 60.
33 See Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, 5 7, for a working definition of everyday
religion.
34 Recovered from Dunhuang, the manuscript is in the Stein collection (S.612),
British Museum. See Lionel Giles, Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Manuscripts from
Tunhuang in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1957), 227, cat.7045.
35 For survival of the cult of Jupiter as a dualistic good/evil deity in modern Taiwan
and its ancient background, see Hou Ching-lang, The Chinese Belief in Baleful
Stars, in Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religion, ed. Holmes Welch and Anna
Seidel, 209 220 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1977). For the impact
of Western astrology in China, see Shigeru Nakayama, Characteristics of Chinese
Astrology, Isis 57 (1966): 442 454; for Jupiters cult during the Tang dynasty, see
Edward Schafer, Pacing the Void: Tang Approaches to the Stars (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1977), 60 62, 211 219.
36 The sixty calendrical gods are also called taisui and retain the dualistic good/evil
nature of the Jupiter cult. Effigies of these gods, mainly showing them as bureaucrats
with their animal signs as hat decorations or minor appendages, can be found in
temples ranging from major Daoist establishments, such as the Baiyun Guan (White
Cloud Temple) in Beijing, to minor local temples such as Che Kung Temple in Shatin,
Hong Kong. These are installed in halls dedicated to a main deity, Dipper Mother, a
star goddess that merged Buddhist and Daoist characteristics. For a brief background
of this goddess worship, see Little, Taoism,283.
37 Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China,373.
38 This earth/heaven correspondence is laid out according to the astronomical
chapter Tianguan Shu (Monograph on celestial officials) in Sima Qian, Shi ji
(Records of the historian), juan 130, as discussed in Sun Xiaochun and Jacob
Kistemaker, The Chinese Sky During the Han: Constellations and Society (Leiden: Brill,
1997), 119 123.

126 Judy Chungwa Ho

39 Schafer, Pacing the Void, 75 78.
40 Needham, Science, 4.1: 318 321, traces the inception of the game in the sixth
century, but considers the evidence for its Indian origin as inadequate. He also quotes
the essay Xiangxi (The image-chess game) by Yu Xin, a sixth-century cavalry general,
which compares the cosmic game board to the diviners board.
41 Michael Loewe, Man and Beast: The Hybrid in Early Chinese Art and Literature,
Numen 25, fasc.2 (1978): 97 117.
42 For reconstructed images of the twelve spirits, see Noel Barnard, The Chu Silk
Manuscript and Other Archaeological Documents of Ancient China, in Early Chinese
Art and Its Possible Influence in the Pacific Basin, Volume One: Chu and the Silk Manuscript
(New York: Intercultural Arts Press, 1967), 77 101.
43 Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, 62 66, 79 83, 93 99.
44 Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu, 178 196.
45 According to Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon, 178, sacred power and even sage-
hood are conferred to hybrid animals.
46 See the Treatise on Ritual, ed., Sima Biao (d.306), in Hou Han shu (History of the
Latter Han dynasty), ed. Fan Ye (398 445) 12 volumes (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1965),
11, juan 5:3127 3128. An English translation of the passage is in Derk Bodde, Festivals
of Classical China: New Years and Other Annual Observances during the Han Dynasty,
206b.c. a.d. 220 (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1975), 81 82.
47 See Wang Chong, Lunheng, 4: 1409, 1436. English translation and discussion in
Bodde, Festivals, 90 96.
48 For magical efficacy of animal masks see Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon,
186 194.
49 JohnS. Major, Characteristics of Late Chu Religion, in Defining Chu: Image and
Reality in Ancient China, ed. ConstanceA. Cook and JohnS. Major, 127 128 (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1999).
50 See Lisa Raphaels, Languages of Fate; Semantic Fields in Chinese and Greek, in
The Magnitude of Ming, 70 106, for the range of meanings of the Chinese concept of
ming that seem not to preclude freewill.
51 Chao Wei-pang, The Chinese Science of Fate-Calculation, Folklore Studies 5 (1946):
279 315.
52 Peter Boodberg, Chinese Zoographic Names as Chronograms, Harvard Journal
of Asiatic Studies 5 (1940): 128 136, suggests the use of the animal cycle as chronogram-
matic names among the northern nomads by the sixth centurybce.
53 Chao Wei-pang, The Chinese Science,283.
54 Chao Wei-pang, The Chinese Science, 281, 299 308.
55 For calculation of burial dates, see Jan J. M. de Groot, The Religious System of China
(Leiden: Brill, 1892), 1:44, 103 107.
56 For discussions of various examples, see Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu, 89 176; Michael
Loewe, Ways to Paradise (London: Allen & Unwin, 1979), 75 85, and appendix three.
57 See Anhui sheng wenwu gongzuodui et al., Fuyang Shuanggudui Xi Han Ruyin
Hou mu fajue jianbao (Brief archaeological report on the Western Han tomb of the

127 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

Duke of Ruyin at Shuanggudui, Fuyang County), Wenwu (1978.8): 16, for description of
the board.
58 Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu, 159, 227 230, and figure19; also see Loewe, Ways to
Paradise, 204, 207 note (h). According to present usage, the term qin refers to flying
birds or water fowl, as opposed to shou or land animals, but in the context of the
sanshiliu qin, the term refers to thirty-six beasts on land, in the air, and underwater,
allprojected as celestial spirits.
59 Sun Binggen, Xian Sui-Tang muzang de xingzhi (Designs of Sui and Tang
dynasty tombs in Xian), in Zhongguo kaoguxue yanjiu, vol.2 (Beijing: Science
Publishing House, 1986), 2:151 190.
60 James Watson, The Structure of Chinese Funerary Rites: Elementary Forms,
Ritual Sequence, and the Primacy of Performance, in Death Ritual in Late Imperial and
Modern China, ed. James Watson and Evelyn Rawski (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1988),9.
61 For history of the stone epitaph, see de Groot, Religious System, 3:1133 1140.
62 For depictions of the calendrical animals in stone epitaphs, see Xie Mingliang,
Qutu wenwu, 7071; Chen Anli, Gu wenwu, 4649; Zhang Wen, Xian diqu Sui-Tang
muzhi wenshi zhong de shier shengxiao tu an (Designs of the twelve birth signs in
Sui-Tang tomb epitaphs recovered from the Xian area), Tang yanjiu 8 (2002): 395 432.
63 The schematics of the luopan are explained in Stephan Feuchtwang, An
Anthropological Analysis of Chinese Geomancy (Vientiane: Vithagna, 1974), 11 12, 18 88.
64 Needham, Science, 4.1:249 314, relates the luopan to the invention of the magnetic
compass.
65 See Da Han yuanling mizang jing (Scripture on secret mausoleum burials of the
Great Han), ed. Zhang Jingwen (twelfth century), in the Yongle dadian (The great ency-
clopedia of the Yongle era) (Taipei: Zhonghua shuju, 1986), juan 8199: 3816 3832. For
discussion of its significance, see Xu Pingfang, Tang Song muzang zhong de mingqi
shensha yu muyi zhidu (Tomb models, talismans, and burial rituals in Tang and
Song tombs), Kaogu (1963.2): 87 106.
66 John Major, The Five Phases, Magic Square, and Schematic Cosmography,
Journal of the Association of Asian Religious Thematic Studies 50, no.2 (1986): 133 166. For
origins in the Bronze Age, see Aihe Wang, Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 37 74.
67 K. E. Brashier, Longevity Like Metal and Stone: The Role of the Mirror in Han
Burials, Toung Pao 81 (1985): 201 229.
68 See Suzanne Cahill, The Word Made Bronze: Inscriptions on Medieval Chinese
Bronze Mirrors, Archives of Asian Art 39 (1986): 62 70.
69 The tlv mirror has generated extensive discussion, as summarized in Loewe,
Ways to Paradise, 71 75; also see Li Ling, Zhongguo fangshu, 172 174.
70 For an example of a Tang mirror with the earthly branch characters and eight
trigrams, see Little, Taoism, 141, cat.17. As writings are potent talismans in Daoist
practice, this use of branch characters may reflect a recognition of the power of the
written word itself.
71 For examples excavated in China, see Kong Xiangxing and Liu Yiman, Zhongguo
gudai tongjing (Ancient Chinese bronze mirrors) (Beijing: Wenwu, 1984), 139 143. For

128 Judy Chungwa Ho

those in Western collections, see Nancy Thompson, The Evolution of the Tang Lion
and Grapevine Mirror, Artibus Asiae 29 (1967): 29 32, 34 35.
72 This mirror has an inscription containing the term renshou, meaning benev-
olence and longevity, a term also used to name the era (600 604) of Emperor Wen
of the Sui dynasty. As the term has been found in mirrors variously dated from the
Liang (502 557) and Chen (557 587) dynasties of the southern court through the Wude
era (618 626) of the Tang dynasty, this term is no longer considered a reference to
the era at all. See summary of discussions concerning this term and a mirror with a
slightly different design in Helmut Brinker and Eberhard Fischer, Treasures from the
Rietberg Museum (New York: The Asia Society, 1980), 91 94.
73 Another similar mirror in the British Museum is discussed in Thompson, The
Evolution of the Tang Lion and Grapevine Mirror, 28 and fig.1.
74 Kong Xiangxing and Liu Yiman, Zhongguo gudai tongjing, 91 96.
75 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiuso, Tang Changan chengjiao Sui-Tang mu
(Sui-Tang tombs from the suburbs of Tang Changan) (Beijing: Wenwu, 1980), 3 28;
for mirror, see pl.12.1.
76 On amulets, see Mauss, Magic,94.
77 This prototype is discussed in Chavannes, Le Cycle Turc, 106 107, fig.7. Also see
Little, Taoism, 140 141, cat.16.
78 For the following story of Wang Du, see Taiping guangji (Miscellaneous collections
from the Peaceful Era), ed. Li Fang et al. in 978 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 5,
juan 230: 1761 1767. See also Pauline Bentley Koffler, The Story of the Magic Mirror
(Gujingji) by Wang Du, in Hommage Kwong Hing Foon: tudes dhistoire culturelle
dela Chine, ed. Jean Pierre Diny, 165 214 (Paris: Collge de France, Institut des
hautes etudes chinoises; diff. de Boccard, 1995); I owe this reference to an anonymous
reader.
79 Jessica Rawson, Cosmological Systems as Sources of Art, Ornament and Design,
Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 72 (2000): 133 189.
80 For the ancient concept of multiple hun/po souls and the idea of the po remaining
inside the tomb after death, see Yu Ying-shih, O Soul, Come Back! A Study in the
Changing Conception of the Soul and Afterlife in Pre-Buddhist China, Harvard
Journal of Asiatic Studies 47 (1987): 363 395. Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare, 157 165,
suggests that distinctions between hun and po may not have been apparent to the
ordinary non-elite person. As Tseng, Picturing Heaven, 354, points out, if the afterlife is
a celestial journey, the destination is not yet defined.
81 For discussion of a celestial depiction in a Western Han dynasty tomb with the
twenty-eight xiu, see Tseng, Picturing Heaven, 316 336.
82 Shanxi sheng kaogu yanjiuso, Shanxi shuozhou Shuiquanliang Bei Qi bihua
mu fajue jianbao, (Northern Qi tomb mural from Shuiquanliang, Shuo Prefecture,
Shanxi Province), Wenwu (2010.12): 38 39, figs.7 12.
83 Shanxi sheng kaogu yanjiuso, Taiyuanshi Bei Qi Lou Rui mu fajue jianbao
(Brief report of the excavation of Northern Qi Lou Ruis tomb, Taiyuan City), Wenwu
(1983.10): 19; four of the calendrical animals, rat, tiger, hare, and ox, are intact.
84 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu yanjiuso et al., Cixian wanzhang Beichao bihua
mu (Cixian Wanzhang mural tomb of the Northern Dynasties period) (Beijing: Science

129 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

Press, 2003), 172 173; despite extensive water damage, some animals in the duodenary
series as well as others can be discerned under bright light, according to the report.
85 In the Tang huiyao, ed. Wang Pu (922 982) (Taipei: World Book Company, 1963),
juan 38: 695, the sumptuary edict of the third year of Yuanhe era (808) cites the inef-
fectiveness of the court in curbing the practice of rich burials; in juan 38: 698, in the
edict of the sixth year of Yuanhe (811), the court dissuaded commoners from using
the duodenary set; in the edict of 841, first year of Huichang, no such prohibition
is mentioned. Commoners were restricted to the use of fifteen items in the edict of
811, but in the edict of 841, the allowance was expanded to twenty-five, probably in
response to greater demand.
86 According to Chen Anli, Gu wenwu, 45 46, while clay was common in south
China, wood and iron were used in north China.
87 Sun Binggen, Xian Sui-Tang muzang, 173, surveys tomb designs with twelve
niches on the four walls; also see Chen Anli, Gu wenwu,45.
88 Ho, The Twelve Calendrical Animals, 62 65.
89 For excavations at the Cui family cemetery, see Shandong sheng wenwu kaogu
yanjiusuo, Linzi Bei Chao Cuishi mu (Northern Dynasty tombs of the Cui lineage
atLinzi), Kaogu xuebao (1984.2): 221 244.
90 Xiong Chuanxin, Hunan Xiangyin xian Sui Daye liunian mu (Tomb from the
sixth year of Daye era of the Sui dynasty from Xiangyin, Hunan Province), Wenwu
(1981.4): 43, fig.23.
91 Ge Hong (282 363), Baopuzi neipian (The master who embraced simplicity: Inner
chapters) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), 304; English translation by JamesR. Ware,
Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in China of a.d. 320: The Nei Phien of Ko Hung (Cambridge,
Mass.: mit Press, 1966), 288 289.
92 For an excavation report of this tomb, see Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan kaogu
yanjiuso, Tang Changan chengjiao Sui-Tang mu, 65 88; pls.103,104.
93 According to Hebei sheng wenwu yanjiuso et al., Wudai Wang Chuzhi mu (Wang
Chuzhis tomb of the Five Dynasties period) (Beijing: Wenwu, 1998), 31 32, six of the
twelve were stolen; besides the twelve niches are two larger niches on the lower wall
and two in the passageway, probably with reliefs of guardian figures that were also
stolen. For analysis of other murals including the landscape and the significance
of the tomb as a microcosm, see Jessica Rawson, The Origins of Chinese Mountain
Painting: Evidence from Archaeology, Proceedings of the British Academy 117 (2002):1 48.
94 For cranes and clouds as auspicious symbols, see Rawson, Cosmological Systems,
159 160.
95 See Hebei sheng wenwuyanjiuso et al., Wu Dai Wang Chuzhi mu, color pl.29 32.
96 Hangzhou shi wenwu kaogusuo, Zhejiang Linan Wu Dai Wu-Yueguo Kang ling
fajue jianbao (Excavation of the Kang mausoleum of the Wu-Yue State during the
Five Dynasties at Linan, Zhejiang Province), Wenwu (2000.2):4 34.
97 StephenF. Teiser, Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist
Temples (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006),4 11.
98 For the role of bodhisattvas, see Leslie Kawamura, ed., The Bodhisattva Doctrine in
Buddhism (Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1981).

130 Judy Chungwa Ho

99 For multiple Chinese translations from the second through eleventh centuries,
see Chavannes, Le Cycle Turc, 85 98.
100 Liang Weiying, Shier shi shou gengci jiaohua (The twelve calendrical animals
taking turns to convert the world), Dunhuang yanjiu (1999.2):1 8.
101 For the flame as symbol of Buddhist enlightenment, see Alexander Soper, Aspects
of Light Symbolism in Gandharan Sculptures, Artibus Asiae 12 (1949): 252 283, 314 330,
and 13 (1950): 63 85.
102 The biography of Cui Guang and his descendants is in Wei shu (History of the
Wei dynasty), edited in 554 by Wei Shou (505 572), 8 vols. (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1974), juan 67: 1487 1507. For Cui Hongs biography, see 1501 1505, and 1501 for his
father Cui Jingyou.
103 Shandong sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo, Linzi Bei Chao Cuishi mu, 239,242.
104 For the twelve yaksha generals in the cult of medicine Buddha, see Raoul
Birnbaum, The Healing Buddha (Boulder, Colo.: Shambala Press, 1979), 68 69; for
an example dated 642 in the early Tang dynasty, see the mural on the north wall of
Dunhuang Cave 220 in Zhongguo shiku: Dunhuang Mogaoku (Chinese grottoes: The
Mogao caves at Dunhuang) 5 vols., ed. Dunhuang wenwu yanjiusuo (Beijing: wenwu
chubanshe, 1982 1987), 3, pl.27.
105 Shigeru Nakayama, Characteristics of Chinese Astrology, Isis 57 (1966):450.
106 See Zhangjiakoushi wenwu shiye guanliso et al., Hebei xuanhua xiabali liao
jin bihua mu (Liao-Jin tombs at Xiabali, Xuanhua, Hebei), Wenwu (1990.10): 8, for
description of ceiling painting; also color pl.2.
107 Zhangjiakou shi xuanhuaqu wenwu baoguanso, Hebei Xuanhua Liaodai bihua
mu (Liao Dynasty tombs with mural paintings at Xuanhua, Hebei), Wenwu (1995.2):
18, fig.43.
108 Tansen Sen, Astronomical Tomb Paintings from Xuanhua: Mandalas? Ars
Orientalis 29 (1999), 29 54.
109 For iconography of Xiwangmu, see Wu Hung, Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of
the West, Orientations 18 (April 1987): 24 33; Loewe, Ways to Paradise, 101 110, specifies
the dragon and tiger images as parts of the throne, and the beastly attendants: hare,
toad, three-legged bird, and nine-tailedfox.
110 Loewe, Ways to Paradise, 88, suggests a connection of these two partners with the
meeting of constellations, annual cycle of birth, decay and rebirth, and midsummer/
midwinter festivals.
111 For the sun and moon motifs in association with Xiwangmu, see Loewe, Ways to
Paradise, 127 133.
112 According to the report in Shenmu dabaodang: Handai chengzhi yu muzang kaogu
baogao (Shenmu dabaodang: Archaeological report of the Han city and tombs)
(Beijing: Science Publishing House, 2001), 117. There are a total of twenty of these
images, perhaps as local interpretations of Xiwangmu and Dongwangfu. But
Xiwangmu is also represented in her usual form, indicating that her standard
iconography was known in the region; for example, see color pl.22.2.
113 On the subsumption of the animal world according to human need, see Sterckx,
The Animal and the Daemon,64.

131 Representing the Twelve Calendrical Animals in Medieval China

114 For a cross-cultural study of the dog-faced figure and the representation of other-
ness in the animal-headed Christian evangelists, see David Gordon White, Myths of
the Dog-man (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).
115 Riccardo Fracasso, Holy Mothers of Ancient China, Toung Pao 74 (1988): 1 46,
suggests pre-Buddhist Tibetan influences in the monstrous image of Xiwangmu.

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136 Judy Chungwa Ho

chapter4
The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern
Song Buddhism: The Case of Mount Baoding in
Dazu, Sichuan
HenrikH. Srensen

Animal sculpture, in fact, is one of the finest chapters of Indian art. A feeling of
profound fellowship and comradeship with the beasts and with all living things,
has inspired Indian thought throughout the ages and was certainly present in the
pre-Aryan period. . . . In the resultant art the animal organism was not observed
from without, but was felt as it were from within, the form itself has been seen as
a mask of the universal life force and substance that inhabits equally the human
frame. For according to this view there is no decisive gap between the two modes
of existence, animal and human.
Heinrich Zimmer1

on the role of animals in buddhism

There can be no doubt that as an Indian religion, Buddhism shared the
same sentiment as outlined by Zimmer above, and we find numerous
examples in the primary sources that show a universal respect, concern,
and care for animals. Hence it is hardly surprising that the Buddhists
as did the Hindus down through the ages have employed animals
and animal forms for a variety of purposes. When it comes to artistic
manifestations of animals in the Buddhist context, we encounter a
comprehensive, if not systematic, use of images and symbols involving
animal forms. Below is a brief outline of the different modes and func-
tions in which animal imagery has been used in Buddhism:

Animals as vehicles/mounts of divinities. This is one of the most

common usages of animal images. As examples are pig(s) for Mrc,

137
 the bull for Yama, the elephant for Samantabhadra, the lion for
Majur,etc.
Animals as symbols. The double deer symbolizing the first turning
of the Dharma Wheel; the snake, rooster, and pig symbolizing hatred,
desire, and ignorance (the moving factors of the Wheel of Life); snake
symbolizing poison; the lion on the Buddhas throne symbolizing the
power and victorious nature of his enlightenment.
Animals as metaphors. Monkey, elephant, and ox standing for the
uncontrolled mind of a human being; tiger indicating the untamed
passions of a human being.
Animals as animals. This category indicates the use of animal imagery
with the sole intention of depicting the form and characteristics of
a given animal. In terms of functionality, such images are generally
meant to depict a special event in Buddhist mythology involving a
given animal, such as the celebrated account of kyamuni Buddha
taming the wild elephant, or an episode from one of the Jtakas,
even though in both cases there is, of course, a strong underlying
symbolism. This category also includes animals used for decorative
purposes, such as the elephant capitals found on the pillars in the
Karle Caves.
Animals as divinities or divinities with animal attributes. Here we
find Ganea or Vinyaka (half man, half elephant), Cmu (half
woman, half pig), kumbhas (half man, half horse), kimnaras (half
man, half bird), and the deities of the constellations and the zodiac
(variously depicted, but often as men with animal heads). To this
category one may also include a variety of Esoteric Buddhist divini-
ties and protectors, such as Hayagrva, Vajravarah, Yamataka, all of
whom are either depicted with animal features or animal attributes.
Animals that are not real animals. This category includes mytholog-
ical animals, including composite creatures such as kalavinka birds
(half bird, half man), the garuda (half bird, half man), ngas (half snake,
half man), Oriental dragons (snake, camel, rooster, goat), qilin (dragon
horse), dragon turtle (turtle and dragon),etc.

While each of the different categories occurs alone depending on

context, there are many cases in which a given animal image carries
more than one meaning and, indeed, more than one function. It
should also be kept in mind that the above sixfold model is a general
one that does not distinguish the use of animal motifs and images
in a culture-specific manner. There are, of course, differences to be
distinguished often important ones in the way animal imagery was

138 Henrik H. Srensen

being used by Buddhists in the different cultures where the religion was
a living presence. Nevertheless, as we shall see below, examples of all six
categories occur in the Chinese material, which forms the basis for the
presentstudy.
This chapter will look at the ways animal imagery is expressed in
the Buddhist sculptural groups at Mount Baoding, which represent
a localized Southern Song formulation of Buddhist iconography and
thematics. Through an analysis of a number of these sculptures and
their place within the overall tableaux, it shall seek to highlight their
representational significance as well as discuss the extended manner
in which zoomorphic concerns have been treated within the context of
Southern Song Buddhist imagination. Given that the Baoding complex
of sculptures features a high degree of narrative elements, many inclu-
ding representations of animals and zoomorphic characters, a further
understanding of the roles they play, including the often humorous and
intimate manner in which these figures have been rendered, will be dealt
with in what follows.

Animal Representations in Chinese Buddhism: Real and Imagined

Before turning our attention to the main topic of this representation, let
us first recapitulate what we already know about the use of animal repre-
sentations in medieval Chinese culture and more specifically in Chinese
Buddhism. Roughly speaking, animals occur as members of two distinct
groups: as real animals, domestic as well as wild ones, and as mytholog-
ical or imagined beasts. In actual use and understanding, representatives
of these two groups often overlap, and we have no indication that ordi-
nary people in traditional China saw them as substantially or qualitatively
different. This double-sided nature of animals is clearly reflected in
the ritual bronzes of the pre-Han period, where anthropomorphic and
hybrid images were the norm.2
When Buddhism was introduced to China during the first centuries
of the Common Era, the traditional Indian use of animal imagery,
including depictions of elephants, lions, oxen, tigers, etc., was imported
with it. But whereas animal imagery has a generally positive position
in Indian Buddhist iconography, the situation was much more mixed
within the sinitic cultural sphere, in China, Korea, Japan, and to some
extent in the northern part of Vietnam. Here animals are quite often
malevolent in character. In traditional China, there was a special dread of
evil spirits and demons in the form of animals such as snakes, foxes, and
tigers, which were thought capable of manifesting themselves in human
form. Hence we also find depictions of these transformed animal spirits

139 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

in the arts, in particular in painting, where the long hand-scroll titled
Searching for Demons on Mt. Guankou, probably based on a Song or
Yuan original and the later, thematically related work Clearing out the
Wilderness, highlight the fear of uncontrolled nature and the creatures
that inhabit it.3 In any case, the use of such images reflects an ambivalent
attitude toward animals and toward beings with animal attributes in
general. In certain cases they have the status of defenders of Buddhism,
and in other cases they represent beings of the unseen world, including
the Buddhist netherworld. In the latter case, they clearly belong to the
demonic category of beings populating the medieval Chinese imagina-
tion and world of belief.
This leads us directly to the topic of the present chapter, namely a
discussion and analysis of how animal imagery was used in the sculptural
groups found at the Buddhist cult center at Mount Baoding in Dazu,
eastern Sichuan province in China.4 Today, Mount Baoding stands as
one of the best-preserved and most impressive Buddhist sculptural sites
in all of China, only surpassed in grandeur and age by the better-known
sites of Yungang, Longmen, and the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang. Mount
Baoding was established during the final years of the twelfth century and
came to life during the first half of the thirteenth century. Its founder
and chief spiritual advisor was the charismatic monk Zhao Zhifeng
(1159 ca.1225),5 a pious Buddhist practitioner who, with the help of thou-
sands of lay devotees and local officials, created a cult center on the top
of Mount Baoding. As part of this cult site which also includes a large
temple of several buildings, stpas, and pagodas, a compound for Esoteric
Buddhist (Ch. mijiao) initiation Zhao had thirty sculptural groups
carved in the cliff wall of a horseshoe-shaped recess stretching for some
five hundred meters below the summit of the mountain, the so-called
Dafowan (Great Buddha Bend). In addition, a number of lesser groups
were carved into cliffs and boulders in the surrounding countryside.
Most of the sculptural groups at Dafowan are monumental, some
reaching a height of thirty meters, while others are considerably smaller.
Characteristic for virtually all the sculptural groups on the site is a strong
sense of narrative meant for didactic purposes. As has been pointed
out by other researchers previously, many of the sculptural groups are
essentially scriptural tableaux (Ch. jingxiang) or, more precisely, transfor-
mative tableaux (Ch. bianxiang) carved in stone.6
My reason for singling out the Buddhist cult site of Mount Baoding
for the present study hinges on a number of facts. First, the sculptural
groups on the site feature many examples of animal and anthropomor-
phic images. Second, these images are often central to the presentation

140 Henrik H. Srensen

and inner logic of a given group of sculptures; they function as leading
or otherwise important motifs. Third, the manner in which they occur is
the product of an overall ideological and artistic plan. This is one of the
hallmarks of Mount Baoding and is something that is rarely found in
Chinese Buddhist sculptural art on this scale. Fourth, the animal images
were being used to promote special pedagogical purposes, namely the
spread of Buddhist ethics, doctrines, and beliefs to an audience that
would have represented the average Chinese Buddhist follower of the
Southern Song in this part of China. Hence the purpose of this presen-
tation is to throw light on how Zhao Zhifeng and his followers used a
variety of animal representations in the sculptural groups on the site, and
the manner in which they utilized animal symbolism as a means for the
propagation of Buddhist beliefs and doctrines.
As already stated, animals occur frequently among the sculptures at
Mount Baoding. They are, however, rarely to be found apart from a main
group of images, where they usually appear as integrated elements neces-
sary for the overall narrative, as for example the oxen in group no.30, or
as supplementary elements, such as the cat and the rat in group no.3.
The two main exceptions for large-scale carvings of individual animals
are those of group no.1, which features a giant crouching tiger, and the
guardian of group no.28, which consists of an enormous lion in Chinese
mythological style.

Group No.1:Tiger
A large, compact image of a prowling tiger appears as group no.1 in the
sequence of the traditional numbering of the sculptures at Dafowan
(fig.4.1).7 The tiger carving ofgroup no.1 is on the right-hand side of
the steps leading down to Dafowan from the level above. The body of
the tiger is shown in a crouching pose with the tail as the highest point
and large head drawn in between the shoulders and turned toward an
imaginary person descending the steps. The carved area is 1.25meters
high and 4.20meters wide, with the tiger being 1.10meters high in front,
4.0meters long and 0.67meters high at the end. There is no attempt
at a naturalistic rendering of a tiger, but instead there is a conscious
distortion of the proportions of the animal to make it appear more
supernatural and dangerous. The carver has chosen to focus on the head
and front part of the animal, which are almost double the size of the rest
of the body. By doing so he has succeeded in bringing out a living tigers
raw qualities, which here are accentuated by the snarling mouth with its
bared fangs and the large paws. There can be little doubt that the location
of this tiger sculpture right at the entrance was no coincidence on the

141 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.1
Tiger (Dafowan, group
no.1). Figures in this
chapter unless otherwise
noted are by anonymous
artists, Southern Song
dynasty (twelfth to
fourteenth century),
sculpture with colored
pigments, from Mount
Baoding, Dazu, Sichuan
Province.

part of Zhao Zhifeng, and what indeed would be better as a guardian for a
holy precinct than an oversized and ferocious tiger?
In Chinese Buddhist lore, a tiger usually represents untamed
passions, and when found as a vehicle or attendant figure in a Buddhist
group, it indicates that the passions have been brought under control,
that the wild beast has been tamed. Here we may refer to ink paintings
of the so-called Four Sleepers (Hanshan, Shide, the monk Fengkan,
and a tiger) as well as images of the arhat Bhadra, etc.8 In her discussion
of this image group no.1, AngelaF. Howard asserts that a tiger symbol-
izes the dangers practitioners encounter on their spiritual journeys.9
It is unclear on what text or teaching she bases such a view. In any case
it seems contrary to logic if Zhao Zhifeng who is otherwise obsessed
with leading people on the path of virtue would have placed a symbol
indicating spiritual obstruction among the sculptural groups atDafowan.
An example of a painting of a solitary tiger is the work attributed
to the monk-painter Muqi (fl. second half of thirteenth century), now
in the collection of the Daitoku-ji in Kyoto.10 Here it is interesting to
observe that the appearance of tigers in Chinese ink paintings not only
has a distinct Chan Buddhist connection, but that these paintings were
also executed more or less simultaneously with the creation of Mount
Baodings sculptural groups. It is, of course, an open question whether
the tiger of group no.1 at Dafowan is at all related to the tradition of
Chan painting (and/or Chan Buddhist lore). But it may well have been so,
and in that case it would be a further indication that tiger images as such

142 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.2 had attained a special popularity in Buddhist circles during the second
Nine guardian spirits and
their attendants (Dafowan,
half of the SouthernSong.
group no.2). In rounding off our discussion of group no.1, it is also possible that
the present tiger carving was simply created to serve as a guardian of
sorts. After all, it is shown alone and without the usual Buddhist figures
at a location in Dafowan that once served as a passage leading from
above down to the carvings below. This could also mean that the tiger
was envisaged as being a representative of the directional animal for the
west, the White Tiger. It is also possible that it was meant as a zoomor-
phic representation of the local mountain god of Mount Baoding. These
are speculations. In any case, solitary tiger images especially sculpted
ones are extremely rare in Chinese art from the pre-Ming period, and
the example discussed here represents one of the oldest known carvings
of this animal.

Group No.2: The Nine Yaka Generals and Their Host

of MinorDemons
This imposing and interesting group is located directly to the left of
group no.1, discussed above. It consists of nine statues of semihuman
beings represented in life size. All are dressed in military uniforms
characteristic of Tang dynasty generals and brandish various weapons in
their hands. Some have ferocious facial expressions and some look more
benign but nevertheless stern (fig.4.2). This group of demon-soldiers
is sometimes referred to as the Dharma-protecting Spirits (Ch. Hufa

143 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.3
Detail a of group no.2.

figure 4.4
Detail b of group no.2.

Shen).11 They are attended by a number of lesser beings, many with

animal heads, on the sides and in the bottom part of the tableaux below.
Although one is tempted to identify them as the Twelve Spirits of the
Chinese zodiac, i.e., rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram,
monkey, rooster, dog, and pig, the minor group of images in group no.2
are not only fewer in number, but their iconography also does not match.
More on this below.
The textual source for this sculptural group is commonly said to
have been the Mahsahasra-pramardana stra,12 an Esoteric Buddhist
scripture the contents of which focus on the protection of a thousand
realms and their people.13 The scripture teaches how the Tathgata gives
protection by using his divine power to manifest himself in the form of
various divinities and protective beings, including yaka generals. It also
says he is able to create the sun and moon gods [Ch. riyue tianzi], the
Nine Controllers [Ch. jiuzhi], i.e. the Nine Planets, the Twelve Spirits of
the Zodiac [Ch. shier gongchen], and all the stellar deities [Ch. xingsu].14
When looking at the protector images in group no.2, one finds that each
of the nine are in fact envisaged as emanations of a buddha or bodhi-
sattva (fig.4.3). This means that iconographically they do not directly
follow the text of the Mahsahasra-pramardana stra, which does not set
forth distinct directions for this iconographic feature. Nevertheless, the
concept of having higher Buddhist divinities emanating lesser ones,
with the former depicted in small scale above the emanated figure, is a
standard iconographic feature seen throughout Mount Baoding. (It is
also common in Chinese Buddhist paintings from the Yuan and Ming.)15

144 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.5
Detail c of group no.2.

figure 4.6
Detail d of group no.2.

However, the minor images, the attending figures with animal and
demonic features located to both sides of and below the yaka generals,
are clearly not meant as their emanations.
While the nine protectors or demon-generals merit attention in their
own right, we shall here concern ourselves with the anthropomorphic
images of the animal-headed spirit-attendants. At present, only some of
them remain more or less intact, while nearly half have been damaged
beyond identification. Here follows a descriptivelist:

1. A crow or bird-headed image (far left in top row, fig.4.3)16

2. Tiger-headed image (far left in top row, fig.4.3)
3. Demon-headed image (far left in top row, fig.4.3)
4. Headless image (far left in bottomrow)
5. Monkey (bottom row to the left, fig.4.4)
6. Rabbit (bottom row to the left, fig.4.5 )
7. Dragon (bottom row, center, fig.4.6)
8. Snake (bottom row, center)
9. Pig (bottom row to the right, fig.4.7)
10. Ram or goat (bottom row to the right, fig.4.7)
11. Headless image (far right in toprow)
12. Headless image (far right in toprow)
13. Weathered demon-headed image (far right in toprow)

The anomalous number of animal-headed, secondary images in group

no.2 makes it problematic to identify them with the spirits of the zodiac

145 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.7
Detail e of group no.2.

on the basis of similarity alone. It is possible that these images were

indeed intended to represent the twelve spirits in question, but for
practical/sculptural reasons all of them could not be properly integrated
with the other sculptures something which is, of course, not entirely
unthinkable. But I consider this a remote possibility in the light of the
fact that virtually all the other groups at Mount Baoding were carved on
the basis of planned arrangements. With this in mind, we should also
acknowledge that it is not coincidental that some of the attendant-spirits
in the group (six in all, three at either end, with an additional seventh
image on the right-hand side) have been placed in the central level with
the nine demon-generals, while the other images (seven, all told) in the
bottom level constitute a separate iconographic unity. Hence I believe we
should look for an alternative explanation for the attendant images of
group no.2.
It so happens that a group of attendant-spirits similar to the the
six images in the main level of group no.2 at Dafowan can be found in
group no.8 at Xiaofowan (fig.4.8). Given the present focus on zoomor-
phic imagery in Chinese Buddhism, I shall refrain from discussing the
whole group and limit myself to a discussion of the attendant-spirits
in its bottom part.17 On the right side of the central image of a large
demon-general we see the tiger-headed spirit with a raised arm. Next
to him is a kneeling demon-headed spirit, and below is a crouching
horse-headed spirit. On the left of the yaka general is a crow-headed
spirit, next to him is a demon holding an unfolded scroll or document,
and below that is a rooster-headed spirit holding a bucket or basket

146 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.8 (fig.4.9). Not only do these two sets of attendant-spirit images match
Xiaofowan, group no.8.
each other typologically, we also see a close iconographic affinity between
figure 4.9 them. The almost indistinct engraved text of the document held in the
Anonymous, detail of
Shuilu (Water and hand of one of the six spirits, mentioned above, reads:
Earth) painting, middle
Ming dynasty, ca.sixteenth
Protecting the Six Penetrations [Ch. liutong]. Extensively the
century. Mural painting,
ink and colors, Baoning Buddhas words have bestowed the three.18
Temple, Shanxi Province.

Note, however, that the identification of these spirits solely hinges on

the reading of the two lines of fragmentary text. No such group can be
found in the standard Buddhist dictionaries, and I believe we are actually
dealing with a group of pestilence spirits under the control of a yaka
general. Therefore it is obvious that we are dealing with a similar group
of spirit images here as that of Dafowan group no.2. It so happens that
among the now famous set of shuilu paintings from Baoning Temple, in
Shanxi, we find one with a group of spirits called The Five Messengers
of Pestilence, host of the Spirit King Controlling Disease [Ch. Zhubing
guiwang Wuwenshi zhe zhong].19 These are demons in charge of diseases
and epidemics, a fearsome group of malignant spirits (fig.4.9). In
the present case they are, of course, under the control of Spirit King
Controlling Disease, a potent yaka general, and as such they are a fairly
close match with the upper-level group of lesser beings in group no.2 at
Dafowan, as well as with the six spirit-images of group no.8 at Xiaofowan.
If the above identification proves correct, then we are left with the
seven animal-headed spirits at the bottom layer of the group. In light of
the above, they should therefore not be considered representations of the
Twelve Spirits of the Zodiac (or at least only some of them) but perhaps

147 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

should be seen as nature spirits of the kind the Nine Demon-Generals are
supposed to control. Spirits and demons with animal heads abound in
Chinese popular lore and they are often credited with the ability to take
on human forms. Among these the best-known example is the fox-spirit,
a particularly feared type of animal-spirit with transformative powers.20

Group No.3: Wheel of Life Tableaux

Occupying the cliff wall to the left of group no.2, we find a large carving
in high relief depicting the so-called Wheel of Life or Wheel of
Transmigration, an iconographic type well known from the later Tibetan
Buddhist tradition. I shall here refrain from going into a discussion of
the history of the wheel itself and its many and complex details, as it
has been done by others recently, and I will solely focus on the animal
imagery connected with it (fig.4.10).21
Stylized animal images can be found inside the section of the wheel
according the placement of the various gti. While animals, actually here
in the form of a seminaturalistic depiction, do occur in the tableaux
in several instances, it is the small carving of the cat and mouse at the
bottom of the main group that is of special interest to us here (fig.4.11).
The pedagogical intention behind the Wheel of Life is squarely Buddhist,
as it is meant to instill awe and trepidation in the spectator and thereby
cause him or her to pay close attention to the issue of his or her karma.
This is, of course, done with the ultimate purpose of avoiding being
born in a bad state and ensuring a fortunate rebirth for the individual
in the next life. In this sense a heavy set of traditional Indian beliefs
are behind the sculptural tableaux in question. In contrast, the cat and
mouse relief has been rendered in a manner ultra-realistic for its time.
Moreover, despite the graveness of the situation, one may see in it a
poetic sweetness, akin to the motifs we find in Chinese court painting
of that time. Nevertheless, the symbolic meaning behind it is almost the
same as that of the Wheel of Life. The mouse perching on the supple
and we can imagine moving bamboo branch, facing the immediate
danger of being eaten by the hunting cat, conveys the same idea of
instability, insecurity, and ultimate change associated with the Wheel of
Life. Hence what we have here is a double perspective on the perennial
question of impermanence and evanescence. Moreover, this message is,
on the one hand, being conveyed through the highly symbolic Indian
modus packed with heavy religious symbols in the main tableaux, and
on the other hand in a more realistic, even poetic Chinese fashion, where
the didactic use of animal imagery has been taken to a new artistic and
imaginative height.

148 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.10
Wheel of Life (Dafowan,
group no.3).

Group No.13: Mahmayrvijya Tableaux

This tableaux is meant as a jingxiang depicting the Mahmayrvidyrji-
dhra stra, probably in the extended version by Amoghavajra (705
774).22 In this case, the very concept and ideology behind this tableaux
is an animal, namely the Peacock King, the vessel of the divinity, the
personified spell or dhra Mahmayrvijya (fig.4.12). At the inception
of the cult of the Peacock King in India, the deity was actually missing
from the lore and concept connected with the spell, and only much
later did it appear as a distinct iconographic feature connected with the

149 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.11 peacock image. This means that originally it was the Peacock King that
Detail a of group no.3.
was identical with the spell, and not until the sixth century do we have
figure 4.12 evidence that the image of a bodhisattva, or rather vidyrji (female
Dafowan group no.13.
form of vidyrja), a queen of knowledge, had taken precedence in the
iconographic depictions of the Peacock King (Queen) spell. The earliest
surviving images of Mahmayrvidyrji are found in the caves at
Ellora, in the state of Maharastra in Central India. Although opinions
about their exact date diverge, the two tableaux there most probably do
not date later than the early seventh century. In both cases the peacock
image is secondary to the image of Mahmayr.
There are a number of extant Tang representations of Mahmayr
found in the painted banners and votive paintings found at the Mogao
Caves in Dunhuang. So far, however, no paintings have been found in
which Mahmayrvidyrji is the main deity. In terms of sculptural art,
the earliest surviving image is part of group no.5 at Mount Bei in Dazu,
which features the Thousand-Armed, Thousand-Eyed Avalokitevara as
its main deity.23 Otherwise Dazu is the place in China where most images
of the vidyrjn have been found, including the impressive sculpture of
group no.8 in Mount Shimen (fig.4.13).24
In group no.13, the peacock mount of the divinity has been rendered
as a stiff and stylized bird. In line with many of the other monumental
images, any naturalistic pretenses have yielded to iconographic concerns.
In addition to the peacock itself, group no.13 contains other animal and
anthropomorphic images. Included among these is the image of a giant
dragon-headed snake seen emerging from among the stylized rocks at the

150 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.13 bottom left of the group (fig.4.14). Its face is turned toward the groups
Mahamayurividyarajni
main image of Mahmayr and appears to be in a mode of supplication.
Tableaux, Mount Shimen
(group no.8). Probably this feature was meant as an indication of the power of the
figure 4.14
divinitys spell to bring all poisonous snakes (ngas) under control.
Detail of Dafowan group
no.13. Group No.16: Gods of Thunder and Lightning
Elemental beings, that is, spirits related to natural phenomena such as
rain, drought, and thunder and lightning, are common to both Indian
and Chinese traditional beliefs, although they were originally quite
different both iconographically as well as functionally. Indian gods
in charge of the natural world were introduced to China alongside
Buddhism, where they eventually merged with the local gods and their
cults. Hence it is not uncommon to find divinities or groups of such in
early medieval China that bear traits of both cultures.25
Among the sculptures at Dafowan we also encounter such a group of
elemental spirits, namely in group no.16 (fig.4.15). This group contains
depictions of both mythological animals, anthropomorphic figures
including a large dragon, the mount of a human figure dressed in an
officials garb whom most Chinese scholars refer to as the Lord of Rain
(Ch. yuezhu). He is actually akin to traditional Chinese representations of
the Dragon King. Then follows the Lord of Wind (Ch. fengzhu) holding a
large bag of wind, and an obscure figure identified as the Cloud Spirit
(Ch. yunshen).26 Finally we have the Mother of Lightning (Ch. dianmu)
and the Lord of Thunder (Ch. leizhu) with a pigs head (fig.4.16). The
divinities appearing here are not strictly Buddhist, at least not as far as

151 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.15 their basic iconography goes. Rather they are pre-Buddhist spirits and
The Gods of the Elements in the iconographic representation as shown here are closer to the
Tableaux (Dafowan group
no.16). way Daoist spirits or at least indigenous gods are portrayed. By the Song
figure 4.16
period, however, many minor Buddhist divinities had lost their distinct
Detail of group no.16. Indic looks and had increasingly taken on sinitic appearances. Likewise,
it is not uncommon that by this time Chinese divinities originating in or
appropriated by the Daoist tradition had eventually become integrated
into the Buddhist pantheon as well.27
Here we shall focus on the image of the Lord of Thunder holding his
mallets and surrounded by the thunder drums (see fig.4.16). According
to Buddhist iconography of the mid-Tang, this elemental god is usually
depicted as a yaka or a vajrapla (Ch. jingang lishi), but toward the end
of the dynasty he begins to occur in anthropomorphic form with a pigs
head.28 Incidentally, we find him in this form, and iconographically
similar to the image under discussion as a secondary figure among the
host of the Thousand-Armed Avalokitevara in group no.9 at Beishan.29
As this is a documented late ninth-century group of sculptures, we know
for certain that by this time, the Thunder God had come to be depicted
thus. How the deity came to enter Buddhism in this form is not known,
but it is not unlikely that this transformation came about due to influence
from Daoism or perhaps folk religion.30 It so happens that we encounter
a similar group of elemental spirits among the shuilu paintings from
Baoning Temple.31 Although dating from the mid-Ming, it nevertheless
provides us with sufficient comparative evidence to establish that by that
time the pig-headed Lord of Thunder had become a fixed iconographic
model.32

152 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.17 Group No.19: Six Thieves Tableaux
Six Thieves Tableaux
(Dafowan group no.19).
The concepts and ideas behind this sculptural group are also highly
complex, doctrinally speaking (fig.4.17). This group, which is one of
figure 4.18
Detail of group no.19. the more insignificant among the carvings in Dafowan, is situated high
on the cliff between the two monumental groups 18 and 19, illustrating
the Guan wuliang shou jing (Amityus-dhyna Stra) and the tableaux
depicting the sufferings in the hells, respectively.33 Group no.19 is enti-
tled Liuze tu (Diagram of the Six Thieves) and consists of a carving in high
relief some eight meters high and more than three meters wide at the
broadest, with engraved text interspersed between the various images
making up the group. The group is sculpted in the same flat, squat,
but pleasantly rounded style characteristic of the sculptures at Mount
Baoding. The central figure is depicted as a meditating figure seated
on a lotus throne under a smaller image of a Buddha on a cloud in the
imagined sky. From this cloud, a wisp touches the head of the meditating
monk, indicating that he is an emanation of Buddha. Given that the
engraved title of the tableaux refers to Fu Dashi as being the emanation
of Maitreya, it is only logical to understand the bare-chested, medi-
tating figure as a depiction of the lay saint Fu Dashi (497 569).34 However,
as it bears close resemblance to other portrait images of Zhao Zhifeng
found on the site, it is most likely a case of transposed personality.35 He
wears his hair long and has a calm and dignified expression on his face.
In his lap rests an image of a reclining monkey, symbolizing that the
Buddhist saint has tamed the monkey mind. The monkey as a meta-
phor for the unruly and scattered mind is an old one that has its origin

153 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

in various Indian Buddhist scriptures, including works of both Hinayna
and Mahyna observation. In the Chinese context, we find it used by
Kumrajva (344 c.413) in his translations of the Vimalakrti-nirdea stra36
and the Chanfa yaojie (Essential explanation of Dhyna methods).37
Below the lotus throne of the meditating layman/monk are the
images of the six robbers or six thieves, each represented by an
animal. On the left side we have a horse, fish, and fox in descending
order, and on the right side a dog, a duck, and a snake (fig.4.18). The
accompanying textsays:

The thought is like a wild horse, The eye is like a runningdog,

Galloping off without enclosure Chasing the five forms of the village.

The body is like a greatfish The ear is like aduck,

Which constantly thinks about Following nothing while making
the turpidocean sounds.

The tongue is like a fox, looking The nose is like a snake . . . 38

for corpses and old . . . 39

Likewise, the concept behind identifying the six sense organs with
the six animals as shown in group no.19 can also be traced back to
Indian Buddhist sources. In China they occur in a number of canon-
ical scriptures with some variation, including the Damoduoluo chan
jing (Dharmatrta scripture)40 translated by Buddhabhadra (fl. fourth
and fifth centuries) and the voluminous Sayuktgama,41 translated
by Guabhadra (fl. fifth century). All together, this indicates that these
animals as metaphors for the sense organs were a time-honored and
well-established tradition that existed in Indian Buddhist scriptures
prior to their transmission to China.42

Group No.20: Animals and Anthropomorphic Images

in the HellTableaux
Group no.20 is among the truly monumental tableaux at Dafowan, and
it depicts the torments and causes leading to rebirth in the courts of the
netherworld as presided over by the Ten Kings who serve as judges of the
spirits of the dead. This spectacular group of sculptures has already been
the subject of several studies, so this discussion will be confined to those
images we find there that are of direct relevance to the present study.43
Let us first take a look at the demon-custodians of the various
hells, many of whom are depicted with animal heads. A particularly

154 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.19 gruesome scene is the one where a tied-up sinner is being speared by
Detail in lower part of
Dafowan group no.20.
a horse-headed demon, a kumbha (fig.4.19). Elsewhere we find an
ox-headed demon engaged in throwing a sinner into a cauldron with
boiling oil. In another scene, another horse-headed demon is stirring
a cauldron with boiling victims (fig.4.20). All these animal-headed
demon-officers are dressed in soldiers uniforms in accordance with the
norm of the day. This may be seen as an indication that in the post-Tang
period this type of demon had become associated with martial roles.
The animal-headed demons of the netherworld are, of course, part of
Indian Buddhist mythology, and early examples have been found as wall
paintings in the Buddhist cave temples along the Silk Road.44 Sometime
during the Nanbeizhao period (386 581), they came in vogue in China. By
the late Tang, the same animal-headed demon-officers seen in Dafowan
group no.20 appear in illustrated manuscripts of the apocryphal scrip-
ture Shiwang jing (Scripture of the Ten Kings [of the netherworld])45
recovered from the manuscript hoard in Dunhuang. Here we might also
be reminded of the Fo shuo hu zhu tongzi tuoluoni jing (Buddha speaks the
scripture on the dhra that protects all children),46 an early Esoteric
Buddhist work the discourse of which teaches how to protect against
female demonesses who prey on infants and unborn children. An illus-
trated manuscript on phot leaves also from Dunhuang shows all
the members of this group of evil spirits with animal heads.47 With
this in mind, there can be little doubt that the widespread dread medi-
eval Chinese felt in relation to animal demons, or demons with animal

155 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.20 features, played a special role in strengthening the visual and indeed
Detail a of group no.20.
pedagogical effects of the carvings in Dafowan group no.20.
figure 4.21 At the bottom part of the tableaux of the netherworld, one finds the
Detail b of group no.20.
section with images and scenes meant to serve as a warning against evil
behavior leading to hell karma. Among these images we find the cele-
brated scene with the woman raising chickens to make a living (fig.4.21).
Such a profession was a common occupation among the rural popula-
tion living around Mount Baoding at that time ( just as it is today), and it
would have been an easily recognized scene. Of course, this was discour-
aged by Zhao Zhifeng and his pious followers, who actively preached
against eating meat and drinking alcohol.48 Hence, this pastoral and
almost idyllic scene was made with the clear motif in mind to discourage
people from such undertaking, lest they create for themselves evil karma
for which torments in hell were certain to derive. The woman is shown
carefully covering her chickens with a woven bamboo dome. In contrast
to some of the other groups in the lower section, where the karmic
transgressions are more vividly rendered, the peasant woman with her
chickens portrays an air of innocence, as if she were unaware of her
culpability. The strong feeling of realism this group conveys strengthens
the authenticity and believability of this everyday scene in such a way that
it appeals directly to the spectator, urging him or her to do good, to live
virtuous lives in accordance with Buddhist (and Confucian) teachings.

Group No.28: Lion Guarding the Cave of Perfect Enlightenment

The carving of the lion that makes out group no.28 is at the left-hand
side of the entrance to the Cave of Perfect Enlightenment (Ch. Yuanjue-

156 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.22 dong), which is designated group no.29 (fig.4.22). Stylistically, the
Lion (Dafowan group
no.29).
sculpture of the lion is a typical Chinese lion of the kind that serves
as the mount of the bodhisattva Majusri and which occurs frequently
in the wall paintings of Dunhuang. As such, it does not resemble a real
lion but is one of the common mythological animals that populate
Chinese Buddhist lore. As shown here, it features a flat head without a
brow and with the mane turned into a tangle of curly locks. The legs are
short but muscular and the paws are imposingly large. The trunk of the
body is longish and cylindrical, much like that of a basset hound. The
lion faces toward the visitor coming from the right and is an amazing
sight, 2.02 meters high and 5.38 meters long! Like the tiger, it stands in
a crouching fashion but with its head held up and the tail swinging as
if in agitation. Its mouth is slightly open below a piggish snout and its
ears are laid back. The hind legs have been curled up under its massive
trunk of a body and it seems to be ready to jump. As was the case with the
tiger of group no.1, the lion of group no.28 was envisaged to function
as a guardian for the proceedings of the holy assembly inside thecave.
As already mentioned, the use of individual guardian animals in
Buddhist cave precincts is not common in China, although we do find
both lions and griffins among the elements of the traditional buddha
seat or throne. Indeed, the concept of lion throne occurs throughout
the canonical Buddhist literature from India. Rarely, however, do sepa-
rate guardian animals occur. Later, by the time of the Ming dynasty,
a pair of stylized guardian lions the so-called foo dogs of popular
parlance are frequently found in front of temple gates. Compared

157 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.23 with the carvings at Mount Bei located outside the county capital of
Ox-Herding Tableaux
(Dafowan group no.30).
Dazu, there are no guardian animals, neither renderings of real creatures
nor mythological beasts, and it may be that the use of large-scale indi-
vidual guardian animals is a later trait in Chinese Buddhism, possibly
ofSongorigin.

Group No.30: The Ox-Herding Tableaux

Group no.30, directly to the left of the flight of stairs and opposite the
large tiger image (group no.1) discussed above, is a sculptural rendition
of the celebrated Muniu tu or ox-herding tableaux.49 This unique set
of carvings the only known example in the world is based on the
Chengdao muniu song (Song on attaining the way through ox herding)
written by the Northern Song official Yang Jie (fl. eleventh century),
who is referred to as Yang Zigong in the inscription in situ.50 The verses
constituting Yangs song have been carved on small square cartouches
interspersed at strategic places along the cliff wall, with each verse placed
next to the scene it is meant to describe.51
This significant group has been envisaged and executed as a sort of
comic strip, with the sculptures placed in a stylized landscape (fig.4.23).
Like most of the carvings at Mount Baoding, they have all been carved in
high relief. Most of the images have been carved directly from the rock,
but a few of the oxen originally had added parts stuck on with wooden
pegs (a classical technique common with Buddhist sculptural art in
China). Due to its location in an exposed part of Dafowan, many of the
images in this group have suffered from weathering.

158 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.24
Detail a of group no.30.

In contrast to the painted versions of the ox-herding theme, group

no.30 features two herdsmen and more than one oxen in some of its
scenes. The herdsmen are dressed in peasant clothing of the Song period
and wear tunics over baggy trousers. In two scenes the figures wear
hats, one a cap-like head cover, and the other the wide-brimmed, round
bamboo hat still in use today. The size of the herdsmen in the group
ranges from between 0.8 to roughly 1.4 meters. The oxen are about 1.2
meters high and around 1.8 meters long. The whole sequence is some
4.5meters high and more than 27.0 meterslong.
The sequence starts with the scene in which the herdsman struggles
to make the ox follow him. The herdsman is clad in a long voluminous
tunic (fig.4.24).
In the next scene the herdsman has succeeded in making the ox turn
around by offering it grass. The herdsman brandishes the whip in his
right hand, while offering a tuft of grass to the ox with his left hand. He
wears a semilong jacket and pants. The ox, standing slightly above the
herdsman, has turned its head to accept the bait (fig.4.25). The ox has
lost one of its horns, which was originally fixed to the carving by apeg.
In the third scene the herdsman is whipping the ox. He wears a
short-sleeved jacket joined at the chest. His hair is set in a topknot, and
his face is set in a determined expression. The sculpture of the ox in this
section of the group has been damaged, and the head has now beenlost.
The fourth scene shows how the herdsman has succeeded in
harnessing theox.

159 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.25
Detail b of group no.30.

The fifth scene shows him sitting joyfully with a fellow herdsman.
The two herdsmen are shown with their arms around each others
shoulders, laughing heartily, although they are still holding on to the
restraining ropes of theiroxen.
In the sixth scene we find the sculpture of the herdsman standing
at ease with the rope in his hand. With his right hand he points to the
verse inscribed on the square on the rock face. He is shown as a youth
with a bare chest, wearing a long, short-sleeved jacket and loose pants.
His hair is arranged in two buns above the ears. The semirelief of the
ox is standing above the herdsman, half hidden by the rock with the
inscription.
The seventh scene in the sculpture group represents the stage where
the herdsman no longer cares about the ox. He is now allowing things to
follow their natural course. Here the herdsman sits with his back against
a rock and with a vacant expression on his face. His head is slightly tilted
toward the left. The ox has turned away once more and is eating freely of
the grass, but is no longer straying afield (fig.4.26).
In the eighth scene the herdsman, now depicted as a Daoist immortal
to indicate that the practitioner has reached a stage of simplicity and
spontaneity, plays his flute. He is sitting on a rock with one leg bent
and the other resting on the ground below. His serene facial expression
conveys the spiritual level, which this scene represents. In addition to
the Daoistic transformation, here we see another new iconographic
element, namely the image of the crane standing next to the herdsman.

160 Henrik H. Srensen

figure 4.26
Detail c of group no.30.

This auspicious classical Chinese symbol represents longevity and

underscores the otherworldly level indicated by the herdsmans Daoist
transformation. To the left stands the ox happily eating the lush grass.
The ninth scene shows the herdsman lying in blissful sleep (fig.4.27).
With his bulging abdomen and bared chest, he is here depicted in a
manner resembling standard Song representations of the Buddhist saint
Budai (fl. tenth century).52 This iconographic feat is probably a device
meant to indicate the exalted spiritual state of the herdsman. His head
is resting against his arms, folded behind his head. A small monkey
perching on the rock above the sleeping figure seems to be attempting
to disturb him, while the ox, lying further off to the left, gazes into the
distance. The monkey, now a familiar figure to the spectator at Dafowan,
of course represents the meditators remnant thought process. That he is
shown in deep rest and separated from the ox, though, indicates that he
is no longer burdened by them. In other words his monkey mind no
longer has any power to disturb his spiritual state.
A wide gap in the landscape occurs between the ninth and the
tenth scene, which is represented by a small niche with the figure of a
Buddhist monk sitting in meditation. To one familiar with the sculp-
tures in Dafowan, it is immediately apparent that the meditating figure
is identical with the other sculptural renderings of Zhao Zhifeng found
elsewhere in Dafowan.53 The image of Zhao is here indicating the herds-
mans attainment of samdhi. The ox has now disappeared, indicating
that the meditator has finally reached enlightenment. In group 30, this

161 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

figure 4.27
Detail d of group no.30.

finality is symbolized by the engraved relief on the cliff depicting the

round circle of perfection or fulfillment.
The ox-herding tableaux is undoubtedly one of the most important
examples of how the Buddhists during the Song used animal imagery
to illustrate the spiritual process through which a Chan practitioner
had to pass. Moreover, by an effective and balanced use of human figures,
animal imagery, landscape, and poetry, they succeeded in integrating
all these elements into one total visual experience. This is what makes
group no.30 such a charming and at the same time spiritually satisfying
tableaux.

While it may be a generalization to see the use of animal imagery

at Mount Baoding as representative of the whole of Southern Song
Buddhism, I believe that the site provides sufficient material for us to
make certain general observations that reflect the realities of the main-
stream culture. First of all, we have seen here how images of animals and
animal themes are fully integrated into the overall sculptural program
at the site. Not only does this show that by the Southern Song, Chinese
Buddhism was continuing to build on its centuries-old iconographic
vocabulary, it was also actively engaged in a process of a representational
harmonization with the imagery of Daoism and folk traditions. Here
one may talk of the result of an increasingly sinitic process in which
classical iconographic norms inherited from Indian Buddhism were
gradually being transformed into more recognizable and perhaps more

162 Henrik H. Srensen

mainstream native forms. While it is hard to argue that this trend was
especially evident with regard to artistic representations of animals,
there can be little doubt that this aspect formed an integrated part of the
general development.
On the basis of what has been shown here, it is evident that in the
course of the Song dynasty, a new trend had developed with regard to
the presence of animal imagery in Buddhist (and possibly also Daoist)
iconography. While animal images as such continued to be used as
a pedagogical tool in both sculpture and painting in much the same
way as in earlier periods, we now see a new representational approach
whereby animal images are given more central places within both indi-
vidual compositions as well as in the iconographic themes. We also see
that animal representations are being liberated from the formalistic
and stereotypical sculptural norms and functions that previously char-
acterized Chinese Buddhist sculpture. This reflects a new and more
liberal tendency, spiritually as well as artistically, something that can
be observed from the eleventh century onwards. There may be several
reasons for the rise of this new trend, but it was probably ushered in
by such factors as the narrowing gap between religious art and the fine
arts, which again was a reflection of the way many elements from the
elite culture had gradually entered the mainstream of Chinese culture.
At least this would explain the increasing ease with which purely artistic
elements such as landscape motifs, including pastoral scenes as well as
flower and bird motifs, were allowed to enter into religions iconography,
a system which had hitherto been guarded by a relatively strict formalism.

notes
During the past two decades I have conducted research on Buddhist art in various
parts of Sichuan, and in this period I have received support from the Knud Hjgaard
Foundation, the Danish Research Council for the Humanities as well as the National
Museum in Copenhagen. To all three institutions I owe my sincere thanks. The
present study is based on material collected during several visits to Dazu, the last
ofwhich took place in the autumn of2012.
1 Heinrich Zimmer, as quoted in Elisabeth Beck, Pallava Rock Architecture & Sculpture
(Pondicherry and Chennai: Sri Aurobindo Society in association with East-West
Books, 2006).
2 For several examples, see Jessica Rawson, Chinese Bronzes: Art and Ritual (London:
British Museum, 1987).
3 See Kiyohiko Munakata, Sacred Mountains in Chinese Art (Urbana: Krannert Art
Museum University of Illinois Press, 1991), 106 110, and Carmelita Hintons chapter
in this volume.

163 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

4 Mount Baoding with its Buddhist sculptures has been the subject of a book in
English by AngelaF. Howard, Summit of Treasures: Buddhist Cave Art of Dazu, China
(Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2001). The sculptures on the site have been reproduced
in the Dazu shike diaosu quanji: Baoding shiku juan (Complete collection of the
stone-carved sculptures of Dazu: Volumes of the Baoding stone caves), vols. 3 4,
compiled by the Chongqing Dazu shike yishu bowuguan and Chongqing chubanshe
(Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 1999), hereafter dsdq. The inscriptions in situ
can be found in the Dazu shike mingwen lu (Record of inscriptions at the Dazu stone
carvings), compiled by the Chongqing Dazu shike yishu bowuguan and Chongqingshi
shehui kexueyuan Dazu shike yishu yanjiu (Chongqing: Chongqing she, 1999),
hereafter dsml. Still useful is the old catalog Dazu shike yanjiu (Studies of the stone
carvings at Dazu), compiled and edited by Liu Changjiu, Hu Wenhe, and Li Yongqiao
(Chengdu: Sichuansheng shehui kexueyuan chubanshe, 1985), hereafterdsy.
5 Scholars from the Chinese mainland tend to consider Zhaos dates as being
1159 1249, which would mean that he lived to the ripe old age of approximately
ninety years. For the best developed argument for these dates, see the two separate
articles in Chen Mingguang, Dazu shike kaogu yu yanjiu (Studies in the archaeology
of the stone carvings in Dazu ) (Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 2001), 162 183.
While it is possible that Zhao did live that long, the evidence is neither clear-cut nor
obvious. It can only be arrived at after a tortuous and highly creative manipulation
with, essentially, all the combined sources we have on his life. As most of the sources
used by Chen are both late and of dubious value historically, I prefer to use 1225 as
a tentative terminus for hislife.
6 There are two ways to interpret the term bianxiang. One is that it transforms
those who see them, while the other is that they represent or illustrate transforma-
tions, that is, miracles. For a discussion of the performative value of the jingxiang and
bianxiang, see Victor Mair, Painting and Performance: Chinese Picture Recitation and Its
Indian Genesis (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988). In the case of the sculp-
ture groups at Mount Baoding, their narrative and pedagogical aspects are central to
an understanding of the way they were meant to function.
7 I follow here the numbering as given in the dsy, dsml,etc.
8 For a discussion of these with examples, see Helmut Brinker and Hiroshi
Kanazawa, Zen: Meister der Meditation in Bildern und Schriften (Zrich: Museum Rietberg,
1993), 129 133, 212 215.
9 Howard, Summit of Treasures,5.
10 One of a set of two paintings; the other has a dragon in the clouds. Cf. Shinichi
Hisamatsu, Zen and the Fine Arts (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1971), pl.71.
11 dsy, 468 469.
12 Takakusu Junjir et al., eds., Taish shinsh daizky (The Taish Tripiaka) (Tokyo:
Taish Issaiky Kankkai, 1924 1935), 999.19:578b 593c; hereafterT.
13 The identification of this scripture as the source for the sculpture group hinges
on circumstantial evidence mainly deriving from similar groups of protectors such
as the group at Mount Longtou located in Mount Baodings outer-field and at
Mingshan Temple in neighboring Anyue County. Nevertheless, the partly extant text
piece engraved onto the scroll held in the hands of one of the attendant spirits in
Dafowan group no.2 refers to the Great Meagre Feast of the Avatasaka. Cf. dsml,
94. It is of course possible that Zhao Zhifeng and his followers used both scriptures

164 Henrik H. Srensen

as inspiration for the sculptural group in question. After all, the blending of Huayan
ideology and Esoteric Buddhist concepts and beliefs is commonly seen in the
sculptural art of Mount Baoding. For more details on this, see HenrikH. Srensen,
Esoteric Buddhism and the Sculptural Art of Dazu, in 2005 nian Chongqing Dazu shike
guoji xueshu yantaohui lunwen ji (Collected papers of the 2005 Chongqing International
Study Conference on the stone carvings at Dazu), comp. Chongqing Dazu shike yishu
bowuguan, 374 398 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2008), hereafter dsyw. For a different
view, see Howard, Summit of Treasures, 6, 90 91. When comparing the scripture in
question with the sculptural groups at Mount Baoding said to be based on it, however,
we find that there are no direct iconographic correspondences between them. It
would appear that Zhao Zhifeng chiefly invoked the protective power of the scripture
for his sculptural project, but without actually applying its contents directly to the
religiousart.
14 T. 999.19:586c.
15 For example, in groups no.4, 17, 19, 22,etc.
16 Even when stretching ones imagination beyond reason, it is not possible to
identify this image as a rooster or cock. Therefore it cannot be identified as one of
the spirits of the zodiac.
17 For a description of the group as well as the inscribed text used by the Chinese
to identify the six images in question, see dsy, 280 281. For some reason the dsml
has left out the text in question, but it nevertheless identifies the images in question
as the images of the Spirits [protecting] the Six Penetrations [Ch. liutong shenxiang].
Cf. Ibid., 192 194.
18 dsy, 280 281.
19 See Baoning si Ming dai shuilu hua (English subtitle: Ming dynasty shuilu paintings
at Bao Ning Si: Painting of Buddhist or Taoist rituals), compiled by the Shanxisheng
bowuguan (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1988), pl.147.
20 A highly qualified discussion of these spirits can be found in Michel Strickmann,
Chinese Magical Medicine, ed. Bernard Faure (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press,
2002), 259 268, 270 281.
21 For a comprehensive discussion, see StephenF. Teiser, Reinventing the Wheel:
Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist Temples (Seattle: University of Washington
Press, 2007). See also Howard, Summit of Treasures,6 10.
22 T. 982.19:415a 39b. For a study of the early versions of this scripture, see HenrikH.
Srensen, The Spell of the Great, Golden Peacock Queen: The Origin, Practices and
Lore of an Early Esoteric Buddhist Tradition in China, Pacific World: Journal for the
Institute of Buddhist Studies (Festschrift issue for Prof. James Sanford, edited by Charles
Orzech) 3, no.8 (2006): 89 123.
23 See dsdq ,1:6.
24 Some of these are discussed in HenrikH. Srensen, A Ming Statue of the
Vidyaraja Mahamayuri in the Collection of the National Museum of Copenhagen,
Oriental Art 37, no.3 (1991): 137 147.
25 This feature is most evident in the various surviving sets of shuilu paintings, all
of which date from the early to the middle of the Ming dynasty.
26 dsy, p.478. I have tried in vain to find more information on this spirit.

165 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

27 This trend, which almost certainly began during the Tang dynasty, found its
fullest expression in the large sets of paintings for the performance of the shuilu
ritual known from the Ming dynasty. See for instance Baoning si Mingdai shuilu
hua. For a general discussion of these paintings, see DanielB. Stevenson, Text,
Image, and Transformation in the History of the Shuilu fahui, the Buddhist Rite for
Deliverance of Creatures of Water and Land, in Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese
Buddhism, ed. Marsha Weidner, 30 70 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001).
Undoubtedly the compilation of shuilu manuals during the Song dynasty greatly
accelerated the merging and harmonization of the Buddhist and Daoist pantheons,
atleast from iconographic and compositional points ofview.
28 A Japanese example from the early Kamakura period can be found in Renge-in
(Sanjsangen-d) in Kyoto. Cf. Sanjsangen-d no butsu tachi (English subtitle:
Buddhist deities of Sanjsangen-d) (Kyoto: Myh-in, 2000),10.
29 See dsdq ,1:6.
30 The Chinese scholar Hu Wenhe traces the elemental spirits and the Lord of
Thunder in particular to pre-Buddhist Chinese religion. Among other sources,
he refers to the Shanhai jing (Scripture of mountains and oceans), the Zhou li (Book
of rites), and the Huainanzi (Book of Huainanzi). During the Song, when thunder
magic became increasingly important among Daoist practitioners, we find the Lord
of Thunder and the Mother of Lightning prominently described in the Shangqing
lingbao dafa (Lingbao great methods of the highest purity), Daozang 1221 1223. Cf.
HuWenhe, Sichuan Daojiao Fojiao shiku yishu (The art of the Daoist and Buddhist
stone caves of Sichuan) (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1994), 198 199.
31 See Baoning si Ming dai shuilu hua, pl.114.
32 A comparable group can be found in Daoist paintings also dating from the
Ming dynasty, which strengthens the argument that the elemental spirits as an
iconographic model were shared by both Buddhist and Daoist believers. Cf. Daojiao
shenxian huaji (English subtitle: Album for Daoist deities and divine immortals),
comp. Zhongguo Daojiao Xiehui (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, 1995),75b.
33 For a discussion of the latter, see the excellent study by KarilJ. Kucera, Lessons
in Stone: Baodingshan and Its Hell Imagery, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern
Antiquities 67 (1995): 81 157.
34 For a highly useful study on this important Buddhist lay persona, see Helvig
Schmidt-Glintzer, Eine Ehrenrettung fr den Sden: Pao-chih (418/25 514) und Fu
Hsi (497 569) Zwei Heilige aus dem Unteren Yangtse-Tal, in Religion und Philosophie
in Ostasien: Festschrift fr Hans Steininger, comp. Gert Naundorf, Karl-Heinz Pohl, and
Hans-Hermann Schmidt, 247 265 (Wrzburg: Kningshausen and Neumann, 1985).
35 This peculiar feature can also be observed in Dafowan group no.4 depicting the
Tableaux of the Precious Pagoda. See dsdq , Baoding shiku,1:16.
36 T. 475.14:553a.
37 T. 616.15:295c.
38 The characters in the bottom line have been obliterated.
39 One character missing.
40 T. 618.15:313c.
41 T. 99.2:313a.

166 Henrik H. Srensen

42 See Chen Zhuo, Dazu shike Baoding Shan Dafowan Fuxin yuan suo liu hao tu
yanjiu (A study of the Binding up the Monkey of the Mind and Locking up the Rats
of the Six Senses image at the Dazu stone carvings at the Great Buddha Crescent
on Mount Baoding), in dsyw, 5:254 258. One drawback of this otherwise interesting
and useful paper is that the author seems to believe that the main text of the Fuxin
yuan suo liu hao tu was actually written by Fu Dashi. This view, however, remains
unsubstantiated.
43 Although this group is the subject of several articles, mainly in Chinese, by far
thebest study of it is that by Kucera, Lessons in Stone.
44 For a fine example of a hell scene from Kyzil featuring animal-headed demon-
custodians, see Heinrich Hrtel and M.Yaldiz, eds., Die Seidenstrae: Malerien und
Plastiken aus buddhistischen Hhlentempeln (Berlin: Staatliche Museen Preuischer
Kulturbesitz, 1987), 58 59, pl.7.
45 Several manuscript copies of this scripture can be found in the Stein and Pelliot
collections. The established version is found in the Zkozky, zz 21.1:408a 10b. For
a study of this scripture, see Stephen Teiser, The Scripture of the Ten Kings and the
Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (Studies in East Asian Buddhism
9) (Honolulu: Koruda Institute and University of Hawaii Press, 1994), pls.5a b, 6a,
14a c. Two tableaux featuring the Ten Kings and the torments of the netherworld
from the tenth century can be found in Anyue, Dazus neighboring county. For a
discussion of these sculptural groups, see HenrikH. Srensen, The Buddhist Sculptures
at Yuanjuedong in Anyue: The History and Art of a Buddhist Sanctuary in Central Sichuan
Province (sbs Monographs 5) (Copenhagen: sbs, 1999), 54 58, pls.33 37.
46 T. 1028A.19:741b 742c.
47 See Roderick Whitfield and Anne Farrer, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese Art
from the Silk Route (London: British Museum, 1990), 88 91.
48 Injunctions against eating meat and drinking wine occur frequently in the various
inscriptions at Mount Baoding. Most clearly they are set forth in the apocryphal Da
fangguang Huayan shie pin jing (Chapter on the Ten Evils of the Great and Extensive
Flower Garland scripture), T. 2875.85:1359b 1361a. Buddhist piety and admonishments,
however, permeate virtually all the inscribed texts found at thesite.
49 I have previously discussed this group in detail in HenrikH. Srensen, A Study
of the Ox-Herding Theme as Sculptures at Baoding Shan in Dazu, Sichuan, Artibus
Asiae 51, nos. 3/4 (1991): 207 233. See also dsy 290 291, 499 500. The ox, bull, or
cow are all popular images in traditional Buddhist lore and occur in a variety of
contexts and uses in Mahyna and Hinayna Buddhist scriptures. For examples in
the Chinese Buddhist literature, see the Ekottargama, T. 125.2:761b 762a, 794bc; the
Saddharmapuarka stra, T. 262.9:12bc; and the Dazhi du lun (Treatise on the Great
Liberating Wisdom), T. 1509.25:74a. In Chinese Buddhism, ox herding first appears as
a separate theme in the Pratiyasamutpdadi vibhanganirdea, the title of which in
Chinese translates as Ox-herding Stra. Cf. T. 123.2:546a 547b.
Later, during the second half of the Tang dynasty, ox symbolism crops up for
the first time in the Chan Buddhist context as part of the use of circle symbols
(Ch.yuanxiang) as teaching devices. It is my view that these circle symbols containing
oxen were the forerunners of the ox-herding pictures with verses on which group
no.30 at Dafowan is ultimately based. For further details, see Srensen, A Study of
the Ox-Herding Theme, 210 214.
50 For his biography, cf.the Lebang wenlei (Literature from the realm of bliss),

167 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

T.1969a.47:195bc; the Songshi (Song history), ch.443; and the Jushi chuan (The history
of laymen), zz 1646.88:220c 223a.
51 Unfortunately, a number of the inscribed verses have been eroded in the course
of time, and at present they can only be partly read. The best reconstruction of the
verses to date can be found in dsml, 163 168.
52 See for instance the ink paintings by artists such as Liang Kai (fl. first half of
thirteenth century) and Li Que (fl. thirteenth century). For an example of the latters
work, see Brinker and Kanazawa, Zen: Meister der Meditation, 214 215.
53 See HenrikH. Srensen, Reality and Fiction in the Construction of the Image of
a Chinese Buddhist Monk: The Case of Zhao Zhifeng from Dazu, Sichuan, unpub-
lished paper presented at the workshop Biography and Historiography in Chinese
and Korean Buddhism, Hamburg University, July2006.

references
Primary Sources
Da fangguang Huayan shie pin jing . T. 2875.85.
Dazhi du lun . T. 1509.25.
Ekottargama, T. 125.2.
Huainanzi.
Jushi chuan . zz 1646.88
Lebang wenlei . T. 1969a.47.
Saddharmapuarka stra, T. 262.9.
Shangqing lingbao dafa . Daozang 1221 1223.
Shanhai jing.
Songshi.
Zhou li.

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Beck, Elisabeth. Pallava Rock Architecture & Sculpture. Pondicherry and Chennai:
Sri Aurobindo Society in association with EastWest Books,2006.
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und Schriften. Zrich: Museum Rietberg,1993.
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168 Henrik H. Srensen

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169 The Didactic Use of Animal Images in Southern Song Buddhism

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. A Study of the Ox-Herding Theme as Sculptures at Baoding Shan in
Dazu, Sichuan. Artibus Asiae 51, nos. 3/4 (1991): 207 233.
Stevenson, Daniel B. Text, Image, and Transformation in the History of the
Shuilu Fahui, the Buddhist Rite for Deliverance of Creatures of Water and
Land. In Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism, edited by Marsha
Weidner, 30 70. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,2001.
Strickmann, Michel. Chinese Magical Medicine. Edited by Bernard Faure.
Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press,2002.
Takakusu Junjir et al., eds. Taish shinsh daizky .
Tokyo: Taish issaiky kankkai, 1924 1935.
Teiser, StephenF. Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist
Temples. Seattle: University of Washington Press,2007.
. The Scripture of the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval
Chinese Buddhism (Studies in East Asian Buddhism 9). Honolulu: Koruda
Institute and University of Hawaii Press,1994.
Whitfield, Roderick, and Anne Farrer. Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese Art
from the Silk Route. London: British Museum,1990.

170 Henrik H. Srensen

chapter5
Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, SleekHound:
The Evolution of Soushan Tu Paintings in the
NorthernSong Period
Carmelita Hinton

contested origins
Among the gifts received by Emperor Taizong of the Song dynasty when
he ascended the throne in 976 was a painting referred to as a soushan tu
(literally, picture of a mountain search). The emperor was so
impressed by it that he promptly appointed the painter, Gao Yi, to the
position of court painter-in-attendance (daizhao). This story, which is
recorded by Guo Ruoxu nearly a century later in his Experiences in Painting
(Tuhua jianwen zhi), contains the earliest known literary reference to
an enduring theme in Chinese painting.1 No longer extant, the picture
the Song emperor saw can only be imagined on the basis of much later
examples of paintings titled or described as soushan tu. These paintings
depict a throng of ferocious, demon-like characters charging through
wooded mountains. Aided by falcons and a sleek hound, they kill or
capture a variety of animals, as well as creatures that are part human
and part beast, some in the guise of alluring women (fig.5.1). Most of
the extant versions also depict a dragon being tied down by a rope or a
chain (fig.5.2). The captured creatures are brought before a seated figure,
the commander of the hunt, who is flanked by attendants (fig.5.3 and
fig.5.4).
Depictions of this mountain search persisted for a millennium, from
the tenth century when famous court artists were said to have painted
soushan tu into the twentieth century. How do we explain the sustained
interest in this theme? What is the search or hunt about? Who is the
commander figure, and what do the hunted animals represent?

171
 Existing studies of the iconography of soushan tu make a number
of problematic assumptions. One claim is that soushan tu is a kind of
narrative painting that illustrates a pre-existing story. Yet such a story has
failed to materialize. Disparate written sources and inscriptions on some
soushan tu identify a deity called Erlang as the figure commanding the
mountain search. In the absence of a text that closely matches the scenes
depicted in the paintings, some scholars have speculated that the legends
surrounding Erlang were the original inspiration for the creation of the
soushan tu mountain searches.2
The texts mentioning Erlang as the commander of the mountain
search, however, are not the first written sources that use the phrase
soushan tu. Much earlier texts feature other deities as the protagonists
of this type of painting. Furthermore, the assumption that Erlang was
the initial inspiration for this type of painting leaves another mystery
unsolved. Erlang was essentially a river deity (shuishen) credited with

172 Carmelita Hinton

< figure 5.1 subduing evil dragons. It seems strange that paintings inspired by a river
Anonymous, with
forged signature of Su
deity should be called soushan, a phrase that refers only to mountains.3
Hanchen, Soushan tujuan Instead of originating as illustrations of the heroic deeds of a single
(Vanquishing demons deity, the soushan tu we see today in a variety of examples emerged
in mountain), Southern
Song dynasty. Handscroll from a complex interaction of influences. These influences include
(detail), ink and colors Buddhism, Daoism, popular religion, imperial politics, and, not least,
on silk, 53.3533cm.
Palace Museum, Beijing.
pictorial conventions and innovations that have a life of their own. These
Xin16639. conventions often evolved independently from legends tied to specific
deities in shaping what I would call the fully developed soushan tu visual
vocabulary.
Adapted from my forthcoming book-length study of soushan tu, titled
Tethered Tiger, Captured Dragon, this essay focuses on some aspects of the
development of soushan tu during the Northern Song period. It traces the
changing identities of the commander and how certain animals associ-
ated with them became part of the pictorial repertoire of the mountain
search (soushan). Characters once considered demons come to occupy the
role of commander, reflecting the contested nature of the categories of
demon and deity.

from demon to demon queller

the transformation oferlang
Erlang was not always the deity we see celebrated in later examples of
soushan tu. In fact, in 976, when Emperor Taizong rewarded Gao Yi for
painting a soushan tu, Erlang was demonized by the Song court as the idol
of a licentious local cult ( yinsi).
A deity named Erlang does not appear in historical documents
until the Song dynasty.4 The phrase Erlang shen (meaning Erlang god
or Erlang deity) does appear earlier in a Tang dynasty list of musical
composition titles, but what it refers to is unknown.5 This connection to
music seems to have continued into the Song dynasty, when Erlang shen
was used to name one of more than eight hundred rhythmic and tonal
patterns, called cipai, that govern the writing of a type of poetry called ci
(lyric poetry). The content of a poem (ci) is usually unrelated to the literal
meaning of the name of its pattern (cipai). With one exception, poems
written with the pattern called Erlang shen have nothing to do with the
deity.6
Linguistically, erlang could be a generic term, meaning second
lad or second son, rather than a proper name with a specific identity.
According to the Song writer Zhang Bangji (fl.1131), the element lang
was a common feature in names of local deities in southern regions.

173 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

figure 5.2
Anonymous, Erlang
soushan tu (Erlang and
his soldiers driving out
animal spirits), Ming
dynasty, fifteenth century.
Handscroll (detail), ink
and colors on silk,
60.9574.5cm. Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.
William Sturgis Bigelow
Collection, 13.481.
Photograph 2016
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.

Young and handsome deities were often called so-and-so lang (young
lad so-and-so), while robust and stern-looking deities were called
so-and-so jiangjun (general so-and-so).7 Erlangs name seems to fit
this pattern. A homonymous erlang appears in Erlang wei, the title
of a collection of late Tang and early Five Dynasty songs preserved in
Dunhuang. Here the character er signifies son rather than second (so
that the combination erlang simply means young man or young male
child). The wei is written with the character meaning great in some
songs and the character meaning protector in others. The content of
these songs is related to the expulsion of demons. The Erlang written in
characters that mean second lad does not appear in these songs, and a
direct link cannot be established.8
The accounts of Erlang found in historical and literary sources
contain three main claims regarding his identity.9 The later the source,
the more entangled the stories become. Different heroes in various
stories share common deeds, or a single heros story may appear in
multiple variations.
The most widely known descriptions of Erlang are found in the Ming
novel The Journey to the West (Xiyou ji). In this novel the god Erlang is said to
be the Jade Emperors nephew, to whom people offered incense and obla-
tions at his temple in a place called Guankou in the Shu region (modern
Sichuan). His mother, the Jade Emperors younger sister, had fallen in
love with a mortal named Yang and married him.10 This particular Erlang,
their offspring, could thus be said to have the family name Yang.

174 Carmelita Hinton

figure 5.3
Anonymous, Erlang
soushan tu (Erlang and
his soldiers driving out
animal spirits), Ming
dynasty, fifteenth century.
Handscroll (detail), ink
and colors on silk,
60.9574.5cm. Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston.
William Sturgis Bigelow
Collection, 13.481.
Photograph 2016
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.

Other stories about Erlang say he was a Sui dynasty official named
Zhao Yu who killed evil dragons to prevent flooding in the Jiazhou area
in Shu. Eventually a temple was set up for him in Guankou, and he was
popularly known as Guankou Erlang.11
The third claim is that Erlang was the second son of Li Bing, the
governor of Shu sometime during the third century bce. Li Bing was
known for his role in building the massive water diversion project called
Dujiangyan, located in Guanxian County near Chengdu. It is said that
Erlang helped Li Bing with water projects and that he shared his fathers
temple in Guankou.12
Despite the discrepancies in these accounts of Erlangs identity, one
element is common to all of them. Erlang, be his family name Zhao,
Yang, or Li, was connected to Guankou of Shu. It is unlikely that several
legends about taming rivers in the small area of Guankou would have
developed independently. The different versions of Erlangs identity
could be variations of the same theme, or they could have resulted from
the convergence of a number of deified heroes who contributed to
controlling rivers or who performed other great deeds.
The accounts of Erlang as Li Bings son are found in written sources
that predate the other two mentioned above, and they reveal an inter-
esting story regarding the relationship between the Song court and the
Shu region. The following discussion will address this relationship.13
The earliest source that clearly states the connection between Erlang
and Li Bing is a 1074 work by Zhao Bian (1008 1084), a Song official who

175 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

figure 5.4
Anonymous, traditionally
attributed to Wu Daozi
(685 758), Album of Dao-
ist and Buddhist Themes:
Search the Mountain.
Leaf41, Southern Song
dynasty, thirteenth century.
Album leaf, ink on paper,
34.2538.50cm. Cleveland
Museum of Art, JohnL.
Severance Fund in honor
of Dr. Ju-hsi Chou and gift
of various donors to the
department of Asian Art
(by exchange), 2004.1.41.
served in the Shu region.14 It is now lost except for the following line
quoted by the Ming scholar Cao Xuequan: Li Bing ordered his son,
Erlang, to make three stone figures.15 This source, if quoted correctly by
Cao, is the earliest available documentation of the belief that Li Bing had
a son named Erlang.16 Several earlier texts describe Li Bing making three
stone figures. None of these texts, however, mentions a son.17 Not until
after the mid-eleventh century did statements about Li Bing having a son
suddenly become numerous.18 Since then, every mention of Erlang in
Song sources, if venturing to explain who he was, always indicates that he
was Li Bingsson.
Some scholars argue that Erlang was developed as an extension of the
cult of Li Bing.19 Yet this interpretation does not address the issue of the
apparent rivalry between Li Bing and Erlang in a number of sources. Zhu
Xi (1130 1200), for one, was not pleased: The Erlang temple at Guankou
of Shu was originally established for Li Bing because of his achievements
in building the Lidui. The great many miracles and oddities [ guai] that
have happened in recent years, however, are due to the sudden emergence
of his second son.20
Erlang, it appears, had sprung out of nowhere and eclipsed Li Bing,
who was, after all, a real figure in orthodox history, a magistrate appointed
176 Carmelita Hinton
by the predecessors to the first emperor of China.21 The overshadowing
of Li Bing by Erlang is also evident in the proliferation of Erlang temples
nationwide while temples dedicated to Li Bing remained more localized.
It seems odd that an imaginary son, hitherto unrecorded in history or
legend, would suddenly become acclaimed for great deeds and honored
as an extension of the cult of the father, eventually even overshadowing
the fathers fame. Why would this happen and why at that particulartime?
The answer lies, in part, in the long history of contention between
the central rulers of China and the Shu region. In ancient times, Shu had
a civilization distinct from that of central China. It was annexed by the
Qin state during the fourth century bce, a century before Qin Shihuang
unified China in 221 bce.22 Archeological and other evidence show that
local efforts in building water works predated those of Li Bing.23 This
early history suggests an entirely different interpretation of the relation-
ship between Li Bing and his son. From this perspective, the story
should be told as follows: there existed a deity at Guankou with a strong
following in Shu who was distinct from the deified Li Bing until the
mid-eleventh century.24 This deity was then appropriated by the Song
court with the justification that he was Erlang, Li Bings second son.
Furthermore, the cult of this deity may have even predated that of Li
Bing. If so, it had the potential of exerting a stronger hold on the people
of Shu. In other words, instead of being Li Bings son, Erlang may
well have been his ancestor, or more accurately, a symbol of Li Bings
predecessors in taming the rivers of Shu. A close examination of sources
from early Song shows that not only was the cult of this local Shu deity at
Guankou not sponsored by the state, it was brutally suppressed until the
mid-eleventh century.
In the Compilation of Important Song Documents (Song huiyao), an entry
under the heading Langjun God Shrine (Langjun Shen ci)
records the official court recognition of a deity called Langjun Shen
between the years 1063 and 1157.25 It begins by identifying the deity
as the son of Guangyou Yinghui Wang [King of Extensive Blessings
and Brilliant Assistance] of Chongde Temple in Yongkang Prefecture.
Guangyou Yinghui Wang is one of Li Bings titles.26 So Langjun Shen is
here claimed to be Li Bings son. The text then records an imperial edict
of 1063: Langjun Shen in the temple of Guangji Wang [King of Pervasive
Benefit] in Yongkang Prefecture is hereby granted the title Linghui Hou
[Marquis of Magical Benefit] and will receive official sacrifices.27 It is
not clear whether the passage that follows the above is part of the edict
or an addendum written by the compiler of the Song huiyao: The god is
the second son of Li Bing. The Shu natives had honored him as Huguo

177 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

Lingying Wang [Miraculous and Brilliant King Protector of the State]. He
was stripped of this title in the year 974. Later, the people petitioned [the
emperor, saying] that the god had helped his father tame the floods, and
that was the reason for issuing this edict.
The year 974, when Langjun Shen lost his title, is the same year that
LiBing was given a new title. According to another Song source, the
imperial court ordered the renovation of Li Bings temple and bestowed
upon him the title Guangji Wang (King of Pervasive Benefit), to replace
Daan Wang (King of Great Peace), his former title given to him during
the Latter Shu Kingdom (Houshu).28 Putting together the accounts from
these two sources, we learn that after the renovation of the Chongde
Temple, Li Bing was given a new title, while Langjun Shen was divested of
his title. Had it been well established at the time that the two gods were
father and son, they would not have received such divergent treatment.29
It is clear from the above sources that a god unrelated to Li Bing
existed before the Song. He had a title of his own, which was of a more
exalted rank than that of Li Bing, but he was stripped of this title in 974.
Nearly eighty years later, talk of his being Li Bings son served to
reinstate him, although only to a lesser rank than Li Bings, through
the imperial edict of 1063.30
Is this son of Li Bing, referred to in the Song huiyao as Langjun
Shen, the same being as Erlang, the name cited much more frequently
as Li Bings son? There are at least two Song references that directly link
them to each other. Both mention the passage in the Song huiyao cited
above. One notes that a Guankou Erlang Temple was established in the
Song capital during the Yuanfeng reign (1078 1085). The source includes
a comment that the god was whom the [Song] Huiyao called Li Bings
second son, Langjun Shen.31 The other source, from the Southern Song,
describes the deity worshiped in a temple called Pude Miao in Hezhou
(a district in Shu) and comments that he is one whom the [Song] Huiyao
called Li Bings second son, Langjun, popularly known as Erlang.32
Another occurrence of the name Langjun is in the title of an anonymous
painting, Langjun Subduing a Dragon (Fulong Langjun tu), listed in a catalog
of paintings in the Song imperial collection compiled in 1199.33 The
subject of the painting, as seen in the title, also fits well with the legends
about Erlang.
The above sources make it reasonably clear that the two names, Erlang
and Langjun Shen, referred to the same deity. These sources, however,
all date after the 1063 edict, when kinship between Li Bing and Erlang
was assumed by writers who took up the subject. Therefore they do not
provide any new information regarding Langjun Shens (or Erlangs)

178 Carmelita Hinton

relationship to Li Bing prior to 1063. While I have not found any earlier
references to the name Langjun Shen and its status before the edict of
1063, another name, Guankou Shen, meaning the god of Guankou,
appears frequently. The changes in his status parallel those of Langjun
Shen during the period between the Shu Kingdoms and theSong.
As mentioned previously, Langjun Shen possessed an exalted title
during the Shu Kingdoms that surpassed the rank of Li Bing. In the
case of Guankou Shen, although I have not found any information on
the bestowing of titles to this deity, his importance to the Shu rulers is
made clear by the way he is described in Evil Beasts of Shu (Shu taowu),
a chronicle of the two successive Shu Kingdoms compiled by Zhang
Tangying (1029 1071) before the year 1067.34 Although this is a Song
work, Zhang explains in his preface that he based his writings on old
Shu Kingdom books belonging to his family. He says that he originally
intended to destroy the books but felt it would be a regrettable loss.
Instead, he deleted the tedious parts and made a chronicle of two
volumes to serve as a warning against unruly rebels.35 Evil Beasts of
Shu, a work that condemns the ills of illegitimate local rulers, mentions
Guankou Shen in three places. One passage recounts an event on the
firstday of the sixth month in the year952:

The ruler held a banquet during which the court entertainers

performed the Guankou Shen dui [formation] and feigned a
battle between two dragons. After a while, dark clouds covered the
sky, followed by a tumultuous hailstorm. The next day, a report
came from Guankou that the Minjiang River had flooded and
the iron pillar to which the dragon was shackled [suo, literally
locked] had trembled violently.36

This passage contains the earliest known reference to the idea of

securing the dragon to an iron pillar in order to prevent it from doing
harm. This idea is different from killing the dragon, as Li Bing does
in all the pre-Song legends associated with him. Shackling the dragon
is an important characteristic of the Erlang legends found in several
later sources. Guankou Shen is here linked to this particular idea and,
through it, to Erlang. Another passage in Evil Beasts of Shu provides a
vivid description of Guankou Shens appearance, linking him to Wang
Yan, the young ruler ofShu:

In the eighth month of the second year of the Qiande period (920),
Wang Yan led his troops on an inspection tour to the north. . . .

179 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

 Flags and banners, swords and armor, spread beyond a hundred
li. Yan, dressed in full military regalia, wearing gold armor, satin
sleeves, and a jeweled helmet, was holding a bow and arrow.
Watching him, people said that he looked like Guankou Shen.37

In that year Wang Yan was nineteen years old. Guankou Shen, whose
image Wang Yan evoked in the eyes of the onlookers, was in all likelihood
also youthful. This characteristic accords with the term langjun, meaning
young lad or young master. The military garb indicates what the
sculpted or painted images of Guankou Shen might have looked like, and
it corresponds well with Langjun Shens pre-Song title, Miraculous and
Brilliant King Protector of the State, which calls to mind a militaryrole.
It is clear that, like Langjun Shen, Guankou Shen was an important
deity of the Shu Kingdoms.38 But how did he fare during the first decades
of Song rule? Although there is no documentation on the stripping of his
titles as there is for Langjun Shen, there is abundant evidence to show
that he was detested by officials appointed to Shu by the Song court. An
account about Liu Sui, who served as judge ( panguan) between the years
1008 and 1016 in Yongkang Prefecture, where Guankou was located,
described the people of Shu as follows:

The Shu natives were born askew to the west and did not receive
the correct center qi [life breath] between heaven and earth.
Therefore they have all kinds of absurd beliefs in demons and
spirits. They have a temple to Guankou Shen at which they
worship diligently and sacrifice extravagantly in the spring and
autumn.

The passage goes on to praise Liu Sui for putting a stop to yinsi [licen-
tious cults] by condemning and banning such local practices.39 The
same attitude is demonstrated in a biography of Cheng Lin, who was the
magistrate of Yizhou between the years 1027 and 1037: Every year the Shu
people gathered to sacrifice to Guankou Shen. . . . Cheng Lin executed the
leaders and exiled hundreds of people.40 Accusations against local cults
often involved the term yinsi. After the year 1063, however, references to
Guankou Shen are no longer accompanied by thisterm.
From the parallels cited above, it seems certain that the deity Langjun
Shen, who was legitimized by the 1063 edict once he was taken to be Li
Bings son, was none other than the previously detested Guankou Shen.
It does not seem likely that besides Li Bing and Guankou Shen there was
yet a third deity involved.41

180 Carmelita Hinton

 A clue to the connection made sometime after the mid-eleventh
century between the names Guankou Shen, Li Bings son, and Erlang is
provided by three different accounts concerning Cheng Lin. In the biog-
raphy of Cheng Lin mentioned above, the unruly people he suppressed
were paying tribute to Guankou Shen. An epitaph for Cheng Lin written
by Ouyang Xiu, however, notes that the cause for Cheng Lins crackdown
was a yaoren [wicked man or demon], who declared himself to be Li
Bings son and gathered some hundred people.42 In these accounts,
apparently written about the same event by two different authors, the
deities around whom the unruly crowd rallied were in turn Guankou
Shen and Li Bings son. It is unclear whether Ouyang Xiu was quoting
directly from the wicked mans declaration as it was made when Cheng
Lin was posted in Shu (between 1027 and 1035), or whether the reference
to Li Bings son was Ouyang Xius later interpretation. In any case, these
texts provide the earliest documentation of a link between Guankou Shen
and Li Bings son. The date of Ouyang Xius account (some time after 1057,
when Cheng Lin died, and before 1072, when Ouyang Xiu died) is very
close to 1063, when the Song court legitimized Langjun Shen as Li Bings
son in response to a petition. The links present in these documents
further confirm the possibility that Langjun Shen is simply another
name for GuankouShen.
In a third source compiled during or soon after the Zhenghe period
(1111 1118), an account of Cheng Lins policies says that an outlaw
feigning the likeness of the god Guankou Erlang gathered together some
hundred young rascals who took to making up their own official titles
and went about wearing military uniforms.43 Here, Guankou Erlang is
the name of the deity around whom the unruly crowd rallied. The linking
of Guankou Shen and Erlang into Guankou Erlang also appeared a few
decades earlier in the aforementioned name of a temple established in
Kaifeng.44 This linkage was assumed in numerous later accounts during
the Song. It appears clear that not until as late as the second half of the
eleventh century did a common belief develop among Song officials that
Guankou Shens name was Erlang, and that he was Li Bings son.45
From the above analysis it is evident that in Guankou a deity distinct
from Li Bing had once existed. No trace of him has yet been found in
Tang sources. As the Tang dynasty disintegrated and Shu came under the
rule of a succession of independent kingdoms, however, the god appar-
ently loomed large. During the Song dynasty he was at first suppressed
by the imperial court but later reinstated and promoted. He has been
recorded variously by the names Guankou Shen, Langjun Shen, Guankou
Erlang, or simply Erlang. Of these names, Guankou Shen appears both

181 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

when the deity was persecuted by the Song court and after he was rein-
stated. The other names were used only during the latter period, when
the deity was celebrated.
The 1063 edict marked a dramatic turning point in the status of this
deity in light of the extent to which his cult had previously been perse-
cuted. This policy of persecution was consistent between 1008 and 1037
or even beyond, enforced by a succession of officials such as Liu Sui, who
served in Shu from 1008 to 1016, Cheng Lin, who served between 1027
and 1037, and likely Zhao Bian, who served there later, during the Qingli
period (1041 1048). Zhao Bian made the following remarks about his stint
as transportation director (zhuanyunshi) of Chengdu:46

Each year there are lazy drifting riffraff who, in the name of
worshiping gods and spirits, solicit money and goods. Some two
or three hundred people gather in the streets acting out charac-
ters bearing titles of generals, officers, and soldiers. Hoisting
flags and banners, they parade around brandishing swords and
spears. There are women dressed in mens clothes and men
dressed in womens clothes. The procession is heralded with
music and starts out with a variety of acrobatic and other perfor-
mances. They carry on like this for three or four nights nonstop.
Although official notices have been posted to prohibit such
behavior, these practices are nonetheless deep-rooted customs
of this remote region and cannot be stopped quickly. I propose
that the government establish formal laws, charge those who lead
in the violation of the ban as lawbreakers, and send them into
exile outside the borders of Chuan. Prosecutions will be carried
out by this office every six months.47

Although Zhao Bian does not name a specific god, the scenes he
describes closely approximate other accounts of the rituals connected
with the Guankou Shen/Guankou Erlang cult. The biannual prosecution
he proposed is also consistent with the aforementioned account about
Liu Sui that the Guankou Temple was tended to in the spring and the
autumn. Zhao Bian also notes that these cult activities were widespread
in a number of districts (zhou) under his administration. Although it is
possible that Zhao Bians proposed measures were aimed at a variety
of local cults, the Guankou Shen cult most certainly would have been
among those included.48
Official promotion or banning of local deities as a means of exerting
central control has a long history in imperial politics.49 In Changing Gods

182 Carmelita Hinton

in Medieval China, Valerie Hansen has argued that the Southern Song
court and its officials were quite willing to come to an understanding
with the supporters of local cults that otherwise ranked low in their
estimation. This understanding took the form of streamlining the cult,
inserting the deity into the official pantheon, and awarding an official
plaque of recognition that legitimized the cult.50 The courts policy
toward the Guankou Shen after 1063 fits this pattern of tolerance and
accommodation. The policy toward this deity during the early years of
the dynasty, however, shows that there was little willingness to legitimize
what was seen as a threat to the Song courts control over the Shu region.
Shu is famous for being difficult to rule, observed Zhang Yong
(946 1015) in a poem expressing his feelings about being reappointed
to Shu by the emperor.51 Song rule in its early decades was challenged
by frequent turmoil in Shu. Rebellions on a notable scale occurred in
965, 966, 973, 981, 993, 997, and 999. Many of these uprisings strove to
re-establish Shu independence. In the year 965 Quan Shixiong led a
rebellion of more than a hundred thousand men and declared himself
Great King for the Revival of Shu (Xing Shu Dawang).52
The largest rebellion in the early Song, led by Wang Xiaobo and Li
Shun, established the Great Shu State after capturing Chengdu in 994. Li
Shun declared himself King of the Great Shu (Dashu Wang).53 According
to the poet Lu You, who wrote more than a century after the rebellion
was crushed, Li Shun was popularly believed to be a prince of the ruling
house of the Latter Shu Kingdom. He was an infant when the kingdom
was conquered by the Song, and he was left to be raised by the common
people. The Shu people later followed his leadership in rising up against
the Song.54 Li Shuns rebellion was suppressed within two years, but small
pockets of rebels fought on for several years more. Shortly thereafter, in
the year 1000, another insurrection broke out. Led by Wang Jun, this
revolt again declared the independent state of the Great Shu.55
Li Shuns rebellion, which originated near the Guankou area,56 may
have had some connection to the Guankou Shen cult. The accounts
about Cheng Lin, cited above, quote his own explanation for the harsh
measures he instituted against those celebrating Guankou Shen. He
states, Because in the past Li Shun was not punished, he caused great
chaos,57 and Li Shun arose from this [Guankou Shen cult]. Cutting his
roots now will guarantee decades of peace in Shu.58
It was only after 1063, when the Song had a better grip on their rule
over Shu, that Guankou Erlang came to be regarded by the Song court as
a legitimate deity, and his cult eventually spread from Shu to other parts
of the country. As mentioned at the start of this essay, the earliest record

183 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

of a soushan tu was one painted by Gao Yi and presented to Emperor
Taizong in 976.59 A similar story about Gao Yi is told by Liu Daochun, a
contemporary of Guo Ruoxu. In Lius account, the title of the painting
was Guishen soushan tu.60 The term guishen refers to supernatural beings
in general and can be loosely translated as gods and spirits. Neither
account specifies the identity of the protagonist or provides a description
of the painting. Could Gao Yis painting have been based on Guankou
Erlang, as all current studies of soushan tu seem to assume? It is unlikely,
given its date, long before this deity was exonerated by the Song court.
Did the painting the Song emperor saw include a scene of a dragon
being captured, as do many of the extant versions of soushan tu (fig.5.2)?
Most likely not, as the evidence provided in the following pages will
demonstrate.

heavenly king bishamen and the pictorial antecedents

tosoushantu
Records exist of other soushan tu painted during the period when
Guankou Erlang was still perceived by the Song establishment as a
demon rather than as a demon queller. These other paintings provide
further evidence that the content of soushan tu had origins independent
from the legends of Erlang.
A painting titled Soushan Tianwang xiang by Huang Quan (903 968)
is listed in a catalog of the imperial collection of paintings compiled
in 1120.61 The title defies translation, because without a description of
the painting, it is not clear whether the word xiang (meaning, literally,
likeness) indicates that the painting was simply a portrait of a deity
known as Soushan Tianwang (Mountain-Searching Heavenly King or
Heavenly King of the Mountain-Search), or a depiction of the soushan
(mountain-searching) activities set in motion by a deity called Tian-
wang.62 Whichever the case, this Tianwang is associated with the idea of
searching mountains.
The painter, Huang Quan, a native of Chengdu, served the Latter Shu
ruler Meng Chang (r.935 965) as painter-in-attendance.63 Huang Quan
died a decade before Gao Yi rose to prominence. Therefore Huangs
Soushan Tianwang xiang should be considered the earliest known painting
associated with the concept of searching mountains.64
The term tianwang (heavenly king) is most commonly used in
Chinese as the translation for the Buddhist lokapalas, who are guardians
of the four cardinal directions. Nowhere in literary sources is Erlang
called a tianwang. Pictorially, some early paintings of Buddhist tianwang

184 Carmelita Hinton

figure 5.5
Anonymous, Tianwang
(Heavenly King), Tang
dynasty, ca.857. Mural,
ink and colors. Foguang
Temple, Mount Wutai,
Shanxi Province.

resemble extant soushan tu in a number of key elements. One example

is a mural in the temple Foguang Si at Mount Wutai (in modern Shanxi
Province). The mural, of which only fragments remain, is behind the base
of a statue pedestal in the east hall of the temple. This hall is an original
Tang structure, built in the year 857, and the date of the mural is believed
to be close to that of the building itself, that is, sometime during the
second half of the ninth century or early tenth century.65
The Foguang Si mural, which has no identifying inscriptions, can
be divided into three sections. The section on the right depicts a fierce-
looking military figure wearing an ornate crown and chain-mail armor
(fig.5.5). This image is typical of Buddhist tianwang figures. He sits
on two demonic-looking creatures who are his soldiers.66 He holds a
sword in his right hand and rests his left hand on the head of one of the
soldiers. To his left stands a female figure, holding a flower in her right
hand and incense in herleft.
In the middle section of the painting is a stern-faced figure who is
holding down a monkey (fig.5.6). This figure, which has human features,
wears a coat with leopard-like ringed patterns and a Chinese-style hat,
with two rounded tabs projecting from the sides. The monkey is tied by
a rope around its neck and wears a boot on its right foot. This monkey is
presumably a demon who, before being caught, was dressed like a human
being. It appears that he is being brought before the tianwang, who is
presiding over this demonhunt.
The section on the left pictures a figure that resembles the two soldiers
upon whom the tianwang sits (fig.5.7). He stands bare-chested, his right

185 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

figure 5.6
Anonymous, Soldier
and Monkey, Tang
dynasty, ca.857. Mural
(detail), ink and colors.
Foguang Temple, Mount
Wutai, Shanxi Province.

figure 5.7
Anonymous, Soldier
with Spiked Club, Tang
dynasty, ca.857. Mural
(detail), ink and colors.
Foguang Temple, Mount
Wutai, Shanxi Province.

hand clutching a spiked club. To his left, fallen on the ground, is a small,
thin figure with a monkey-like face, sharp teeth, and long hair. Also
partially dressed like a human, it appears to be another defeated demon.
Several elements appearing in extant soushan tu can be found in the
Foguang Si mural. The military commander who is in a number of them
bears close resemblance to the tianwang in this mural in terms of his
clothing, the weapon he carries, and his seat (see fig.5.4). The subjugated
monkey dressed as a human is present in all the extant soushan tu (see
fig.5.4). Another detail common to most of them is the spiked club, a
weapon brandished by at least one soldier in each painting (see fig.5.1).
The similarity between the Foguang Si mural and extant soushan tu,
together with Soushan Tianwang xiang, the earliest known painting
connected with the term soushan, suggest that the elaborate demon hunt
portrayed in later soushan tu may have evolved from a pictorially simpler
operation under the command of a Buddhist tianwang. The specific
identity of this tianwang will be discussed after a few other examples
areexamined.
Soushan tu like traits are also found in murals in Buddhist cave
temples of Central Asia. One example is from cave number 9 at Bezeklik,
dated to the tenth century.67 A mural on the left wall in the caves main
hall depicts a standing tianwang figure in military attire (fig.5.8). This
figure is similar to the one in the Foguang Si mural as well as to the
commander figure in a number of extant soushan tu. Below him are
several soldiers hunting down a creature with a beak, glaring eyes, and
long, feather-like hair standing upright in dagger-shaped strands. It has
arms like a human, ending in birds claws for hands, and wings extending
from its back. The rest of its body is depicted in human form. The
origins of this bird-demon, which has been identified by some scholars
as Garuda, are beyond the scope of the present essay.68 Worth noting,
however, is that even though none of the extant soushan tu includes this

186 Carmelita Hinton

figure 5.8
Anonymous, Standing
Tianwang (Heavenly King),
tenth century. Mural, ink
and colors. From Bezeklik,
cave 9, west wall, Xinjiang
Province (destroyed in
Berlin, 1940s).
particular bird, all of them share its concept and depict creatures with
human bodies and animal heads, or vice versa.
Another shared characteristic is the physical appearances of the celes-
tial soldiers, which consist of two types: those with human features and
those who are demonic-looking (see fig.5.4). Also similar are their body
postures and their weapons and equipment, such as the spiked club and
the ropes and chains they use to tie up their captives (see figs.5.3 and 5.4).
Another important resemblance is in what one might call hunting gear.
In the Bezeklik mural an archer aims his arrow at a flying bird-demon.
Behind the archer stands another soldier who is holding a falcon. To
the lower right of the archer and falconer, a thin-waisted hound sinks
his teeth into the leg of the bird-demon (see fig.5.8). The sleek hound,
archers, and falconers make up one of the most distinctive features of
extant soushan tu and appear in the largest number of different versions.
The subject portrayed in the cave 9 murals also appears in a number
of other caves at Bezeklik and nearby Mutuk (or Murtuq).69 The style of
dress of the donor figures depicted and the inscriptions found in these
caves suggest that they were built by the royal house of Gaochang, a
Uygur kingdom of Central Asia that flourished between the ninth and
thirteenth centuries.70
187 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound
figure 5.9 Although several tianwang figures appear in the cave 9 murals, char-
Anonymous, Dasheng
Bishamen Tianwang (The
acteristics associated with Bishamen Tianwang (Vairavaa in Sanskrit),
Great Divinity Bishamen also known as Heavenly King of the North, are strongly emphasized.
Heavenly King), 947. Onesuch characteristic is the small child, who is carried by a female
Woodblock print, ink
on paper, printed area: figure to his left (see fig.5.8).71 The association of the child with
4026.5cm. From Bishamen is perhaps based on a story from the Central Asian kingdom
cave 17, Dunhuang,
Gansu Province. The
of Khotan (Hetian). As reported by the seventh-century monk-traveler
British Museum, gift Xuan Zang, a king of Khotan lamented his childlessness in the temple
of Sir Marc Aurel Stein, of Bishamen, whereupon the forehead of the gods statue split open and
1919,0101,0.245.
a baby emerged.72 The child as an iconographic element associated with
figure 5.10
Anonymous, Vairavaa
Bishamen is confirmed by a woodblock print from Dunhuang, dated 947,
Crossing the Waters, in which an inscription on the upper left identifies the pictured deity as
ninth century. Banner, The Great Divinity Bishamen Tianwang (fig.5.9). The subduing of the
ink and colors on silk,
37.626.6cm. From bird-demon may also be a function associated with Bishamen. Examples
cave 17, Dunhuang, include a ninth-century silk painting from Dunhuang (fig.5.10) and an
Gansu Province. The
British Museum, gift
engraved image on the front panel of a Tang dynasty relic box from the
of Sir Marc Aurel Stein, Famen Si (fig.5.11).73
1919,0101,0.45. From the above comparisons, it seems certain that the mural on the
left wall of cave 9 features Bishamen Tianwang, who in all probability
is also the central figure in the painting on the opposite wall. Here a
tianwang figure is riding on a prancing white horse. Running alongside
him is a hound that might be the same one portrayed on the facing
wall (fig.5.12). There are other images of Bishamen on horseback. One

188 Carmelita Hinton

figure 5.11
Anonymous, Bishamen
Tianwang (Heavenly King
Bishamen), eighth century.
Gold on silver relic box.
Famen Temple, Shaanxi
Province. Photo from Yang
Xiaoneng, ed., The Golden
Age of Chinese Archaeology:
Celebrated Discoveries from
the Peoples Republic of
China (Washington D.C.:
National Gallery of Art,
1999).

example is a silk painting from Dunhuang bearing an inscription Shuilu

Tianwang xingdao shi (The Tianwang on his way across the waters,
preaching), identified by Waley as portraying Vairavaa (fig.5.13).74
InHuang Xiufus 1005 account of famous paintings in Shu, the term
xingdao (preaching the doctrine) frequently appears together with
the term tianwang, forming the term xingdao tianwang to describe the
subject of the murals. In one instance, the subject of a mural is given as
Xingdao beifang tianwang (Heavenly King of the North preaching).75
It is possible that Xingdao tianwang is an abbreviation of the longer
Xingdao beifang tianwang, and that paintings called Xingdao tianwang
commonly picture the Guardian of the North, Beifang Bishamen
Tianwang. As will be shown in the following pages, this possibility is
supported by the special status accorded Bishamen among the four
Buddhist guardian figures.
The Foguang Si mural discussed earlier shares many characteristics
of the Bezeklik murals, and it most likely also portrays Bishamen. One
common attribute is the long sword the deity holds. The female figure to
the left of the Foguang Si main deity may also be a special iconographic
feature associated with Bishamen Tianwang. She appears in both the 947
print (see fig.5.9) and the mid-tenth-century silk painting of Bishamen
Tianwang from Dunhuang, mentioned above (see fig.5.10). She is iden-
tified by some scholars as his sister, Sri Devi.76 She is known in Chinese
as Jixiang Tiann (Goddess of Good Luck), or Gongde Tian (Meritorious

189 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

figure 5.12 Goddess).77 In an eighth-century Tantric sutra about Bishamen Tianwang,
Anonymous, Tianwang
(Heavenly King) on
Jixiang Tiann is said to be a huashen (manifestation) of Guanyin
Horseback, tenth century. (Avalokitevara).78
Mural, ink and colors. The date of the Foguang Si mural, late ninth or early tenth century,
From Bezeklik, cave 9,
west wall, Xinjiang corresponds to a period when a widespread cult of Bishamen Tianwang
Province (destroyed in was at its height in China.79 Although Vairavaas name appears in
Berlin, 1940s).
Chinese translations of Buddhas scriptures as Bishamen as early as the
fourth century,80 it was during the eighth century that a cult of the deity
arose, spread in part by a series of Tantric sutras translated into Chinese
allegedly by the influential Indian missionary Bukong (Amoghavajra,
704 774).81 In these texts Bishamen Tianwang is celebrated as a powerful
protector figure, both for the state and for the individual.
A text called Rules for the Worship of Bishamen (Bishamen yigui) describes
in detail the methods of worship, which include making images of the
deity and chanting before them. It lists the numerous benefits a devotee
would gain by performing each kind of ritual. These benefits range from
the protection of the nations borders to fulfillment of a familys aspira-
tions for wealth; from the shielding of soldiers from enemy weapons to
the exorcism of demons that invade the body and cause illness.82
Numerous temples and votive objects from the ninth and tenth
centuries testify to the widespread cult of Bishamen Tianwang. Duan
Chengshi (803? 863), who wrote about the temples and pagodas
he visited in the Tang capital, Changan, mentions the presence of
Bishamen Tianwang images at many sites.83 In an essay written in 838

190 Carmelita Hinton

to commemorate the making of a statue of Bishamen in the Xingtang
Temple in Changan, Lu Hongzheng writes:

Bishamen Tianwang acts as the arms and fingers of the Buddha.

. . . His function is to destroy the myriad demons in defending
the Buddhas law and ward off evil beings in protecting the
people. During the Kaiyuan reign (713 741) the Emperor Xuanzong
ordered his image to be put on [military] banners, and during the
Yuanhe reign (806 820) the Emperor Xianzong encountered him
in a dream. In aiding people and in obviating disaster his merits
are all-pervasive. An officer in charge of as few as one hundred
soldiers relies on him for his command, and a town as small as
ten households establishes his temple.84

The cult was equally strong in other parts of the country, from the
western frontier to the eastern seacoast. At Dunhuang, the frontier town
on the Silk Road, Bishamen Tianwang is the most frequently represented
of the Four Guardian Kings.85 An inscription on the lower half of the
aforementioned 947 woodblock print states (see fig.5.9):

The Great Divinity of the North Bishamen Tianwang is the

commander of all miscellaneous gods and spirits in the world.
Those who worship him in wholehearted devotion will receive
endless prosperity and protection. Disciple Cao Yuanzhong,
imperial commissioner of Dunhuang, requested that this image
be made to ensure the prosperity of the country and the peace
and happiness of the people.

In an elaborate early tenth-century essay commemorating a new

statue of Bishamen Tianwang in the Kaiyuan Si Temple in Quanzhou,
on the eastern seacoast (modern Fujian Province), Huang Tao extols the
deitys powers to safeguard the city against invaders and to maintain the
well-being of the people.86 The large number of carved stone images of
Bishamen Tianwang from late Tang through early Song, still preserved
in various parts of Sichuan today, testify to the strength of the cult in
Shu.87 Many of these images were commissioned by people who, like
Cao Yuanzhong, were regional governors who also wielded considerable
military power.88
The pervasiveness of the cult down to the lowest strata of society and
the power attached to the Bishamen image itself are shown in a passage
in Duan Chengshis writing about tattoos:

191 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

 Zhao Gao is a town dweller in Shu with a propensity for getting
into street fights. He was frequently arrested and sentenced to
clobbering on the back with a wooden pole. His back was covered
with a tattoo of Bishamen Tianwang, however, and when the men
who were to deliver the blows saw it they dared not proceed. Thus
Zhao became a hazard to the neighborhood.89

As mentioned above, many of the paintings in Shu recorded in

Huang Xiufus 1005 book most likely feature Bishamen Tianwang.
Unfortunately Huang provides little description to allow for visualiza-
tion. In one place, however, Huangs praise for the skill exhibited by
the artist Sun Wei (ca.850 930) in his mural called Zhansheng Tianwang
(Victorious Tianwang) provides glimpses of several important features:
Humans and demons intermingle. . . . The falcon(s) and the hound(s) are
painted with only a few swift strokes. The bow strings and ax handles,
although painted freehand, are so straight that they look as if guided by
a ruler.90
The portrayal of hounds, falcons, and archers in association with a
tianwang figure in Sun Weis painting suggests the possibility that murals
similar to those in cave 9 at Bezeklik and to extant soushan tu also existed
in Shu during the late ninth and early tenth centuries. This date coin-
cides with that of the Foguang Si mural (see figs.5.5 5.7), which also
resembles extant soushan tu. It is likely, then, that the Soushan Tianwang
xiang painted by Huang Quan, who was from Shu and active during the
same period, also fits into this pictorial tradition.
The hound and the falcon are the only animals that are depicted
aiding the commander in his demon hunt in soushan tu. So far I have not
found textual evidence explicitly mentioning a hound as a prominent
instrument of Bishamen Tianwang. Rules for the Worship of Bishamen tells
a story in which another animal played a key role in Bishamens miracles.
According to this text, in the year 742 the city of Anxi was under siege
and appealed to the Tang emperor for help. Worried about the months it
would take to move troops to Anxi, twelve thousand li west of the capital,
the emperor asked Bukong to plead for help from Bishamen Tianwang.
In response to Bukongs magic chants, the deity appeared with one of his
sons and his celestial troops. Among the miracles that helped save Anxi
was the appearance of an animal the text called jinshu (literally golden
rodent), who chewed up the enemys weapons and equipment. After the
victory, a painted image of Bishamen Tianwang was sent from Anxi to the
capital and presented to the emperor, who decreed that a copy be placed
for worship at every military garrison.91

192 Carmelita Hinton

figure 5.13
Anonymous, Shuilu
tianwang xingdao shi
(The Heavenly King on
his way across the waters,
preaching), ca.926 975.
Banner, ink and colors
on silk, 61.857.4cm.
From cave 17, Dunhuang,
Gansu Province. The
British Museum, gift of
Sir Marc Aurel Stein,
1919,0101,0.26.

A variation of this story exists in an earlier text. According to Great

Tang Records on the Western Region (Datang Xiyu ji), compiled in 646, a
Khotanese legend tells of a time in the past when some hundred thou-
sand Xiongnu troops invaded Khotan. The king of Khotan, who had
an army of only some ten thousand men, made offerings to the jinshu
living in the desert and appealed for help. That night the enemys armor,
clothing, bowstrings, and saddle-belts were chewed up and rendered
useless. After defeating the Xiongnu, the king of Khotan ordered temples
to be built to worship the jinshu.92 This golden rodent, an independent
actor possessing divine powers of its own in the earlier Datang Xiyu ji,
was placed a century later by the Rules for the Worship of Bishamen into the
repertoire of Bishamen Tianwangs divine powers.
It is not clear from either text what kind of animal this jinshu is.
In several images of Bishamen Tianwang from Dunhuang, however,
an attendant is holding a small animal that looks like some kind of

193 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

figure 5.14
Anonymous, Vairavaa
with Attendant, eighth
century. Banner (frag-
ments), ink and colors
on silk, 7431cm. From
cave 17, Dunhuang,
Gansu Province. The
British Museum, Gift
of Sir Marc Aurel Stein,
1919,0101,0.38.

rodent (see fig.5.9 and fig.5.14). According to Whitfield, the animal is

a mongoose, symbolic of Vairavaas original identity as Kuvera, the
Indian god of wealth.93 In the murals of cave 15 of the Yulin Buddhist
Caves, a seated Vairavaa is himself holding an animal that looks very
much like a mongoose, whose body is studded with precious jewels.
Vairavaas attendant, wearing the same tiger skin as the ones in the
Dunhuang paintings, is holding a large pearl-like object. Is it possible
that what the Chinese text calls jinshu was, in the original language
from which it was translated, a mongoose?94 In any case, it appears that
Bishamen is associated with this animal in text as well as in image.
While a hound is yet to be found in texts about Bishamen Tianwang,
its association with the deity is represented pictorially and suggested by
descriptions of paintings, such as Huang Xiufus work, cited above.95 The
pictorial hound versus the textual rodent as Bishamens instrument raises
interesting questions about the evolution of these paintings. Given the
absence of any Chinese reverence for the rodent or the mongoose, could

194 Carmelita Hinton

the hound in the Bezeklik murals, which show a strong Chinese stylistic
influence, reflect a Chinese interpretation of the idea of the golden
rodent in the text?96 If the answer is yes, then it brings us to another
question. In the popular drama and literature of Yuan and Ming times,
a sleek hound is characteristically associated with Erlang, who earlier,
during the time of the Southern Song, had replaced Bishamen Tianwang
and some other deities to become the protagonist of soushan tu.97 Are we
seeing a case in which pictorial elements preceded and shaped literature
rather than serving to illustrate literary texts? This line of thinking opens
up a different possibility for reading Erlangs association with the hound.
The hunter-like attributes of Erlang in later literature may have less to
do with his roots in indigenous Shu culture than with the complicated
cultural interaction between China and Central Asia. The written tradi-
tion associated with Erlang may have been influenced by the pictorial
lineage of soushan tu rather than the other way around.98
Like the hound, which is absent from texts related to Bishamen
Tianwang but appears only in pictures, the term soushan (searching
mountains) is also curiously absent from texts, Buddhist or otherwise,
unless it is a component in a painting title. So far, I have found only one
exception. In Hong Mais (1123 1201) Record of the Listener (Yi jian zhi),
there is a story about a merchant from Quanzhou (in modern Fujian
Province) named Wang Juchang, who was traveling through the city of
Kaifeng, the Northern Song capital. In a dream he was told that as retri-
bution for killing a man in his former life, he was going to meet his own
killer, a man riding a white horse, wearing armor, and armed with a bow
and arrow. The merchant was advised to scream, Spare my life, Soushan
Dawang [Great King of Searching Mountains]! If the rider glared, Wang
would be killed, and if the rider smiled, he would be spared. The next
day, as the dream predicted, Wang encountered Soushan Dawang on
a deserted mountain slope. His life was spared, and after he returned
home he had a picture of the deity made for worship.99
The description of Soushan Dawang, with his white horse and his
armor, conjures up the image of Bishamen Tianwang on horseback,
depicted in the Bezeklik murals (see fig.5.12) and a Dunhuang silk
painting (see fig.5.13). Perhaps in this story a trace of the idea of Soushan
Tianwang (as appears in the title of Huang Quans painting, Soushan
Tianwang xiang) is preserved. It is worth noting that even in this story the
term soushan is not totally independent of a painting: the merchant had
an image of Soushan Dawang made for worship after the deity spared
his life. That the deity is called dawang rather than tianwang may indicate
that in the popular mind he was no longer a distinctively Buddhist figure,

195 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

a b
figure 5.15a 5.15d
Anonymous, Jingzun
shengyu bixie quantu
(Expel evil in respectful
obedience to the sacred
edict: A complete picture
gallery), reproduced in
The Cause of the Riots in the
Yangtse Valley: A Complete
Picture Gallery (Hankow:
Mission Press, 1891). Set
of 32 woodblock prints,
ink and colors on paper,
28.135.7cm. Library, have commissioned many of the cave temples in Bezeklik. Wangs report
Princeton University,
5552.431q.
a. Gui bai zhujing tu
(Devils worshiping the
pig demon), 1 of 32
b. Leiji zhuyang tu
(The God of Thunder
destroys the pigs and
goats), 27 of 32
c. Tiefu pixie tu (The
iron halberd hacking
down heresy), 14 of 32
d. Hulan mieguai tu
(Hulan exterminating
demons), 28 of 32
but had become truly indigenous.100 By the time Hong Mai was writing,
during the late twelfth century, the Bishamen Tianwang cult had already
faded. The Soushan Dawang in his story may reflect one of the last traces
of an earlier pictorial connection between the mountain-search theme
and Bishamen Tianwang.101
The clear reference to the idea of hunting shown in the Bezeklik
murals, an idea that is present in all extant soushan tu, might have once
had a ritual component. In the year 981 the Song emperor, Taizong, sent
Wang Yande as an envoy to Gaochang, whose royal house is believed to
to the emperor upon his return in 984 contains a passage describing the
Buddhist temples in thearea:
There are over fifty Buddhist temples, which all display plaques
bestowed by the Tang court. . . . In the spring people gather in
crowds and celebrate amidst these temples. They ride on horses
and shoot a variety of wu [animals or things] with bows and
arrows. They say this is a ritual for rangzai [exorcising causes of
harm or disaster].102
This symbolic hunting, performed around the Buddhist temples as
a means of warding off evil influences, fits well with the content of the
Bishamen Tianwang paintings contained within these temples. While
Wang Yandes account might be describing a local practice of exorcism,
the broader implications of the concept of hunting deserve consider-
ation. Falcons and hounds, which find pictorial expression in murals
decorating the Tang dynasty imperial tombs, are insignia of royalty. The
training of falcons and hounds was managed by special offices in the
196 Carmelita Hinton
c d

imperial bureaucracy of the Tang. Dating back to ancient times, ritualized

royal hunting had always been a grand affair, not only as a form of enter-
tainment, but also for maintaining military readiness. Hunts launched
in each of the four seasons of the year had distinct names. The summer
hunt was called tian. The fall hunt was called xian. The winter hunt was
called shou, and the spring hunt was called sou , the very same char-
acter that appears in the term soushan (literally, search mountain).
The combination of the names for the spring and the fall hunts, sou
and xian, forms the compound, souxian, which is often used to mean
hunting in general. Could the term soushan in shoushan tu, pictures that
portray scenes of hunting, have any linguistic connection to souxian,
royalhunting? It is certainly tempting to think that itdoes.

the gods have come andgone

At present there is insufficient information to give us a clear under-
standing of the relationship between the soushan tu like murals in
Bezeklik and those in the heartland of China, such as the fragments in
Foguang Si at Mount Wutai. Regardless of the direction particular influ-
ences traveled, however, it is clear from the images at these two sites that
the earliest known pictorial elements of soushan tu were associated with
Buddhism. This link is supported by Huang Xiufus description of Sun
Weis (ca.850 930) painting in Shu and is consistent with the earliest
known title in this type of painting Soushan Tianwang xiang, by Huang
Quan (903 968). Bishamen Tianwangs central position in soushantu
long predated that of Guankou Erlang. There is no evidence, either
pictorial or textual, that Bishamen had subdued an evil river dragon. It
is therefore reasonable to speculate that in its early versions, such as

197 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

figure 5.16
Anonymous, untitled,
ca.1966 1976. The words
on upper right of frame
say, Class struggle inside
our country has basically
ended. From now on
what really counts will be
knowledge. The words on
the book say, Knowledge:
Capitalism, Feudalism,
Revisionism. The words
near the creatures coming
out from under the book
identify them as ox
demons and snake spirits.
Cartoon, ink on paper,
dimensions unknown. the one that so enthralled Emperor Taizong in 976, soushan tu depicted
Authors collection.
only hunting scenes in mountains. The portrayal of Guankou Erlang as
figure 5.17 the commander figure in shoushan tu, after he had been exonerated and
Anonymous, Those Who
Oppose Chairman Mao
promoted by the Song court, was what brought the scene of subduing the
Will Get Their Dog Heads dragon intothese pictures.It is possible that depictions from the now
Smashed!, ca.1966 1976. lost Langjun Subduing a Dragon (Fulong langjun tu) were integrated with the
Poster, woodblock print,
black and red ink, pictorial repertoire hitherto associated with Bishamen Tianwang as the
dimensions unknown. commander of the mountain search after Erlang (or Langjun, as he was
Authors collection.
once known) took over therole.
A comprehensive study of the evolution of soushan tu shows that over
the centuries, the position of commander in the mountain search was
transferred from Bishamen Tianwang to a group of Daoist deities called
Sisheng, then to Guankou Erlang, and finally to Guanyu, often referred to
in English as the God of War.103 Whatever its origins, soushan tu as an idea
had detached itself from the confines of legends associated with specific
deities and developed into a set of pictorial conventions symbolizing the
conflict between the established authority and the forces that threatened
its agenda. This visual vocabulary could then serve to display the power
of any deity who had been elevated to special importance by the imperial
court at a particular time and for a particular reason.
The central metaphor of the conflict represented by the mountain
search continues to resurface in the more recent past. Malign spirits in
animal guises within a soushan tu like pictorial convention re-emerged
in the late nineteenth century when many Chinese perceived a new
threat to the existing order: the Western missionary. Depicted in wood-
block prints that employ the familiar animal iconography, the identity
of the demons is labeled explicitly by way of pun. The transoceanic
yang , Westerners, were portrayed in these prints as goats ( yang ),
and the Christian God, tianzhu (literally the Heavenly Lord), was

198 Carmelita Hinton

transformed into the heavenly pig, tianzhu (figs.5.15a 5.15c). An
army led by a deity in the posture of the commander in the soushan tu
descends on the foreign demons, who become the feast of the celestial
soldiers (fig.5.15d). This depiction of the Westerners as animals, similar
to those noxious mountain spirits in soushan tu, places them beyond
the realm of humanity. It is the hovering heavenly army that enlists the
support of the human Chinese to expunge the bestial menace.
The demonic animal imagery outlived the collapse of the imperial
order and survived the revolutions that transformed China in the
twentieth century. During the Cultural Revolution (1966 1976), we find
another reenactment of a soushan tu like scenario. The media used here
were the opera stage, the film, the poem, the illustration, and metaphor-
ical expressions that were repeated ad infinitum in revolutionary rhetoric.
The opponents, real or imagined, were labeled as demons (fig.5.16). The
goal was to ferret them out and knock them down. Under the slogan
of Sweep away all ox demons and snake spirits (Hengsao yiqie niugui
sheshen), the Red Guards became demon-quelling soldiers, with Mao in
the deified role of commander (fig.5.17).
The gods have come and gone, but the demons in animal guises
remain.

notes
1 Guo Ruoxu, Tuhua jianwenzhi (Experiences in painting, preface dated 1070) (Beijing:
Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1963),3:69.
2 Jin Weinuo, Zhongguo gudai siguan bihua (Temple murals of ancient China).
In Zhongguo meishu quanji, I (Huihua bian), part 13 (Siguan bihua). Beijing: Wenwu
chubanshe, 1988, 24; Jin Weinuo, Soushan tu de neirong yu yishu biaoxian (On the
content and artistic expression of soushan tu). Gugong bowuyuan yuankan 3 (1980): 19;
Kiyohiko Munakata, Sacred Mountains in Chinese Art (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1991), 107; Pao-chen Chen, Searching for Demons on Mount Kuan-kou
(catalog entry), in WenC. Fong, Images of the Mind, 323 (Princeton, N.J.: The Art
Museum, Princeton University, 1984). Jin and Chen claim that Gao Yi was the first
artist to represent the Erlang legends in painting.
3 It is true that in the famous Ming dynasty novel The Journey to the West (Xiyou ji), and
in several variety dramas (zaju) that may date from as early as the Yuan dynasty, Erlang
emerges as an intrepid queller of all kinds of demons, not just those in rivers. But
these later literary texts cannot be taken as evidence that Erlang achieved such promi-
nence in the tenth century or that he was the protagonist in the Soushan tu painted by
GaoYi.
4 The earliest available record of a deity named Erlang is in a stele which reportedly
dates to 1020. The stele commemorates the construction of a Houtu Temple (Temple
of the Earth God) in Wanquan County (in the southern part of present-day Shanxi
Province). Among the many different halls it lists, each dedicated to a different

199 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

deity, is an Erlang Hall; see Ding Mingyi, Shanxi zhongnanbu de Song Yuan wutai
(Song and Yuan dynasty opera stages in the middle and southern regions of Shanxi
Province), Wenwu 4 (1972):48.
5 Cui Lingqin (act.713 760), Jiaofang ji (Records of the musical entertainment admin-
istration), in Jiaofang ji jianding, ed. Ren Bantang, 83 (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1962).
6 The one exception is a poem written by Yang Wujiu (active during the twelfth
century). A detailed discussion of the poem will appear in my forthcoming book,
Tethered Tiger, Captured Dragon.
7 Zhang Bangji (fl.1131), Muozhuang manlu (Record of excursions in my library), in
Sibu congkan sanbian, zi section (Shanghai: Hanfenlou yingyin Jiangan huanshi
shuangjianlou cang Ming chaoben, 1935 1936), 8:8a. This was first pointed out by
Huang Zhigang, Zhongguo de shuishen (River deities of China) (Hong Kong: Longmen
shudian, 1968),35.
8 A detailed study of the Erlang wei is in Gao Guofan, Dunhuang minsuxue (Dunhuang
folklore) (Shanghai: Wenyi chubanshe, 1989), 483 493. I am grateful to Victor Mair for
pointing out this study tome.
9 There are actually more than three claims. The other claims, however, appear
in isolated instances, and their sources are late. Twentieth-century scholars who
studied the subject have also come up with interpretations of the identity of Erlang
not mentioned in historical sources. Their conclusions will be evaluated in Hinton,
Tethered Tiger.
10 AnthonyC. Yu, trans. and ed., The Journey to the West (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1977), 1:155 158.
11 The most elaborate account of Zhao Yu is found in the Sanjiao yuanliu soushen
daquan (Survey of the origin and development of the gods of the three religions),
a1909 reprint of a Mingtext.
12 A few sources seem to imply that the name Erlang stood for both Li Bing and
his son. One example is in Zeng Minxing (1118 1175), Duxing zazhi (Miscellaneous
journals of the only man who is awake), in Zhibuzuzhai congshu, vols. 11 12, comp.
Bao Tingbo (1728 1814), 1782, 5:9a 10b. Today, a temple called Er Wang Miao, which
means Temple of Two Kings, stands by the river at Dujiangyan.
13 A detailed discussion of the first two claims and an evaluation of the sources
making these claims will appear in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.
14 There is a slightly earlier source mentioning a yaoren (wicked man or demon)
pretending to be Li Bings son, without reference to Erlang. This source will be
discussed later in this essay.
15 Cao Xuequan (1571 1664), Shu zhong guang ji (Comprehensive notes about Shu), in
Wenyuange siku quanshu, vol.591 592 (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1986), 6:79. For
a discussion of the date of Zhao Bians book, quoted by Cao Xuequan, see Zhang
Guogan, Zhongguo gufangzhi kao (Bibliographical research on ancient gazetteers in
China) (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), 665 669.
16 Zhao Bians 1074 work, while being the earliest known source to mention Li Bing
and his son, Erlang, is not the earliest source in which the term erlang is found as the
name of a deity. As stated in note 4, a 1020 stele mentions a building called Erlang
Hall in a Houtu Temple complex in Shanxi. But the origin and identity of this
particular Erlang, presumably housed in the Erlang Hall, are not known. It appears

200 Carmelita Hinton

that he was a member of a pantheon connected to the worship of Houtu, the Earth
Goddess. One other example of this particular function of Erlang is in a stele orig-
inally carved in the year 1137, also found in this area of Shanxi; see Wang Shiren, Ji
houtuci miaomao bei (Stele of ground plan for the Earth Goddess Temple), Kaogu 5
(1963): 273 277. Because of the early date (1020) of this appearance of Erlang, he does
not fit into the evolution of the Erlang connected to Guankou, traceable through early
Song documents. The Erlang connected to Houtu will have to remain a mystery for
the time being.
There are scholars who argue for an even earlier date for the appearance of the
name Erlang as a deity, but I believe their conclusion is based on a misreading of a
text. This discussion will be included in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.
17 Chang Qu, Huayang guozhi (Records of the kingdom south of Mount Hua;
compiled before 355), in Huayang guozhi jiaozhu (Records of the kingdom south of
Mount Hua collated and annotated), ed. Liu Lin, 3:202 (Chengdu: Bashu shushe, 1984);
Li Daoyuan, Shuijing zhu (Commentary on the water classic) facsimile of the Yongle
dadian edition (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1955), 13:7a (or 591). The stone figures
served as river guards to tame the river (zhenshui). They also doubled as staff gauges to
measure water levels. As such their function differs from sculptural figures intended
for worship in temples.
18 Some scholars propose that the notion of Li Bing and his son appeared as early
as the sixth century, on the basis of a line quoted in Accounts of Famous Sites (Yudi
jisheng), a 1221 work by Wang Xiangzhi. The text they relied on, however, is problem-
atic. An earlier version of the same text does not support this claim. Hinton, Tethered
Tiger, will provide a discussion of the different versions of thetext.
19 Rong Zhaozu, Erlang shen kao (A study of Erlang Shen), Minsu 61 62 (combined)
(1929): 87 90; Sang Xiuyun, Li Bing yu Erlang shen (Li Bing and Erlang Shen), in
Zhongyang yanjiuyuan chengli wushi zhounian jinian lunwenji (Taipei: Academia Sinica,
1978), 669 674; Huang Zhigang, Zhongguo de shuishen, 28 42.
20 Li Jingde, Zhuzi yulei (Categorized sayings of Master Zhu), in Lixue congshu (Beijing:
Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 1:3:53 54. The Lidui (detached mound) in the quote refers
to a crucial component of the Dujiangyan water project.
21 There is a more explicit, although later, example of an official reaction to a viola-
tion of the correct Confucian social hierarchy in the way Erlang was being worshiped.
A stele seen by Peng Xun in 1866 states that during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng
(r.1723 1735), the magistrate of Sichuan memorialized the court, complaining that Li
Bing, the father, was overshadowed by the son, Erlang, in the way the gods were posi-
tioned and worshiped in the temple at Dujiang. If the gods are not honored in proper
order, the official argued, how can they be expected to extend protection to the state.
Peng Xun, Guanji chugao (Draft notes of Guanxian County; pref. 1887), 1:14b 15a.
22 A comprehensive study of ancient Shu is provided by StevenF. Sage in Ancient
Sichuan and the Unification of China (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992).
23 A detailed discussion of this history will appear in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.
24 Here I deliberately choose not to call this deity Erlang because I am describing
a situation before the name Erlang was mentioned in any text regarding this region.
The Erlang name and persona were a later construct of the Song, so the deity I am
discussing at this point should not be called Erlang. Suffice to say that there had been
a deity separate from Li Bing. The various names by which he was called are explained
in the following pages of this essay.

201 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

25 Xu Song, Song huiyao jigao (Collected administrative documents from the Song)
(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1957), 835, li, 20.141. The lang in Langjun Shen is the
same as that in Erlang, meaning young lad, and the jun is a form of respectful
address. Langjun is thus simply a way of referring to a young male. The Song huiyao
was continuously compiled during the Song, and it is difficult to determine the dates
of the entries. The Langjun Shen entry in this document is quoted in two other Song
sources, which are discussed later.
26 The title Guangyou Yinghui Wang was granted to Li Bing in 1157 (Xu Song, Song
huiyao jigao, 776, li, 20.24). The title also appears in a stele inscription commemo-
rating the repairing of the dikes in Sichuan by Jie Xisi (1274 1344). The date of this
document is unknown, but the year 1320 is mentioned in the text, so it must have
been written some time after that date; Jie Xisi, Ci xiu shuyan bei (Stele commem-
orating the renovation of water works in Shu), in Quanshu yiwen zhi (Complete record
of Shu literature), ed. Yang Shen (Yang Shengan, 1488 1559), 47b:6b, in Duyue caotang,
Yang Shengan xiansheng yuanben (N.p.: Qianwei Zhangshi xiaoshulou cangban, 1817;
preface dated 1541). In the Yuan dynastic history, however, Li Bings title is said to
have been elevated ( jiafeng) to Shengde Guangyu Yinghui Wang in the year 1330;
Song Lian (1310 1381), Yuan shi (Yuan dynasty history), in Suoyin baina ben ershizi shi, ed.
Zhang Yuanji, Benji section, 34:2b (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1958). The eleva-
tion of a title entails adding two characters at the head of the existing title. In the title
recorded in the Yuan shi, however, one character in the existing title differs from the
one that appears in the other two documents mentioned above. It is possible that the
Guangyu in this text is an erroneous rendering of the Guangyou mentioned in the
other two texts.
27 The title Guangji Wang was Li Bings title at the time of the 1063 edict; Ma
Duanlin (1245 1322), Wenxian tongkao (Comprehensive study of the written record), in
Wenyuange siku quanshu (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1986), 612:90:24a. It was this
title that was used in the 1063 edict in reference to Li Bings temple, that is, Guangji
Wangs temple. Before quoting this edict, the Song huiyao explains Langjun Shens
relationship to Li Bing by citing Li Bings later title, Guangyou Yinghui Wang, given
in 1157 (see previous note).
28 Ma Duanlin, Wenxian tongkao, 90:24a.
29 Even though Langjun Shen was unrelated to Li Bing before the Song, it is not
surprising that his shrine was located within the Chongde Temple, because it was
common for major temples to house many halls and shrines for different gods. His
title Huguo Lingying Wang must have been granted during the period of the two
successive independent Shu Kingdoms, because it is referred to in the 1063 edict as
a title honored by the Shu ren (Shu natives), and it was rescinded in 974, a few years
after the fall of the Latter Shu Kingdom (934 960).
30 Hierarchical ranks from low to high are hou (marquis), gong (duke), and wang
(king) for gods, furen and fei for their wives, and zhenren and zhenjun for Daoist immor-
tals (shenxian). The descriptive or glorifying phrases preceding each rank in a title
begin with two characters and are elevated by increments of two characters at each
promotion; Xu Song, Song huiyao jigao, 767 768, li, 20.8. Before the Song, both Li
Bing and Langjun Shen had the wang rank, but Langjun Shen had four glorifying
characters preceding his wang rank, while Li Bing had only two. When Langjun Shen
was reinstated by the 1063 edict (after his wang title had been rescinded in 974), he was
given the title of hou, a rank which was appropriately lower than that of Li Bing, his
supposed father, according to proper Confucian principles.

202 Carmelita Hinton

31 Gao Cheng, Shiwu jiyuan (On the origin of things and affairs), in Xiyinxuan congshu
(Hongdao shuyuan edition, n.d.), 73 82:7:22. I have not been able to find Gao Chengs
dates in any of the regular sources. Verellen, in citing another part of Gaos work,
mentions that he was active between 1078 and 1085; Franciscus Verellen, Liturgy
and Sovereignty: The Role of Taoist Ritual in the Foundation of the Shu Kingdom
(907 925), Asia Major, 3rd series, 2, no.1 (1989): note18.
32 Wang Xiangzhi, Yudi jisheng (Accounts of famous sites; preface 1221), Wenxuanlou
facsimile of Song edition, (a), 159:9a b. The Pude Miao temple is also recorded in
the Song huiyao in connection with Langjun Shens further promotions after the 1063
edict.
33 Yang Wangxiu, Song zhongxing guange chucang tuhua ji (The Song record of the
painting collection in the Hall of Revitalization), in Peiwenzhai shuhua pu, comp. Sun
Yueban (1708), 97:4b.
34 The postscript (houxu) in the Shu taowu says that the book was seen in1067.
35 Zhang Tangying (1029 1071), Shu taowu (Evil beasts of Shu), in Xuehai leibian, comp.
Cao Qiuyue, 2:preface:2a (Taipei: Tailian guofeng chubanshe, 1977). Zhangs statement
suggests that those old books could indeed have dated back to the two successive Shu
Kingdoms, because under the Song they would have been considered politically unsa-
vory and the correct attitude toward them would have been to express disgust and an
eagerness to destroythem.
36 Zhang Tangying, Shu taowu,2:9b.
37 Zhang Tangying, Shu taowu,1:13a.
38 Franciscus Verellen has conducted a detailed study of the role of Daoist rituals
in the foundation of the Shu Kingdom between the years 907 and 925. In this study
he discusses how the rising local leadership enfeoffed local gods and made use of
Daoist liturgy to extend promises of tutelage and adoption to followers of the regions
indigenous cults. These rituals were performed, for the most part, by the former
Tang court Daoist, Du Guangting (850 933). Guankou Shen is not among the deities
mentioned in this study. Perhaps Du Guangting held a certain notion of Daoist
orthodoxy that excluded from the legitimizing process some local cults. It is inter-
esting to note here that in his writings that touch on water conservancy, Du mentions
Li Bing but not Guankou Shen. In the Shu taowu (by Zhang Tangying), on the other
hand, Guankou Shen is quite visible, but Li Bing is nowhere to be found. Perhaps
Guankou Shen, although well-known among the local people in 920, as shown by
the Wang Yan story in the Shu taowu, was not considered important by Du Guangting.
Other references to Guankou Shen in the Shu taowu, such as his role in court rituals
in 952, occurred after Dus death in 933. Of course there is the possibility that the data
recorded in the Shu taowu were not from that period but were made up at a later date.
It is impossible to resolve this problem here. For now, one may reasonably proceed
on the assumption that the accounts of Guankou Shen in the Shu taowu reflect the
reality of the period it purports to chronicle.
39 Shi Jie (1005 1045), Culai shi xiansheng wenji (Anthology of writings by Shi Culai),
annot. Chen Zhie (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1984), 105 and 108. Zhang Bangji, another
Song official, will still note more than a century later, I am often outraged by the
proliferation of licentious temples ( yinci) in the south. I run into them wherever I
go; Zhang Bangji, Muozhuang manlu, 8:8a.
40 Zeng Gong (1019 1083), Long ping ji (Book of peace and prosperity), in Song shi ziliao

203 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

cuibian, ed. Zhao Tiehan, 1:8:13a (Taipei: Wenhai chubanshe, 1967). In the preface Zeng
Gong states that his book records events during the reign of Taizong and the reign of
Yingzong, which ended in 1067. The book thus must have been written between that
time and Zengs death in1083.
41 Some scholars have assumed that Guankou Shen was simply another name for
the deified Li Bing (Sang Xiuyun). But given the above-cited dread of this local
heresy expressed by Song officials and the consistent respect paid to Li Bing by the
Song court, such an assumption is unfounded. A later piece of evidence that shows
Guankou Shen as a separate entity from Li Bing is provided by the Yudi jisheng (1221).
In it, the Chongde Temple Li Bings Shrine and the Chongde Temple Guankou
Shen are listed in succession as two separate items (Wang Xiangzhi, Yudi jisheng,
151:12b).
42 Ouyang Xiu, Xin tang shu (New Tang history), in Suoyin bainaben ershisi shi, (a), 13:7,
30:11a, b (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1958).
43 Jiang Shaoyu, Huangchao leiyuan (A categorized account of events of the Song
dynasty; preface dated 1118), in Songfenshi congkan, 3 14:23:1b 2a. The meaning of the
text here is ambiguous. Zuo Guankou Erlang Shen xiang can be translated as making
a picture of or feigning the likeness of. This phrase is also used, however, in the
description of the court ritual of the Latter Shu Kingdom in the above-mentioned
Shu taowu. In a more literal translation, the Shu taowu text says, Court entertainers
zuo (do, or make) Guankou Shen dui (formation) two dragons fighting xiang (like-
ness, or picture). The term dui probably means a lining up of the court entertainers;
see Zhang Tangying, Shu taowu,2:9b.
44 Gao Cheng, Shiwu jiyuan, 7:22. For the date of the Shiwu jiyuan, see note31.
45 It is not clear whether the local common people at the time also believed that
Erlang, or Guankou Shen, was Li Bings son. How the name Erlang emerged here
is still a mystery, though there are several possibilities. One is that Guankou Shen
was already nicknamed Erlang by the local people before he was legitimized, but the
name did not appear in writing until the god became more widely known. It is also
likely that Guankou Shen was already a composite of more than one deity, and that
Erlang was one of his manifestations. Another possibility is that Erlang had been a
separate being all along and was merged with Guankou Shen only when the deity was
incorporated into worship of Li Bing. Still another possibility is that the name Erlang
was simply made up when Guankou Shen (called Langjun Shen in the 1063 edict) was
proclaimed Li Bings son, and that its resemblance to any other Erlang that might
have existed was pure coincidence.
46 Zhao Bian writes that he had held official posts in Shu four times, beginning in
the Qingli period (1041 1048); Zhao Bian, Chengdu gujin jiji xu (Preface to collec-
tion of notes about Chengdu from antiquity to the present), in Yang Shen, Quanshu
yiwen zhi, 30:13a. Zhaos first position in Shu was zhuanyunshi; Chang Bide et al.,
Songren zhuanji ziliao suoyin (An index to Song biographies) (Taipei: Dingwen shuju,
1974 1976), 3321. Therefore it can be assumed that his description of the situation in
Shu quoted here was from that time (1041 1048).
47 Li Tao, Xu zizhi tongjian changbian (Expanded version of the continuation of the
comprehensive mirror for aid in government; preface dated 1168), in Wenyuange siku
quanshu (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1986), 1314 1322:92:26b.
48 It is interesting to note that Zhao Bian is also the author of the now lost Chengdu
gujin jiji (1072). As mentioned earlier in this essay, a line from this work quoted by

204 Carmelita Hinton

the Ming scholar Cao Xuequan is the earliest known statement that mentions Li
Bing and his son Erlang; Cao Xuequan, Shu zhong guang ji, 591 592:(b):6:79. The date
of Zhaos book, 1072, is after the 1063 edict that legitimized Langjun Shen, that is,
Guankou Erlang.
49 According to the biography of Di Renjie contained in the Xin Tang shu (New Tang
history), for example, Di ordered the destruction of 1,700 temples of licentious cults
while serving as administrator of Jianghan (South of the Yangtze River); Ouyang Xiu,
Xin Tang shu, 115, liezhuan 40, 1b 2a, 16429 16430.
50 Valerie Hansen, Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127 1276 (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1990), 79 104, 160 166.
51 Zhang Yong (946 1015), Guaiya xiansheng wenji (Anthology of writings by Master
Contrarian), in Xu guyi congshu, 41:3, lshi, 3a b (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan,
1935). The page numbers in this book restart within each literary category.
52 Li Tao, Xu zizhi tongjian changbian, 6:10b.
53 Li Tao, Xu zizhi tongjian changbian, 35:3b (or481).
54 Lu You (1125 1210), Laoxuean biji (Notes from the Hall of Learned Old Age), in
Jindai mishu, comp. and ed. Mao Jin (Shanghai: Boguzhai yingyin jiguben, 1923),9:1a.
55 Li Tao, Xu zizhi tongjian changbian, 46:2a.
56 For a detailed discussion of the place where the rebellion originated, see Sichuan
daxue lishi xi (Sichuan University History Department), Wang Xiaobo Li Shun qiyi ziliao
huibian (Compilation of sources regarding the rebellion of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun)
(Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1978), 113 126.
57 Zeng Gong, Long ping ji, 8:13b.
58 Jiang Shaoyu, Huangchao leiyuan, 23:2a.
59 Guo Ruoxu, Tuhua jianwenzhi,3:69.
60 Liu Daochun (act.mid. eleventh century), Shengchao minghua ping (A critique of
famous Song dynasty paintings), in Peiwenzhai shuhua pu, comp. Sun Yueban (1708),
50:9a (Taipei: Xinxing shuju yingyinben, 1982). In this source the emperor who
received the painting is said to be Shenzong (r.1068 1085), not Taizong (r.976 997),
as in Guo Ruoxus account. The Shenzong in Lius text must be an error, because
according to Guo Ruoxu, Gao Yi came to the capital during Taizus reign (960 976).
Even if Gao had been a teenager when he went to the capital in 976, he would have
been too old by 1068 to paint all the temple murals the text says he did after being
appointed painter-in-attendance.
61 Yu Jianhua, annot., Xuanhe huapu (Catalog of paintings compiled in the Xuanhe
reign; pref. 1120) (Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1964), 256, juan 16. Huang
Quans dates are taken from James Cahill, An Index of Early Chinese Painters and
Paintings (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980),35.
62 The term xiang in the title of a painting does not necessarily mean that the
painting is a portrait. One of the soushan tu scrolls in the Yunnan Provincial Museum,
dated to 1805 by inscription, bears the title, Yiyong wuan wang xiang, which can be
translated as Picture [or portrait] of King Righteous Courage and Militant Peace. It
looks like other extant soushan tu, with only minor differences in detail.
63 Guo Ruoxu, Tuhua jianwenzhi, 2:18b.

205 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

64 The source mentioning Huang Quans painting, Xuanhe huapu (Painting catalog
of the Xuanhe reign), is dated to 1120, about fifty years later than Tuhua jianwen zhi
(1070), the source mentioning Gao Yis soushan tu. So the earliest known soushan tu
(painted by Huang Quan) is not recorded in the earliest source that mentions a
soushan tu (painted by GaoYi).
65 Because the narrow space between the pedestal and a backdrop wall had been
sealed off on both sides by an adobe wall (constructed perhaps to reinforce the two
structures), the painting, which became enclosed within, remained untouched during
the numerous renovations over the centuries. The condition of the painted surface
and the style strongly suggest that the date of the painting may be close to that of
the building itself. Luo Zhewen, Shanxi Wutai Shan Foguang Si dadian faxian tang
wudai de tiji he tangdai bihua (Tang and Five Dynasties inscriptions and Tang
dynasty murals discovered in the main hall of Foguang Temple at Mount Wutai,
Shanxi Province), in Wenwu 4 (1965): 32 33 (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe).
66 There are different ranks and categories of the Tianwangs subsidiaries, and
they are identified in various texts by different names. For brevitys sake, all of them
will be called celestial soldiers in this essay. Further discussion of these figures will
appear in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.
67 Zhao Min, ed. Zhongguo bihua quanji, Xinjiang, 6: Tulufan (Complete collection of
murals in China, Xinjiang Province no.6: Turfan) (Liaoning: Meishu chubanshe, 1991),
plate 88. The cave numbers used in this essay follow the system devised by Le Coq;
see A.Von Le Coq, Chotscho (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer [Ernst Vohsen], 1913), plate 33.
According to the Chinese numbering system, cave 9 is number 20; see Liu Hongliang,
Gaochang shiku gaishu (Buddhist cave temples of Gaochang), in Zhongguo bihua
quanji (Xinjiang, 6: Tulufan), ed. Zhao Min, 9 10. According to stylistic as well as
scientific (carbon-14 tests) evidence, the murals in cave 9 date to the tenth century,
which corresponds to the period of the Five Dynasties and the early Song in Chinese
history (Liu Hongliang, Gaochang shiku gaishu, 9 10, and Jia Yingyi, Bozikelike
shiku chutan (A study of the Buddhist cave temples at Bezeklik), in Xinjiang shiku:
Tulufan Bozikelike shiku, ed. Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu bowuguan (Xinjiang: Xinjiang
renmin chubanshe, n.d.); there are no page numbers in the essays contained in
Xinjiang shiku the closest citation is the title of the section The Dates of the Caves.
68 F. H. Andrews, Wall Paintings from Ancient Shrines in Central Asia; Recovered by Sir
Aurel Stein (London: Oxford University Press, 1948),85.
69 See Andrews, Wall Paintings, plates xxiv and xxv, and Albert Grunwedel,
Altbuddhistische Kultstatten in Chinesisch-Turkistan (Berlin: G.Reimer, 1912) (figs.513, 528,
and628).
70 Liu Hongliang, Gaochang shiku gaishu, 10. Liu adds that after the end of the
thirteenth century, when the royal house of Gaochang moved east to Gansu, the cave
temples at Bezeklik became a site for commoners.
71 Only part of this child is visible in figure5.8 because of the way the mural was cut
into pieces for transport. He can be found below the flying bird-demon. His face
and the front part of his body are missing because of the cutting line. The child also
appears in a number of other murals at Bezeklik. See Andrews, Wall Paintings, and
Grunwedel, Altbuddhistische Kultstatten in Chinesisch-Turkistan.
72 Xuan Zang (660 664), Datang xiyu ji (Great Tang records on the Western Region),
ed. Ji Xianlin (Shanghai: Renmin chubanshe, 1977), 12:1008.

206 Carmelita Hinton

73 Roderick Whitfield, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese Art from the Silk Route
(London: The British Museum Publications, 1990), 34; Yang Xiaoneng, The Golden Age
of Chinese Archaeology (Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1999),476.
74 Arthur Waley, A Catalogue of Paintings Recovered From Tun-Huang by Sir Aurel Stein,
K. C. I. E. (London: Trustees of the British Museum and the Government of India, 1931),
41 43.
75 Huang Xiufu, Yizhou minghua lu (Famous paintings of Yizhou; preface dated 1005)
(Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1982), 11 and15.
76 Waley, A Catalogue of Paintings, 79; Whitfield, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas,34.
77 Ren Jiyu, Zongjiao cidian (Dictionary of religion) (Shanghai: Cishu chubanshe,
1981),379.
78 Bukong, Bishamen yigui (Rules for the worship of Bishamen), in Taish shinsh
Daizky (The Tripitaka, revised in the Taish period), comp. Takakusu Junjir
and Watanabe Kaigyoku (Tokyo: Taish issaikyo kankkai, 1924 1932), 21:228 (item
1249). Further discussion of this female figure and the women portrayed in extant
soushantu will appear in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.
79 For the date of the Foguang Si mural, see note65.
80 Xu Fancheng, Guanyu Bishamen Tianwang deng shi (On issues regarding
Bishamen Tianwang), in Shijie zongjiao yanjiu 3 (1983):63.
81 The dates of Bukong are taken from Zhao Qian (fl.766 779) Datang gu dade zeng
sikong dabianzheng guangzhi bukong sanzang xingzhuang (Biography of Bukong),
in The Tripitaka in Chinese, comp. J.Takakusu and K.Watanabe, 50:294 (Tokyo: The
Taisho Issai-kyo Kanko Kwai).
82 Bukong, Bishamen yigui (Rules for the worship of Bishamen), 21:228 229;
Bukong, Beifang Bishamen Tianwang suijun hufa yigui (Rules for the worship of
Bishamen Tianwang of the North to accompany the military and protect the law); and
Bukong, Beifang Bishamen Tianwang suijun hufa zhenyan (Dhras of Bishamen
Tianwang of the North to accompany the military and protect the law), all in Taish
shinsh Daizky (The Tripitaka, revised in the Taish period), comp. Takakusu Junjir
and Watanabe Kaigyoku, 21:224 225 (item 1247) and 21:227 (item 1249), respectively
(Tokyo: Taish issaikyo kankkai, 1924 1932).
83 Duan Chengshi, Youyang zazu (Miscellaneous morsels from south of Mount You)
(Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 246, 249, 257, and258.
84 Lu Hongzheng (ninth century), Xingtang Si Bishamen Tianwang ji (On the
Bishamen Tianwang in the Xingtang Temple), in Gujin tushu jicheng, Shenyidian
section, ed. Chen Menglei, 91:995 (Taipei: Dingwen shuju, 1977).
85 Whitfield, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas,34.
86 Huang Tao (active 895 905), Lingshan su Beifang Bishamen Tianwang bei (Stele
commemorating the making of a statue of Bishamen Tianwang of the North at
Lingshan Mountain), in Quan tang wen, ed. Dong Gao (1740 1818), 825:7a 9b (Canton:
Guangya shuju, 1901).
87 Ning Qiang, Bazhong nankan de 93 hao Bishamen Tianwang zaoxiangkan xintan
(A new look at the Bishamen Tianwang sculpture in niche 93 at Bazhong), Dunhuang
yanjiu 3 (1989):11.

207 Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound

88 Ning Qiang, Bazhong nankan de 93 hao,14.
89 Duan Chengshi, Youyang zazu,76.
90 Huang Xiufu, Yizhou minghua lu,10.
91 Bukong, Bishamen yigui, 238. For problems of dates and inconsistencies in the
text which cast doubt on its alleged authorship, see Tai Jingnong, Fojiao gushi yu
Zhongguo xiaoshuo (Buddhist stories and Chinese novels), Journal of Oriental Studies
(Hong Kong) 12 13 (1974 1975): 53; Xu Fancheng, Guanyu Bishamen Tianwang deng
shi, 68. Regarding images of Bishamen Tianwang being imported from Central Asia,
there is an account in Guo Ruoxus Tuhua jianwenzhi (preface dated 1070). Among
the shijue (ten marvels) in the temple Daxiangguo Si is a painting of Bishamen
Tianwang. It was painted by order of Emperor Xuanzong in 725 and based on an
image of the deity brought from Khotan, also by order of the emperor (Guo Ruoxu,
Tuhua jianwenzhi, 5:121).
92 Xuan Zang, Datang xiyu ji, 12:1017 8. Waley translates the term jinshu as golden
mice (Waley, A Catalogue of Paintings,79).
93 Whitfield, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas,106.
94 In scientific terms, a mongoose is not a rodent but a member of the family
Herpestidae, a category of small, catlike carnivores. Meerkats also belong to this
family. The modern Chinese term for mongoose is maoyou, and it seems to stand for
both mongooses and meerkats. But there is no evidence that maoyou was used in any
traditional texts. There is some physical similarity between the mongoose and the
weasel, which belongs to the Mustelidae family, also part of the order Carnivora. The
Chinese name for weasel is huangshulang, yellow rodent (mouse) wolf. This name
contains the same character, shu, as in the combination jinshu. The weasel is not an
auspicious animal in Chinese lore. Xuanzang, the seventh-century Chinese monk
who first reported the story about the jinshu, learned about it on his journey through
Central Asia and India. Since the Chinese were not familiar with the mongoose,
Xuanzang might have invented the term jinshu to name the creature featured in the
Khotan myth he reported and in the images of mongooses that he might have seen.
There are earlier uses of the term jinshu in Buddhist texts, but from the context, it
does not seem to refer to a mongoose. For now I will stick with a literal translation
from the Chinese and call this creature a golden rodent.
95 Huang Xiufu, Yizhou minghua lu,10.
96 Some scholars have speculated that the hound in the Bezeklik murals (figs.5.8
and 5.12) might have derived from the golden rodent mentioned in the text (Zhang
Zhenglang, Fengshen yanyi mantan (Thoughts on the book Investiture of the Gods), in
Shijie zongjiao yanjiu 4 (1982): 60 61); Meng Fanren , Bozikelike dijiuku liushi
yuwai bihua (Murals from cave number 9 at Bezeklik that have been taken abroad), in
Xinjiang shiku: Bozikelike shiku, ed. Xinjiang Weiwuer Zizhiqu bowuguan, n.p. (Xinjiang:
Xinjiang renmin chubanshe, n.d.). Although their specific reasoning is arbitrary and
based on what I believe is a misreading of the images, the idea of a pictorial meta-
morphosis is interesting and deserves serious consideration.
97 This essay focuses on the evolution of soushan tu in the Northern Song. Discussion
of Erlangs position in soushan tu during the Southern Song and beyond will appear
in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.
98 Wu Chengen, author of The Journey to the West, wrote a long poem about a soushan
tu he saw, painted by the Ming artist Li Zai and featuring Erlang; see Liu Xiuye, annot.

208 Carmelita Hinton

Wu Chengen shiwen ji (Poetry and essays by Wu Chengen) (Shanghai: Gudian wenxue
chubanshe, 1958), 16 17. Wus knowledge of soushan tu may have influenced his writing
about Erlang, who is a powerful demon queller in his novel. A discussion of Wu
Chengens poem will appear in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.
99 Hong Mai (1123 1201), Yi jian zhi (Record of the listener) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1981),62.
100 There are many local deities called dawang, which in common speech is synon-
ymous with the term shen (god). A number of shrines dedicated to such deities in
different parts of China are listed in the Song huiyao, such as Guankou Dawang Ci
(Shrine of the God of Guankou), Yingchao Dawang Ci (Shrine of the God of Ocean
Tides), and Ershenwang Shan Dawang Ci (Shrine of the God of the Mountain of Two
Divine Kings); Xu Song, Song huiyao jigao, 830, li 20.132.
101 There is another example of the use of the term soushan in a way that is not
directly related to painting, but it appears considerably later. In the twenty-four-act
zaju drama Xiyou ji, Nazha searched mountains (soushan) for demons under the
command of his father, Tuota Li Tianwang (The Pagoda-Carrying Tianwang Li).
Dudbridge dates this zaju from no later than 1568; Glen Dudbridge, The Hsi-yu Chi:
A Study of Antecedents to the Sixteenth-Century Chinese Novel (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1970), 59. He thinks that the term soushan is typically associated with
Erlang and not Nazha, thus concluding that this scene reflects a recasting of roles by
the dramatist. The figure Devaraja Li, however, evolved from an association between
Bishamen Tianwang and Li Jing, a Tang dynasty general, and Nazha appears in Tang
texts as a son (sometimes grandson) of Bishamen Tianwang. It seems that one way or
another, the term soushan always links back to Bishamen Tianwang. Like the hound
discussed above, this term may have been originally associated only with paintings
and was then taken over by literature, another clue to the possibility of pictures influ-
encing verbal narratives.
102 Tuotuo, Song shi (Song dynasty history) (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1977; original
date 1345) (A), 490:14110 14112. The term wu could mean objects and things in general;
it could also mean animals. In this context, it is most likely that what the riders were
shooting at were animals. It is also possible, of course, that artificial targets were set
up. What would they look like as targets of exorcism?
103 This essay focused on two deities, Bishamen Tianwang and Guankou Erlang, but
the latter does not directly succeed the former as the commander figure in soushan tu.
Discussion of Sisheng, a group of Daoist deities who were also featured in soushan tu
before Erlang, and of Guan Yu, who became the protagonist after Erlang, will appear
in Hinton, Tethered Tiger.

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Zhao Bian . Chengdu gujin jiji xu (Preface to collection
of notes about Chengdu from antiquity to the present). In Yang Shen (Yang
Shengan ), ed., Quanshu yiwen zhi (Complete record of Shu
literature; preface dated 1541). 30:13a b. In Duyue caotang Yang Shengan xiang-
sheng yuanben , . N.p.: Qianwei Zhangshi xiaoshulou
cangban , republished in1817.
Zhao Min , ed. Zhongguo bihua quanji, Xinjiang 6: Tulufan ,
6: (Complete collection of murals in China, Xinjiang Province no.6:
Turfan). Liaoning: Meishu chubanshe,1991.
Zhao Qian . Datang gu dade zeng sikong dabianzheng guangzhi bukong
sanzang xingzhuang (Biography
of Bukong). In The Tripitaka in Chinese , compiled by J.Takakusu
and K.Watanabe, 50:292 294 (item #2056). Tokyo: The Taisho Issai-kyo
KankoKwai.

214 Carmelita Hinton

chapter6
Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings
QianshenBai

Art historians have long been aware that rebus play is fairly common in
Chinese painting and that it enjoys a long tradition in that field. In recent
years, increasing amounts of scholarly attention have been devoted to
it.1 Here I mean rebus to be an enigmatical representation of a name,
word, or phrase by figures, pictures, arrangement of letters, etc., which
suggest the syllables of which it is made up.2 Sometimes, rebuses are
combined to create a phrase or a sentence. The popularity of the rebus in
painting means that one should not be surprised to encounter examples
of it with some frequency.
I will focus here on the role of animals in rebus paintings. I also
will show that the rebus is not an isolated phenomenon in China but is
closely associated with many other cultural phenomena. Moreover, rebus
play in painting is only part of a larger wordplay tradition closely asso-
ciated with the nature of the Chinese language and its literary tradition.
It is also an important component of a long tradition of invoking the
auspicious.

the linguistic foundations of chinese rebusplay

The Chinese rebus most often occurs as a pun on one or more words.
Other languages similarly employ such devices. In English, for instance,
images of an eye, a tin can, the sea, and a ewe make a rebus that reads,
I can see you. To decipher a rebus (or a rebus painting) is to treat a
picture as a form of writing, to read its image as if it were a text. Punning

215
rebuses are more common in Chinese, however, than in English. This
is because the character of the Chinese language is especially suited to
making rebus play a literary device. In this connection, Yuan Ren Chao,
incomparing Chinese with other writing systems, notesthat

Chinese is almost a perfect example of morphemic writing, in

which each symbol, usually referred to as a character, represents
a morpheme, and since most morphemes are monosyllabic, each
character also corresponds to a syllable. Since in old Chinese a
morpheme was usually also a word in the sense of a free syntactic
unit, the system of writing can also be described as a word-sign
system of writing.3

In this word-sign system, Chinese has numerous homophonic words,

each represented by a different character. Compared with other
languages, Chinese has many homophones, and homophonic puns
and rebuses got an early start in Chinese history. The use of the rebus
in literature can be safely traced to yuefu poetry or ballads of the Han
dynasty (206bce 220ce),4 although examples from this period are few.
It was during the ensuing Six Dynasties (220 589) that the rebus became
common both in ballads and in daily conversation among the elite.5 At
the same time, the occurrence of puns in literature was strongly regional;
their most frequent use in ballads, for example, was in the states of Wu
andChu.6
The prevalence of puns in these songs shows that, at least initially,
puns belonged to an oral tradition. The following song, translated by
Hans Frankel, employspuns:

When I was first about to knowyou,

I hoped our two hearts would be asone.
When I straightened out the silk thread and put it on the
brokenloom
How was I to know it wouldnt make a piece [of cloth]!

Frankel accompanies his translation with the following explanation:

My translation fails to convey the puns: si silk thread is homonymous
with si love thoughts, and pi piece of cloth simultaneously means
mate, pair. 7
In the Tang dynasty, literati introduced rebuses into their poems in
imitation of folk ballads. A renowned example was Liu Yuxi (772 842),
who when exiled to Langzhou (in modern Hunan), followed folk song

216 Qianshen Bai

styling in his ci poems.8 Among these, his Zhuzhi ci is the most famous.
It reads:

Poplar and willow are green, the rivers water even,

I hear my darling sing [a love song] on the river.
While the sun is rising in the east, it is raining in the west,
It is said it is not clear, but it is clear.9

Because it is raining, one can say it is not clear; because the sun is rising
one can say it is clear. The last line, containing a rebus, sheds light on
this contradiction. Clear in Chinese is qing , which is homonymous
with qing , the character for love. The poem thus expresses the uncer-
tainty a lady feels about her lover, unclear as to whether his feelings for
her aretrue.
Later, in the following Song dynasty, the literati continued the tradi-
tion of using puns in literature. Puns in Song literature built on earlier
popular uses of wordplay, but because of a lack of extant Song folk songs,
we must focus on literati poetry, which, as Song critics were keenly
aware, frequently resorted to puns.10 Let us consider a poem by Su Shi
(1037 1101), a leading literatus of the Northern Song, A Farewell Poem
Written at a Banquet for Another.

Lianzi pikai xujianyi

Qiuping zhaojin gengwuqi
Poshan queyou chongfengchu
Yifan heceng wangqueshi?11

Each line ends with a puzzling pun, and a literal translation of this poem
will not make much sense if the word play is not deciphered:

When the lotus seed is cleft in two, immediately one sees

thefeeling,
When the chessboard is full, there is no time [for our next
meeting],
But a ragged coat has places of reunion:
How can I forget the time of a meal?

217 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

This baffling reading stems from Su Shis substitution of homophones
for characters that would provide an intelligible reading. In the poem,
he uses yi , feeling, for yi , the inner part of the lotus seed; qi ,
time, for qi , chess; feng , reunion, for feng , sewing; wangque
, forget, for wangque , forget to eat.12 The poem makes more
sense with the new characters.

When the lotus seed is cleft in two, immediately one sees

its inner parts,
When the chessboard is full, there is no chess [to play],
A ragged coat has places which have been resewn,
I will never forget to eat a meal.

The extreme banality of this verse is one clue that a rebus is at hand. Also,
Su Shi was confident his friend would detect the rebus play because the
title of this poem indicated its farewell nature. When he read this poem,
he would read only the meanings of the end of each line. Therefore, the
poem should be read as follows:

[At the time we separated], I knew your feeling,

[It is hard to know] when we can meet,
[However, somewhere] we will reunite,
I will not forget the time.

Su Shi is no isolated case. His close friend Huang Tingjian (1045 1105),
another leading literatus of the Northern Song, also occasionally played
the rebus game in his ci. In one titled Shaonian xin (The heart of youth),
he included the following lines:

[The situation] is like a double-happy peach pit [hehuan taohe

],13
It is so irritating because
There are two people [ren ] inside the heart.14

People (ren) has the same pronunciation as nut (ren ). A double-

happy peach pit is a peach with two nuts. Here Huang Tingjian replaced
nut with people in the third line to describe someone who has two
lovers in his or her heart and cannot decide who should be loved themost.
In the Song dynasty, as ci poetry reached its pinnacle, many ci poets
borrowed from oral literature such as popular songs and ballads.15 Ballads
and vernacular language were no doubt rich sources of inspiration for

218 Qianshen Bai

both ci poetry and rebus painting. Most rebus paintings were made by
professional painters who came from plebeian backgrounds and had
received little formal education. This background, however, brought
them into close contact with popular ballads. Commoners, less sophis-
ticated than the literati elite, may have had a more limited grasp of
language that encouraged rebus play. And yet with a relatively limited
number of characters in their speech and writing, they used words less
strictly, more interchangeably than did the literati. Thus, more often than
the well-educated, they were inclined to allow a single word to do duty
for two or more concepts sharing the same pronunciation.16 Additionally,
the misreading, misunderstanding, and misuse of word meanings may
sometimes have been the origin of puns in folk songs, puns later grad-
ually incorporated into rebus paintings by court painters with plebeian
backgrounds. A disadvantage in social position was turned into an advan-
tage inart.
These are a few of the numerous instances of puns in literature from
the Han to the Song dynasties. More cases may be cited in post-Song
periods into the modern era. Similarly, rebus paintings have had an
uninterrupted tradition up to the present.

early auspicious images and rebuses

Whereas rebus punning in ballads was almost always related to the theme
of love,17 its use in the pictorial arts was linked to the pursuit of auspi-
ciousness. In an excellent study of Chinese auspicious motifs, Maggie
Bickford points out, Auspicious images constitute the longest and
most comprehensive visual tradition in the history of Chinese art and
culture.18 It is difficult to trace the origins of this tradition, but it is
apparent that the rebus was prevalent in China from the Warring States
period through the Han dynasty. During this time, auspicious words,
symbols, and images were engraved and cast on such objects as seals, roof
tiles, bricks, and mirrors. These visual elements provided an environment
of auspiciousness that the Chinese consider a vital part of everydaylife.
Seals demonstrate how the ancient Chinese pursued auspiciousness.
For example, seal texts dating from the Warring States period to the
Han dynasty include: Yi you wanjin , Worthy of ten thousand
in gold (fig.6.1), Fu shou , Luck and longevity, Qianqiu wanshi
chang , Prosperous for a thousand autumns and ten thousand
generations,19 Rili , Daily interest, Churu daji , Great luck
entering and leaving, and Changxing , Lucky forever.20 These seals
vividly demonstrate how important auspiciousness was to the cultures of

219 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

the Warring States through Han periods. Because of their great quantity,
seals of this kind have been assigned to a special category by seal histo-
rians, Jiyu yin , Seals with auspicious sayings.
Although the seals quoted above do not use puns to create their
auspicious meanings, some early seals do. For instance, large numbers
of Warring States period seals bear the word yang ram (fig.6.2).
As deciphered by the Shuowen jiezi (Analysis of characters to explain

figure 6.1 figure 6.2 figure 6.3

Seal with the auspicious
saying Yi you wanjin (To
be suitable for having ten
thousand gold). Warring States
period (480 221 bc). From
Palace Museum, Beijing, ed.,
Guxi huibian (Collection of
seals of the Warring States
period) (Beijing, 1981), p.437.
Seal with the auspicious
saying yang. Warring States
period (480 221 bc). From
Palace Museum, Beijing, ed.,
Guxi huibian (Collection of
seals of the Warring States
period) (Beijing, 1981), p.480.
Rubbing of a roof tile with
the design of yang (sheep).
Warring States period
(480 221 bc) or Qin dynasty
(221 206 bc). From Xu Xitai
et al., Zhou Qin Han wadang
(Roof tiles of the Zhou, Qin,
and Han dynasties) (Beijing,
1988), pl.70.

figure 6.4 figure 6.5 figure 6.6

Seal with the auspicious
saying Beneficial everyday
and two fish. Han dynasty
(206 bc ad 220). From
Shanghai Bowuguan cangyin
xuan (Selected seals from the
collection of the Shanghai
Museum) (Shanghai: Shanghai
shuhua chubanshe, 1979),
p.114.
Rubbing of a Han ceramic
basin with an auspicious
saying, Wealth, nobility,
prosperity; to be suitable for
a marquis and two fish.
Han dynasty (206 bc ad 220).
From Wang Shimin, ed., Gu
xiaoxingyin yishi (Interpretation
of ancient pictorial seals)
(Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua
chubanshe, 1979), p.96.
Pictorial seal with three goats.
Han dynasty (202 bc ad 220).
Bronze, 1.61.5cm. Hunan
Provincial Museum. From
Hunan Sheng Bowuguan cang
guxi yinji (Ancient seals in
the collection of the Hunan
Provincial Museum) (Shang-
hai: Shanghai shudian, 1991),
p.107.

220 Qianshen Bai

writing), a dictionary compiled by Xu Shen (ca.58 ca.147) of the Eastern
Han, yang also means luck or auspiciousness.21 Early ceramic tiles
suggest that pictures or designs that became auspicious through punning
probably originated, at the latest, in the late Warring States period (480
221bce) and then became fairly common in the Han dynasty. One roof
tile pattern, for example, was formed from the character yang, ram
(fig.6.3).
Parallel to the use of auspicious words during this period is the use
of images as puns to convey auspiciousness. One example is a seal of the
Han dynasty that bears the text Daily interest (Rili ) flanked by two
fish (fig.6.4). The fish is an auspicious symbol because it is pronounced
as yu , a homophone of the character yu , abundance, implying a
wish for material wealth. Thus these fish are a rebus. A similar case is
the design on a ceramic basin made in the Han dynasty (fig.6.5). In its
center, an inscription reads, Wealth, nobility, prosperity, and worthy to
be a marquis (Fu gui chang; yi houwang , ). This inscription
is also flanked by two fish that carry the same meaning as the fish on the
seal discussed above.
More intriguing is a Han pictorial seal in the collection of the Hunan
Provincial Museum (fig.6.6). On this seal, two adult rams stand face to
face, raising their front legs; a baby ram is between them. This sanyang
, three rams, picture may be related to the idea of sanyang jiaotai
, or sanyang kaitai , the three positive principles in nature
that create peace.22 If so, this pictorial seal is a rebus for peace.23
A more complicated pictorial representation involving a rebus is
found on a Han stone carving (fig.6.7). In this work, a winged immortal
( yuren ) plays with a deer; in the sky there is a flying bird. In the Han
dictionary Shuowen jiezi mentioned above, Xu Shen attached an explana-
tion under the character que , bird: [This character] is pronounced
like the character jue [degree of nobility, official title].24 Not only
were the two characters pronounced alike during the Han period but
a number of inscriptions on Han bronze mirrors substitute jue , the
character for official position, for the character jue , for bird.25 Deer
(lu ) shares its pronunciation with official salary (lu ). Thus, as
Hua Rende points out, the representation on this carving can be read as
meaning juelu , the degree and emolument of nobility, a common
phrase in the Han.26 This picture is thus a rebus expressing a wish for
winning an official title and salary.
In the post-Han period, painting underwent significant developments.
Figure paintings flourished in the Six Dynasties and the Tang dynasty,
and from the Tang to the Song, landscape paintings gradually developed

221 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

figure 6.7
Rubbing of Han
pictorial stone carving
with an image of a
winged immortal
with a bird and deer
(photo: Hua Rende).

into an important genre. Yet rebus play has always been rare in both figure
and landscape painting. Pre-Song figure painting, as for instance Gu
Kaizhis (ca.345 406) Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies, had
a strong tendency toward moral teaching. Many early figure paintings are
also narrative paintings based on literary texts; for example Gu Kaizhis
Nymph of the Luo River, inspired by a prose work by Cao Zhi (192 232) titled
Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo River. Paintings of this kind, closely asso-
ciated with the rich narratives of their texts, have no need and little scope
for using a rebus to convert their images into words. As for landscape
painting, it did not mature until the Northern Song, when it was primarily
a literati endeavor. Even after its flowering during the Song, few land-
scape paintings contain rebuses because their representative content does
not include images that support the use of rebuses. In contrast, animal
and plant names provide rebus play with numerous words useful in
making puns. As a result, rebuses most often occur in the painting genres
of bird-and-flower and feather-and-fur. For this reason, the following
sections will discuss the roles played by animals in rebus paintings.

paintings of congratulation: a song dynasty example

Discussing auspicious motifs in Chinese visual culture, Maggie Bickford
divides their development into two phases: pre-Song and post-Song
(including the Song) development. She characterizes the former phase
as follows: In early China, auspicious images appear as singles, or as
multiples of an individual motif, as various motifs arrayed in strings of
grids, or in sets or geometric configurations (like the animals of the four

222 Qianshen Bai

directions), or in complex interrelationship (as in the Mawangdui banner
and coffins). During the later Song, she notes, the representational
achievements of landscape and flower-and-bird painting presented vehi-
cles for organizing efficacious images in new ways through plausible,
life-like pictures . . . artists constructed lucky rebus paintings in which
they organized combinations of plants, animals and birds whose names
taken together formed visual puns on auspicious words or phrases.27
While artists and artisans continued to make single auspicious images
in the Song and post-Song periods, there is no doubt that rebus play in
Song pictorial art reached a more sophisticated level.
Although it is possible to decipher the meaning of many rebus
paintings made in Song and post-Song China, it has always been difficult
to effectively contextualize a rebus painting. In the following discussion,
I will provide readers with an in-depth treatment of an anonymous
Song painting in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and
a painting by Emperor Hui (Huizong, r.1101 1125), arguing that the
former was made to congratulate a candidate for succeeding in the civil
service examinations and that the latter is a paean to faithfullove.
Gibbons Raiding an Egrets Nest, a fan painting in the Metropolitan
Museum, depicts three gibbons in the process of removing three fledg-
ling egrets from their nest in the crook of an old tree (fig.6.8). One
gibbon enfolds a baby egret in its arm; another reaches for the baby
egrets still in the nest. The third gibbon stretches an arm skyward,
toward an anguished, screaming mother egret. The skillfully constructed
composition, the graceful forms of the animals, and the meticulously
rendered details all contribute to a vivid image. Its attractiveness,
however, may distract viewers from exploring the cultural implications
that lie beneath its elegant surface. To decipher these, we need to read
this painting as a text, to read its images as words.
The Metropolitan Museums fan has no painters signature or seal
and no recorded title; a label on the fans mounting attributes it to the
Northern Song (960 1126) painter Yi Yuanji, Chinas most celebrated
painter of gibbons and monkeys. The painting has recently been reat-
tributed to an unidentified academic artist of the late twelfth century
and given the title Gibbons Raiding an Egrets Nest.28 In the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, a painting with the same subject matter, probably by a
painter of the Ming dynasty (1368 1644) (fig.6.9), is titled San yuan de lu
,29 or Three Gibbons Catching Egrets. As a rebus, the sounds San
yuan de lu can also be written , which means A triple-first gains
[one] power.30 Here the character , gibbon, is replaced by its homo-
phone yuan , first; while the character , egret, is replaced by the

223 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

figure 6.8
Unidentified artist
(late twelfth century).
Gibbons Raiding an
Egrets Nest. Han dynasty
(206 bc ad220). Fan
mounted as an album
leaf, ink and color on
silk, 24.122.8cm. The
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, John Steward Kennedy
Fund, 1913, 13.100.104.

homophonous lu , power.31 Sanyuan, three firsts, is a fixed form for

addressing a person who has placed first in all three levels of the civil
service examinations; the provincial, the metropolitan, and the court.32
Thus, on the surface, this fan painting represents gibbons preying on
egrets, but it can also be read as subtly expressing a wish for or congratu-
lations on examination success.
To justify such an interpretation of a Song dynasty painting, we need
to know both when sanyuan was first used to describe those who took
firsts in the three civil service examinations and when gibbons became a
subject in Chinese painting.
Sanyuan as a term describing a successful triple first examination
participant was probably first recorded in Qingsuo gaoyi (The lofty com-
mentary of Qingsuo) by the Northern Song writer Liu Fu (active eleventh
century). In a note titled Sanyuan yijia (Three firsts by one person), Liu
Fu writes, Our dynasty has been peaceful for over one hundred years,
its culture the most prosperous. . . . There are three people who have
won sanyuan.33 Liu Fu goes on to list the three sanyuan as Wang Zeng
(970 1039), Yang Zhi (1014 1044), and Feng Jing (1021 1094). Since the

224 Qianshen Bai

preface to Qingsuo gaoyi was written by Sun Mian (996 1066) between
1049 and 1066 at the request of Liu Fu,34 we are sure that the term
sanyuan was in use before 1066; most likely it was coined in the first half
of the eleventh century.
And why then? The historian Zhao Yi (1727 1814) has demonstrated
that those who won triple firsts in the Tang dynasty (618 906) were called
santou , literally, three tops, and that this achievement began to
be called sanyuan during the Song dynasty.35 Among the eleven sanyuan
listed by Zhao Yi, six were sanyuan of the Northern Song, including
SunHe (961 1004; jinshi, 992), Song Xiang (996 1066), and Wang Yansou
(1043 1093), none of whom were mentioned by Liu Fu in his Qingsuo
gaoyi. All six sanyuan of the Northern Song had won their zhuangyuan
, or third first, by 1060. We may imagine that the sudden emergence
of a number of sanyuan became a cultural phenomenon and that the new
term rapidly gained widespread currency.
Strikingly, the depiction of gibbons in painting emerged at the same
time. Early Chinese art historical writings make no mention of special-
ists in gibbon painting before the Northern Song. The first to gain fame
for painting gibbons was Yi Yuanji (d.ca.1064), who was described by the
art critic Guo Ruoxu (active eleventh century) in his Tuhua jianwen zhi
(Experiences in painting):

Yi Yuanji, styled Qingzhi, was a native of Changsha [in Hunan

Province]. A man of quick intelligence and profound under-
standing, his painting was excellent: flowers and birds, bees and
cicadas were rendered life-like in subtle detail. At first he special-
ized in flowers and fruit, but after he had seen such paintings
by Zhao Chang [a contemporary of Yi Yuanji, active ca.1000], he
admitted their superiority with a sigh, resolving he would acquire
fame by painting subjects not yet tried by the artists of old; thus
he began to paint roebucks and gibbons. He used to roam all
over Jinghu [southern Hubei and northern Hunan] studying
these animals. When he came upon a beautiful scene with trees
and rocks, he would absorb its details one by one, thus acquiring
ample material on their natural properties and wild beauty. He
used to stay with mountain folk, prone to lingering for months
on end: his joyful love, his unrelenting diligence, were like this.
Moreover, he dug a few ponds behind his dwelling in Changsha
and placed among them random rockeries, flowering shrubs,
sparse clumps of bamboo, and bending reeds, and he raised many
water fowl. He used to make a hole in the [paper] window pane to

225 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

figure 6.9
Unidentified artist
(fourteenth or fifteenth
century?). Three Gibbons
Raiding an Egrets Nest.
Hanging scroll, ink on
silk, 72.732.1cm. Taipei,
National Palace Museum,
Taipei (photo: National
Palace Museum).

226 Qianshen Bai

 watch their behavior both playing and resting, and so obtained
material for his wonderful brush.36

Since Yi Yuanji was the first painter to specialize in depicting gibbons,

is it possible he also originated the theme of animals snatching egrets
from their nest to celebrate examination success? Active during the first
half of the eleventh century, Yi Yuanji was a contemporary of most of
the sanyuan mentioned above, but historical texts show that it is unlikely
he ever met them.37 Among the Northern Song sanyuan cited above, the
one most likely to have been acquainted with Yi Yuanji was Feng Jing, a
native of Jingxia (modern Wuhan), 150 miles from Yi Yuanjis hometown
of Changsha. Feng Jing earned his third and final first, or zhuangyuan,
in 1049. Later he was appointed vice governor of the Jingnan junfu
(Jiangling Superior Prefecture, a local administrative division and area
in modern Hubei Province), a position he held until the eighth month of
1053.38 According to both the Tuhua jianwen zhi (Experiences in painting)
and the Xuanhe huapu (Catalog of the imperial painting collection during
the Xuanhe era), Yi Yuanji was also active in Hubei for many years. Since
Jiangling was famous for gibbons, Yi Yuanji made field trips there to
observe them. Because of the rarity of sanyuan,39 Fengs appointment in
Jiangling must have been important local news. We can assume that Yi
Yuanji knew of, or knew, Feng Jing when Feng was in Hubei.
As the most outstanding local professional painter in both Hunan
and Hubei, Yi Yuanji established good relationships with local officials
through his artistic talent. In the 1050s, he was promoted from ordinary
painter to a state teacher of Tanzhou in Hunan.40 A poem by Qin Guan
(1049 1100) praised a painting of gibbons by Yi, noting it was originally
painted for an official in Jingnan, where Feng Jing had worked. This
official, according to the poem, had treated Yi Yuanji with respect and
had paid him a high price for the painting.41 This poem and the two
records cited in the preceding paragraph indicate that Yi Yuanjis artistic
reputation in both Hunan and Hubei was high and that he made his
fortune by associating with local officials, including those in Jingnan.
Feng Jing was also a famous collector of his time. Mei Yaochen (1002
1060), an eminent Northern Song poet, wrote a poem titled Dangshi jia
guanhua (Viewing the painting collection at Dangshis home), which
records his enjoyment of Feng Jings painting collection at that officials
residence.42 The Northern Song painter and collector Mi Fu (1052 1107)
also often mentioned Feng Jings great collection of painting and
calligraphy as including paintings by Yan Liben (d.673) and Zhou Fang
(active 776 after 796), a Tang tracing copy of the work of Wang Xizhi

227 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

figure 6.10
Attributed to Yi Yuanji
(d.ca.1064). Three Gibbons
Raiding an Egrets Nest.
Fan mounted as an album
leaf. Formerly Manchu
Household Collection.
From Osvald Siren, Chinese
Painting (New York, 1973),
pl.218.

(ca.303 ca.361), and calligraphy by Chu Suiliang (596 658). Mi Fu also

mentioned that Feng Jing was a friend of the famous collector Wang
Dingguo and that a brother and a brother-in-law of Feng Jings wife were
also active art collectors.43 It is logical that as a major collector in the
Northern Song, Feng Jing maintained close ties to contemporary artists
and collectors.
The Southern Song literatus Zeng Yu wrote a colophon in 1132 on
Autobiographical Essay, a famous handscroll of cursive calligraphy by
Huaisu (ca.735 ca.799), in which he mentioned that there were three
copies of this handscroll in the Song and that one of these was in Feng
Jings collection.44 Mi Fu also mentioned that Feng owned a scroll of
calligraphy by Huaisu, while Su Shi noted that his close friend Feng also
collected ink sticks.45
Taking all the above into consideration that Feng Jing was a famous
collector of paintings and had broad associations with contemporary
artists we may state with some confidence that painting gibbons to
praise success in the civil service examinations began when Yi Yuanji

228 Qianshen Bai

figure 6.11
Unidentified artist
(Southern Song). Gibbon
and Egrets. Fan mounted
as an album leaf, ink and
color on silk. Shanghai
Museum. From Wenwu
chubanshe, ed., Songdai
minghuace (Album of
famous Song paintings)
(Beijing, 1963), pl.53.

painted three gibbons in praise of Feng Jing, a sanyuan whom he knew of

or with whom he was acquainted.
Because Gibbons Raiding an Egrets Nest is a rebus painting, we may
further ponder the local dialect of Chu and the popularity of the rebus
in its folk culture to come to an assessment of whether Yi Yuanji made
rebus paintings. When discussing the use of puns by the Song literati
in their poetry, I mentioned two prominent literary figures, Su Shi and
Huang Tingjian, to illustrate the long tradition of using puns in Chu
ballads. Su Shi was born in Meishan, Sichuan, once a neighboring state of
Chu. Huang Tingjian was a native of Xiushui, Jiangxi, historically an area
belonging to Chu. Su Shi was a good friend of Feng Jing; Huang Tingjian
may also have known him. When we consider that Chu had an unbroken
tradition of poetic rebuses inherited from the Han, we can infer that Yi
Yuanji, a native of Chu, resorted to a rebus in his painting of gibbons to
praise Feng Jings success in the civil service examinations. Further, Feng
Jing, also a native of Chu, would have been all the more likely to have
detected a rebus.

229 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

 A discussion of other Song gibbon paintings allows us to explore the
veiled cultural significance of the Metropolitans fan painting. Extant
gibbon paintings from the Song are either anonymous or, as with the
Metropolitan work, attributed to Yi Yuanji. Among them is a fan painting
Three Gibbons Raiding an Egrets Nest in the Old Palace Museum Collection
in Beijing (fig.6.10). This painting bears a strong resemblance to the
Metropolitan Museums fan, which suggests that one fan was copied from
the other.
Alternatively, rather than having been painted by Yi Yuanji, both
may have been executed by academy painters of the Southern Song, as
Wen Fong assumes for the Metropolitan Museum version.46 Soon after
the introduction of this subject matter during the eleventh century,
numerous paintings on this theme began to appear, and in several vari-
ations. One variation is exemplified by a Song fan painting that depicts
only one gibbon catching an egret, not three (fig.6.11). Although this
painting is more abbreviated in content than the three paintings already
discussed, its single gibbon gesticulates toward the sky toward an angry
mother egret screaming helplessly, which shows its derivation from one
of the gibbons in the prototypical arrangement.
A more pronounced variation found in extant paintings is the substi-
tution of deer for egrets. As discussed earlier, the character lu , deer,
has the same pronunciation as lu, egret. Thus images of gibbons with
either deer or egrets could also be read as rebuses for examination
success that leads to future power and wealth.47
Support for this homophonic linkage can be seen in an album leaf
titled Gibbons and Deer in the Metropolitan Museum (fig.6.12). In it,
a mother gibbon sits in a tree holding her baby; a mother deer and her
two offspring stand below. One of the fawns sucks its mothers teat,
while mother and the other fawn lift their heads toward the gibbons.
The presence of gibbons turns the deer painting, like the egret painting,
into a work praising degree holders.
Paintings like these that associate gibbons, yuan, with egrets and deer,
lu, seem to be rebuses conveying specific cultural meanings. Most of
these paintings are thought to be works by Southern Song court painters
and presumably derive from a convention created by Yi Yuanji; certainly
many have been traditionally attributed tohim.
Since no one became a sanyuan in the Southern Song, a question
inevitably surfaces: Why was this subject matter carried on by Southern
Song painters? While the use of gibbons to praise degree holders, as
suggested above, started with Yi Yuanjis painting for a sanyuan, during
the decades after the death of Yi Yuanji, gibbon symbolism gradually

230 Qianshen Bai

figure 6.12
Unidentified artist
(thirteenth century
attributed to Yi Yuanji,
d.ca.1064). Gibbons and about to take it. The recipients of this kind of painting did not have
Deer. Album leaf, ink and
color on silk, 1822.2cm. to be sanyuan or have achieved any of the three yuan. Since most such
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Edward Elliott
Family Collection,
Purchase, The Dillon
Fund Gift, 1982.1.4.
became generalized. As a common visual rhetoric for praising partici-
pants in civil service examinations, it could either convey congratulations
to those who had passed the examination or express best wishes to those
paintings were presumably made by court painters, and since many
important positions in the Song court were taken by those who held the
jiinshi degree, that is, those who had passed the highest level of exam-
ination, we can infer that the function of these paintings was to praise
those degree holders generally. Indeed, even in the Northern Song, when
sanyuan were more common, they were far too rare to have supported
by themselves a distinctive motif in painting. Hence the production or
reproduction of gibbon and egret paintings continued in the Southern
Song despite an absence of sanyuan. The combination of gibbons and
egrets or deer in painting became a means for congratulating any degree
231 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings
holder. Furthermore, this is why paintings with but one gibbon sufficed
to express the alteredidea.
If we place these paintings in their specific social context, their
cultural significance becomes more apparent. The Song dynasty was a
crucial transitional period in terms of the reformation of the elite. Recent
studies emphasize the high degree of social mobility in the Song and the
importance of schooling and examinations in creating a new scholarly
class.48 As the importance of ancestry in acquiring positions in the civil
service administration declined, success in the examinations became the
surest foundation for a familys status and prestige.49
We may further take Feng Jing as an example of the importance of
examination success during the Song dynasty. Feng came from an ordi-
nary family background. Soon after he earned his third yuan (a first in
the court examination of 1049), the powerful senior official Zhang Yaozuo
took great pains to bring about the marriage of Feng to his daughter.
Feng refused and subsequently married the daughter of Prime Minister
Fu Bi (1004 1083). After she died, he married another daughter of Fu Bi.
Feng Jings political career was distinguished. He held several senior
posts, including that of the imperial inspector of all high-ranked offi-
cials and a post equivalent to vice prime minister.50 Feng Jings case
epitomizes how a Song sanyuan was able to de lu, catch power.
Under these circumstances, Song literati anxiously sought advance-
ment through the examination system. Their state of mind was best
captured by an anecdote recorded by Hong Mai (1123 1202), a Southern
Song scholar and jinshi degree holder, in his Yi Jian zhi (Stories of Yi Jian):

Huang Feng and Feng E were two local gentlemen from Shaowu.
Together, they went to Fuwang Temple in their country to have a
dream of wishes-to-come-true. They dreamed the phrase, Sanyuan
Huang and Minister Feng, and both felt happy and confident.51

The story of Feng Jing as an exemplar of success through the civil

service examinations rapidly grew to legendary proportions.52 Luo Dajing
(1196 1242), another Southern Song literatus and jinshi degree holder
(1226), tells this story:

Feng Jing, courtesy name Dangshi, was a native of Xianning in

Ezhou. His father was a [small] merchant.53 By middle age, his
father still had no son. One day, he was about to go to the capital
on business. His wife gave him gold and said, My husband, you
have no son, so use this money to buy a concubine [who might

232 Qianshen Bai

 bear you sons]. After arriving in the capital, he bought a concu-
bine, paid her price, and signed the document. Then, he asked
where she came from. The concubine wept, reluctant to answer.
When he persisted, she told him that her father was an official
who had not collected sufficient taxes to satisfy the court, and he
sold his daughter to pay the balance. Mr. Feng was so upset that
he refused to take her with him. He sent her back to her father
without asking for repayment [of her purchase price]. When he
returned home, his wife asked him where the concubine was.
When he told her the story, she said, It was so kind of you. How
could you worry about having no son! A few months later, his
wife became pregnant. Before she was about to give birth to the
child, she had a dream in which people beat drums and blew
trumpets, cheerfully welcoming the coming of a zhuangyuan.
Shortly thereafter, Feng Jing was born.54

Such stories, which must have circulated widely among Song literati,
vividly depict Song dreams of success in the civil service examinations.
The sanyuan was a symbol of this success. Given this historical context
and cultural milieu, it is not unreasonable to assume that many Song
gibbon paintings were painted in praise of new or prospective degree
holders. In this respect, these paintings provide a window on Song
literati aspirations and political realities.

a painting praising faithful love

Rebus paintings by professional painters in the Song generally lack
inscriptions, poems, or titles. The occasional exceptions, however, have
inscriptions or poems that provide reliable clues to their role as rebus
paintings and help us in our exploration of the complicated meanings
behind the pictorial surface of these paintings.
Birds in a Blossoming Wax-Plum Tree, by Huizong, in the collection of
the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is an ideal example (fig.6.13). In
this painting, the emperor places a pair of small birds in a wax-plum
tree.55 White feathers topping their heads tell us they are baitou niao
or baitou weng , both of which can be translated as hoary-
headed birds. Near the tree, which has a number of flowering branches,
are two blossoming chrysanthemum-like flowers.56 On the left, Huizong
inscribed a poem in his idiosyncratic slender gold calligraphy, while
along the right edge close to the bottom, he wrote, In the Xuanhe Hall,
the Emperor made and inscribed [this painting].

233 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

234 Qianshen Bai
< figure 6.13 The accompanying poem is highly suggestive of the meaning and
Emperor Huizong
(1082 1135; r.1101 1125).
function of the painting. It reads:
Birds in a Blossoming
Wax-Plum Tree. Hanging Mountain birds, proud and unfettered,
scroll, ink and color on
silk, 83.353.3cm. Taipei, Plum blossoms pollen, soft and light.
National Palace Museum, The painting will be our covenant,
Taipei (photo: National
Palace Museum).
Until a thousand autumns show upon our hoary heads.57

The sophisticated content of the last two lines, especially the last line,
demands detailed examination. The key term is baitou , hoary heads.
Let us discuss it in detail, for the rebus play it involves differs from that
in gibbon paintings.
Wang Yunxi points out that there are two kinds of punning devices
in Chinese literature. In one, characters of the same pronunciation are
substituted for the original characters, thereby changing the reading of
the poem. In the other, characters suggest connotations beyond their
original denotations.58 Huizong played the latter game when he used the
term baitou in his poem. There is no doubt that the birds in his painting
were called baitou, or hoary-headed birds. But the meaning of this term,
in the specific context of the painting will be our covenant, goes beyond
birds. Baitou is here an allusion to faithful love or long marriage.
Baitous allusion to faithful love began perhaps as early as the
Han dynasty. The famous female literary figure Zhuo Wenjun (active
second century bce) was said to have written a poem titled Baitou yin
(Song of the hoary heads) when she heard her husband, Sima Xiangru
(179 117bce), planned to take a concubine. She wrote:

I wish for a lover in whose heart I alone exist,

Unseparated even when our heads turn hoary.59

Here, baitou is a term for constant love between a pair of lovers

throughout life. It is said that after reading this poem, Sima Xiangru
gave up plans for a concubine.60 Although some scholars question Zhuo
Wenjuns authorship, we are sure the poem dates no later than the Tang
dynasty. Well known to Chinese literati, Song of the Hoary Heads was
understood as an allusion to faithful love or long marriage.61 Although we
can safely trace the literary sources of the hoary heads allusion to the Han
dynasty and although the allusion was used by literati in the following

235 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

dynasties, it is more likely, as Maggie Bickford points out, that by Song
times baitou weng functioned both as the vernacular name of a bird and
also as a symbol of fidelity independent of reference to its remote literary
origins.62
Once one is aware of the symbolic meaning of baitou weng, Huizongs
painting also becomes richly symbolic of love. Indeed, the painting is
dense with symbolic associations. The two hoary-headed birds that sit
close together, emphasizing their intimate relationship, constitute a
rebus signifying a long life of marital fidelity. The wax-plum, a tree that
blossoms in the cold, symbolizes love that withstands hardship. So do
the two sturdy, cold-resistant chrysanthemum-like flowers.
Although the precise social function of Huizongs painting is uncer-
tain, it may have been intended for a consort or other favorite,63 or it may
have been a present celebrating the marriage or wedding anniversary of a
senior courtier or member of the imperial household. After deciphering
the rebus, however, we are certain that this painting relates to love or
marriage and is not simply a flower-and-bird painting.
Huizongs involvement in rebus painting was significant in many
respects. A well-educated monarch and the most important art patron
of the Northern Song, Huizong introduced rebus painting into the lite-
rati tradition of poetry and calligraphy. Previously, literati had been less
enthusiastic than professional painters about painting rebuses; subse-
quent to the emperors participation in making rebus paintings, however,
there was an increase in literati rebus paintings bearing explanatory
inscriptions.
More importantly, during Huizongs reign, rebus painting was
institutionalized in the imperial painting academy. A Song writer
contemporary with the emperor wrote:

Huizong established a painting academy and gave its students

a test, asking them to paint a picture based on the phrase on a
branch of ten thousand years is a bird of peace [wannian zhishang
taipingque ]. Every student failed. When some of
them asked the eunuchs for help, they answered, The branch of
ten thousand years is the dongqing [ilex] tree and the bird of peace
is the pinjia bird.64

In Buddhism, the pinjia bird, whose full name is jialing pinjia

(Kalavinka in Sanskrit), is a mythical bird with a human face that
is in charge of music. Extant Tang mural paintings in the Dunhuang
caves show that the pinjia was often associated with the Western Paradise.

236 Qianshen Bai

figure 6.14
Illustration of pinjia
bird (Skt. Kalavinka) in
Yingzao fashi. From Li
Zhongming Yingzao fashi
(Beijing, 1980), vol.7,
juan 33, p.9a.

Probably because of this, it was the bird of peace in ancient China.

Huizongs phrase should be read, after removing three characters, as
wannian taiping, peaceful for ten thousand years. Therefore, a painting
with a pinjia on an ilex tree is symbolic of lasting peace. As with baitou
in the painting by Huizong discussed above, no punning device was
demanded in this test. But Huizong used the images of bird and tree to
create a phrase that was culturally meaningful because it is an example of
the second type of rebus discussed above, a rebus that extends a words
connotation. The quotation above tells us that making rebus-like paint-
ings that embodied specific literary connotations was part of the testing
routine at the imperial painting academy. Through such tests, rebus
painting became institutionalized.65
Though the painting of the pinjia bird created under Huizongs
order is apparently no longer extant, the famous Song architectural text
Yingzao fashi (Building standards), published in Huizongs reign, tells
us that during the Northern Song the pinjia bird as a symbol of peace
was used together with other auspicious birds in palace decorations
(fig.6.14). Indeed, the evidence of this work leads us to consider further
the painstaking efforts to decorate the Song imperial palace with auspi-
cious images. Creating auspicious images was an important function
of the imperial painting academy during the Song. Huizongs painting
Auspicious Cranes, now in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, bears an
inscription that reveals the emperors belief in the attainment of ruiying
, auspicious responses, or heavens blessings, through the creation
of auspicious images. The complicated interaction between religious
beliefs and politics is described by Peter Sturman: In the hazy world
where the borders of reality and fiction overlap emerges the auspicious
image, an image that acts to confirm its own retelling of the ruiying,

237 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

and through that retelling ambiguity is eliminated and subjectivity
thoroughly concealed.66
The institutionalization of rebus painting under Huizong naturally
had an enormous impact on the subsequent popularity of the genre. In
later dynasties, numerous rebus paintings were made by court painters,
sometimes with the participation of emperors.67
Although rebus play may have evolved because of the limited written
and spoken vocabulary at non-elite levels of society, it can be greatly
enriched by an ample command of vocabulary. It seems no accident that
the popularity of rebus painting owes a great deal to bird-and-flower
painting, which achieved the status of an independent genre during the
Northern Song. An overview of extant rebus paintings demonstrates that
most rebus paintings are bird-and-flower or feather-and-fur (animal)
paintings. The names of animals, flowers, trees, plants, and birds
provided professional painters with a variety of words on which topun.
According to pre-Song painting catalogs such as Tangchao minghua
lu (Famous paintings of the Tang dynasty), paintings of birds, flowers,
and animals existed before the Song. But there is no question that the
early Northern Song was pivotal to the development of bird-and-flower
painting. As Richard Barnhart points out: The genre [of flower-and-bird
painting] was not given a name until the eleventh century, and artists
who first established its significance were primarily active in the tenth
century above all, Huang Quan (903 968) of Shu (Sichuan) and Xu Xi
(died before 975) of Jinling (Nanjing).68 It seems Xu Xi and the Huang
family, including Huang Quans third son, Jucai, not only established
the genre of flower-and-bird painting but also encouraged the use of the
rebus in painting. Among extant rebus paintings, Xu Xis Yutang fugui
(Wealth and nobility in the Jade Hall) is one of the earliest
known examples.69
As Barnhart points out, while the Huang family came from Shu, Xu
Xi was a native of Nanjing in the Wu region, and Yi Yuanji was born and
active in the Chu area. Chu and Wu were regions with a long tradition
of punning ballads, and it is likely that the tradition of rebus making
in painting was established by Song professional flower-and-bird and
animal painters from south China, and especially from those areas.
A tradition was set in motion by Song painters that encouraged the
interaction of pictorial and literary values, of professional painters and
literati. The works resulting from this new tradition of rebus paintings
conveyed a range of auspicious messages, from wishes for success in the
civil service examinations to praise of faithful love or happy marriage.
Later rebus paintings came to include an even broader range of social

238 Qianshen Bai

phenomena, but the principal auspicial function of rebus paintings
neverchanged.

turning animals into auspicious signs

The auspicious motifs analyzed by Maggie Bickford include many animals.
There are animals that have long been viewed as auspicious symbols. For
instance, the ram, crane, fish, magpie, turtle, and others became broadly
interwoven into everyday life. But the animals in rebus paintings are not
necessarily those viewed as auspicious in popular thought.
Van Guliks thorough discussion of gibbons in Chinese culture does
not make it clear that the gibbon is an auspicious animal. The picture
presented by van Gulik is mixed. Sometimes he implies that gibbons
have positive qualities; other times, the opposite. Quite often, during
the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the gibbons call was regarded as
sorrowful. A passage by the fourth-century poet and musician Yuan Song
(d.401) in his geographical treatise Yidu ji (Record of Yidu) reads: In the
gorges the calls of gibbon are extremely clear, mountains and valleys
resound with the echo, a deeply sad, continuous wailing. Travelers sung it
in the words: Sad the calls of the gibbons at the Three Gorges of Badong;
after three calls in the night, tears wet the [travelers] dress. 70
To confirm that this description of the gibbons call was widely
accepted, I would like to quote one more passage by the eminent scholar
of geography Li Daoyuan (d.527) in his famous Shuijing zhu (Annotated
classic of waterways):

Every time when the sky has cleared on a frosty morning, when
the woods are cold and the freshets quiet, there will always be the
drawn-out calls of the gibbons among the tree-tops, long and
utterly lonely. The echo is transmitted through the empty vales,
in continued, mournful repetition. Therefore, the fishermen sing
about it: Long the Three Gorges of Badong and the Wu Pass;
when gibbons call thrice, tears wet ones dress.71

The Metropolitan fan, with its anguished mother egret in the sky and
three gibbons raiding her nest for baby egrets, is an auspicious scene only
if understood as a rebus. If we see this work only as a picture, its scene is
not a happy one, even if the gibbons mien, more naughty than vicious,
portrays its subject as more a playful game than a bloody assault. As soon
as the images in the painting are treated as a group of words and the
painting is read as a text, however, a hidden meaning surfaces, leading to a

239 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

new reading of the picture. Not only has the paintings meaning changed,
so has the function of its portrayed animals. As a rebus painting, it pres-
ents its animals in a new context, turning them into auspicious signs.
More examples may be cited along this line. In what follows, I would
like to focus on a post-Song rebus painting as one example of how rebus
paintings convert animals into auspicious signs and motifs. The Palace
Museum, Taipei, has a hanging scroll of animals by the Yuan painter Yan
Hui (act.ca.late thirteenth century). In the painting are two monkey-like
animals. One is behind a tree trunk so that only half its body shows. The
other is hanging from the branch of the tree. Both monkeys are curiously
observing a group of bees. But why bees? Are bees not more dangerous
than auspicious?
To answer this question, we need first to identify the two animals;
should they be treated as monkeys or gibbons in the context of this
painting? Their identity will affect the reading of this painting. The
museums title for this work is Painting of Gibbons (Yuan hua ). It is
reasonable to identify the two animals in the painting as gibbons rather
than monkeys, as gibbons are apes and have no tails, although other-
wise they bear great resemblance to one another. It seems more accurate,
however, to identify these primates as monkeys because in many paint-
ings by later painters featuring primates and bees, the primates, even
though their tails are short, are labeled monkeys. In identifying primates
accompanied by bees as monkeys, the governing factor may not be the
pictorial accuracy with which the primates are depicted but rather an
established convention in which monkeys and bees are combined in
pictorial presentations.
If we read Yan Huis work as a Painting of Bees and Monkeys (Fenghou tu
), a rebus appears: it is fenghou , Granted a marquisate. With
this change, the work expresses a wish for a successful political career.
With this rebus deciphered, monkeys playing with bees is no longer an
awkward combination. A seemingly unrealistic picture becomes reason-
able because of its rebus. This new reading, as in the example of the
Metropolitan fan discussed above, transforms two creatures, monkey
and bee, into auspicious signs, giving them new meaning in the context
of this painting. By comparison, separately considered, monkey and bee
have no particular auspicious implications; indeed, bees may be seen as
harmful.72
Many similar cases can be cited to demonstrate how rebus paintings
transform select animals into auspicious signs. From these paintings,
an interesting question regarding the relationship between images and
words arises. While an uninformed viewer may not understand a rebus

240 Qianshen Bai

painting as auspicious, those who can decipher the rebus would find
its auspicious meaning immediately. Of the informed and uninformed
readings of such a work, which would be superior in approach?
To answer this question, we may first consider Chinas long tradi-
tion of wordplay (wenzi youxi ). The Chinese elite views the
arts in terms of a social ranking known as Shi shu hua, that is, that the
arts of poetry, calligraphy, and painting are viewed as successively less
important in the order listed. This means that the closer an art is to liter-
ature, which holds the supreme position, the more prestige with which
it is invested. Thus the close relationship of calligraphy to writing makes
it more important than painting, while painting nonetheless outranks
other arts because it employs many of the material means, including
brushstrokes, of calligraphy.
Closely associated with this ranking, the hierarchy of the arts may be
expressed in terms of the relationships between words and images as
they occur in an art. These relations may be divided into the following
types: (1) images that are texts, such as calligraphy; (2) images that have
texts, such as paintings with written inscriptions; (3) images that are
based on texts, such as paintings that illustrate a literary work or phrase;
(4) images that may be read as texts, such as rebus paintings. Because
any kind of wordplay contains an intellectual dimension, one might
say that since the images in a rebus painting may be read as a text, and
since words are superior to images, a painting of, say, monkeys and bees
is superior as a rebus than it is when understood merely as a portrayal
of these animals. Thus painters of rebus paintings intend their works to
have a verbal content that turns their images into words, making them
superior to straightforward illustrations.
To be sure, I am not arguing that paintings with rebus plays are
superior to all paintings without them. For example, in literati painting
theory, landscape paintings whose brushstrokes have a calligraphic
quality are considered superior to bird-and-flower and animal paintings.
This is because the literati feel that the latter genres rely on brushstrokes
designed to convey technically accurate images of their subjects, while
the calligraphic brushwork favored by literati painters is more successful
at expressing the spiritual resonance of a subject. (It should be noted
that, in contrast to literati painters, academic or professional painters
held a theory more consonant with their animal paintings being of
high import; they felt it is precisely the realistic representation in which
their school excelled that brings a viewer closest to the inner nature of a
painted subject.) What I am arguing here is that when viewing an image,
a pictorial representation involving verbal content is considered more

241 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

important than an image as such. It should be noted, however, that I
consider this argument to be in some measure tentative, and I mean it
to serve in part as an invitation to devote more scholarly attention to the
investigation of rebus paintings and the relationship between word and
image in Chinese visual culture.

epilogue
While rebus play in painting was a common phenomenon, it remains a
riddle how many extant paintings contain rebuses. Since most profes-
sional paintings (unlike works by literati) lacked either explanatory titles
or inscriptions, and since most labels attached to these paintings are
later in date, deciphering rebuses presents a challenge. Ancient painting
catalogs provide little insight because most of them classify paintings by
subject matter categories bird-and-flower, animal, landscape that
offer no clues as to possible concealed meanings. The meanings of many
rebus paintings, once obvious to their makers and intended audience, are
by now unclear, a situation that forces us to find new ways to decipher
rebus paintings.
Many anonymous album leaves of bird-and-flower and animal paint-
ings have not been studied from the perspective of possible rebus play.
One strategy may be to classify their images, accurately identify their
subjects, determine their subjects names and possible associations with
other words, establish patterns among scattered paintings, and finally
decipher the meanings of their rebuses. Without doubt, future research
into rebuses will illuminate how rebus paintings were created and under-
stood in the social and political contexts of theirtime.

notes
This article is adapted from one published as Image as Word: A Study of Rebus Play
in Song Painting (960 1279) in Metropolitan Museum Journal 34 (1999). That paper
was based on papers written for two graduate seminars on Song painting taught by
Professor Richard Barnhart at Yale University in the fall of 1992 and the spring of 1993.
They are Three Gibbons Catching Egrets: A Song Painting Praising Degree Holders
and The Pursuit of Auspiciousness: The Play of the Rebus in Song Painting. I
would like to thank Professor Barnhart, who first encouraged me to deepen my
study of rebus play in Song painting. I am grateful to Professor Mimi Yiengprusawan,
instructor in Japanese art history, who read the seminar papers and offered valuable
criticism. My thanks also to many friends who read versions of this article and gave
me constructive suggestions, especially Matthew Flannery, New Brunswick, New
Jersey; Dr. MaxwellK. Hearn, curator of Asian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art;
Nanxiu Qian at Rice University; and Heping Liu at Wellesley College. I would also

242 Qianshen Bai

like to thank Professor Eugene Wang at Harvard University for inviting me to partici-
pate in a project he organized, the Chinese Zoomorphic Imagination Workshop held
at Harvard University in May 2008. I would like to thank those who gave me valuable
suggestions during his workshop, and I would also like to thank Professor Jerome
Silbergeld for editing my manuscript.
1 For instance, Terese Tse Bartholomew, Botanical Puns in Chinese Art from the
Collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Orientations 16 (September
1985): 18 34. Writing on the metaphorical use of the image of excellent vegetable
in political criticism in Chinese painting, Alfreda Murck points out that In
Chinese prose and poetry the word vegetable tsai [cai] could carry overtones of the
homophonous terms talent and wealth. See Alfreda Murck, Paintings of Stem
Lettuce, Cabbage, and Weeds: Allusions to Tu Fus Garden, Archives of Asian Art 48
(1995): 32 47. Publications in Chinese on paintings with rebuses include Tan I-lings
Jixiang huahui (Auspicious flowers), in Wenwu guanghua (The splendor of cultural
treasures) (Taipei: Palace Museum, 1984), 212 223; and Chu Hui-liang, Suishui
pingan (Peace in every year), in ibid., 224 235. The most recent and important
research relevant to my research are Maggie Bickfords article Three Rams and Three
Friends: The Working Lives of Chinese Auspicious Motifs, Asia Major, 3rd series, 12,
no.1 (1999): 127 158; and Terese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art (San
Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006).
2 See Oxford English Dictionary, compact edition (Glasgow: Oxford University Press,
1971).
3 Yuan Ren Chao, Language and Symbolic Systems (London: Cambridge University
Press, 1968), 102 103. Some scholars argue that from a linguistic point of view,
Chinese is not monosyllabic in nature. See John DeFrancis, The Chinese Language: Fact
and Fantasy (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984), 176 188. It is undeniable,
though, that the overwhelming majority of Chinese characters are monosyllabic and
that these monosyllables are frequently homophonic; both characteristics are true of
the components of many disyllabic terms aswell.
4 For a comprehensive discussion of yuefu poetry in English, see HansH. Frankel,
Yueh-fu Poetry, in Studies in Chinese Literary Genres, ed. Cyril Birch, 69 107 (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1974). Yuefu originally referred to the Music Bureau,
founded in 117bce during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han (r.140 87bce) and
abolished in 6bce by Emperor Ai (r.6 1bce). It was charged with collecting folk
songs, creating sacrificial music, and performing rites. Yuefu poems refer to poems
commissioned for ritual purposes (hymns) and anonymous folk songs (ballads)
collected by the bureau from provincial regions as a way of gauging the common
peoples reactions to the central government. In the Southern Dynasties (420 589),
there were similar music bureau institutions, but they collected yuefu ballads mainly
for entertaining the royal house. Interested readers may find more information about
yuefu poems and ballads in WilliamH. Nienhauser, ed., The Indiana Companion to
Traditional Chinese Literature (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986), s.v. Yueh-fu
( yuefu).
5 See Wang Yunxi, Lun Wusheng xiqu yu xieyin shuangguanyu (On puns in
Wusheng and xiqu), in Liuchao yuefu yu minge (On yuefu poetry and ballads of the Six
Dynasties) (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1961), 121 166; and Xiao Difei, Han Wei Liuchao
yuefu wenxueshi (History of yuefu poetry in the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties) (Beijing:
Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1984), 207 210.
6 Frankel, Yueh-fu Poetry, 94 95. For a more detailed English discussion of the

243 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

anonymous ballads of the Six Dynasties, see Marilyn Jane Countant Evans, Popular
Songs of the Southern Dynasties: A Study in Chinese Poetic Style (PhD diss., Yale
University, 1966). For a history of Wusheng ge (songs of the Wu areas), see Gu Jiegang,
Wuge xiaoshi (A brief history of the ballads of Wu), in Gu Jiegang xuanji (Selected
works of Gu Jiegang), ed. Wang Xuhua, 392 410 (Tianjin: Tianjin renmin chubanshe,
1988). Yu Pingbo argues that yuefu poetry in the Han dynasty also originated in areas
of Chu. See Yu Pingbo, Tang-Song ci xuanshi (Selected annotations of Tang and Song ci
poems) (Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1978),2.
7 Frankel, Yueh-fu Poetry, 96, with romanization changed to the Pinyin system.
For other examples of puns in southern ballads translated by Western scholars, see
Wu-chi Liu and Irving Yucheng Lo, eds., Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of
Chinese Poetry (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1975),76.
8 Ci, or song lyrics, one of the major poetic genres in China, were originally song
texts set to existing musical tunes. They emerged in the Tang dynasty (618 907) in
response to the popularity of foreign musical tunes newly imported from Central
Asia.
9 Liu Yuxi, Liu Yuxi ji (Anthology of Liu Yuxi) (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe,
1975),253.
10 See Guo Shaoyu, Canglang shihua jiaoshi (Annotated poetry criticism of Canglang)
(Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 1983), 100 101.
11 Su Shi, Su Shi shiji (Anthology of poems of Su Shi) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982),
455. Puns can also be found in a few ci poems by Su Shi. See Shi Huaisheng and Tang
Lingling, eds. and annots., Dongpo yuefu biannian jianzhu (Annotation of chronolog-
ically compiled yuefu poems of Su Shi) (Wuhan: Huazhong shifan daxue chubanshe,
1990), 146,165.
12 Que is not the pronunciation for eat in modern Chinese; it is used only in some
southern dialects.
13 That is, a peach pit with two nuts in its shell.
14 Huang Tingjian, Yuzhang xiansheng ci (Ci poetry of Yuzhang), annot. Long Yusheng
(Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1958),52.
15 See Kang-i Sun Chang, The Evolution of Chinese Tzu [Ci] Poetry: From Late Tang to
Northern Sung (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980), 59 62.
16 Song examples are not easy to find, but many inscriptions on Han bronze mirrors
show that homophonic characters were used interchangeably in that period. For
instance, bo , white, was replaced by bo , silk; shou , animal, was replaced
by shou , protect; huan , official, was replaced by huan , trouble. See Wang
Shilun, Zhejiang chutu tongjing (Bronze mirrors unearthed in Zhejiang Province)
(Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1987), 38, 39,41.
17 Hans Frankel points out (Yueh-fu poetry, 95) that the favorite theme [of wusheng
ge and xiqu ge] is love.
18 Bickford, Three Rams and Three Friends,128.
19 See Luo Fuyi, Guxi huibian (Collection of ancient seals [from the pre-Qin period])
(Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1981), 426,446.
20 See Shanghai bowuguan cangyin xuan (Selected seals from the collection of the
Shanghai Museum) (Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1979), 116; Hunansheng

244 Qianshen Bai

bowuguan cang guxiyin ji (Ancient seals in the collection of the Hunan Provincial
Museum) (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1991),96.
21 Xu Shen, Shuowen jiezi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1963), 78. That yang meant both
sheep and auspicious in the Han dynasty can be verified by the inscriptions on
Han bronze mirrors, where its context shows that the character yang often signifies
auspicious. See Wang Shilun, Zhejiang chutu tongjing,72.
22 On sanyang jiaotai, see Morohashi Tetsuji, Dai kanwa jiten (The great Chinese-
Japanese dictionary) (Tokyo: Taishukan shoten, 1971), vol.1,185.
23 For a thorough and detailed discussion of images of the ram and their implica-
tions, see Bickford, Three Rams and Three Friends, 127 158.
24 Xu Shen, Shuowen jiezi, 76. In modern Chinese, que for bird and jue for degree of
nobility are pronounced differently.
25 See Wang Shilun, Zhejiang chutu tongjing, 34 35.
26 See Min-min Chang, ed., Roaming in the Arts: An Exhibition by the Lake Tai Canglang
Society: Hua Rende, Hu Lunguang, Chu Yun (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology Library, September 1996), pl.11 by Hua Rende. For the use
of juelu in ancient China, including the Han dynasty, see Morohashi Tetsuji, Dai
kanwa jiten, vol.7,577.
27 Bickford, Three Rams and Three Friends,145.
28 WenC. Fong, Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th 14th
Century (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992),264.
29 This title is recorded in Gugong shuhua tulu (National Palace Museum catalog of
calligraphy and painting) (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1989), vol.1,207.
30 In this chapter, the modern Pinyin system has been used to indicate the pronun-
ciation of rebuses in Song paintings. Readers should be aware, however, that
pronunciations in the Song dynasty may not be identical with Pinyin pronunciations.
For the original pronunciations of ancient rebuses, Professor Victor Xiong of Western
Michigan University has suggested adopting linguists reconstructions of ancient
Chinese phonology, which unfortunately may not be convenient for readers. The
author, however, has checked dictionaries compiled and published during the Song
and established that the puns under investigation were also puns in the Song dynasty.
For instance, the character yuan for gibbon and the character yuan for first were
pronounced the same in theSong.
31 With regard to the character lu read as power, see Yang Bojun, Mengzi yizhu
(Translation and annotation of Mencius) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1960),56.
32 Interested readers may find helpful a scholarly discussion of the civil service
examinations in traditional China, through which one can sense the great difficulty
in passing the examinations, not to mention placing first in all examinations; see
Ichisada Miyazaki, Chinas Examination Hell: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial
China, trans. Conrad Schirokauer (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981).
33 Liu Fu, Qingsuo gaoyi (Taipei: Heluo tushu chubanshe, 1977),168.
34 We know Sun Mian wrote the preface for Liu Fu between 1049 and 1066 because
he signed using the honorific title Zizengdian daxueshi conferred during the reign
of Huangyou (1049 1053) and because he died in 1066. For a brief biographical note
on Sun Mian and a note to his Qingsuo gaoyi xu (Preface to Qingsuo gaoyi), see Zeng

245 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

Zaozhuang and Liu Lin, eds., Quan Song wen (Complete anthology of Song prose)
(Chengdu: Bashu shushe, 1990), vol.11, 51, 82 83.

35 Zhao Yi, Gaiyu Congkao (Collection of textual verifications made in retirement)

(n.p., n.d.), juan 28,8 9.

36 Guo Ruoxu, Tuhua jianwen zhi, annot. Deng Bai (Chengdu: Sichuan meishu
chubanshe, 1986), 246. Translation adapted from Robert H. van Gulik, The Gibbon in
China: An Essay in Chinese Animal Lore (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1967),79.

37 Wang Zeng won his final first, or zhuangyuan, in 1002. After working briefly as a
local government official in northern China, he served as a courtier until his death in
1039. There are no records indicating that he served in south China or that Yi Yuanji
had visited the capital city before the 1060s. Thus it is unlikely that Yi Yuanji painted
a picture of gibbons to praise Wang Zeng. See Tuotuo, Song shi (History of the Song
dynasty) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), vol.29, 10180 10186.
Song Xiang, a native of Kaifeng, received his jinshi degree in 1027, then served
briefly as an official in Xiangzhou in modern Hubei. Afterward, he held several posi-
tions in the central government. Song was a contemporary of Yi Yuanji, and his brief
service in Hubei might have offered a chance for association with Yi in the 1020s. See
Tuotuo, Song shi, vol.27, 9590 9593. The young Yi Yuanji, however, had not attained
the artistic fame that would later bring him public attention, reducing the likelihood
of Song Xiang knowing of him, let alone seeking himout.
Yang Zhi, from Anhui Province, became a sanyuan in 1042. Just after he was
appointed to an official post, his mother passed away. He returned home to mourn
her and later died there. See Tuotuo, Song shi, vol.29, 10182. It is improbable, there-
fore, that Yi Yuanji painted three gibbons forhim.
Something similar happened to Wang Yanso. After winning first place in the court
examination of 1060 at age eighteen, he served briefly as a local official in Luancheng
(in modern Hebei) and Jingzhou (in modern Shaanxi), then went into retreat to
mourn the death of his brother. He did not resume his political career until the
reign of Xining (1068 1077). See Tuotuo, Song shi, vol.31, 10891. It is unlikely he met Yi
Yuanji, who remained in the south until summoned by the emperor in 1064 to paint
screens in the imperial palace in Kaifeng and died soon thereafter. See Guo Ruoxu,
Tuhua jianwen zhi,246.

38 Li Tao, Xu Zizhitongjian changbian (Collected data for a continuation of the compre-

hensive mirror for aid in government) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), vol.13,4229.

39 According to Liang Zhangju, a distinguished historian during the Qing dynasty,

there were only eleven sanyuan from the Tang through the Ming dynasties. See
Liang Zhangju, Chengwei lu (Records of forms of address) (Changsha: Yuelu shushe,
1991),290.

40 Quoted from Chen Gaohua, ed., Song-Liao-Jin huajia shiliao (Historical source
materials on painters of the Song, Liao, and Jin dynasties) (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe,
1984),302.

41 Qin Guan, Huaihai ji (Anthology of Huaihai) (Shanghai: Shanghai shangwu yinshu-

guan, 1937), juan 2,2b.

42 Dangshi was Feng Jings courtesy name. See Zhu Dongrun, annot., Mei Yaochen ji
biannian jiaozhu (Chronological compilation and annotation of the anthology of Mei
Yaochen), 3 vols. (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1980), vol.3,894.

43 See Mi Fu, Hua shi (History of painting) and Shu shi (History of calligraphy), in

246 Qianshen Bai

Zhongguo shuhua quanshu (Complete anthology of calligraphy and painting), ed. Lu
Fusheng et al., vol.1, 986 987, 967, 969 (Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 1993).
44 See Zhu Guantian, Tangdai shufa kaoping (Textual research on Tang calligraphy)
(Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin meishu chubanshe, 1992), 231 232.
45 On Mi Fus comment, see Shu shi, in Lu Fusheng, et al., Zhongguo shuhua quanshu,
vol.1, 967. For Su Shi, see Su Shi wenji (Anthology of Su Shi) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1986), vol.5,2225.
46 See note28.
47 As Robert H. van Gulik points out (The Gibbon in China, 79), It cannot be doubted,
however, that in his [Yi Yuanjis] time the pair of deer and gibbon was a popular
subject for painters. There is a painting titled Yuan-Lu tu (Picture of gibbon and deer)
recorded by the Southern Song author Deng Chun, Hua ji (A continuation of the
history of painting), in Lu Fusheng et al., Zhongguo shuhua quanshu, vol.2, 179. Deer
(lu) also shares its pronunciation with official salary (lu).
48 For a scholarly discussion of the importance of the imperial examination in Song
China and the changing background of the Song elite, see Patricia Ebreys review
article, The Dynamics of Elite Domination in Song China, Harvard Journal of Asiatic
Studies 48 (1988): 493 519.
49 RichardL. Davis, Court and Family in Sung China, 960 1279: Bureaucratic Success
and Kinship Fortunes for the Shih of Ming-chou (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press,
1986),33.
50 Tuotuo, Song shi, vol.30, 10338 10339.
51 Hong Mai, Yi Jian zhi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), annotated by He Zhuo, vol.2,
506. There are numerous discussions of sanyuan scattered among the notes (biji) of
Song literati. The quantity of these discussions reflects an increasing interest in this
cultural phenomenon.
52 Not only are contemporary records on Feng Jing much more extensive than for
other Northern Song sanyuan, but he also later became the exemplar of Northern
Song sanyuan. In the Southern Song at the latest, perhaps even in the Northern Song,
he was already known by the nickname Feng Sanyuan. See Luo Dajing, Helin yulu
(Thejade dew of crane forest) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 192. In the early Ming,
Feng Jings story of success in the imperial examinations was made into the drama
Feng Jing sanyuan ji (The story of Feng Jings triple firsts), which no doubt increased
Feng Jings standing as a cultural figure.
53 We know Feng Jings father was a small merchant because Luo Dajing notes in the
same source that Fengs family waspoor.
54 See Luo Dajing, Helin yulu, 192. On the matter of dreams, the mother of Song
Xiang, another Northern Song sanyuan (see note 37 above), dreamed before his birth
that a Daoist priest gave her a copy of a Confucian classic. See Tuotuo, Song shi, vol.27,
9590. It also seems that in the Song, dreams were thought not only to predict success
in the imperial examinations but to ratify success after thefact.
55 According to new research by Tan I-ling, the tree is not the so-called wax-plum
tree but an ordinary white plum tree. See Tans catalog entry for this painting in
Lin Po-ting, ed., Daguan: Bei Song shuhua tezhan (Grand view: Special exhibition of
Northern Sung painting and calligraphy) (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 2006),
194 197.

247 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

56 Scholars remain uncertain of the identity of this flower. But Tan I-ling believes
that it is a member of the chrysanthemum family that grows in northern China and
that therefore can withstand cold climates; that is, this flower signifies the constancy
of love in the face of adversity. See ibid.,195.
57 Translation by Charles Mason, from Wen Fong et al., Possessing the Past: Treasures
from the National Palace Museum, Taipei (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art;
Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1996),165.
58 Wang Yunxi, Lun Wusheng xiqu yu xieyin shuangguanyu, 127. Wangs article (pp.
121 166) is the most thorough discussion in Chinese literature of punning devices in
both the popular ballad and elite poetry, with special emphasis on the Six Dynasties.
59 Whether this poem, which also had the title Airu shanshangxue (White as the
mountain snow), was written by Zhuo Wenjun is arguable, but it was well known
among literati. See Xu Ling, ed., Yutai xinyong jianzhu, annot. Wu Zhaoyi (Annotations
of new songs from the Jade Terrace) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985),14.
60 Ibid.
61 See Zhang Yushu et al., eds., Peiwen yunfu (Thesaurus arranged by rhymes)
(Shanghai: Shanghai shudian, 1983), vol.1,1412.
62 Maggie Bickford, Huizongs Paintings: Art and the Art of Emperorship, in
Emperor Huizong and Late Northern Song China: The Politics of Culture and the Culture
of Politics, ed. Patricia Buckley Ebrey and Maggie Bickford, 470 note 31 (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center: Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2006).
63 Wang Yao-ting, Images of the Heart: Chinese Painting on a Theme of Love,
National Palace Museum Bulletin 12, no.6 (Jan. Feb. 1988): 5. To my knowledge, Wang
isthe first to point out that Huizongs painting is related to the theme oflove.
64 Fang Shao, Bozhai bian (Compilation made at Bozhai village), in Jinhua series, comp.
Hu Fengdan, juan 1, 4b (Hangzhou: Zhejiangsheng tushuguan, 1925).
65 During Huizongs reign, the emperor often tested painters at the imperial
painting academy. One test involved making paintings that illustrated the theme and
scenes from a poem. See Li Hui-shu, Songdai huafeng zhuanbian zhi qiji: Huizong
meishu jiaoyu chenggong de shili (A key to the change in Song painting style: A case
study of the success of Huizongs art education), Gugong xueshu jikan, National Palace
Museum Research Quarterly 1, no.4 (Summer 1984): 77 80.
66 Peter Sturman, Cranes above Kaifeng: The Auspicious Image at the Court of
Huizong, Ars Orientalis 20 (1990): 33 68. This practice had a historical precedent:
the Han emperors also were enthusiastic in promoting auspicious phenomena.
See Hung Wu, A Sanpan Shan Chariot Ornament and Xiangrui Design in Western
Han Art, Archives of Asian Art 37 (1984): 38 59. For a more recent and comprehensive
discussion of the emperorship and the making of auspicious-omen paintings during
Emperor Huizongs reign, see Bickford, Huizongs Paintings, 453 513.
67 A good example is Emperor Xuan (Xuanzong) (1399 1435; r.1426 1435) of the Ming
dynasty (13681644), who was fond of including rebuses in his paintings. For a scholarly
discussion of Xuanzong and his painting, see Richard Barnhart, Painters of the Great
Ming: The Imperial Court and the Zhe School (Dallas: Dallas Art Museum, 1993), 53 57.
68 RichardM. Barnhart, Peach Blossom Spring: Gardens and Flowers in Chinese Painting
(New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983), 25, with romanization changed to the
Pinyin system.

248 Qianshen Bai

69 The rebuses in this painting constitute puns based on the following flowers: yu
( jade) derives from yulan (magnolia); tang (hall) derives from haitang
(Chinese flowering apple); and fugui (wealth and nobility) is represented by the
peony. Jade Hall is a general term for imperial palaces. For a brief discussion of this
painting, see Tan I-ling, Jixiang huahui,214.
70 Quoted from van Gulik, The Gibbon in China,46.
71 Ibid.,47.
72 The bees in Yan Huis painting do not seem like relatively harmless honeybees.

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(The splendor of cultural treasures), 212 223. Taipei: Palace
Museum,1984.
Tuotuo et al. Song shi (History of the Song dynasty). Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju,1975.
van Gulik, RobertH. The Gibbon in China: An Essay in Chinese Animal Lore. Leiden:
E. J. Brill,1967.

251 Animals in Chinese Rebus Paintings

Wang Shilun . Zhejiang chutu tongjing (Bronze mirrors
unearthed in Zhejiang Province). Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe,1987.
Wang Yao-ting . Images of the Heart: Chinese Painting on a Theme of
Love. National Palace Museum Bulletin 12, no.6 (Jan. Feb. 1988):1 21.
Wang Yunxi . Lun Wusheng xiqu yu xieyin shuangguanyu
(On puns in Wusheng and xiqu). In Liuchao yuefu yu minge (On
yuefu poetry and ballads of the Six Dynasties), 121 166. Shanghai: Zhonghua
shuju,1961.
Wu, Hung, A Sanpan Shan Chariot Ornament and Xiangrui Design in Western
Han Art. Archives of Asian Art 37 (1984): 38 59.
Xiao Difei . Han Wei Liuchao yuefu wenxueshi (History
of yuefu poetry in the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties). Beijing: Renmin wenxue
chubanshe,1984.
Xu Ling , ed. Yutai xinyong jianzhu (Annotations of new songs
from the Jade Terrace). Annotated by Wu Zhaoyi . Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju,1985.
Xu Shen . Shuowen jiezi (Analysis of characters to explain writing).
Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,1963.
Yang Bojun . Mengzi yizhu (Translation and annotation of
Mencius). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,1960.
Yu Pingbo . Tang-Song ci xuanshi (Selected annotations of Tang
and Song ci poems). Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe,1978.
Zeng Zaozhuang and Liu Lin , eds. Quan Song wen (Complete
anthology of Song prose). Chengdu: Bashu shushe,1990.
Zhang Yushu et al., eds. Peiwen yunfu (Thesaurus arranged by
rhymes). Shanghai: Shanghai shudian,1983.
Zhao Yi . Gaiyu congkao (Collection of textual verifications made
inretirement). N.p.,n.d.
Zhu Dongrun , annot. Mei Yaochen ji biannian jiaozhu
(Chronological compilation and annotation of the anthology of Mei
Yaochen), 3 volumes. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe,1980.
Zhu Guantian . Tangdai shufa kaoping (Textual research on
Tang calligraphy). Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin meishu chubanshe,1992.

252 Qianshen Bai

chapter7
The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology:
Dragons and Their Painters in Song and
SouthernSongChina
Jennifer Purtle

To portray abstract knowledge of the physical world requires picturing

processes not readily visible to the human eye. To translate the findings
of natural science into pictorial schema is to render nature intelligible
and accessible. Empirical inquiry and image making are not antagonists,
but complements, both analyzing and classifying natural phenomena
in pictorial form. By mobilizing knowledge that mediates the relation
of picture maker and his environment, scientific illustrations and
zoomorphic representations are, moreover, ecological images.1
During the Song dynasties (960 1279), when dual explanatory
frameworks for rain namely, empirical accounts of the water cycle
and zoomorphic representations of dragons coexisted, paintings of
dragons mediated the relation of humans and their environment by
summoning rain.2 Neither such paintings, nor the tension between
alternative epistemologies of rain, were new. In his Lun heng (Balanced
discourses) of ca.83 ce, the philosopher Wang Chong (29 97 ce)
recorded the popular notion that supernatural dragons bring thunder
and lightning, and thus rain,3 debunking it with an empirically accu-
rate explanation of the water cycle.4 The Song polymaths Shen Gua
(1031 1091) and Ye Mengde (1077 1148) sustained and elaborated Wangs
ideas:5 based on his own observation, Ye described rain and water circu-
lation accurately;6 Shen studied lightning, authoring an exceptionally
limpid account of it.7 Shen, however, used the terms of supernatural
explanation to serve an empirical, analytical understanding of rain, thus
revealing the coexistence and interdependence of these conceptual

253
frameworks.8 Each explanatory framework made natural phenomena
intelligible to different audiences; coincident use of both frameworks
allowed each to be pushed beyond its representational limits, thereby
accounting for data incompatible with one framework or the other.
To understand the power of painted dragons, zoomorphic tools of
human intervention in the water cycle without a correlative in empir-
ical science, this chapter shows how iconology and ecology converged
in dragon painting during the Song dynasty, as well as in its Yuan
dynasty reception. By examining how a fixed iconography of dragon
painting mandated by the Song state served as an instrument of ritual
agency, this chapter demonstrates the relation of pictorial form to
meteorological phenomena in the practice of using dragon paintings to
summon rain. By studying how the dragon-painting technique of the
Song dynasty official Chen Rong (ca.1210 after 1262, jinshi 1235) consti-
tuted ritual action, this chapter argues that creative process mimicked,
and thus effected, atmospheric events for a Song dynasty audience. In
elucidating how copying a dragon painting by Chen Rong and how
repeated viewing of that painting generated predictable production
of rain, this chapter suggests how artistic repetition and repeated
spectatorship of an efficacious work led to predictable meteorological
outcomes. Ultimately, this chapter reveals that artistic and meteoro-
logical correspondences of form, process, and repetition so perfectly
aligned representational and climatological concerns that the shared
language of art-historical description and ritual prescription established
the painter as rainmaker and the rainmaker as painter, both serving the
ecological needs of the state.

the painted dragon method of praying for rain:

pictorial form and ritual agency in song china
Just as in the Chinese philosophical tradition the knowable universe
consists of matter differentiated into particular forms, the space
contained within a picture plane consists of visible elements reducible
to intelligible visual forms. Imaging knowledge of the natural world
translates the symbiotic relation of matter and form into the language of
pictorial representation. Empirically driven scientific illustration and the
zoomorphic representation of natural phenomena thus associate natural
forms with visual ones. It is the shared formalism of visual representa-
tion and natural science that permits their correspondence, with pictorial
form the elements a picture shares with reality in order to be able to
depict it bridging thetwo.9

254 Jennifer Purtle

figure 7.1
Chen Rong (ca.1210
after 1262, jinshi 1235).
NineDragons (detail),
dated 1244. Chinese,
Southern Song dynasty
(1279 1368). Handscroll,
ink and color on paper.
46.31,096.4cm. The
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. Francis Gardner
Curtis Fund, 17.1697.
Photograph 2015
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.

Song dynasty possibilities for human intervention in the water cycle

included conceiving of dragons as water, which enabled humans to
summon them to bring rain, even on behalf of the state.10 The Song shi
(History of the Song dynasty) records three types of state-prescribed
rain ritual, two of which utilized dragon effigies.11 Given the widespread
currency of rain-bearing dragons, the presence of dragon effigies in
state-sponsored rain ritual guaranteed their popular intelligibility. The
Song state thus made clear to its subjects how it intervened in meteoro-
logical events for their benefit.
During the Song dynasty, one type of dragon painting, the pictorial
form of which was prescribed by the state, served as an implement
for state-mandated rain summoning. Specifically, the Song shi noted a
Painted Dragon Method of Praying for Rain () that used
a painting of a dragon as its principal ritual implement.12 The Song shi
and a related account in the Xu Zizhi tongjian changbian (Long draft of
the continuation of the comprehensive mirror to aid in government)
mention that this ritual alleviated drought in 1006 ce.13 Likely because
of its efficacy, this ritual is described in detail suited to facilitating its
performance.
Emphasizing the relation of pictorial form to ritual efficacy, the Song
shi also explicitly defines the role of the dragon painting in this ritual.
The text notes that a site should be chosen either in a cave or a dense
grove, and days should be chosen for the ritual namely the geng, xin,

255 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

a b c d

e f g h

i j k

a b c d

256 Jennifer Purtle

< figure 7.2 ren, and kui days (that is, the last four days of every ten-day sequence in
Diagram of the ritual
Painting a Dragon to
the sexegenary cycle of days). Libations should be offered,and:
Pray for Rain. Drawings
by FelixChakirov.
figure 7.3
The type of dragon
painting to be used
in the ritual Painting
a Dragon to Pray for
Rain. Drawings by
FelixChakirov.
A rectangular altar raised three steps, with a height of two feet [chi],
and width of 13 feet [one zhang, each of which is ten chi, and three
chi; fig.7.2a]. Beyond the altar twenty paces should be bounded
with a white rope [fig.7.2b]. [Then] place a bamboo branch on the
altar [fig.7.2c], and a dragon painting [fig.7.2d].
This picture should use white silk gauze [fig.7.3a]. At the
top [should be] painted a black fish with its head looking left,
encircled by the ten stars of the Heavenly Turtle [the Heavenly
Turtle refers to the double star Beta Aquarii in Aquarius] [fig.
7.3b].14 At the center [should] be a white dragon, spitting out black
clouds [fig.7.3c]. At the bottom, [should be] painted waves of
water and a turtle looking left, spitting out black vapor like floss
[fig.7.3d].
This painting [should be] placed together with a gilt silver,
vermillion-ornamented effigy of a dragon [fig.7.2e].15 One should
also arrange black banners [fig.7.2f], cut the throat of a goose and
put the blood in a basin [fig.7.2g], and place a willow branch and
wine on top of the water dragon [fig.7.2h]. One should wait for
it to rain for a full three days [fig.7.2i]. Then one should sacrifice
a boar [fig.7.2j], pick up the dragon painting and throw it into
theriver [fig.7.2k ].16

, , , , . ,
. , , ; , ;
, , , . ,
, , , , .

This passage designates the setting, implements, and procedure for the
summoning of rain, specifying the formal qualities that together estab-
lish the ritual efficacy of the painting.
The clarity with which the Song shi passage describes the material and
visual properties of the dragon painting indicates the importance of picto-
rial form to ritual agency. The text mandates the use of white silk gauze
(fig.7.3a), its pristine blankness showing the action taken upon it by the
painter. The text then describes a three-part composition for such a ritual
painting. The upper portion of the composition contains a fish and the
stars of the Heavenly Turtle constellation (fig.7.3b); both portray water,
habitat of fish and turtle alike. A dragon, water in zoomorphic form, is the

257 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

figure 7.4
Chen Rong (ca.1210 after
1262, jinshi 1235). Nine
Dragons (detail), dated 1244.
Chinese, Southern Song
dynasty (1279 1368).
Handscroll, ink and color
on paper. 46.31,096.4cm.
The Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. Francis Gardner
Curtis Fund, 17.1697. Photo-
graph 2015 Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston.

258 Jennifer Purtle

259 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology
center of the painting (fig.7.3c).17 The lower part of the painting contains
water and a turtle (fig.7.3d), further images of water. Ritual implements
must be deployed in specific ways to enact the ritual. But the text makes
clear that a specific pictorial form a painting of a certain look and
correspondence to the natural world is necessary for ritual agency.
This description of the ritual painting is unlike the rare, frustratingly
vague descriptions of paintings found in extant Song dynasty texts on
painting, a phenomenon that underscores the importance of pictorial form
to ritual agency in the Painted Dragon Method of Praying for Rain.18 A
painting of the compositional type and iconography so vividly described
in the Song shi would stand out immediately among extant dragon paint-
ings, none of which resemble what that text describes; indeed, no extant
Song dynasty dragon paintings are hanging scrolls, including Chen
Rongs Nine Dragons of 1244 (fig.7.4) and Five Dragons (fig.7.5), a fine
Song work, long attributed to Chen Rong but completely different in
style from Nine Dragons.19
Furthermore, extant Ming dynasty works attributed to Chen Rong,
such as Dragons Head in Clouds (fig.7.6), A Dragon and Clouds (fig.7.7),
and A Dragon Among Clouds (fig.7.8), as well as Dragon (fig.7.9) by LiYi
(fl. late fifteenth early sixteenth cents.) who like Chen Rong was a
native of Changle, Fujian20 do not resemble the painting described
in the Song shi. The ritual prescription to jettison the ritual painting in
a body of water, returning dragon to water, perhaps explains the lack of

260 Jennifer Purtle

< figure 7.5 surviving paintings of the prescribed composition, which, given their
Attributed to Chen Rong
(ca.1200 1266). Five
ephemeral use, may not have been of high quality.
Dragons (Wulong tu). The pictorial form of the state-prescribed rain-bringing dragon paint-
Chinese, Southern Song ings determined their efficacy, corresponding to, and thus dictating, the
dynasty (1279 1368).
Handscroll, ink on paper. controlled, beneficial meteorological outcome of their ritual use. The
34.359.7cm. The Song shi specifies that the prescribed painting, through performance of
Nelson-Atkins Museum
of Art, Kansas City,
the ritual described, causes water to descend to earth in a single one of
Missouri. Purchase: many possible forms: rain, which should be permitted to last for a full
William Rockhill Nelson three days.21 The Song shi passage thus established a correspondence of
Trust, 48 15. Photograph
by Jamison Miller. pictorial and meteorological form, aligning representational and clima-
tological concerns in the Painted Dragon Method of Praying for Rain.
As rainmakers, painter and ritual practitioner activated a specified picto-
rial form to serve the ecological needs of the Song state.

chen rongs nine dragons: painting process and

ritualaction in southern songchina
The operations of the natural world, often not immediately visible but
perceptible through sustained observation and in cumulative effect,
parallel the painting process, in which a series of seemingly unintelli-
gible marks ultimately resolve into a readable image. Both natural forces
and pictorial acts require the passage of time to reveal their result. Yet
a processual view of these protean events reveals their creative power.
Parallel creative processes of painting and nature underscore the ways in
which visual representation can serve to elucidate natural science.
Together with recruiting minor officials and cultural luminaries
to perform rain rituals of many types, the Southern Song (1127 1279)
state sustained the practice of rain rituals requiring the use of a dragon
painting. After a long period of drought in 1187, the Song state propa-
gated (ban) either the same or a similarly named ritual, Painted Dragon
Method of Praying for Rain (Hua long qi yu fa), though neither the Song
shi or Zizhi tongjian houbian (Latter draft of the comprehensive mirror to
aid in government), both of which record this later ritual, describe it.22
In contrast, anecdotal accounts reveal a plethora of other approaches to
summoning dragons to bring rain. For example, the literatus Hong Mai
(1123 1202), who served as instructor in the Prefectural School in Fuzhou,
Fujian, noted how when a drought occurred in Fuzhou in the first year
of the Chunxi era (1174), the community collectively performed a rain
ritual at a well that was thought to be the residence of the local dragon.23
Laconic Southern Song inscriptions also reveal that important civil
officials summoned dragons to bring rain. The leading neo-Confucian

261 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

figure 7.6
Unidentified artist (Ming
dynasty). Dragons Head
in the Clouds. Chinese,
Ming dynasty (1368 1644). County to pray for rain, which immediately arrived (li zhi).24 Zhu Xis
Hanging scroll, ink on
silk. 161.0102.4cm. follower Zhen Dexiu (1178 1235), a neo-Confucian writer from Pucheng
The Freer Gallery of Art.
Gift of Charles Lang
Freer, f1911.261.
figure 7.7
Unidentified artist (Ming
dynasty). A Dragon and
Clouds. Chinese, Ming
dynasty (1368 1644).
Hanging scroll, ink on
silk. 126.887.0cm. Heng (fl. mid-thirteenth century) hailed from Changle, Fujian, whose
The Freer Gallery of Art.
Gift of Charles Lang
Freer, f1911.45.
philosopher Zhu Xi (1130 1200), when he served as assistant magistrate
of Tongan County outside Quanzhou from 1153 1156, went, for example,
to the Dragon King Temple (Longwang miao) at Haoshan in Tongan
County, Fujian, also entreated rain at the Dragon King Temple at
Haoshan.25 Zhens Zhen Xishan ji (Collected writings of Zhen Dexiu)
reveals his engagement with the performance of rain rituals in at least
seventy of his own prayers for rain and in records of places famous for
such rituals.26
Dragon painting was additionally a means by which some civil offi-
cials performed rain rituals. The literati brothers Chen Rong and Chen
Xianying Temple (Xianying miao) at Kuishan the Song and Southern Song
imperium recognized four times for its success in bringing rain.27 Both
Chen Rong and Chen Heng served in official positions, both excelling
in the painting of dragons.28 Specifically, Chen Rongs paintings were
perceived by contemporary literati commentators to be exceptionally
efficacious and useful in summoning rain.29
The painting of rain-summoning dragons included painting defined
by process, transcending the pictorial form prescribed by the state for
such purposes. No genuine dragon paintings by Chen Heng survive30;
one extant painting, Nine Dragons (see fig.7.4), is believed to be a genuine
262 Jennifer Purtle
figure 7.8
Unidentified artist (Ming
dynasty). A Dragon
Among Clouds. Chinese,
Ming dynasty (1368 1644).
Handscroll, ink on silk.
28.260.0cm. The Freer
Gallery of Art. Gift of
Charles Lang Freer,
f1911.519.

figure 7.9
Li Yi (late fifteenth to
early sixteenth centuries),
Dragon. Chinese, Ming
dynasty (1368 1644).
Handscroll, ink on
paper. 56.5137.6cm.
Tokiwayama bunko
collection. Tokiwayama
Bunko Foundation.
Image source: Courtesy
of the Tokiwayama
Bunko Foundation.

work by Chen Rong, executed as action painting, a technique manifest in

the use of wet ink and spatter.31
This painting process was also used in the facture of another painting
now mounted as three scrolls Dragons and Landscape (fig.7.10), Four
Dragons in Mists and Clouds (fig.7.11), Five Dragons (fig.7.12). Although
of uncertain authorship, this now fragmented painting may have been
produced either by close associates or relatives of Chen Rong, such as
his son Chen Mengfa (fl. thirteenth century),32 his son-in-law Immortal
Li (Xian Li, fl. mid-thirteenth century),33 or, given that part of the scroll
had long been dated to the Yuan dynasty,34 his fourth-generation Yuan
dynasty descendant Chen Yisuo (fl. fourteenth century), who was known
for painting dragons that realized [Chen] Rongs brush method (
).35 Alternatively, the painting may have been produced by those
with direct access to Nine Dragons or other genuine, but now lost, works
by Chen Rong.36
In Nine Dragons, pictorial execution becomes ritual action. Chen
Rongs poetic inscription for Nine Dragons (see fig.7.4) explicitly notes
that he intends his images to evoke the summoning of dragons and the
bringing ofrain.

263 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

264 Jennifer Purtle
< figure 7.10
Unidentified artist (Yuan
or Early Ming dynasty,
fourteenth or fifteenth
century). Dragons and
Landscape (detail). Chinese,
Yuan or early Ming dynasty
(fourteenth or fifteenth
century). Handscroll, ink
on paper. 44.4191.8cm.
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, H. O. Havemeyer
Collection, bequest of Mrs.
H. O. Havemeyer, 1929,
29.100.531. Image The
Metropolitan Museum of
Art. Image source: Art
Resource,NY.
figure 7.11
Unidentified artist
(Southern Song Yuan
dynasty). Four Dragons in
Mists and Clouds (detail).
Chinese, Southern Song
dynasty, mid-thirteenth
century. Handscroll, ink
on paper. 44.8254.8cm.
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. Special Chinese
and Japanese Fund, 14.50
and 14.423. Photograph
2015 Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston.
figure 7.12
Attributed to Chen Rong
(ca.1210 after 1262, jinshi
1235). Five Dragons (detail
of first half of the scroll).
Chinese, Southern Song
dynasty (1127 1279).
Handscroll, ink on paper.
37.699.3cm. Tokyo
National Museum. Image
source: tnm Image
Archives.
Lines 21 through 24, which accompany images of the fifth and sixth
dragons (fig.7.13), state:
At the head of the clouds, the dragon taught his son to unlock the
golden lock [that is, to release lightning];
The dragon in the fifth picture was the oldest.
Two dragons were partial to, and revived the people during a year
of drought;
And in the middle of the night the horses mane poured forth over
the Ladle of Heaven [Tianbiao].37
, .
, .
Chen begins these lines by describing dragons as lightning bearers,
involved in the process of rain. After describing the oldest dragon, Chen
alludes to two tales of human intercession for rain. In the first, the
Buddhist monk Fotu Cheng (231 348) prayed for rain during a drought,
in response to which two dragons brought rain.38 In the second, the Tang
dynasty military hero Li Jing (571 649) rode out into the night on a super-
natural horse scattering drops of water that became rain just as Chen
flung ink to the surface of his painting.39
Nine Dragons does not conform to the Song state model for a rain-
summoning dragon painting, but, in his choices of painting process and
inscribed text, Chen nonetheless tells the viewer that the work relates
to the summoning of dragons to bring rain, the sixth line of his poetic
inscription disclosing how ritual action is pictorial execution. He writes,
Drunk, I spit forth painting from within ().40 Spitting,
one means by which a human can propel liquid from the body, serves
as a metaphor for the propagation of rain. Chen Rongs inscription thus
cues the viewer to consider his painting process as rain making, such that
in the messy wetness of the painting process, his status as painter equates
to that of ritual agent.
More than mere rhetoric, careful study of the surface of the picture
reveals processes of image making that evoke water and wetness, thereby
representing the atmospheric effects of rain. The first dragon of the hand-
scroll, for example, rises above a gushing waterfall (fig.7.14). Beyond the
wetness of the water depicted, the area around the waterfall is painted in
an unusual and deliberate mixture of wet and dry ink. Much of the area
underneath the dragon is treated with both wet and dry ink rubbed and
blotted onto the surface of the paper to make the mottled gray of the
265 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology
dragons body, over which scales are painted in wet ink. Surrounding
this body are areas of wet dark gray and black ink that spot and pool on
the surface of the paper, rendering the wetness of water released by the
dissolving of the dragon body, a body construed to be water in a solid
state.41
The action-painting technique used in parts of Nine Dragons compel-
lingly makes the case that pictorial execution equates to ritual action and,
by extension, to atmospheric events. Here the act of dragon painting is
transformed into a simulacrum of rain making. Between the third and
fourth dragons (fig.7.15), for example, the surface of the painting bears
cloud forms of gray ink rendered without a brush, by pouring and/or
pooling diluted ink; they lack brushwork (bifa) in the classic Chinese

266 Jennifer Purtle

< figure 7.13 sense. These areas of gray ink are, moreover, covered with ink spatter
Chen Rong (ca.1210
after 1262, jinshi 1235).
ink flung or blown forcefully onto the surface action painting avant
NineDragons (detail lalettre. As the painter propels ink to paper, so rain drops water to earth.
of the fifth and sixth Texts on and associated with Nine Dragons note the power of Chen
dragons), dated 1244.
Chinese, Southern Song Rongs action-painting process. Toward the end of his poetic inscription
dynasty. Handscroll, for the painting, in lines 32 and 33, Chen Rong underscores the ability
ink and color on paper.
46.31,096.4cm. The
of his painted dragons to bring rain: In the world people longed for
Museum of Fine Arts, sustained rain. Suoweng [that is, I] sketched forth Nine Dragons (
Boston. Francis Gardner . ).42 These lines, at the transition of sequential
Curtis Fund, 17.1697.
Photograph 2015 couplets, read back-to-back as problem and solution. Chen thus indicates
Museum of Fine Arts, that his process of painting Nine Dragons produced desired atmospheric
Boston.
events, namely rain.43 Beyond equating his act of painting with rain itself,
figure 7.14 Chen Rong emphasized the numinous aspects of his painting process,
Chen Rong (ca.1210
after 1262, jinshi 1235). promoting his ability to marshal creative processes to channel the super-
NineDragons (detail of natural and thus cause atmospheric events, namely rain.44
the first dragon), dated
1244. Chinese, Southern
In Nine Dragons, Chen Rongs painterly process evokes the meteoro-
Song dynasty. Handscroll, logical phenomenon that the finished work is meant to inveigle. These
ink and color on paper. painting techniques reveal that Chen re-enacted the turbulent wetness
46.31,096.4cm. The
Museum of Fine Arts, of a storm, blotting, spitting, splashing, and spattering ink over paper
Boston. Francis Gardner to create an image of rain.45 Chen Rong thus masterfully creates a kind
Curtis Fund, 17.1697.
Photograph 2015
of visual onomatopeia, in which the process of rain is represented with
Museum of Fine Arts, rain-like drops of ink, the process of representation resembling the
Boston. process being represented. In a painting meant to summon dragons to
bring rain, action-painting technique was both ritual action and pictorial
form made supernatural meteorological phenomenon.

in the image of chen rong: artistic repetition and

ritual continuity in yuan dynasty dragon painting
Whereas the recurrence of natural phenomena permits the observer to
identify and subsequently recognize patterns, artistic repetition simi-
larly produces predictable outcomes. The artistic copy, however, makes
multiple acts of viewing possible simultaneously, rather than sequen-
tially, multiplying the number of viewing acts generated by a single
image. When the predictable outcome of an artistic copy is aligned with
the predictive value of a repeated natural phenomenon, artistic repeti-
tion multiplies the opportunities to effect change in the natural world.
Both copying an image and repeated viewing of an image expand its use,
thereby enhancing its ritual continuity and ecological agency.
Early in the Yuan dynasty (1279 1368), possibilities for a repeat perfor-
mance of meteorological events generated by pictorial form included

267 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

figure 7.15 figure 7.16
Chen Rong (ca.1210 Zhang Yucai (r.1295 1316).
after 1262, jinshi 1235). Beneficent Rain. Chinese,
NineDragons (detail Yuan dynasty (1271 1368).
of the third and fourth Handscroll, ink on silk.
dragons), dated 1244. 26.8271.8cm. The
Chinese, Southern Song Metropolitan Museum of
dynasty. Handscroll, Art, gift of Douglas Dillon,
ink and color on paper. 1985, 1985.227.2. Image
46.31,096.4cm. The The Metropolitan
Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Art. Image
Boston, Francis Gardner source: Art Resource,NY.
Curtis Fund, 17.1697.
Photograph 2015
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.

268 Jennifer Purtle

269 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology
multiple performances of rain rituals that made unique use of a dispos-
able dragon painting that reproduced a prescribed pictorial form, and
the performance of rain rituals that made repeated use of a single work
of demonstrated efficacy. Precedents for the former approach included
the Painted Dragon Method of Praying for Rain. The latter approach
is described in anecdotal accounts of the repeated use of certain dragon
paintings to bring rain, such as that of the scholar and official Wang Yun
(1227 1304), a native of Jixian, in modern Henan. Chen Rongs slightly
younger contemporary Wang Yun noted the ability of dragon paintings
by the late Five Dynasties painter Zhuanggu (fl.960 962), a native of
Siming (modern Ningbo), to bring rain.46 Wang Yun also documented two
incidents one in the spring of 1264 and another in the winter of 1270
in which the literatus Zhang Dehui (1195 1274) used dragons painted by
Zhuangu to bring rain.47
In about 1300, both unique use of copied pictorial forms and repeated
use of a single work of dragon painting (examples of the latter more
prevalent) were means by which repetition facilitated ritual continuity
and ecological power. The scholar Zhao Wen (1239 1315) wrote, for
example, about the use of a Chen Rong dragon painting to summon
rain.48 Texts also note that Zhang Yucai (r.1295 1316), thirty-eighth
Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, the seat of Celestial Master (Tianshi)
Daoism and a powerful ritual center, used dragon paintings to summon
rain and snow.49 This was but one ritual strategy available to Zhang Yucai,
who had been recognized by the Yuan imperium for his talents, including
the performance of a ritual that summoned thunder and lightning to
quell a sea monster with the head of a fish and the body of a tortoise.50
In his Beneficent Rain (fig.7.16), Zhang Yucai appropriated elements
of Chen Rongs Nine Dragons. As with the use of efficacious rituals
imported from other southern localities by the powerful Daoists of Mount
Longhu,51 Zhang copied the pictorial form of Chen Rongs Nine Dragons,
which a transmitted text indicates was known in Jiangxi as early as 1306,52
and which colophons place at Mount Longhu from ca.1331 to 1380.53
No text details the relationship of the two paintings, but so closely does
Zhang imitate the pictorial schema of Nine Dragons that the dragons
that are the focus of his composition (fig.7.16) are mirror-image rever-
sals of Chen Rongs third and fourth dragons (fig.7.15); between these
two figures, Zhang has inserted a third, smaller dragon that strongly
resembles Chen Rongs first dragon (see fig.7.14), also copied in mirror-
image reversal. In the context of the Song ritual of painting dragons to
summon rain, in which pictorial form was a prerequisite for ritual effi-
cacy and thus for the meteorological phenomenon of rain, Zhang Yucai

270 Jennifer Purtle

presumably copied passages of Nine Dragons to duplicate the ritual agency
of the original.
In attempting to re-enact Chen Rongs painting process in Nine
Dragons, Zhang Yucai correlated painting technique with atmospheric
events. Zhang Yucais action-painting technique is described in a poem
about a now lost work attributed to him, Ascending Dragons (Sheng long
tu).54 Just as in painting Nine Dragons Chen Rong captured the wet turbu-
lence of rain production to render the protean forms of dragons and
water, in Beneficent Rain Zhang emulated Chens painting techniques, but
with less apparent verve and mess. Zhang, for example, carefully painted
dots to resemble splattered ink, perhaps endeavoring to appropriate not
only the apotropaic power of Chens forms, but also the primal force of
their facture.55
The sustained role of pictorial form and painting process in meteo-
rological events is demonstrated in Zhang Yucais artistic repetition of
Nine Dragons, ca.1300, and in subsequent literary enumeration of the
repeated power of Nine Dragons to bring rain. At Mount Longhu, a series
of colophons inscribed on Nine Dragons in Jiangxi by Daoist priests
familiar with rain rituals and by their literati associates note the efficacy
of Nine Dragons and its sustained ability to manifest rain.56 The first of
these, dated 1331, is by Zhang Sicheng (? ca.1344), thirty-ninth Celestial
Master of Mount Longhu and son of Zhang Yucai.57 Zhang Sichengs
poetic inscription opens,

Xuanyun [music] and pomo [splashed ink painting] are

called The Winds of Heaven,
Thunderhead and lightning bolt drive away the God
of Thunder.
The Genius of Rain is busy, the Primordial Force
is dripping,
Who would be the hero when the universe is transformed? 58

, .
, ?

Here Zhang Sicheng makes clear that Chens action-painting technique

of splashed ink painting ( pomo) is a generative force in the water cycle,
itspresence a precondition for, and thus predictor of, rain.59
While Zhang Yucai sought to harness the power of Chen Rongs
painting process by copying it, his son Zhang Sicheng acknowledged
the importance of the pictorial form established by that process in his

271 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

poetic inscription on Nine Dragons. Lines 5 though 18 of Zhang Sichengs
poem describe this pictorial form dragon by dragon. Line 16 notes
that the Ladle of Heaven (Tianbiao) has overturned to send rain to the
drought-stricken.60 Zhang Sicheng, the most powerful Daoist priest of
his era (after succeeding his father to that position) thus explicitly links
the painted dragons to the bringing ofrain.
Possessing the power to bring rain, Nine Dragons sustained the ritual
possibility established by earlier works. In lines 21 and 22, Zhang notes,
Since [Liu] Dongwei [fl. Tang dynasty, 618 907] transsubstantiated and
[Zhang] Sengyou [act.ca.500 550] died, / It is a thousand years of divine
communication that Suoweng [Chen Rong] continues (,
).61 Here Zhang places Chen Rong in the lineage of the
painters Liu Dongwei and Zhang Sengyou, whose dragon paintings were
associated, during the Yuan dynasty, with supernatural powers and the
summoning of rain.62
Even as single paintings produced rain repeatedly, multiple viewings
of a single work also produced predictable weather effects. Zhangs poem
importantly addresses the potential of the forms of Chen Rongs painting
to effect a repeat performance of rain bringing, Zhang noting in lines
25 and 26 that: The transmutations of the dragons [nine yang, the nine
painted dragons] should be understood thoroughly; / How [then] could
people contain them in a box? (, ).63 In
indicating the potential of the painted dragons to transmute, and thus
bring rain, Zhang establishes that predictable, desirable weather patterns
might be unleashed with each viewing of the painting.64
A succession of men who viewed Nine Dragons perceived rain in that
experience, other commentators active at Mount Longhu during the
fourteenth century linking the wet splashy forms of the painting to the
bringing of rain. Wu Quanjie (1269 1350), a powerful Daoist priest from
Anren County, Raozhou, Jiangxi, opens his poetic inscription with the
lines: Thunder [and] rain fall [and] fall [from the] sky, / Lightning [and]
fire fly [from] ink and water (, ).65 The parallelism
of Wus lines equates the thunder and rain from the sky with the light-
ning and fire borne of ink and water. This suggests a causal and thus
predictable relation between the process of painting and the atmo-
spheric event ofrain.
Placed by commentators at the threshold of natural and supernatural
worlds,66 Nine Dragons transformed a reproducible act of looking into
the moment in which pictorial form becomes meteorological phenom-
enon. In line 20 of his inscription, the scholar Zhang Zhu (1287 1368),
states this clearly. He writes, [If one should] look carefully [at this

272 Jennifer Purtle

painting, they might] yet feel misty light rain ().67 Here
the phenomenology of viewing gives rise to synesthetic perception: the
numinous visual power of Nine Dragons becomes the tactile force of
water; splashed ink becomes rain; optic, pictorial encounter becomes
haptic, meteorological event. By correlating the act of looking to the
experience of feeling rain, Zhang Zhu created a scenario in which rain is
a predicted outcome of viewing. Repeated spectatorship of Nine Dragons
could thus serve as ecological intervention.
At Mount Longhu in the fourteenth century, Chen Rongs Nine
Dragons functioned as an object for conceiving of a reproducible
phenomenology of looking, one in which either repeated viewing of
Nine Dragons or the artistic repetition of its forms, as in Beneficent Rain,
had the potential to produce predictable, desirable meteorological
outcomes. In this context, the tempestuous mark of the painter, in
its original form and in its artistic and spectatorial repetitions, both
recorded and summoned rain-bringing dragons. There is little evidence
from which to know if this idea circulated beyond Mount Longhu, and
if so, how far. Perhaps it was unique to Chen Rongs masterpiece and to
the seat of Celestial Master Daoism. Texts of the Yuan dynasty, however,
clearly indicate that dragon paintings were thought to bring rain, even
if they do not often clearly state the conceptual mechanics of this oper-
ation.68 Repeated viewing and stylistic copying thus established ritual
continuity and weather forecasting, predictable meteorological outcomes
of pictorial form as a basis for ecological power.

art-historical description as ritual prescription:

the power to picture dragons
Like natural events, artistic form, process, and repetition are viewed and
documented. In the case of dragon painting, accounts of artistic and
meteorological phenomena converge, mutually imbricating art-historical
description and ritual prescription. Indeed, both representational and
climatological concerns engage issues of form, process, and repetition.
Moreover, some texts equate art-historical description and ritual
prescription, thereby establishing the painter as rainmaker and the rain-
maker as painter.
Across the course of the Song dynasties, ideas about the representa-
tion and power of dragon paintings engaged questions of verisimilitude
and animation, as well as ideas of pictorial form, painting process, and
artistic repetition. Building on earlier Chinese discourses of verisimili-
tude and the depiction of the formless, partially visible, and numinous,69

273 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

Song commentators construed dragons as composite creatures, each
body part of which resembled that of another animal.70 Song commen-
tators also inherited the notion, current in art-historical writing from
at least the ninth century, that painted dragons, like those by Zhang
Sengyou in the Anle temple in modern Nanjing,71 could be rendered
animate by their creators. Representational and art-historical discourses
thus generated a context in which the Song painter possessed the power
to envision, figure, and animate what other mortals could not evensee.
The reception of Song notions about the form and power of dragon
paintings in art-historical writing of the Yuan dynasty reinforced their
foundational discourses of verisimilitude and animation, as well as of
efficacy. Records indicate that during the later Yuan dynasty, Celestial
Masters of Mount Longhu Zhang Yucai, Zhang Sicheng, and Zhang
Side (fl. ca.1368) were, like their literati counterparts, active as painters
and collectors,72 predominantly differentiated from secular collectors
by the number of Daoist ritual implements in their collections.73
Simultaneously, the art historian and critic Xia Wenyan (fl. ca.1365),
in his Tuhui baojian (Precious mirror of painting; preface dated 1365),
followed his predecessors such as the poet Liu Kezhuang (1187 1269),74
the art critic Zhuang Su (fl.1298),75 the literatus Wang Yun,76 and his
contemporary, the painting theorist Wu Taisu (fl. mid-fourteenth
century),77 to construe the ability of the literatus Chen Rong to transcend
normal reality and realize the numinous in his extraordinary painting.
WroteXia,

[In his paintings] splattered ink becomes clouds; water, spit

from the mouth, becomes mist. When drunk, he would shout
excessively and loudly; taking off his turban, he would immerse
it in ink, and trusting his hand, he smeared and rubbed the turban
across the surface of the paper [to make a painting]. Then he took
up his brush to complete it. A whole body, or perhaps an arm, or
perhaps a head; the dragon was hidden and abstruse, and thus
one could not name the apparent parts. In the past, without giving
careful thought to this, Chen Rong achieved all that is divine and
marvelous.78

; . ; , . , .
, , , , . , ,.

While Celestial Masters painted and collected, Xia makes the painter
Chen Rong a powerful rainmaker, channeling the divine and marvelous,

274 Jennifer Purtle

figuring the supernatural, and creating water through painterly
transubstantiation.
In the world of the painted dragon, iconology and ecology converged,
with control over the production, reproduction, and viewing of such
images equivalent to the power to produce atmospheric events on
demand. Where Song ritual prescriptive text had spelled out the picto-
rial form of the dragon painting to be used as ritual implement, the late
Yuan dynasty art-historical text retrospectively articulated the supernat-
ural powers of the dragon painter and his act of painting. No accident of
representational experimentation, climatological effect, or their relation,
these Song-Yuan practices served state ecological mandates: during the
Song, the state prescribed the pictorial form of ritual dragon paintings;
during the Southern Song, it recognized the products of efficacious
painting process; and early in the Yuan, it patronized rain makers who
harnessed the power of artistic repetition, whether through copying or
spectatorship, to magnify their ritual agency. Thus when painters and
rain makers visualized knowledge of the natural world in zoomorphic
form, visualization enhanced by a peculiarly empirical correspondence
of representational and climatological concerns, iconology served as the
foundation of ecological and, by extension, political power.

notes
This essay was originally solicited for publication in 2006 and first submitted in
2008. I have attempted to ensure that it is up to date, and I apologize for any lapses
in locating new materials on the subject.
1 For a useful overview of some shared questions of representation in art and science,
see Beyond Mimesis: Representations in Art and Sciences, ed. Roman Frigg and Matthew
Hunter (NewYork: Springer, 2010).
2 On traditional Chinese ideas of the water cycle and precipitation, see Joseph
Needham, Science and Civilization in China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1959), vol.3, 467 473; on traditional Chinese ideas about thunder and lightning, see
Needham, Science and Civilization, vol.3, 480 482. For a recent synthetic overview
of Chinese state-sponsored rain rituals, see Jeffrey Snyder-Reinke, Dry Spells: State
Rainmaking and Local Governance in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Asia Center, 2010).
3 Wang Chong (29 97 ce), Lun heng, in Wenyuange siku quanshu Electronic Version (Hong
Kong: Dizhi Digital Heritage Publishing, 2002; hereafter skqse), 6:13a.
4 Wang Chong, Lun heng 11:22b 23b.
5 On Shen Gua, see Herbert Franke, Song Biographies (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner
Verlag, 1976), vol.2, 857 863; Songren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, ed. Chang Bide et al. (Taipei:
Dingwen shuju, 1986), vol.1, 676 677; on Ye Mengde, see Songren zhuanji ziliao suoyin,
vol.4, 3256 3258.

275 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

6 Ye Mengde (1077 1148), Yeshi Chunqiu zhuan, in skqse, preface: 1b; Needham, Science
and Civilization in China, vol.3,469.
7 Shen Gua (1031 1091), Mengxi bitan, in skqse, 20:6b 7a.
8 In describing the extraordinary powers of lightning, Shen explores the options
available to a Song person for categorizing natural and marvelous phenomena.
Noting that steel melted without wood and thatch being burned, Shen remarks, [It
is] not [the case that] natural human intelligence can understand this ().
Shen Gua, Mengxi bitan, 20:6b. Here Shen separates the empirical, analytical knowl-
edge he seeks to inscribe onto the phenomenon from ordinary, quotidian knowledge.
Yet when Shen notes that Buddhist texts say [that] dragon fire (long huo), [when it]
comes into contact with water, blazes, [whereas] human fire (ren huo) [when it] comes
into contact with water, is extinguished, Shen invokes a discourse dependent on
supernatural accounts, putatively informed by Buddhist epistemologies of the numi-
nous, to elucidate the natural phenomenon he seeks to describe.
9 In his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus 2.17, Ludwig Wittgenstein articulates the idea
of pictorial form (Form der Abbildung) in detail. He writes, What a picture must have
in common with reality, in order to be able to depict it correctly or incorrectly in
the way it does, is its pictorial form (Was das Bild mit der Wirklichkeit gemein haben mu,
um sie auf seine Art und Weise richtig oder falsch abbilden zu knnen, ist seine Form
der Abbildung). Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: The German Text of Ludwig Wittgensteins
Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung, trans. D. F. Pears and B. F. McGuinness, 2nd ed.
reprinted with corrections (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972), 16 17.
10 A constellation of rain-making practices reflected multiple conceptualizations of
rain and diverse possibilities for human intervention in the water cycle performed
at all levels of society. Agents of such rituals included Song emperors, ritual special-
ists of various affiliations, and civil officials, all acting on behalf of the state (some
performing practices specifically mandated by the state and others performing
versions of the practice familiar to them). Additionally, the state identified the most
successful popular practitioners acting without state authorization who were recog-
nized after the fact for their efficacy. Fifty-seven comments about rain prayers (qiyu)
contained in the Song shi (History of the Song dynasty) reveal the range of unstan-
dardized practices for bringing rain propagated and acknowledged by the Song
state. See Tuotuo (1313 1355), Song shi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1977), 1:9, 1:17, 3:41,
3:44, 6:107 109, 6:114, 7:140, 8:158, 9:183, 10:195, 11:216 217, 11:220, 11:223, 12:229, 12:249,
13:255, 14:268, 17:320 321, 18:352, 34:644, 35:686, 42:808, 42:814, 42:818, 42:820, 42:822,
43:830 831, 43:833, 43:835, 43:837, 43:846, 43:848 861, 45:873 874, 45:885 888, 46:896,
46:903, 66:1439 1441, 102:2500 2502, 130:3044.
11 Tuotuo, Song shi, 102:2500 2502. These are The Li Yong Method of Praying for
Rain (), The Painted Dragon Method of Praying for Rain (), and
The Xiyi [Lizard] Method of Praying for Rain (). The Li Yong Method used a
sculpted effigy of a dragon, while the Painted Dragon Method used a dragon painting.
12 Tuotuo, Song shi, 102:2500.
13 Xu Zizhi tongjian changbian (Taipei: Shijie shuju, 1964), 63:4b. The literatus and
official Yang Yi (974 1020), a native of Pucheng County, Fujian, also records the prop-
agation of this practice in his Xin Wuyi ji. Yang Yi (974 1020), Xin Wuyi ji, in skqse,
18:14b 15a.
14 On the identification of the Heavenly Turtle as Beta Aquarii in Aquarius, see
Traditional Chinese Star Names, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional

276 Jennifer Purtle

_Chinese_star_names#Aquarius, retrieved on August 12, 2008. For a more recently
updated version of ancient star identifications, including the Heavenly Turtle, see
Aquarius, Weiji baike, http://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/#Aquarius, retrieved
on July 1, 2013. Although these Internet sources are notoriously unreliable, they are
used here as a last resort; printed reference works available to me, including dictio-
naries and astronomies, do not provide information on the Heavenly Turtle.
15 The use of artifacts to channel the power of the rain-producing being had
precedent in a range of practices that included using a clay image or painting of a
rain-producing dragon. On these practices, from at least the time of Wang Chong,
see Wang Chong, Lun heng 6:17b, 16:1a 6b, 18:10b, 18:12a, 21:4b, 27:3b, 29:3b; AlvinP.
Cohen, Coercing the Rain Deities in Ancient China, History of Religions 17, no.3/4
(1978): 246 247; Michael Loewe, The Cult of the Dragon and the Invocation for Rain,
in Chinese Ideas about Nature and Society: Studies in Honour of Derk Bodde, ed. Charles
Le Blanc and Susan Blader, 198 206 (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1987).
Such an effigy was also used in another one of the three rituals, the The Li Yong
Method of Praying for Rain, recorded in the Song shi. Tuotuo, Song shi, 102:2500.
16 Tuotuo, Song shi, 102:2500.
17 On the Song idea of the dragon as water embodied in zoomorphic form, see Luo
Yuan (1136 1184), Erya yi, in Congshi jicheng chubian (Changsha: Shangwu yinshu guan,
1939), vol.4, 28:297.
18 Song texts engage the idea of pictorial composition, but rarely describe compo-
sitions in detail. Guo Ruoxus Tuhua jianwen zhi (Record of paintings known
experientially), for example, describes Guo Xi (ca.1001 ca.1090) as a painter of
compositions that were vast and deep (), and the Xuanhe huapu (Xuanhe Era
catalog of painting) describes the Daoist Xu Zhichang (fl. before 1107) as a painter
of compositions that were well-ordered (). Guo Ruoxu (fl. ca.1070), Tuhua
jianwen zhi, in skqse, 4:5b; Xuanhe huapu (preface dated 1120), in skqse, 4:12a.
19 James Cahill describes Five Dragons as Attributed; old and fine painting. James
Cahill, An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings (Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1980), 73. While old and fine, the style in which Five Dragons is painted is
sufficiently different than that of Nine Dragons to suggest that they could not be by the
same hand; since Nine Dragons is signed and has a well-documented history, it can be
clearly associated with the hand of Chen Rong, whereas Five Dragons cannot.
20 On Li Yi, see He Qiaoyuan (1558 1632), Min shu (1619; rpt. Fuzhou: Fujian renmin
chubanshe, 1994), 135:4023.
21 Tuotuo, Song shi, 102:2500.
22 Tuotuo, Song shi, 35:686; Xu Quanxue (1631 1694), Zizhi tongjian houbian, in skqse,
127:2a.
23 Hong Mai (1123 1202), Yijian zhi, in skqse, ding.2:10a 11a.
24 Huai Yinbu ( jinshi 1736), Quanzhou fuzhi (1763) 16:71a 72a; Jennifer Purtle, The
Production of Painting, Place, and Identity in Song-Yuan (960 1368) Fujian (PhD
diss., Yale University, 2001), 237 238.
25 Huai Yinbu, Quanzhou fuzhi (1763) 16:71a 72a; Purtle, The Production,237.
26 Zhen Dexiu (1178 1235), Xishan wenji, in skqse, 48:1a; 48:1b 2a; 48:2a 2b; 48:5b 6a;
48:6a 7a; 48:10a 10b; 48:10b 11a; 48:14a b; 48:15a; 48:15a b; 48:15b 16a; 48:19a b;
48:22a b; 48:22b 23a; 48:25b 26b; 48:29a b; 49:5b 6a; 49:6a b; 49:13a b; 49:14b 15a;

277 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

49:15a b; 49:15b 16a; 49:20a b; 49:26a 27a; 49:27b 28a; 49:29b 30a; 50:1a b; 50:1b 2a;
50:2b 3a; 50:3a b; 50:5a b; 50:6b; 50:7a; 50:12a; 50:12b; 50:13b 14a; 50:18a b; 50:18b 19a;
50:19a b; 50:19b 20a; 50:20b 21a; 50:23a b; 50:23b 24a; 50:24a b; 52:19a b; 52:19b 20a;
52:20a; 52:21a b; 52:21b; 52:23b 24a; 52:25a; 52:26a b; 52:28b 29a; 52:29a 30b; 53:9a b;
53:9b 10a; 53:10b 11a; 53:11a b; 53:13a b; 53:13bb 14a; 53:15a b; 53:16b 17a; 53:17a b;
53:18a; 53:18a b; 53:21b; 53:22a; 53:22a b; 53:23a 24b; 53:24b 25a; 54:4a b; 54:7a 8a;
54:8a 9a; 54:15b; 54:16a; 54:17b; 54:18a; 54:18b 19a.
27 Zhen Dexiu, Xishan wenji, 26:34a. Zhen Dexius account appears based on the
temple stele, recorded by the literatus Liu Yue. Liu Yue (1144 1216), Yunzhuang ji, in
skqse, 20:1a 2b.
28 On Chen Rong, see Zhuang Su (fl.1298), Huaji buyi (1298, rpt. Beijing: Renmin
meishu chubanshe, 1964), 1:6; Xia Wenyan (1296 1370), Tuhui baojian (preface dated
1365), in skqse, 4:7a; on Chen Heng, see Zhuang Su, Huaji buyi, 1:7, Xia Wenyan, Tuhui
baojian,4:7b.
29 For example, the poet and official Liu Kezhuang (1187 1269), a native of Putian,
Fujian, imbricated in the larger social networks in which Chen Rong participated,
found Chen Rongs painting exquisitely marvelous (). Liu Kezhuang (1187
1269), Houcun xiansheng daquan ji, in Sibu congkan chubian (Shanghai: Shangwu
yinshuguan, 1936), 108:19b. Additionally, the scholar and official Wang Yun (1227
1304), a native of Jixian, in modern Henan, and Chen Rongs slightly younger contem-
porary, sustained an interest in the use of dragon paintings to bring rain. Wang Yun,
Qiujian ji, in skqse, 7:2a b, 95:8b 9a, 95:9a b. Although Wang Yun did not specifi-
cally mention the rain-bringing efficacy of Chen Rongs dragon paintings, he noted
that Chen Rong Excelled in depicting dragons, which came to the notice of [the]
Song [emperor] Lizong (r.1225 1264) (, ). Wang Yun, Qiujian ji,
66:11b 12a; see also He Qiaoyuan, Min shu, 77:2311. Wang, moreover, attributed Chen
Rongs talent as a dragon painter to a supernatural encounter with a dragon while
Chen was a passenger on a boat in the South China Sea (Yue hai). Wang Yun, Qiujian
ji, 66:12a.
30 One extant attribution to Chen Heng, Fruit in a Basket, is reproduced in Hikken
(Tokyo: Shimbi shoin, 1912), plate 14; additionally, a reproduction of this work is
available at: http://webarchives.tnm.jp/imgsearch/show/c0049539. On this painting,
see Cahill, Index, 71 72.
31 Cahill, Index,72.
32 He Qiaoyuan, Min shu, 77:2312. There is no evidence that Chen Mengfa was a
painter of dragons, but there is a record of a painting of dragons by Chen Rongs
son, Chen Longyan (fl. thirteenth century). Liu Shen (fl. Yuan dynasty, 1279 1368),
Guiyinshiji, in skqse, 3:10a b.
33 Immortal Li is recorded in Chen Rongs prose inscription on Nine Dragons. For
a transcription of the inscriptions and colophons of the painting, see Zhang Zhao
(1691 1745) et al., Shiqu baoji, in skqse, 32:81b 85b; on Immortal Li, see 32:82b.
34 Sherman Lee and Wai-kam Ho, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yan Dynasty
(1279 1368) (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968), entry212.
35 He Qiaoyuan, Min shu, 77:2312; Purtle, The Production, 405 413.
36 Knowledge of Nine Dragons, and of other paintings by Chen Rong, was propagated
in texts. On Nine Dragons, see Zhang Zhu (1287 1368), Tuian ji, in skqse, 1:25b 26a;
Ming Taizu (r.1368 1398), Ming Taizu wenji, in skqse, 16:9b. On other dragon

278 Jennifer Purtle

paintings by Chen Rong, see, for example, Yao Mian (b. 1216), Xuepo ji, in skqse,
18:2a; Lin Xiyi ( jinshi 1235), Zhuxi juanzhai shiyi gao xuji, in skqse, 4:14a; Dai Biaoyuan
(1244 1310), Yanyuan wenji, in skqse, 18:9b; Ai Xingfu (fl. thirteenth century), Shengyu,
in skqse, 1:18a b; Hu Zhiyu (1227 1293), Zishan daquanji, in skqse, 4:10a b; Wang Yun,
Qiujian ji, 66:11b 12a; Ma Zhen (fl.1302), Xiawai shiji, in skqse, 8:17a; Yu Ji (1272 1348),
Daoyuan xuegu lu, in skqse, 11:10a b; Yu Ji (1272 1348), Daoyuan yigao, in skqse,
2:14b 15a, 2:20b; Jie Xisi (1274 1344), Wenan ji, in skqse, 5:5b; Ouyang Xuan (1283 1357),
Guizhai wenji, in skqse, 3:5a, 3:10b 11a; Sadula (b. 1272), Yanmen ji, in skqse, 1:31a b;
Lu Qi ( jinshi 1342), Guifeng ji, in skqse, 3:37a b; Cen Anqin (1286 1355), Kaolao shanren
shiji, in skqse, 2:23a; Li Qi ( jinshi 1333), Yunyang ji, in skqse, 1:11a; Lin Bi (1324/5 1381),
Lin Dengzhou ji, in skqse, 23:13a b; Liu Song (1321 1381), Chaweng shiji, in skqse, 7:52a;
Yuan Hua (b. 1316), Gengxuezhai shiji, in skqse, 7:25b 26a.
37 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoji 32:82a; translation adapted from Hsien-chi Tseng, A
Study of the Nine Dragons Scroll, Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 11 (1957):
17 39,19.
38 Li Daoyuan (472 527), Shuijing zhu (Annotated classic of waterways), cited in
Tseng, A Study of the Nine Dragons Scroll, 33 note 30; Fotu cheng (231 348), Fotu
cheng biezhuan (Supplemental biography of Fotu cheng), cited in Kangxi Emperor
(1654 1722) and Zhang Tingyu (1672 1755), Yuding yunfu shiyi (1696), in skqse,2:9b.
39 Lu Dian (1042 1102), Piya guangyao, cited in Tseng, A Study of the Nine
Dragons Scroll, 33 note 31. For alternate versions of the tale, see Jueluo Shilin
(act.ca.1727 1734) and Chu Dawen (1665 1743) et al., Shanxi tongzhi (edition unknown),
in Fengyun leiyu zhushen bu, in Gujin tushu jicheng Electronic Edition, 490:42b; Jueluo
Shilin and Chu Dawen et al., Shanxi tongzhi, in skqse, 164:64b; Li Weigong biezhuan, in
Gujin tushu jicheng biaodian ban, 523:31b.
40 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoji, 32:81b; Tseng, A Study of the Nine Dragons Scroll,32.
41 On dragon bodies as water, see note 17 above.
42 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoji, 32:82a b; translation adapted from Tseng, A Study
of the Nine Dragons Scroll,19.
43 Evidence of Song practices is negligible, but Yuan commentators specifically
understood Chen Rongs dragon paintings, like other dragon paintings, to be capable
of bringing rain. Liu Song (1321 1381), for example, linked Chen Rongs paintings to
bringing rain, as noted in the final line of a quatrain (qijue), Inscribed on Suowengs
(Chen Rongs) Ink Dragons (). Liu Song (1321 1381), Chaweng shiji, in skqse,
7:52a. On Fujian paintings and their miraculous rain-bringing powers, see Shih
Shou-chien, Shenhuan bianhua: You Fujian jia Chen Zihe kan Mingdai Daojiao
shuimohua zhi fazhan, Guoli Taiwan daxue meishushi yanjiu jikan 2 (1995): 47 74.
44 Chen Rong notes, for example, that Nine Dragons has Marvelous places [made by]
the tip of the brush, [places] lacking in the natural world (), the act
of painting capable of revealing otherwise unseen realms. Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu
baoji 32:82b. Chen also writes that his painting appears to have been copied by a
deity (), thereby emphasizing the resonance of his painting process with one
he putatively attributes to supernatural agents. Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoji 32:82b.
Following these statements about Chens painting process, a later Chen Rong prose
inscription on Nine Dragons calls that painting a divine object (shen wu), reinforcing
Chens claims as a purveyor of the paranormal. Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoji 32:82b.
On the perceived supernatural power of Chen, see also Wu Cheng (1249 1331), Wu
Wenzheng ji, in skqse, 29:10b.

279 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

45 On this painting practice, see Xia Wenyan, Tuhui baojian,4:7a.
46 Wang Yun, Qiujian ji, 95:9a b.
47 Wang Yun, Qiujian ji, 7:2a b, 95:8b 9a.
48 Zhao Wen (1239 1315), Qingshan ji, in skqse, 7:12a.
49 On Zhang Yucais use of dragon paintings to summon rain and snow, see Tao
Zongyi (b. 1316), Zhuogeng lu, in skqse, 10:8b 9a; Gu Sili ( jinshi 1712), Yuanshi xuan, in
skqse, Chu ji 40:29b, 62:26b 27a, 65:1a 2a. Elsewhere, Zhang Yucai is discussed with
respect to the ability of the Celestial Masters of Mount Longhu to turn back the tides.
Liu Xun (1240 1319), Yinju tongyi, in skqse, 30:11b 12b.
50 Song Lian (1310 1318), Yuan shi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1976) 202:4526 4527; see
also 19:401 402, 22:496 497. For an English-language overview of Zhang Yucai, see
WenC. Fong, Beyond Representation (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992),
362 367.
51 Mount Longhu appears to have long been open to external practices. Indeed, the
indigenous tradition of Thunder Rites at Mount Longhu may have originated in
Quanzhou and been transmitted to Jiangxi by Tan Zixiao (fl.935 939) at the fall of the
Min kingdom circa 945. Lowell Skar, Administering Thunder: A Thirteenth-Century
Memorial Deliberating the Thunder Rites, Cahiers dExtrme Asie 9 (1996 97): 159 202,
170. Mount Longhu received other Fujian rain rites. In 1215, Bai Yuchan (1194 1229),
a native of Minqing County, Fujian, principally active at Mount Wuyi, traveled
to Mount Longhu, where his corrections and intonation of the Mulang zhou, an
important ritual thunder spell, ended a drought that even the most accomplished
Daoist priests of Mount Longhu had failed to remedy; Bai Yuchan thus became a
celebrity at Longhu. Skar, Administering Thunder,199.
52 Dong Cigao (fl. mid-thirteenth century), colophon for Nine Dragons, dated 1306.
Transcribed in Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:83a; Tseng, A Study of the Nine
Dragons Scroll, 20. On Dong Cigao and his inscription, see Purtle, The Production,
241 242.
53 These are: a colophon dated 1331 written on Nine Dragons by Zhang Sicheng
(1287 1368), Thirty-ninth Celestial Master of Longhu shan; an undated colophon
by Wu Quanjie (1269 1350); an undated colophon by Ouyang Yuan (1273 1357); an
undated colophon by Zhang Zhu (1287 1368); and a colophon by Wang Boyi dated
1380. Transcription, Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:83a 85b; Tseng, A Study of the
Nine Dragons Scroll, 20 22.
54 Qian Weishan (fl.1341 1379), Jiangyue songfeng ji, in skqse, 3:11a.
55 Xia Wenyan, Tuhui baojian,4:7a.
56 These are the inscriptions of Zhang Sicheng and Wu Quanjie, noted above.
57 On Zhang Yucai, see Yuanren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, ed. Wang Deyi (Taipei: Xin
wenfeng chubanshe, 1979), vol.2, 1164; on Zhang Sicheng, see Yuanren zhuanji ziliao
suoyin, vol.2,1161.
58 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:83a; translation adapted from Tseng, A Study of
the Nine Dragons Scroll,20.
59 The resonance of pictorial form (splashed ink or pomo) and representational
content (rain drops) is apt in dragon paintings, especially when such paintings were
potentially used to summon rain. The technique of pomo was, however, popular in

280 Jennifer Purtle

China and Japan for rendering other pictorial subjects. For a succinct account of the
origins of pomo, see Valrie Malenfer-Ortiz, Dreaming the Southern Song Landscape: The
Power of Illusion in Chinese Painting (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1999), 101 103; see also Yukio
Lippit, Of Modes and Manners in Japanese Ink Painting: Sesshs Splashed Ink
Landscape of 1495, The Art Bulletin 94, no.1 (2012): 50 77, especially pp. 55 57.

60 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:83a b; Tseng, A Study of the Nine Dragons
Scroll,20.

61 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:83b; translation adapted from Tseng, A Study
of the Nine Dragons Scroll, 20. On Zhang Sengyou, see Zhang Yanyuan (fl. ninth
century), Lidai minghua ji, in skqse, 7:7b; on the Song sense of Liu Dongwei, see Pan
Zimu ( jinshi 1196), Jizuan yuanhai, in skqse, 87:50b.

62 There are no surviving Yuan texts known to me that specifically discuss the work
of Liu Dongwei. But a number of extant Song texts transmitted during the Yuan
make mention of him, as do some Ming dynasty texts. See, for example, Zeng Zao
(1091 1155), Lei shuo, in skqse, 8:30a; Fu Dayong (fl. thirteenth century) and Zhu
Mu (fl. thirteenth century), Gujin shiwen leiju, in skqse, houji 33:7a; Pan Zimu, Jizuan
yuanhai, 87:50a 51a; Chen Yaowen ( jinshi 1550), Tianzhong ji, in skqse, 56:23a b; Peng
Dayi (fl. sixteenth century), Shantang sikao, in skqse, 166:19b. Texts published during
the Yuan dynasty note Zhang Sengyou and his painting. These include, for example,
Tuotuo, Song shi, 444:13126; Xu Shuo ( jinshi 1268), Zhiyuan Jiahe zhi, in skqse, 2:2a;
Yuan Jue (1266 1327), Yanyou Siming zhi, in skqse, 7:5b 6a; Zhang Xuan (fl. fourteenth
century), Zhida Jinling xinzhi, in skqse, 14:43b 44b; Tang Hou (fl.1322), Hua jian, in
skqse, 16b; Sheng Ximing (fl. fourteenth century), Fashu kao, in skqse, 3:9b 10a; Xia
Wenyan, Tuhui baojian 1:3b, 2:3a b, 2:5a, 2:5b 6a; Wang Yun, Qiujian ji, 72:31b 32a; Yang
Weizhen (1296 1370), Dongweizi ji, in skqse, 11:11a 12a. Additionally, many extant
Song and Ming literary sources that mention Liu Dongwei also mention Zhang
Sengyou. See, for example, Zeng Zao, Lei shuo 7:6b, 15:2a, 54:10a, 58:19a; Zhu Mu, Gujin
shiwen leiju, houji 33:7a, qianji 40:3a b, houji 35:24b, bieji 24:6b 7a; Pan Zimu, Jizuan
yuanhai, 87:40b 43a, 87:50a 51a; Chen Yaowen, Tianzhong ji, 29:12a, 41:46b, 41:46b 47a,
41:47a, 41:47a b, 41:47b, 41:49b, 41:69a b, 52:51a b, 60:12a; Peng Dayi, Shantang sikao,
28:24b, 166:10b, 166:13a b, 166:17a b, 166:7b, 166:17b, 166:29a b, 166:42a. Tang Hou also
described the efficacy of dragon paintings of unstated authorship in bringing rain,
as evinced by a painting from the collection of the Qian family of Wu-Yue (907 978)
rulers, which bore the inscription Desiring, Pray for Rain to the Divine Dragon (
). Tang Hou, Hua jian,12b.

63 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:83b; translation adapted from Tseng, A Study of
the Nine Dragons Scroll,20.

64 While Zhang does not belabor the point, his lines suggest that he understood
the nine dragons to be immanent, living animals incarnate in manmade forms, a
sensibility with a long history in Daoism. The biography of Li Shoutai (fl. ca.740
ce) anthologized in the Taiping guangji (Extensive records of the Taiping Era), for
example, explains in great detail how living dragons inhabited the bodies made
for them by artists and artisans. Specifically, this tale describes the case of a bronze
mirror presented to the throne in 744. The tale unequivocally indicates that the
fabricated image of the dragon found on that mirror was in fact a real, living dragon,
appearing, as the text notes As [though animated by] life-motion (). Here the
term life motion is borrowed from the painter Xie Hes (act.ca.500 535?) Six Laws
of Painting (hua you liu fa). See Xie He, Gu hua pin lu, in Zhongguo shuhua quanshu,
ed. Lu Fusheng (Shanghai: Shanghai shuhua chubanshe, 2000), 1:1a. Furthermore,

281 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

this text clearly states that the mirror-dragon is no mere effigy, noting, This
mirror-dragon is a real dragon (Ci jinglong zhen long ye). Moreover, the text makes
explicit that the involvement of the mirror in bringing rain derived not from its
status as a ritual object, but because the mirror-dragon was a true dragon, a living
supernatural animal to whom rain prayers were addressed. In the case of this mirror,
the act of viewership afforded a rare moment in which human being faced supernat-
ural creature.
Access to this real dragon enabled it to become a portrait subject. The tale
concludes by noting that the Tang dynasty emperor Xuanzong (685 762; r.712 756)
arranged for his court painter Wu Daozi (act.ca.710 760) to sketch the image of the
mirror-dragon, a true dragon, to gift to the influential Daoist master Ye Fashan
(616 720) credited in the tale, albeit anachronistically (the tale records events from the
years 744 to 748 while Ye died in 720), for previously aiding Xuanzong in summoning
areal dragon to end a drought. Li Fang, Taiping guangji, 231:4a 6b, in skqse.
65 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:84a; translation adapted from Tseng, A Study of
the Nine Dragons Scroll,20.
66 For example, Zhang Zhu (1287 1368), a Hanlin academician and court historian
also famous as a poet, elaborates this sentiment. Zhang mentions, for example, that
Nine Dragons was shown to him by an immortal ( yuren), and that the painting
resides in the Hall of Thunder and Lightning (Leidian tang) at Mount Longhu. Zhang
Zhao, et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:84b; Tseng, A Study of the Nine Dragons Scroll, 21; on
Zhang Zhu, see Yuanren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, vol.2, 1049 1050. Moreover, in line 14 of
his colophon, Zhang Zhu suggests of Nine Dragons that [It] is as though this painting
[is able] to channel the numinous (). Zhang Zhao, et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:84b;
translation adapted from Tseng, A Study of the Nine Dragons Scroll,21.
67 Zhang Zhao et al., Shiqu baoqi, 32:84b; translation adapted from Tseng, A Study of
the Nine Dragons Scroll,21.
68 Wang Yun, Qiujian ji, 7:2a b, 95:8b 9b; Tang Hou, Hua jian,12b.
69 Anecdotes about the depiction of zoomorphs, such as Painting a Snake and
Adding Feet () from the Zhangguoce (Strategies of the Warring States), a text
edited into its modern form by Zeng Gong (1019 1083) during the eleventh century,
stressed the importance of verisimilitude. Gao You, Zhanguoce, annotated by Yao
Hong, in skqse, 9:3b 4b. This concern is also expressed by the sixth-century painting
theorist Xie He (fl.479 501), in the third of his Six Laws of Painting (hua you liufa),
Correspondence to the Object (), which means depicting the form. Xie He,
Gu hua pin lu 1:1a. Moreover, some ideas about representation of the supernatural,
such as the philosopher Han Feis (ca.280 233 bce) sense that demons, because they
are formless and not fully visible, are the easiest things to paint, also current in the
Song dynasty, understood the supernatural being to be easily rendered precisely
because it could be fabricated. Han Fei, Han Feizi, in skqse, 11:7b 8a.
70 In his Erya yi (Wings to the Erya [approaching correctness] encyclopedia), the
scholar Luo Yuan (1136 1184) notes that Wang Fu (76 157 ce) claimed, Customarily,
[when one] paints the appearance of a dragon, [it has] the head of a horse [and] the
tail of a snake (, ). Erya yi, vol.4, 28:297. Luo Yuan also noted that
there was also a saying that a dragon had nine resemblances ( jiu si), which included:
Horns like a deer; a head like a camel; eyes like a demon; a neck like a snake; a belly
like a sea serpent (shen), scales like a carp; claws like an eagle; paws like a tiger; ears
like an ox (, , , , , , , , ). Luo
Yuan, Erya yi, vol.4, 28:297.

282 Jennifer Purtle

71 Notably, the painting critic Zhang Yanyuan (act.ca.815 875) wrote that the painter
Zhang Sengyou had left four painted white dragons in the Anle temple in modern
Nanjing with their eyes unpainted, lest they fly away. When challenged to prove the
claim that the dragons would take flight when their eyes were painted, Zhang painted
the eyes, whereupon there was Thunder and lightning, and breaking through [the
temple] wall, a pair of dragons riding clouds soared forth and ascended the heavens;
as for the two dragons [whose] eyes had not been dotted, [they can be] seen [in] place
(, ; , ). Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji,7:7b.
72 Zhou Mi (1232 1308), in his Yunyan guoyan lu (Record of clouds and mists passing
before ones eyes), records objects collected by Zhang Yucai. These include a jade
seal ( yu yin), a ritual sword ( fa jian) with strange markings, an imperially bestowed
jade tablet ( yu gui), eight jade ornaments, a gold crown ( jin guan), and one collar for
a ritual robe ( fa yi yi ling). Zhou Mi (1232 1308), Yunyan guoyan lu, in skqse, 4:8a 9b;
translations adapted from Ankeney Weitz, Zhou Mis Record of Clouds and Mists Passing
Before Ones Eyes: An Annotated Translation (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2002), 212 213. Weitz
mistakenly identifies Zhangs given name as Yucun, rather than Yucai. On the correct
form of his name, see Yuanren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, vol.2,1164.
73 Xia Wenyan, Tuhui baojian 5:17a b, 5:17:b, 5:17b. Zhang Side (fl. ca.1368), younger
brother of Zhang Sicheng, served as the fortieth Celestial Master of Mount Longhu.
On Zhang Yucai as a dragon painter, see Cao Zhao, Xinzeng Ge gu yao lun, ed. Wang
Zuo (Changsha: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1939), 5:118. Additionally, a poem associated
with a snow prayer by Zhang Yucai reveals the literary context of ritual action. Gong
Shitai (1298 1362), Wanzhai ji, in skqse, 4:10a b.
74 Liu Kezhuang, Houcun xiansheng daquan ji, 108:19b.
75 Zhuang Su, Huaji buyi,1:6.
76 Wang Yun, Qiujian ji, 66:11b 12a.
77 Wu Taisu (fl. mid-fourteenth century), Songzhai meipu, ed. Shimada Shjir
(Hiroshima: Hiroshima Shiritsu Ch Toshokan, 1988), 14:302a.
78 Xia Wenyan, Tuhui baojian,4:7a.

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Xu Quanxue . Zizhi tongjian houbian (Latter draft of the
comprehensive mirror to aid in government). See Wenyuange siku quanshu
neilian wangban.
Xu Shuo . Zhiyuan Jiahe zhi (Zhiyuan era [1335 1341] gazetteer of
Jiahe). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Xu Zizhi tongjian changbian (Long draft of the continuation of the
comprehensive mirror to aid in government). Taipei: Shijie shuju,1964.
Xuanhe huapu (Painting catalog of the Xuanhe era; preface dated 1120).
See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Yang Weizhen . Dongweizi ji (Collected works of Yang Weizhen).
See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Yang Yi . Wuyi xin ji (Collected works of Yang Yi). See Wenyuange
siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Yao Mian . Xuepo ji (Collected works of Yao Mian). See Wenyuange
siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Ye Mengde . Yeshi Chunqiu zhuan (Master Yes commentary to
the spring and autumn annals). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Yu Ji . Daoyuan xuegu lu (Record of studying antiquity in the
Daoist garden). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
. Daoyuan yigao (Manuscripts from the Daoist garden). See
Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Yuan Hua . Gengxuezhai shiji (Poetry anthology of Yuan Hua). See
Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Yuan Jue . Yanyou Siming zhi (Yanyou era [1314 1321] gazetteer of
Siming [Ningbo]). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Yuanren zhuanji ziliao suoyin (Index to biographical materials
of Yuan figures). Edited by Wang Deyi et al. Taipei: Xin wenfeng
chubanshe,1979.
Zeng Zao . Lei shuo (Classified phrases). See Wenyuange siku quanshu
neilian wangban.
Zhang Xuan . Zhida Jinling xinzhi (Zhida era [1308 1312] gazet-
teer of Jinling [Nanjing]). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.

287 The Pictorial Form of a Zoomorphic Ecology

Zhang Yanyuan . Lidai minghua ji (A record of famous histor-
ical painters). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Zhang Zhao et al. Shiqu baoji (Precious book box of the stone
canal). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Zhang Zhu . Tuian ji (Collected works of Zhang Zhu). See Wenyuange
siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Zhao Wen . Qingshan ji (Collected works of Zhao Wen). See
Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Zhen Dexiu . Xishan wenji (Collected works of Zhen Dexiu). See
Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Zhou Mi . Yunyan guoyan lu (Record of clouds and mists passing
before ones eyes). See Wenyuange siku quanshu neilian wangban.
Zhuang Su . Huaji buyi (Supplement to the Huaji [painting,
continued], 1298). Beijing: Renmin meishu chubanshe,1964.

288 Jennifer Purtle

chapter8
The Political Animal: Metaphoric Rebellion in
ZhaoYongs Painting of Heavenly Horses
Jerome Silbergeld

The fourth-centurybce logician Gongsun Long constructed a famous

dialogue around the proposition, Can it be that a white horse is not a
horse? Whatever the answer, the question arose because of a transforma-
tional use of language and rhetoric that was then overwhelming the older
Chinese systems of belief. Forever after, in text and image, a horse would
never be simply a horse.1

how can a horse be more than a horse?

One look at the eye of Ren Renfas (1255 1328) fat horse (figs.8.1, 8.2)
should be enough to suggest something happening beyond the beautiful
rendering of horse flesh, something more human than animal. That
raised eyebrow, reinforced line above line, and that exaggerated, reddened
tear duct that bears little resemblance to a real horses eye (fig.8.3) endow
it with an expression that can only be anthropomorphic.2 If not for its
overriding significance, this telltale feature would be all the more incon-
gruous in a painting that is otherwise as realistic as it gets in Chinese
horse painting, right down to the careful depiction of certain body parts
that many Western artists would shy away from. So just what does this
expressive detail express? Is it worry, or concern? Is it sadness? Is this
eyebrow raised quizzically, or perhaps accusingly? Is this horse crying?
We can do better than to just guess, for Ren Renfa has provided this
painting with a detailed inscription that fully justifies his purpose. In
it, we discover the intention behind the fatness of this horse and the

289
figure 8.1
Ren Renfa, Two Horses,
Fat and Lean, ca.1300.
Handscroll, ink and colors
on silk, 28.994cm.
Palace Museum, Beijing.

boniness of the horse that follows him in this famous painted scroll,
TwoHorses, Fat and Lean, and we can understand why the horse is beauti-
fully colored while its lonely follower is not. Both image and inscription
make it evident that this scroll was executed as a rejoinder to some other
painting or paintings popular at that time, like the one surviving depic-
tion by Gong Kai (1222 1307) of a starving horse (fig.8.4). Gong Kais
inscription should be read first; it consists of a poem that has become
well known and is followed by a short essay that has not, both of which
are about horses and people or better, anthropomorphically, horses
that can be viewed as people or groups of people from that time. Gongs
is a lament for the condition of those scholars in the early years of
Mongol rule in China who have lost their traditional place as leaders of
society and government: in the afterglow of a fallen dynasty (a setting
sun) with no legitimate ruler (clouds and mist now obscuring the
link between Heaven and earth), the offices of government (the rulers
stables) are now empty of talented men (noble steeds, thousand-li
horses), who have become outcasts (along a sandy shore) and reduced
to mere shadows of their former selves, even as those shadows loom large
(like mountains) because of their noble refusal to serve illegitimate or
unrighteous rulers.

290 Jerome Silbergeld

 Ever since the clouds and mist fell upon the HeavenlyPass,
Empty have been the twelve stables of the previous dynasty.
Who is there today to lament over the bones of this noble
steed?
In the setting sun, along the sandy shore, he casts a shadow
like a mountain.3

One of the classics [the Xiang ma jing, or Classic of judging horses,

attributed to Bole] says that a horses ribs should be slender and
numerous. An ordinary horse has only ten ribs. One with more
than this is a noble steed. Only a thousand-li horse has as many
as fifteen ribs. If you want to paint the bones beneath the flesh,
especially if you intend to make fifteen ribs visible, they will only
be visible if the horse is emaciated. Therefore I have made this
image in order to show that the extraordinary deterioration of this
thousand-li horse is not something to be avoided.

One can count the ribs of Gong Kais deteriorated horse virtue made
visible by the test of hard times to measure the fidelity of the image to
histext.

291 The Political Animal

 History has been kinder than the Mongols were to the displaced
loyalists of the Yuan period the lean horses of their day. But Ren
Renfa reminds us that there was more than one side to this story. Ren
was a skilled hydrologist, a critical specialty among many members of
Chinas educated ruling class, from the semimythical sage ruler Yu to the
recent Chinese president and Communist Party general secretary, Hu
Jintao, and including along the way a number of well-known painters
and critics. The significance of this profession in flood mitigation will be
illustrated in the course of this chapter, and although Ren placed first in
a local civil service examination in 1272, under the Song administration,
he considered his services essential to the peoples well-being, whoever
occupied the nations throne. After the demise of the Song, he served
the Mongol government continuously until a year before his death.4 His
painting and inscription seem to respond to Gong Kai by saying, Whoa!
This issue is not so simple. Ones reasons for serving or not serving, he
insists, are complex, and without knowing these reasons, these internal
motivations, you could no more pass judgment on any given scholars
virtue than you can judge a horse by its colors. Rens inscription begins
by immediately drawing attention to his status as a government official
(as do the rein wound conspicuously around the neck of his fat horse and
the courtly style of his painting, meticulously drawn and richly colored),
and it concludes by anticipating that many of his readers will likely not
appreciate the subtlety of his argument or might simply disagree with his
political position:

In my spare time away from official duties, I depicted these two

horses, fat and lean. The fat one displays a marvelous bone struc-
ture and wears a rein, and he stands tall and erect. Although sated
with hay and grain, this is better than stumbling along a course
without direction. The lean ones hide and hair are peeling away;
he gnaws on coarse grass and stands in the frost and wind. And
yet, although he seems to be ending his life as an outcast, he
doesnt have the burden of galloping all day for his evening feed.
Truly, there are different kinds of motivation just like this;
and among the scholar-officials of this age, their differences
some chaste, some profligate are just like the fat and lean. If
one remains lean, yet fattens the whole nation, he will not be
lacking in purity. But, on the contrary, if one seeks to fatten only
oneself and emaciate the masses, how will he not bequeath a
shameful reputation for corruption? So if you judge a horse only
by its external appearance, you really will come to feel ashamed.

292 Jerome Silbergeld

figure 8.2 Therefore, I have inscribed the end of this scroll to await those
Ren Renfa, Two Horses,
Fat and Lean (detail).
who will understandit.

figure 8.3
Photographer unknown, Two scholar-painters who not only understood Ren Renfas thesis but
ca.1975, the race horse might also have sympathized with his motivation were Zhao Mengfu
Secretariat.
(1254 1322) and his son, Zhao Yong (1289 ca.1363), whose lives and
official careers spanned most of the era of Mongol rule in China. Both
father and son painted horses that were not just horses. The symbolic
depiction of horse painting was given its first major introduction by
the late Professor Chu-tsing Li in his article on the Freer Sheep and
Goat and Chao Meng-fus Horse Paintings.5 The animal species paired
in Professor Lis publication title (fig.8.5) linked Zhao Mengfu to the
history of two famed late Han dynasty generals, the loyalist Su Wu
and the traitor Li Ling. Through this double pairing, together with a
painting of Su Wu as herdsmen that Zhao owned, Li showed how Zhao
had engaged the same issue encountered by Ren Renfa and Gong Kai,
of when to offer ones service to the government and when to stand by
a principled refusal.6 Li wrote of the proud air of the sheep (with its
head held high) and the humiliation of the goat (with its lowered head),
identifying the latter with Zhao, who, he claimed, always carried the
moral burden of his betrayal of the Song, having served at the Mongol
court, and expressed it in some of his poetry and painting.7 From my
personal experience long ago as a goat herd, I must protest. Sheep are

293 The Political Animal

figure 8.4 but followers for whom the herdsman needs a goat or two to help guide
Gong Kai, Lean Horse,
ca.1300. Handscroll,
his flock; the sheep holds its head high out of mere stupidity, and when
ink on paper, 3057cm. the infinitely more clever goat lowers its head, it is time to watch out.
Osaka Municipal Whether or not one is convinced of Zhaos moral burden (after all, of
Museum of Fine Arts,
Abe Collection. his numerous followers in art and generations of his family offspring,
including his son Zhao Yong, virtually every one went into government
service), I am not inclined to see Zhao here as identifying himself with
either sheep or goat (the political equivalents here of lean horse and fat
horse, respectively), although Zhao was certainly no sheepish follower.
Rather, I imagine him portraying the striking difference between the two
and insisting that he was well aware of the difference, fully conscious of
the moral choice that he was obliged to make even if that choice might
prove unpopular. If so, then like Ren Renfa he would have been insisting
that his audience not be so quick to judge one way or the other but
instead give the complexities of the matter some generous consideration,
as todays audience must alsodo.8
In the early years of the Yuan, Gong Kai, Ren Renfa, and Zhao Mengfu
raised horse painting to new heights as an intellectual enterprise. This
anthropomorphic theme grew during the Yuan period in the richness
of associations and range of historical lore that it called upon. Nearing
the close of this short-lived period, Zhao Yongs Noble Steeds ( Junma tu)
of 1352 (fig.8.6), with long poetic inscriptions by Wang Guoqi and Liu
Yong, built on these foundations and demonstrated a complexity that Ren
Renfas painting could only hint at. The multivalence of these horses as

294 Jerome Silbergeld

symbols facilitated expressions both in support of dissident refusal and
loyal defense of government service. Given the range of possible inter-
pretations it sustains, Zhao Yongs painting and its inscriptions present
apuzzle to be solved and, for some, a surprise.

the heavenly horse in chinese political rhetoric

In the early seventh century, Li Xu, the prince of Jiangdu, nephew of the
first Tang emperor, and one of the earliest Chinese artists to win fame as
a painter of horses, wrote,

Those scholars who are particularly fond of painting horses

take them as a metaphor [ yan], for in the range of mens talents
there will be those who are worn-out horses and those who are
thoroughbreds, the slow and the swift, the reclusive and the illus-
trious, those who are fortunate and those who are obstructed. So
they are an exact parallel to the scholars wandering in pursuit of
official position. Nor are [the painters] alone in this for poets, too,
entrust their feelings to this subject.9

Not only was the horse used as an analogy for the Chinese scholars
political talents, but it was also a metaphor for the manner in which
various rulers treated their scholars and, still further, a portent by which
Heaven revealed either its mandate for such rulers to come to power or
its intention to strip them of their authority. These analogies did not all
emerge at once historically but developed serially, overtime.
In early dynastic times, under the Shang and Zhou, as in many
developing states of that time, the horse was a critical factor in the
establishment of military hegemony and, hence, political authority. The
continuing warfare between the Chinese and their northern neighbors,
which dominated the history of Chinas foreign affairs, was predicated
on the superior horse breeding and riding ability of these widely
roaming nomadic neighbors, in contrast to the settled and spatially
constricted ecology of the Chinese. Therefore the horse, along with its
other suggested meanings and perhaps earliest among them, carried
military associations for the Chinese: The horse is the symbol of battle.
It portends cruel warfare. So the horse is a portentous omen.10 Mozi, in
the war-torn fifth centurybce, used this simile: The whole world has
for a long time been plagued by warfare and is as weary as a little boy
who has spent the day playing horse.11 Neither the historical details of
the importation and adaptation of the horse as the warriors vehicle, first

295 The Political Animal

with chariot and later directly mounted by the archer, nor the important
matter of horse breeding are of specific concern here.12 Comment must
be limited to the ways in which such matters found their way into schol-
arly culture and parlance, into the language of Zhao Yongs painting
and its added poems. Yet our artist and poets were well aware of and
drew upon many historic details that formed the later literary lore of the
horse. These details include, for example, that from early times in the
breeding and acquisition of horses, for lack of adequate pasturage the
Chinese were frequently dependent on their barbarian enemy for these
weapons of war. In early times, the best native horse-breeding ground
was in the border region of northern Ji, now thought to be in the desolate
northern half of modern Shanxi Province.13
Of greater importance is the way the horse became a symbol not only
of authority but, by extension, of political legitimacy. A good scholar of
the Yijing, the classic of divination, and its subsequent commentaries
might have traced in its imagery the developing significance of the
horse to the Zhou people. In the original corpus of divinatory images,
dating back to the tenth centurybce, the most significant appearance
of the horse was as the female of this docile species, symbolizing the
pure-yin hexagram, kun: The Receptive brings about sublime success,
furthering through the perseverance of a mare.14 By the late Zhou period,
however, following the evolution in China from horse-drawn chariots to
horse-riding archers, the evolving image of the horse, now male, appears

296 Jerome Silbergeld

< figure 8.5
Zhao Mengfu, Sheep and
Goat, ca.1300. Handscroll,
ink on paper, 25.248.4 Receptive [kun] is yielding. The Arousing [zhen] means movement. . . .
cm. Freer Gallery of Art,
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C.
in the Shuogua commentary and rivals the great dragon as a dynamic
symbol, in the pure-yang trigram, qian: The Creative is strong. The
The Creative acts in the horse, the Receptive in the cow, the Arousing in
the dragon.15 Such divinatory imagery, of course, was not regarded as
manmade but as Heaven-ordained, like the heavenly manifestations with
which the horse was identified.
The extension of this imagery into the realm of politics came in the
form of heavenly portents symbolizing Heavens mandate. Among the
early portents of this kind was a horse-like beast known as Cheng Huang
(literally, the yellow mount), referred to by the philosopher Guan
Zhong (ca.684 645 bce) in his response to Duke Huan of Qi (d. 643
bce). The most powerful man of his time, Duke Huan complained that
while his war chariots controlled all under Heaven, including peripheral
regions where tattooed and blackened-toothed peoples dwelt and offered
obeisance, in his own home state his mandate was not recognized and
he was demeaned. Guan Zhongs reply was to challenge Duke Huans
authority, given the absence of Heaven-sent portents:
Paired phoenixes and the luan-bird do not descend, while
flocks of eagles and barn-owls flourish and the host of divine
spirits does not appear. Those who observe the tortoise-ritual
make no reports of divinations, [yet the people] do their own
divining by grain-grasping and repeatedly hit the mark. Timely
rains and sweet dew do not descend, whirlwinds and storms
come frequently. The five grains do not flourish, domesticated
animals fail to thrive, while weeds and brambles take over. You
see, the meaning of the paired-phoenixes is that when virtue and
righteousness precede, glory will follow. To those of former times
who received the mandate, the dragon and tortoise appeared, the
[Yellow] River sent forth diagrams and the Luo River its books,
and the earth sent forth Cheng Huang. Although there are those
today who, not having seen these three good omens [the diagrams,
the book, and the horse-like Cheng Huang], still claim to have
received the mandate of Heaven, have they not all missedit?16
Not content to passively await the appearance of such horses, nor
distinguishing between real war horses and mythic heavenly mounts,
the activist Han emperor Wu Di (reigned 140 87bce) introduced a
well-known chapter into the history of Chinese horse lore with his deter-
mined pursuit of a finer strain of horses than the Chinese had previously
297 The Political Animal
encountered, thought to have descended from Heaven. These horses,
like dragons, were celestial yet water-born and were said to have emerged
supernaturally from the Wowa River of Gansu (a tributary of the Dang
River, near present-day Anxi); but their natural origins lay still farther
west, in distant Dayuan (probably Ferghana, in present-day Uzbekistan).
They were described as sweating blood and as having tiger-like mark-
ings on their backs. The best of them, it was claimed, could gallop a
thousand li in a day and could keep pace with the lofty dragon of Chinese
mythology. Wu Di sent a succession of massive military missions into
the region, and as success finally followed his initial defeats, this venture
radically expanded the western borders of the young Han empire. The
acquisition of a superior strain of fighting horse was surely one of Wu
Dis motives; he was no less motivated by the desire for a Heavenly
Horse that could draw him up to Heaven, or to the mountaintop abode
of the Queen Mother of the West, so that he could gain immortality.17
Inthe early histories of the period it is recorded,

Once [120 bce] a spirit-horse came forth from the waters of the
Wowa River, and this was made into the Song of Taiyi [the
Supreme One, a lofty deity worshiped at that time]. The lyricssay,

Taiyi offers tribute, the Heavenly Horse descends, Bathed in

red sweat, foaming umber froth,
Ranging broadly in play, dashing a thousand li. Where, now, is
his mate? The dragon is his friend.

Subsequently, [Wu Di] attacked Dayuan and obtained a thousand-

li horse, named Pushao. Thereafter [101 bce], this was made into
a song, the verse to whichsays,

. . . The Heavenly Horses are coming,

Coming from the Far West.
They crossed the Flowing Sands,
For the barbarians are conquered.
The Heavenly Horses are coming
That issued from the waters of a pool.
Two of them have tiger backs [striped markings];
They can transform themselves like spirits
The Heavenly Horses are coming
Across the pasturelesswilds
A thousand li at a stretch,

298 Jerome Silbergeld

 Following the easternroad.
The Heavenly Horses are coming;
Jupiter is in the Dragon [101 bce].
Should they choose to soar aloft,
Who could keep pace withthem?
The Heavenly Horses are coming;
Open the gates while there istime.
They will draw me up and carryme
To the Holy Mountain of Kunlun.
The Heavenly Horses havecome
And the Dragon will follow in theirwake.
I shall reach the Gates of Heaven,
I shall see the Palace ofGod.18

Wu Dis longing for a horse-drawn ascent up the sacred slopes of

the Kunlun mountains was not without precedent, nor was he the first
famous ruler to have been so closely associated with the horse. At least
according to the fictionalized narration in the Mutianzi zhuan (one of
the Bamboo Books supposedly recovered in 279ce from the tomb of
King Xiang of Wei, who died in 295bce), King Mu (traditional reign dates,
1001 947 bce) was the first to ride extensively outside Chinas borders,
climaxing his spontaneously begun journey through the western regions
by a dash up the Kunlun peaks, where he was hosted by the Daoist
immortal, Queen Mother of the West. King Mu was associated with eight
famed, named steeds that in later times lent their identity and their
varied appearances to virtually any Chinese painting of eight horses, the
best known perhaps being the bay stallion, Hualiu, who drew King Mus
chariot on his westward journey.19
After Wu Dis retrieval of actual dragon-horses from Ferghana, horse
portents were no longer found only among such phantom horses as
Cheng Huang. Real horses, ordinary horses, as well were seen as doing
Heavens bidding, signaling Heavens favor and disfavor. Such signals
were numerous and greatly varied:

When a horse eats sand and gravel, this portends that the valorous
knights in strenuous battle will be victorious in their campaign.
When a herd of horses neighs in the morning, this means that at
court [morning and court being written the same in Chinese]
is heard the sound of a valorous ruler whose troops should be on
distant marches, whose military incursions can only be victorious.
If the horses neigh lamentingly, there will be great mourning. If

299 The Political Animal

 horses neigh in the night, enemy soldiers will come upon you. If
the horses stamp on the ground and will not eat, this portends a
thousand li march into battle. If they neigh constantly, morning
and night, without cease, this portends the coming of rapacious
enemies. If the horses and donkeys will not eat hay and pace
around their stalls with a howling sound, there will be destruction
and calamities. If the horses suddenly ward off their masters with
neighing, the population will become divided and dispersed. If
war horses at the chariot become anxious and neigh lamentingly,
this is a sound of homesickness. No matter whether they retreat or
not, they will be defeated.
When a horse bears an offspring with three feet, the high
officials are without talent and cannot accomplish their missions.
When a horse gives birth to an offspring with no tail, then soldiers
arise, the nation is weak, the sovereign dies without followers. One
eye, then the sovereign is weak and his generals in the military
are weak. Three eyes or more, the officials control the sovereign
authority. Two mouths or more, the nation is lost in the confu-
sion of battle. Three nostrils or more, the people are vagrants, the
legitimate authority is not carried out, the military does not use
the legitimate authority. Three feet, the district magistrate will die.
Two genitals or more, warfare. A white horse with red mane: when
an emperor is willing to use men of virtue and great worth, and
those who rise to his service are men of proper standards, then
this horse appears. When a horse uses human language, this is a
portent that speaks of disorder within the land. Good and evil are
like this language.20

Clearly, horses (and not horses alone) bore close scrutiny and listening
to by those concerned with the maintenance of authority.
Note the number of these omens in which there is an identification
of the horse not simply with the ruler but, by extension, with the recruit-
ment of good officials, civil as well as military, whose support, like that of
Heaven itself, was needed to sustain the ruler in his righteousness, and
thus in authority. This is implicit, too, in the well-known account given
by the historian Ban Gu (first centuryce) of the horse who serves [ren
yong, literally, is employed in office, like scholars by the emperor] and
isstrong:

When the chronicles speak of the sovereign not being supreme,

they mean not firmly established [dynastically]. His retribution

300 Jerome Silbergeld

 is mental confusion; he is punished by perpetual clouds; his
supremacy [has become] enfeebled. At times there will suddenly
appear archer portents, at times calamities of dragons and
serpents, at times horse portents. In the Yijing, qian [the first
hexagram, whose image is Heaven, composed of all yang lines]
is [represented as] the sovereign, as the horse. The horse serves
and is strong. If the spirit of the sovereign is impaired, calamitous
horse portents will appear. The comment about horses dying and
becoming apparitions refers tothis.21

This development in the identification of the horse with scholar-

officials was not new in Ban Gus time and can be traced further back
into late Zhou, when the scholar class was first emerging. Already by the
fourth centurybce, this tendency can be seen as diverging along two
different rhetorical paths, both of them skeptical, secularist, leaving the
issue of Heaven-sent portents behind them. One was concerned with the
obligation for employment and proper treatment of good scholars by
the administration (Confucianistic, if you will), and the other set forth
the contrarian notion that hardly anything proper can be achieved
by government anyhow (Daoist, as it were). In surviving literature, the
Daoist use of this body of metaphor might appear as the earliest, but so
mature is its locution in the Zhuangzi as to suggest that the rhetorical
conflict was already well advanced by that time. In the Zhuangzi, the care
of horses is a ready analog for governance, and as might be expected the
attitude is minimalist: the less handling the better. One demonstration
of this is the following passage in which the Yellow Emperor questions
an enlightened young boy (eternally young, no doubt), whose advice has
been recommended tohim:

Its true that the governing of the empire is not something that
need concern you, Sir, said the Yellow Emperor. Nevertheless,
Iwould like to ask you how it should be done. The young boy
made excuses [not to answer], but when the Yellow Emperor
repeated his request, the boy said, Governing the empire I
suppose is not much different from herding horses. Get rid
of whatever is harmful to the horses thats all. The Yellow
Emperor, addressing the boy as Heavenly Master, bowed twice,
touching his head to the ground, and retired.22

In other passages of the Zhuangzi, this analogical approach is

developed further in reference to the natural state of the horse and its

301 The Political Animal

enslavement at the hands of men so as to proclaim the unnaturalness
of the entire political order. Several of these passages irreverently
controvert the comfortable Confucian analog, evidently already well
developed, between the role of Bole (or Bo Le, whose proper name was
Sun Yang), known as Chinas best judge of horses,23 and the central role
prescribed for the ruler as a recruiter of virtuous gentlemen, implying
that any scholar who goes into government ought to expect (if not actu-
ally deserve) the worst:

Horses hoofs are made for treading frost and snow, their coats
for keeping out wind and cold. To munch grass, drink from the
stream, lift up their feet and gallop this is the true nature of
horses. Though they might possess great terraces and fine halls,
they would have no use for them. Then along comes Bole. Im
good at handling horses! he announces, and proceeds to singe
them, shave them, pare them, brand them, bind them with
martingale and crupper, tie them up in stable and stall. By this
time two or three out of ten horses have died. He goes on to
starve them, make them go thirsty, race them, prance them, pull
them into line, force them to run side by side, in front of them
the worry of bit and rein, behind them the terror of whip and
crop. By this time over half the horses have died. . . . Yet genera-
tion after generation sings out in praise, saying, Bole is good
at handling horses! . . . And the same fault is committed by the
men who handle the affairs of the world! In my opinion someone
who is really good at handling horses would not go about it
likethis.24

The corrupting of horses by their stewards (in other words, of court

officers by their political environment) is labeled by the Zhuangzi, the
crime of Bole:

When horses live on the plain, they eat grass and drink from the
streams. Pleased, they twine their necks together and rub; angry,
they turn back to back and kick. This is all horses know how to
do. But if you pile poles and yokes on them and line them up in
crossbars and shafts, then they will learn to snap the crossbars,
break the yoke, rip the carriage top, champ the bit, and chew
the reins. Thus horses learn how to commit the worst kinds of
mischief. This is the crime ofBole.25

302 Jerome Silbergeld

 The alternative to the Zhuangzi is well expressed, much later on, by
the proto-neo-Confucianist Han Yu (768 829), who similarly lamented
the mistreatment of scholars in his time but urged reform at the top and
not, as the Daoists would have it, opening wide the stable doors:

If in our time we had a Bole, then we would have thousand-li

horses. There are always thousand-li horses, but there are not
always [men like] Bole. Therefore, although there are famous
horses, they get no more than abuse from their grooms, or are
crowded to death in their stalls, without being able to establish
their reputations as thousand-li horses. Now, the thousand-li
horse consumes a full picul of grain at a single feeding. But those
today who feed these horses are ignorant of their ability to travel
a thousand li between feedings. So although these horses could
travel a thousand li, if they are not fed their fill, their strength
will not be adequate, their talent and beauty will not be apparent.
Moreover, if you treat them like ordinary horses, it cannot be
done, and how can you expect them to be capable of doing a
thousand li? They are whipped, but not in accord with their basic
principles; they are fed, but not so that they can attain their real
ability; they neigh, but are not understood. Those who approach
them, whip in hand, say that no good horses exist today. But really,
are there actually no good horses, or rather is there no one who
understands horses?26

Han Yus rhetoric is interesting for its metaphor locating the problem
of good government not with the horses but with their grooms, yet
his critique lacks specificity. In a lament for two of his closest friends
snatched up for government use, he extends the metaphor to Boles
depletion of the northern Ji herds, which, he suggests idealistically, will
always continue to produce good stock:

Bole once travelled through the wilderness country in the north

of Ji and, by the time he was done, the herds were totally depleted.
Now the horses of northern Ji were the most numerous on earth.
Although Bole had a fine knowledge of horses, how could he have
totally depleted these herds? Those who explain this say that when
they speak of totally depleting, they dont mean there were no
more horses, rather no more good horses. Bole knew good horses.
When he came across a good one, he snatched it at once and there
werent any good ones left in the herds. So if there are no good

303 The Political Animal

 ones, although we say there are no horses at all, this saying isnt
devoid of meaning.
The Eastern Capital [Luoyang] is certainly the northern Ji of
scholar-officials. They rely on talent, deep and hidden from view,
not on public display. On the north bank of the Luo River [lived]
Mr. Shi [Shi Hong, whom Han Yu had similarly sent off to Heyang
the previous year]. On the south bank [lives] Mr. Wen. Now, three
months after Mr. Wu, with axes and halberds, pacified Heyang, he
noticed Mr. Shis talent and using politeness as a net, he snared
him and got him under this tent. Not many months had passed
and he noticed Mr. Wens talent. With Mr. Shi as go-between and
using politeness as his net, he snared another and got him into
his tent. I still feel the Eastern Capital had many scholars of talent.
If you pick one man [each] morning, you can pluck one that is
exceptional; and if you pick one man [each] evening, you can still
pick one that is exceptional. From the Governor of Henan [Zheng
Yuqing] to the various officials, all are concerned with these two
scholars of ours from the two counties [on either side of the Luo
River]. In government, sometimes things get snarled up, in affairs
some things are suspect. But how can one counsel them to remain
in retirement?27

These literary precedents and many others were well known to Zhao
Yong and his poetic friends, and they provided the conceptual foundations
for the poetic writings and allusive paintings that drew upon this theme
in later times. They coalesced into a number of set themes, available for
just the right occasions: tribute horses (a staple theme in the vocabulary
of government propaganda); high-strung horses tethered to stakes (repre-
senting fine scholars lassoed into government service); washing horses
(a sign of good grooming of the scholars by the ruler, or an admonitory
notice of the contrary, as well as a reminder of their original association
with the dragon); the fat horses and lean (scholar officials, recruited by
their rulers or not, figuring in the debate over whether or not to serve),
from the tradition of abused horses found in passages of Zhuangzi and
in painting dating as far back as the emaciated horses of Li Yuanchang,
seventh son of the first Tang emperor, enfeoffed as the Prince ofHan.28
The visual counterpart of this literary heritage, the horse-painting
traditions attached to named artists and dating back to the Jin dynasty
painter Shi Daoshi (d. 300 ce), are not as well preserved and known to
us today.29 Even by Zhaos time, the stylistic traditions of the greatest of
horse painters, Wei Yan, Cao Ba, and his follower Han Gan of the eighth

304 Jerome Silbergeld

century and Li Gonglin of the eleventh century, were already better
known through copies and works done loosely in their manner than
through original works. The fundamental distinction between the artistic
rivals Cao Ba and Han Gan could only be seen by stretching ones imag-
ination around critical fragments, like Du Fus famous lines written
to Cao and partial to him: [Han Gan] paints only the outward flesh; he
does not know how to suggest the bone within rather than accurately
visualized through authentic works.30 How little we can rely on such
sources is a point driven home by Zhang Yanyuans comment on Du Fu
a century later: I, Yanyuan, consider that Du Fu certainly knew nothing
about painting. For just because Gans horses are fat and big, he ridicules
him for painting flesh! . . . The Emperor Xuanzong was fond of big horses
and the Imperial Stables contained up to four hundred thousand of
them.31 So today, a millennium later, it is even more difficult to picture
the stylistic options available to Zhao Yong beyond the two alternative
generalities: one, brightly colored pigments, careful draftsmanship, and
heightened attention to natural detail; the other relying primarily on ink,
subtle modeling washes, and plain-line drawing a distinction that was
in no way limited to the subject of horses. By Zhaos time, the former was
already loosely associated with archaism and the Sui-Tang period, the
latter with Li Gonglins more scholastic style (although in fact both types
could be found in Tang as well as Song, and both Li Gonglin and Zhao
Mengfu practiced the literary style with Tang precedents in mind).32
Both alternatives were practiced by Zhaos father, Zhao Mengfu, the next
great name in horse painting after Cao, Han, andLi.33
Significantly, Ren Renfas painting was done in what later was
regarded as Tang style, thickly colored by means of mineral pigments
and precise in its details, and we might well imagine that the audience
for this work was expected to recognize the link being forged here
between style and content: the courtly style donned by a servant of
the court, as in the case of Ren Renfa, in contrast to the literary style
adopted by the political absentees like the Song loyalist Gong Kai. We
need not assume that before them any such linkage had yet been manu-
factured Qian Xuan (1235 before 1307), for example, provides us with
a dissident message wrapped in the Tang court style.34 But given the
influence of Gong Kai and Ren Renfa in their generation, we might
imagine that after their time some kind of linkage between style and
content would be hard for Yuan artists to ignore.
Clearly, then, Zhao Yongs Noble Steeds of 1352 was painted, and its
inscriptions written, in a context of established precedents, of known
themes, poetic allusions, and alternative painting styles already invested

305 The Political Animal

 figure 8.6
Zhao Yong, Noble Steeds,
1352. Hanging scroll,
ink and colors on silk,
186106cm. National
Palace Museum, Taipei.

306 Jerome Silbergeld

with politically charged significance. That the troubled Yuan should have
been a great age in the development of this genre, and perhaps its last
hurrah, is not surprising. As Chu-tsing Li has written,

There are a number of reasons for this revival. The most obvious
was the demand created by the new ruling group, the Mongols,
whose love of the horse was well known. . . . There were, however,
other reasons for the new popularity of horse paintings. One
was the attempt, on the part of the intellectual leaders, to find a
relevant way for art to meet the challenge growing out of the new
political situation.35

What part Zhao Yong, Wang Guoqi, and Liu Yong might have played in
this new situation will be examinednext.

zhao yongs career in late yuan politics

Zhao Yong was not one to provide his own paintings with lengthy
inscriptions. His inscription of 1352 (see fig.8.6) merely carries a single
line, in the upper left corner, that offers no title, no rationale, only a
date and signature: Twelfth year of the Zhizheng period, the renchen
year [1352], spring, second month. Painted by Zhongmu [Zhao Yong].36
Nothing quite stands out here, although the date itself will be significant,
except for the artists use of the governments own reign date, Zhizheng
not a mark of anti-Mongol sentiment or political recalcitrance on his
part. The poetic inscriptions of Liu Yong and Wang Guoqi (Zhao Yongs
brother-in-law), texts rather than image, are what we must rely on to
understand the meaning of this work, inscriptions that themselves are
not dated. It should therefore be questioned whether the painter and the
poets were like-minded in their political outlook, whether their views
could also have been his. This task is complicated by the fact that none of
these individuals is well-recorded historically, and only a handful of their
personal writings survives, so we can only be partially successful, at best,
in this endeavor.
Zhao Yong was born in Wuxing in the year 1289, the year that Zhao
Mengfu returned from a three-year tour of duty in north China to marry
Guan Daosheng (1262 1319). There is evidence that he was Zhao Mengfus
second son and the product of Zhaos second marriage. While a thorough
biography is not possible, neither is one needed here. What is critical is
the question of his political allegiances, as in the cases of Gong Kai and
Ren Renfa. Long before he established an official career of his own, Zhao

307 The Political Animal

Yong had joined his father in the latters political travels, which took him
to the capital in the north, painfully separating them both from home
and family. In 1314, young and still more than a decade away from his
first public appointment, he sent a group of thirty-four poems his
only surviving set of poetry to Wang Guoqi.37 Separation is their most
common theme, the result of a political career not his own, and occa-
sionally this was combined with cynicism about the political standards
of the time as well as with a desire for freedom from public obligation,
as in the following two poems:

I dwell in the Shuijing Palace,

Having travelled far to this northern region;
Ive been away from my home for nearly ten years:
Brothers long for each other from afar.
For the first time I have grown world-weary,
Became confused on the field of fame and profit;
Wealth and riches cannot be counted on
Nor human life be predicted. . . .
I look back at the end of the year
Surrounded by beauty, but not athome;
I turn these things over and over in mymind;
With all this resentment, how long the night becomes.

The west wind sighs mournfully,

Resentment rises like a dream:
My home ten-thousand li away,
When can brothers be united?38
Looking forward to this meeting,
Each day becomes a whole year.
Since parting, its been eight frosts [years],
Rosy faces have long ago turned melancholy.
As a man living within this vast universe,
How can fame and profit satisfy my ambition?
How can they equal a crane among clouds,
Soaring about, wherever it wishes?39

One may sense in such verses an echo of his fathers own most intimate
poems:

Unfortunately I have fallen into the dusty world,

My movements being restricted.

308 Jerome Silbergeld

 Before, I was [free] as a seagull,
Now I am a bird inside acage.
No one cares about my sad weeping,
My feathers are falling off everyday.40

Zhang Mengfus poem has been cited as expressing the moral burden
he bore for the betrayal of his [royal Song] family background and his
sense of guilt.41 But the poem was modeled on the Return poems of
Tao Yuanming (365 427), who simply wanted to be home with his family
and gardens, and the Zhaos poems could surely be read in the same
light: longing for family rather than harboring moral second thoughts.
The scholar Tao Zongyi (1320 after 1402), a family relative, described
Zhao Yong as handsome and imposing, heroic, and noble in bearing,
not the description of a man greatly hampered by self-doubts.42 Far from
lost in moral doubt, Zhao Yong worried instead that his royal lineage
could stand in the way of his public service: How can I hide my family
name and obstruct my talents! he wrote in verse.43 And in the same
stanza, Zhao Yong adopted the ideal of Bo Qin (eleventh century bce),
son of the duke of Zhou, who served in his fathers stead and according
to his instructions, while the duke ran the affairs of the early Zhou state
as regent for King Wu. The Marquis of Lu [Bo Qin], he declared, never
obstructed the will of Heaven.44 Wang Chuo has speculated that the lofty
sentiments of that poem were written in gratitude for the enlightened
generosity of the Yuan emperor Renzongs (r.1312 1320) defense at that
time of the elder Zhao against his detractors at court.45 If so, such feel-
ings were reciprocated by the emperor himself, for it is recorded that
Renzong got one of [Guan Daoshengs] calligraphic pieces and added
ones by Mengfu and Yong to it, mounting it as an album. Regarding it as
an imperial treasure, he ordered it stored in the Imperial Archives [Mishu
Jian] and said, This will let later generations know that in my reign there
was one whole family, husband and wife, father and son, which was excel-
lent at calligraphy. 46 This event serves as one of several indications of
how Zhao family art and Zhao family public service worked together to
the benefit of ruler and subjects alike.
Zhao Yong came to political office already rich in political experience.
Perhaps his reference to Bo Qin implies that he helped the elder Zhao
in his political activities rather than merely following him around in his
travels. Apparently, his first official position was presented him in honor
of his late fathers services, in 1327 becoming department administrator
[zhizhou] in Changguo [modern Dinghai District, Jiangsu Province].47
Subsequently, he served in the same capacity in Huainan. At that time,

309 The Political Animal

He had a jade belt, and when a former provincial judge wanted to get it,
he refused. Finally, because of this affair, he was dismissed from office.48
The timing of this is uncertain, but Zhaos artistry served to keep his
name before the Mongol rulers. Zhang Yu (1313 1385) wrote,

In the zhiyuan era [1335 1340] the Emperor [Togh-an-tamr,

Huizong or Shundi, r.1333 1368] personally summoned
him to court,
Went on foot [to greet him] and bestowed on him the title of
lang-grade
Official of the Secretariat [Zhongshu lang].
Every painting brought pleasure to the imperial countenance,
Filling a golden side stand in the White Jade Hall.
In time, everyone contended in praise for them,
Piled them up in their homes like walls.49

In 1363, Liu Renben recalled the first year of the Zhizheng era [1341],
when the world was at peace and imperial rule was one of leisure, when
all parts of the land were reverent and pure. It was then that there was an
imperial order for Zhongmu [Zhao Yong] to come to the capital to paint
the newly made rest-halls, terraces, and pavilions. Liu also remembered
Zhaos passing through Weiyang [Yangzhou], where he called upon
the imperial prince [of Zhennan]. Seeing the beauty of the palaces and
gardens there, he was pleased to make a painting of them, which now
has gone into public circulation and been acquired.50
Zhaos artistic and political activities were mutually sustaining. His
artistry won him political favor, and this in turn afforded him rare
access, beginning in 1341, to the Yuan imperial collection, as noted by
the well-known scholar-official and painter Yang Weizhen (1296 1370),
whom he would have known at thattime:51

The younger Zhao from Wuxing shared in Heavens mysteries.

He came and went in the Inner Palace, examining its hidden
treasures.52

Throughout most of the Zhizheng era, Zhao was repeatedly elevated in

political stature. At some point in this period, it is recorded, he was
called to court and ordered by imperial decree to Huaian, to gather up
case records there and burn them.53 Although the meaning of this is
unclear, it may suggest he was trusted by the court with carrying out a
sensitive, possibly covert, task. By 1347, he had been made department

310 Jerome Silbergeld

administrator in Haining, Hangzhou Prefecture, the position he
continued to hold at the time he painted the Noble Steeds of 1352.54 Later,
in 1354, he was appointed Jixian daizhi, secretary-in-attendance in the
Jixian Academy in the capital, which perhaps represented the apex of
his political career.55 In 1356, Zhao received his last known appointment,
coadministrator of the Huzhou Circuit [Wuxing, his home town],
advanced scholar grade [tongzhi zhishi].56
Zhaos last years as an official left few traces outside of Zhang Yus
cryptic remark, in an inscription on two paintings by Zhao of Xiao-Xiang
River scenes, to the effectthat

In his youth, Yong strode ahead, in later life he took afall;

But he retained a heroic spirit [like that] of [the young Han
knights-errant of Changan, near] the Wuling.57

Just what this fall consisted of or when it occurred is not known. Could
it have been related somehow to the decline and fall of Mongol rule?
Zhaos death is not recorded except as mentioned in 1364 by Wang Feng
(1319 1388), a friend who had last seen him in 1359. Wang says only that he
returned to the Zha River and died, meaning that he died in or near his
Wuxing home but giving no specific date for the year of his death.58
There is scarcely any flesh to hang upon this bare-bones outline
of a political career. Nevertheless, the image that emerges is one of a
dedicated official, linked to the fate of the Mongols by the legacy of his
famous and posthumously ennobled father, and continually forging
additional links through his artistic activities. This allegiance was, in
turn, passed on to the third generation through the younger of his two
sons, Zhao Lin (zi, Yenzheng, dates uncertain), who graduated from the
Guozixue or National Academy and held a succession of official positions,
being appointed document examiner (censor) of Jiang-Zhe Province,
chengshilang grade, in 1357 and advancing to the position of district
administrator in Juzhou.59 Despite this, we cannot help but suspect
that Zhao Yong felt, as his father did, some stigma for having served the
Mongols that is to say, some burden of disrepute, as opposed to a
burden of guilt. Chu-tsing Lis belief that Zhao Mengfus disloyalty to
the memory of Song was an unremovable blemish in his otherwise high
moral character, not only in the new neo-Confucian standard of values
but also in the requirements of wenren hua [literati painting],60 has
been challenged as exaggerated and anachronistic.61 But Li is undoubt-
edly correct in writing that Even during the Yuan period criticisms and
derogatory stories about him were already found. With the Ming dynasty

311 The Political Animal

they became even more common, beclouding his artistic intentions.62
Such criticism was probably strongest in the aftermath of the Mongol
conquest and in the Mongol rulers declining years. Anecdotes remain
that suggest that others around Zhao Yong pressed this issue, including
one that appears in the Caomuzi of Ye Ziqi (d.1385?):

Zhao Zhongmu was the son of (Hanlin) Academician Ziang

(Mengfu), a descendant of the Duke of Xiu in Song. He could
paint orchids, plants, bamboos, and rocks. A Daoist, Zhang Boyu
(1277 1348), wrote a poem for his ink orchid as follows:

It is no use to plant nine fields of seasoned orchids [a standard

symbol of loyalty in China].
They are no match for three or two flowers from the inkwell.
In these days the fragrant orchids have all withered.
Scented reeds, like princely descendants, are growing all over
the horizon.

Zhongmu saw this and felt ashamed, and did not do any more
orchids.63

Chu-tsing Li is probably accurate in concluding, This story, of course,

could only be written in Ming times.64 But by 1352, when Noble Steeds
was painted, could Zhao Yong already have been entertaining second
thoughts about his service to the Mongols? Wang Feng likened Zhao
in manner to the famous Han general and horse connoisseur Ma Yuan
(14bce 49 ce), as a sage in his standards of judgment.65 It remains to be
seen what evidence comes forth from the painting in question and its
inscriptions.
Wang Guoqi (zi, Delian; hao, Yunan) is even more obscure biograph-
ically than Zhao Yong, and so too are his politics. Weng Tongwen has
demonstrated that Wang was born between the years 1280 and 1285;
he was still alive in 1363.66 From Zhao Yongs hometown of Wuxing, he
married Zhaos younger sister, the fourth of Zhao Mengfus six daugh-
ters.67 From the poems sent to Wang from Zhao in the capital in 1314, we
can judge that as young men these two were drawn together by an inti-
mate friendship as well as by their marital relationship. Although Wang
was known as a poet, particularly of ci (he was highly praised by Yang
Weizhen), and was also known to have painted landscapes, only a handful
of those poems still exist and none of the paintings have survived
or was ever properly cataloged. He seems to have been a collector of

312 Jerome Silbergeld

paintings, and most of his surviving poetry was inscribed on works by
contemporary artists like Huang Gongwang, Ni Zan, Wang Meng, and his
brother-in-law Zhao Yong.68 He had no political career to speak of, and
what he did with his seventy-eight or more years other than to participate
in the arts and raise a famous painter-son, Wang Meng (1308 1385), is
unknown. It is worth noting, however, that Wang Meng is regarded as a
Confucianist who accepted low-level political positions during the 1360s,
perhaps under Zhang Shicheng (1321 1367), when that rebel leader was
nominally submissive to the Mongol government, and it has been spec-
ulated that this was done out of continuing family loyalty to the Yuan.69
Beyond this, Wang Guoqis most striking political document is his
inscription on Zhao Yongs Noble Steeds.
As for Liu Yong, even less is known of him. In his inscription on
Zhaos painting, he has signed his zi as Yaofu and identified his home
as in Bingmen, a place I could not identify. As for his politics, he was
a Yuan official, elevated late in the year 1332 to the position of collator
in the Mishujian (the Imperial Archives), where but a few years earlier
the joint calligraphic scroll by Zhao Mengfu, Guan Daosheng, and Zhao
Yong, previously mentioned, had been stored by the order of Emperor
Renzong.70 Beyond this, his inscription will have to speak for itself, as it
certainly does. In all, there is nothing to suggest that Zhao Yong, Wang
Guoqi, and Liu Yong were of different minds when it came to matters of
political allegiance.
Before turning at last to Zhao Yongs painting and its inscriptions,
we should take note of the moment when it was executed. In hindsight,
this might be regarded as the beginning of the end of Mongol rule
in south China. Eight years earlier, the Yellow River which at that
time was following its southern course through the lower Huai River
valley broke through its dikes and left terrible destruction in its wake.
There was great reluctance to gather the massive work team needed
for the repairs, lest some popular disturbance arise. Tens of thousands
of workers were belatedly conscripted to build new embankments and
were fatefully brought together in April of 1351. Despite the long-term
success of this rechanneling project, the feared uprising occurred, with
the peasant-based Red Turban Army that was recruited from these
conscripts initiating military action in May. By August 1351, Li Er and
his followers had captured Xuhou, and in January 1352 the government
failed in the first of four attempts that year to recapture it. In March, Red
Turban rebels took Haozhou. Zhaos Noble Steeds was painted between
February 16 and March 16 of that year. Zhao was then district adminis-
trator in Haining, near Hangzhou. By October, when the Mongol leader

313 The Political Animal

Toghto (1313 1355) recaptured Xuzhou, the tide had turned, at least for
the time being, and for several years to come the fate of Zhaos mentors
seemed hopeful, if not actually secure. Hangzhou did not fall into rebel
hands until Zhang Shicheng took it without a fight in 1357, and when he
did, it might have seemed more like infighting than outright rebellion,
for Zhang had formally submitted to the Yuan and accepted the title
taiwei or grand marshal after his previous attempt to capture Hangzhou
failed in the previousyear.71
At that time, Zhao had already taken up the position of district
coadministrator in Wuxing. He must have been engaged in planning to
protect the city against a worst-case scenario. Despite the threat posed
to the alien Mongols, it came from peasant upstarts and drove many
scholars into closer cooperation with their foreign rulers. The Mongols,
in turn, became more reliant than ever before on the Chinese advisors,
and it was a time of repeated promotions for those who served. In the
long run, we might remember Zhang Yus words that in later life he took
a fall.72 One might speculate, if it happened at this time, that he failed in
his preparations to protect Wuxing or that he had some crisis of values.
But in 1352, his highest honors were yet to be bestowed; those came
in 1354, presumably because of illustrious service rendered. And if the
undated inscriptions by Liu Yong and Wang Guoqi fell anywhere within
the next five years or so after the painting was completed, then it appears
there was nothing that we know of to convince them that the Mongol
dynasty would soon prove so short-lived.

zhao yongs noble steeds, its inscriptions

and itsstatement
Zhao Yongs Noble Steeds (see fig.8.6) is a formal painting, a hanging
scroll done on silk, executed in heavy mineral pigments in a detailed
manner.73 Applied to the painting are twelve seals and three inscriptions
(including Zhao Yongs dated signature and two signed inscriptions
by close friends of Zhao Yong, one of them his brother-in-law), which
provide information bearing on the execution and subsequent history of
the work. In addition to the seals of Zhao Yong (Zhongmu and Weiguo
shijia),74 there are five of Zhu Gang (late fourteenth century, the prince
of Jin and third son of Taizu, founding emperor of the Ming dynasty,
who brought an end to the regime that Zhao Yong had served).75 Aside
from these, the only other seals are those of the Qing dynasty collector
Liang Qingbiao (1620 1692) and the last traditional emperor of China,
Xuantong or Pu Yi (reigned 1908 1911).76 An interesting question of

314 Jerome Silbergeld

politics and patronage is raised by this: How did Zhaos work come to
enter so rapidly into a Ming dynasty aristocratic collection? Although it
bears no other Yuan-period seals, could it already have entered into the
collection of some important Mongol family, to be confiscated at the
time of the Mongols hasty retreat? And if so, what might have made it
attractive to a Mongol collector?
As the inscriptions by Wang Guoqi and Liu Yong are undated, their
relationship to the painting is also uncertain. Although Wangs poem is
carefully constructed (his longest surviving inscription), his signature is
informal and intimate Wang Guoqi of Wuxing, Old Delian while
Lius signature, by contrast, suggests a more formal relationship to the
owner of the painting: Respectfully inscribed by Liu Yong, Yaofu, of
Bingmen. Both inscriptions refer to the otherwise unidentified Yuan-
qing, who must have become the owner of the painting by the time they
were written. Liu refers to him as a connoisseur of antiquities, while
Wang Guoqi dedicates his poem to him by name: Song of the Painted
Horses, Inscribed for the Honorable Yuanqing. Who this Yuanqing
might have been will be considered later in this chapter.
The painting bears little trace of the literati revolution that altered
the face of Chinese painting from the mid-eleventh century on. Neither
calligraphic in its brush technique nor freely expressive in its execution,
it is a conservative work that immediately demands to be associated
with the great traditions of previous dynasties. Placed on a flat earthen
terrace among carefully delineated trees, which likewise recall Tang
paintings or their Song imitations, are five horses and a groom. Of
these, four horses are set farther back and organized by their colors into
two complementary pairs, with a black-and-white and a white horse in
each pair, one pair closely juxtaposed and the other set apart as a means
of visual balance. Gently nuzzling together, freely grazing, or rubbing
up against a tree, these horses conspicuously indulge in a moments
freedom, unrestrained by their groom clearly a barbarian type, with
a thick fringe of beard who dozes off with eyes closed. In contrast to
the background four and completing the well-ordered arrangement is
a reddish-brown stallion with white secondary features, who strikes a
theatrically noble pose in the foreground.
The first impression given by the painting, by its imagery if not its
execution, is one of freedom and relaxation, embodied by the horses,
who might represent scholars, perhaps alter egos of the painter himself.
As district administrator or coadministrator, zhizhou or tongzhizhou,
Zhaos rank was equivalent to that of taishou or magistrate and he was
sometimes called this;77 the term five horses had literally come to mean

315 The Political Animal

magistrate in China, presumably because five government horses were
allotted to officials of this rank for their public use the black limou-
sines of their day.78 An initial reading of this painting, with its historical
blue-and-green setting, might phrase it in nostalgic, even escapist terms.
A similar reading was taken of Zhao Mengfus Releasing the Horses Among
Old Trees (Gu mu san ma tu) by an official in the Yuan Imperial Archives,
Wang Bin of Changle, who wrote of frustration and timing:

Zhao Wenmin [Mengfu] played with his brush and laid out a
number [of horses] passing beneath desolate old trees, coming
to rest as they cross a flat plateau, where they get their fill of wild
grass. No more strokes of the whip, no more control exerted
Wenmins concept emerged from this metaphor. When a scholar
becomes too frustrated, wouldnt he rather think of a leisurely
retirement? How can pendants and trappings, halters and hobbles
satisfy him? Seeing these [horses] in search of pulse and grain and
peace along the roadway, I realize that every creature has his own
timing. How could they all be thesame?79

Can we read this painting as the work of an official in a time of great

social stress longing for the golden age of an earlier period, to which the
painting refers by style, a time when the nation was at peace, scholars
were treated well, and barbarians were still just lowly grooms rather
than foreigners on the throne of China. While we do not have Zhao
Yongs own words to confirm or deny this impression, we are fortunate
to have the inscriptions of two contemporaries, one a close relative and
lifelong friend of the artist. But before examining these carefully, it must
be observed that the poetic form they take is not free of ambiguity, and
even as these inscriptions are closely parsed, their interpretation may
vary according to each readers own disposition. There is no guarantee
that image and text will yield similar or compatible readings. There also
exists the risk of our taking a poetic clich, drained of genuine meaning
through centuries of overuse, and by means of assiduous but misapplied
research reading back into it a significance that is technically plausible
but an exaggeration of the poets true intent. With this caveat, let us
look now at the two inscriptions, first that of Liu Yong, saving the more
complicated and revealing inscription of Wang Guoqi for later.
Liu Yongs inscription, written in the upper left corner of the painting,
just to the right of Zhao Yongs single-line signature, may be translated as
follows:

316 Jerome Silbergeld

1 From the Wowas waters emerged the dragon-horse;
2 Since ancient times Yaoniao has had no equal anywhere.
3 Hualiu, the spirit-steed, displays an extraordinary character;
4 Brushwork of the highest order brings out the minutest details.
5 The old groom leans on the tree, with a springtime dream to
satisfyhim,
6 Not forcing these horses, by the lash of his whip, to race about.
7 In those years, among the scholar-painters, they wrote of CaoBa;
8 His follower Han Gan matched him in that genre.
9 As I contemplate Zhongmus [Zhao Yongs] [work], his conveying
of their spirit is a marvel,
10 His intelligence and creativity are truly hard to measure.
11 With Sun Yang [Bole] dead and Wang Liang fargone,
12 Who could you choose like them to distinguish the wise men
from the fools?
13 Yuanqing is a connoisseur [like those] of antiquity;
14 In his private quarters, his peaceful enjoyment [of things like this
painting] is his true pleasure.

Most of Liu Yongs references are now familiar to us: the illustrious
dragon-horse of the Wowa River; Hualiu, one of the eight chariot horses
of Zhou King Mu; the great Tang horse painters Cao Ba and Han Gan;
the discriminating judge of horses, Sun Yang or Bole; the equation of
horses with men, of charioteering with politics, of connoisseurship with
the ability to select good officials. Unfamiliar, perhaps, are Wang Liang
(line 11) and Yaoniao (line 2). The former was to charioteering as Bole was
to horses, a man who set standards, unwilling to drive for those of lesser
quality, and therefore treated by the philosopher Mencius as a paragon
of moral virtue.80 It was Bole and Wang Liang, together, who made the
great achievements of the ruler possible. Yaoniao, like the other horses
mentioned here, was a spirit-horse of ancient lore, already paired with
Hualiu in Du Fus famous poem, In Praise of Horse Painting:

317 The Political Animal

 When Han Gan paints horses,
His brush is spirited.
His Hualiu is ancient and great,
His Yaoniao pure andnew.81

Although most of these horses originally derive from a general polit-

ical context, is there anything that obliges us to read their arrangement
here in a particularly political light? Might they not simply be regarded
as standard references, loosely gathered, looking back no further than
Tang poetry? A closer look suggests otherwise. Lines 5 and 6, in particular,
offer political possibility, confirming what we do not see by virtue of its
absence: the lash of the grooms whip, forcing the horses into gallop. Is
there, in this, some hint of harsh Mongol rule, or even the burden of
participating in this government once the times have become difficult,
from which the scholar, in artistic imagination, wishes to escape? Or
conversely, is it a suggestion that under Mongol rule there is no such
abuse, and how can we tell? The answer may be found in lines 11 through
13, again by absence. In raising the name of Bole coupled with that of
Wang Liang, Liu Yong does not raise the Daoist specter of Boles crime.
Far from suggesting anything about the abuse of scholars, he introduces
these figures as men of fine discrimination. Presumably, Yuanqing, the
discriminating connoisseur whose name immediately follows, is the one
who can make such distinctions. He is a sage (it takes a sage to judge a
sage), and if so, then who are the fools? We must find out more about
this Yuanqing later in order to know. At any rate, the freedom longed
for in lines 5 and 6 does not, then, appear to be contingent on rejecting
political duties. If so, then it must be an earned freedom. And it might be
argued that the groom who avoids the use of his whip is the guarantor of
the righteous treatment for scholars who serve. His closed eyes allow the
horses to scratch and romp and fulfill their true nature. From Liu Yongs
point of view, then, rather than representing a pathetic longing for the
past, Zhaos painting might best be interpreted as being done in praise
ofgood government.
The three horses referred to in this poem, the dragon-horse, Yaoniao,
and Hualiu, all occur historically in references to imperial recruitment
or to auspicious signs indicative of fine rulership. Yaoniao, paired with
Hualiu in Han Gans painting and Du Fus poetry, is the least well known
of the group. The earliest reference to Yaoniao comes from the time of
Han emperor Wu Di, from Sima Xiangrus fantastic poem about the
imperial park at Changan where this auspicious creature, already once
captured, is further subjected to huntsmen for sport a vague reference

318 Jerome Silbergeld

at best.82 In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the fleet Yaoniao is paired
with the horse Feitu in one of those metaphoric matings of fine horses
with eminently recruitable scholars.83 The Song shu, or History of the
Liu-Song dynasty, written in the sixth century, is more enlightening,
writing that Yaoniao is a spirit-horse, of the same kind as Feitu. When
the circumstances are appropriate, he appears in order to glorify the
virtue of the sovereign. Feitu is then identified as follows:

Feitu is the name of a spirit-horse. He travels thirty thousand li

in a day. When Yu [the semimythic third ruler of China] spent
tremendous energy year after year at regulating the waters
[controlling the floods and founding the Chinese irrigational
system] in order to relieve the peoples suffering, Heaven was
moved by his virtue and this horse appeared.84

The appearance of the horse Yaoniao would be extraordinarily appro-

priate in Zhao Yongs painting, coming just at the time of the Yuan
governments regulating the Yellow Rivers flood waters. It was this event,
as already noted, that ultimately triggered the downfall of the dynasty.
But in 1352, more than a decade before that denouement, Yuan officials
like Zhao Yong and Liu Yong might well have viewed the flood control
project as a display of righteous public service, badly taken advantage of
by peasant rebels whose upstart rebellion was squelched in duetime.
Wang Guoqis inscription is longer, poetically far more sophisticated,
and politically even more revealing than Liu Yongs.

1 In the lofty grove, in darkened shadows green as if woven,

2 The groom dozes, sitting there with knees clasped.
3 First washed in the Pool of Heaven, these blood-sweatingcolts
4 Suddenly come charioteering through the tall catalpas like
wingedmeteors.
5 Where the east [springtime] breeze now fills the heavens, where
the sedge is green,
6 With long whinnies as they nibble on the grass and hooves light
on the frost,
7 Magnificent, they dont bear the tethers of the groom;
8 Fierce in spirit, they precede the depletion [by Bole] of the
northern Jiherd.
9 The Haining historian [Zhao Yong] longs for the free andeasy,
10 Working in the tradition of Xi and Xian [the calligraphers Wang
Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi], without peer in all the world.

319 The Political Animal

11 When patterned shadows fall on your curtains in the midst
ofday,
12 Exhilarated, painting in color you copy their divine traces.
13 With the wind in their mane and mist in their hair, they soar
like a herd of dragons,
14 Variegated with the five patterns, puffing green vapors.
15 In the world today there are spirit-horses just like these,
16 To be taken for flashes of lightning in their wrangling and
prancing.
17 Ive heard that Cao Ba was good at painting their bones,
18 And that the painting of their flesh came with his follower,
HanGan.
19 [Li] Gonglin portrayed the [imperial] horse Phoenix-Headed
Piebald,
20 So relaxed in mind and execution that he completely captured
the thing itself.
21 Just now, as the dust flies up in the Huai Valley,
22 How did you create this real Cheng Huang?
23 Drawing a crossbow three piculs in strength,
24 With a golden pugu arrow, you shoot the CelestialWolf.
25 The victorious chariot-horses, sent back from Mu, are released
at MountHua,
26 Where swords are sold to purchase oxen and crops fill the
wilderness.

Like Liu Yong, Wang Guoqi combines references to Zhao Yong, the
painter who brings forth divine images of horses that soar like a herd

320 Jerome Silbergeld

 of dragons . . . puffing green vapors, with others that are used allusively
to describe a political situation. The character translated here as char-
ioteering, yu, it should be noted, is a multivalent cipher for emperor,
imperial chariot, to rule, to manage affairs, and so forth. Perhaps at
first, some of these allusions might seem quite generalized: the third line
refers to Han Wu Dis dragon-horses, as did Lius opening line; the rows
of catalpas were the setting for Cao Zhis description of Luoyangs aristo-
cratic horse set of the late Han dynasty.85 Both these images appeared
in Du Fus poem in praise of horse painter Cao Ba, while Wang Guoqis
passing reference to hooves light on the frost, while borrowed from
Du Fu, ultimately derives from the Zhuangzi text. Even Wang Guoqis
reference to Wang Xizhi comes from Du Fus pairing of Xizhis callig-
raphy with Cao Bas brushwork, and his reference to Li Gonglin directly
borrows the phrasing that Du Fu used for Han Gan. This might appear to
have no deep meaning and to do little more than bring Cao to mind with
the intent of linking Zhao Yongs painting to Caos esteemed tradition.86
But instead, the other references in this poem oblige us to consider that
Wang Guoqi has borrowed so extensively from Du Fu only to reverse him.
Whereas both poets were writing in moments of dynastic upheaval, when
sitting rulers were threatened by rebellious upstarts, Du Fus horses exist
in mythology and painting only, and his poem is a lament on the absence
of such horses in the depleted imperial stables and on the battlefield;
even his great artist, Cao Ba, now goes unrecognized and impoverished,
an obvious symbol of the Tang dynastys passing glory. But in Wang
Guoqis poem, these horses are alive (line 15: In the world today there
are spirit-horses just like this.), alter egos for the meritorious servants
loyally serving the Mongols. And the eighth line, Fierce in spirit, they
precede the depletion of the northern Ji herd, suggests that such offi-
cials, like these fine chargers, would have been among the first chosen
by Bole, or perhaps more strongly, that they would have willingly volun-
teered for service even before Boles arrival in Ji. These high-spirited
government servants perhaps include Zhao Yong and possibly Yuanqing,
although this Yuanqing individual has yet to be identified.
The most telling part of this poem begins with line 21. Following
references to Cao Bas and Han Gans bony horses and fat, and directly
following the ascribed realism of Li Gonglins Phoenix-Headed Piebald, it
specifically places the setting in the present tense with a candid refer-
ence to the Huai River valley, out of which the Yellow River had poured
uncontrolled since 1344 and where Red Turban peasant uprisings began
alongside efforts to tame the river in 1351. The image that follows that one
is momentous: a Heaven-sent portent, the creature Cheng Huang, often

321 The Political Animal

identified as a bay horse (called huang or yellow in Chinese), probably
represented by the magnificent yellow-orange stallion in the foreground.
This horse was referred to by the philosopher Guan Zhong, already
quoted above: To those of former times who received the mandate, the
dragon and tortoise appeared, the [Yellow] River sent forth diagrams and
the Lo River its books, and the earth sent forth Cheng Huang.87 And the
classic reference to Cheng Huang appears elsewhere, in the writings of
Mozi, in the context of the fall of the corrupt Shang dynasty:

In the case of King Zhou [Zhou Xin, the last ruler] of Shang,
Heaven would not sanction his power. His sacrifices were
untimely; for ten days and ten nights it rained earth at Bo, and
the nine cauldrons moved about. Phantom women came out
after dark and ghosts wailed in the night. A woman turned into
a man, flesh rained down from Heaven, and brambles grew on
the state roads. And yet the king continued to behave in an even
more willful and abandoned way. A red bird holding in its beak a
baton of jade alighted at the altar of the Zhou state in the city of
Qi and proclaimed: Heaven orders King Wen of Zhou to attack
Yin [Shang] and take possession of its state. [Wens loyal vassal]
Taidian journeyed to pay his respects to the Zhou ruler, the river
cast up its chart, and the land brought forth the Yellow Mount
beast [the horse Cheng Huang]. King Wu ascended the throne, and
in a dream he saw three spirits who said to him: We have already
drowned Zhou of Shang in the power of wine. Go and attack him,
and we will surely cause you to win victory over him. So King Wu
went and attacked him, and replaced the state of Shang with that
ofZhou.88

This reference to Cheng Huang, unlike the previous allusions, is

highly charged politically and could never be taken as mere name drop-
ping. Taken out of context, it might raise the startling prospect that with
rebellion at hand and Heavens mandate in question, Wang Guoqi has
fully grasped the corruption of Mongol rule, like that of Zhou Xin, and
has envisioned the rise of a noble successor, like King Wu of Zhou. Such
a view would go well beyond the nostalgic escapism first conjured up
by the image of the dozing Mongol groom and the unbridled horses of
this painting, and its concrete expression here would represent a most
extraordinary expression of seditious sentiment. Yet it does not require
much consideration to realize that so disloyal an idea could scarcely have
been given visual form by Zhao Yong, much less committed so openly to

322 Jerome Silbergeld

writing by Wang Guoqi. While Wangs previous expressions of political
enthusiasm (they precede the depletion of the northern Ji herd and In
the world today there are spirit horses just like this) could, in isolation,
be read as a call to arms against the government, the lines which follow
(22 and 23) seem to confirm the opposite.
In answer to his own question, How did you create this real Cheng
Huang? Wang replies, You drew a crossbow three piculs in strength, /
With a golden pugu arrow, shot the Celestial Wolf. The pugu arrow here
means a fine weapon and its likely referent is the constellational bow and
arrow, hushi,89 whose target is the Celestial Wolf (Tianlang), or Sirius, by
far the brightest of stars as seen from the earth and known in the West
as the dog star in the constellation Canis Major. Sirius was regarded
as a baleful star, an ominous portent with specific political implications:
The Wolf is a star, located in the south-east portion of the Eastern Well.
The Wolf is ruler of the wilderness fields. This signifies usurpation.90
InThe Lord of the East from the famous Nine Songs of Qu Yuan
(ca.340 ca.280bce) there appears the line, I aim my long arrow and
shoot the Celestial Wolf. The commentary of Wang Yi (second century
ce) provides the standard Confucian explanation:

The Celestial Wolf is the name of a star, used as a metaphor for

those who desire to steal the sun and become king. The king,
who has received the mandate of Heaven, must punish usurpers.
Therefore, saying to take a long arrow and shoot the Celestial
Wolf means that the lord should punish his offenders.91

Can there be any doubt, then, that Wang Guoqis target here was the lowly
rebel upstarts of the Huai region and that his sympathies lay firmly with
the Yuan government? And, while specifics are lacking, has he not clearly
extended his praise to the governments defenders, rather than calling for
the destruction of the Mongol regime?
Yet if this is the case, how then should we reconcile Wangs poetic
account of dynamic activity in the service of the state with the leisurely,
passive image of Zhao Yongs painting? The answer to this is to be found
in the final couplet of the poem proper (The victorious chariot-horses,
sent back from Mu, are released at Mount Hua, / Where swords are sold
to purchase oxen and crops fill the wilderness), which again refers to
King Wus conquest of Shang and its wicked last ruler, Zhou Xin, which
was carried out on the wilderness plain of Mu (Muye). It is the aftermath
of these historic events to which Wang Guoqis lines refer, described in
the ancient Classic of History:

323 The Political Animal

 In the first month, the day renchen immediately followed the end
of the moons waning. The next day was guiji, when the king, in the
morning, marched from Zhou to attack and punish Shang. In the
fourth month, at the first appearance of the moon, the king [Wu]
came from Shang to Feng where he hushed all the movements
of war and proceeded to cultivate the arts of peace. He sent back
his horses to the south of Mount Hua [Huashan] and let loose his
oxen in the open country of Taolin, showing to all under heaven
that he would not use them again.92

After their conquest of the Shang no doubt a long-sought and bloody

affair Zhou propagandists insisted on their peaceful intentions,
named Tian (Heaven) as the agent, and then carried out numerous
rituals designed to deflect moral criticism and prove their point. As
applied to the Mongol Empire in 1352 and Zhao Yongs painting, the
timing suggested by this reference is not a prelude to battle but the
settled outcome, and the peace which is enjoyed, or longed for, in this
painting is not an easy escape from official obligations but one achieved
through righteous self-defense and battleground victory. If the magnif-
icent foreground horse is identified by Wang Guoqi as the Heaven-sent
Cheng Huang, then perhaps the background four should be identified as
war horses and equated with Wangs victorious chariot-horses (cheng, a
team of four), their work done and now at rest, free from saddle, bridle,
and bit. And thus, the lazing groom in the background. But the reference
to Muye and Mount Hua raise the question one more time: Is this a
victory won against usurpers (like those represented by the Celestial Wolf
and overcome by the pugu arrow) or by successful revolutionaries like the
Zhou king and his minions? Does the blue-and-green landscape painting
technique used here signify nostalgia for the lost glory of native rule, or
does it suggest the continuing vitality of the Yuan imperial tradition as a
legitimate successor to that earlier era of national vigor?
The penultimate lines of this poem (21 through 24) are quite specific
and are predicated on some actual military defense of the empire
Cheng Huang was brought forth not only by the artists brush but
through heavenly sanction. They raise the question: To whom does this
heroic defense apply? Who was this painting meant to glorify? Perhaps
they inform us about Zhao Yongs otherwise unrecorded activities as
magistrate of Haining, but there is no documentation that supports this.
This unresolved situation informs us of just how mobile such zoomor-
phic imagery really is, how hard to tether to any single meaning. The
closest thing to a solution to these questions lies less in the realm of

324 Jerome Silbergeld

iconography than in that of patronage. Wang Guoqi dedicated his poem,
or song, to the Honorable Yuanqing, and the poem ends by turning its
attention from the artist to this owner (we may presume) of the painting in
an offering of praise. It is essential, then, that this figure be identified. No
inscription or seal of Yuanqing exists on the painting to help identify him.
Nor is there is any lack of scholars in the Yuan period with the style-name
Yuanqing from whom to choose. In fact, no fewer than seven Yuanqings
have been identified, all of whom were Yuan officials and three of whom
were Mongols.93 From this small crowd, however, a positive identification
can be made: the civil servant and military officer Buyan Qutug.
Buyan Qutug was a Mongol and a learned scholar, elevated to official
status by civil service examination. He is known to have traveled in the
Hangzhou area and to have been a longtime friend of the scholar-painter
Yang Weizhen, who in turn was acquainted with Zhao Yong. He was also
a great admirer of Wang Guoqis ci poetry, and he quite possibly served
as a political intermediary for these figures. Moreover, Buyan Qutug
earned an awesome reputation in his campaign against Red Turban
rebels in Jiang-Zhe Province. His distinguished family background may
still be read about but need not concern us further here,94 while his
political career may be summarized briefly as including these successive
achievements and appointments, among others: passing the govern-
ment examinations with the rank of jinshi in 1327; service as district
administrator in Jingmen [present-day Hubei Province] and Zhengzhou;
elevation into the Hanlin Academy in the capacity of registrar [ jingli];
senior assistant to the provincial judge of Henan Province [lie fang
qianshi]; and supervisor in the Bureau of Tibetan and Buddhist Affairs
[Xuancheng Yuanpan] in Jiang-Zhe Province.95 Yet all this only represents
the formal elements of Buyan Qutugs earlier civil career, before he was
called into military action in the face of the rebel threat of the 1350s.
The elements of his career that most concern us here are disclosed in
a personal account by Yang Weizhen, written after Buyans death and
quoted here infull:

Yuanqing, whose full name was Buyan Qutug, was a member

of the dynastic clan [that is, a member of the Mongol royal
family]. Inthe fourth year of the Taiding era [1327], his name was
published in red on the list of successful candidates for office,
and he was awarded the jinshi degree. He entered into public
service in official capacities for twelve years, reaching the position
of Supervisor of the Bureau of Tibetan and Buddhist Affairs in
Jiang-Zhe Province. As an individual, he was virtuous in spirit;

325 The Political Animal

 as an official, honest and upright. In his conduct of affairs, he
held firmly to regulations. Others relied on him as a standard.
He always accomplished what he set out to do. In writing, he was
guided by the classics, the histories, and all the philosophers, and
by the poets of the Old Style, sao, yuefu, ge, and xing. In speech, he
devoted himself to the manner of the ancients.
During the Zhizheng period, in the renchen year [1352, the
same year as Zhaos painting], when the Red Turban bandits were
causing disturbances in Jiangnan, Yuanqing, who had already
served his full complement of years as a civil official, was called
forth to serve his native province as Commander-General for
management of military affairs in the Three Passes [San Guan]
area of Zhe Province. His conduct was severe and majestic. For
every one bandit hiding in the grass, he would hunt down seven,
and all would be exterminated and disemboweled. Whenever a
district was pacified, he would gather together the left-over people
of that district, and the people relied on him as their protector,
returning to him as they would to their father and mother.
After three years, all of a sudden, he was slandered and
dismissed from office. He passed through Hangzhou and saw
me there. Not long afterwards, he fell ill from a stroke and was
unable to speak, then died. He died somewhere on Mount Tai
[in Zhejiang Province]. After a month, his son, a military cadet,
and his family servant came to me to ask for an epitaph for his
simple tomb, located somewhere on Mount Tai. I was [an official
graduate] of the same year as Yuanqing, so how could I refuse?
This epitaph reads:

Ten people can make even a bludgeon soft;

Though rare in his receipt of Heavens gifts,
His dread of a single word [of slander]
Took flight withoutwings
And suddenly sent him fleeing.
So he tooksick,
Took sick and becamemute,
Became mute and hedied.

Ah, Master Yuanqing, how grievous!96

Yangs epitaph derives its language and its characterization of

the deceased sympathetic, although not without some critical

326 Jerome Silbergeld

distance from the Zhanguoce account of the third-centurybce military
commander Wang Ji, stiff in his adherence to the letter of the law and
in the end slandered by more pragmatic rivals. Wang was warned that
unless he became more flexible, he would be subject to false slander: I
have heard that three men claiming to see a tiger will create one, that ten
men can make even a bludgeon soft, and that if enough tongues push a
wingless thing, it willfly.97
It might be concluded that Yuanqing, the heroic subject of Wang
Guoqis poem, was also the intended subject of Zhao Yongs horse
painting. Even before Yuanqing had gone into battle against the Red
Turbans of Zhaos home province and secured his reputation as a bandit
suppressor, this painting could have been intended as an auspicious
gift at the outset of a campaign. But the timing remains problematic
given the absence of a dedicatory comment by Zhao Yong himself, and
it remains impossible to know exactly what the artist himself origi-
nally intended by this painting or to be absolutely certain for whom he
intended it. The two poets, Liu Yong and Wang Guoqi, can be viewed
possibly as exploiting the rich possibilities and ambiguities of the theme
for their own purposes, subtly remolding the original to the shape of
its new owner. Likewise, it is difficult to judge just how much of the
allusive praise for scholar-officials by these poets was intended for the
artist ZhaoYong, how much was meant for Yuanqing, and how much
might have been shared between them for activities they had conducted
together. Yet given the closeness of Wang Guoqi to Zhao Yong, it is
unlikely that any difference between their intentions was very great
or inconsistent. Above all, the presence of these Heaven-sent horses
suggests that men like Yuanqing and Zhao Yong were themselves noble
creatures and a blessing to their generation.
There is one last telling bit of text: Wang Guoqi completed his poem
with a two-line stanza, like a coda, written in a separate column:

27 On the imperial birthday, [amid shouts of ] long-life and songs

of peace,
28 The rivers flow clear, the ocean is calm, and armor is putaway.

Very possibly we are informed by this of the precise occasion that

inspired Wangs inscription, a royal birthday calling forth these scholars
rededication to the Yuan dynastic cause.98 Wang Guoqi seems to suggest
that through the loyal service of scholars like Zhao Yong and Yuanqing,

327 The Political Animal

victory over the rebels was already won and that the peace of Mu
wasalready at hand. We know, of course, that this peace did not last
forlong.

notes
This chapter is adapted and updated from a portion of my article of three decades
ago, In Praise of Government: Chao Yungs Painting, Noble Steeds, and Late Yan
Politics, Artibus Asiae 46, no.3 (1985): 159 202. Much of this research was first
prepared when Professor James Cahill invited me to give a presentation to his
graduate seminar at Berkeley. This is dedicated to his memory.
1 Gongsun Longzi, On the White Horse (Bai ma lun), in Readings in Classical
Chinese Philosophy, 2nd ed., ed. PhilipJ. Ivanhoe and BryanW. Van Norden, 363 367
(Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Publishing, 2005).
2 The terms anthropomorphic and zoomorphic are like the two sides of a coin,
complementary and fused together: the painter Ren Renfa has given zoomorphic
form to his thoughts and sentiments, which then appear as anthropomorphic
features in the viewers reading of the painted animals.
3 This portion of Gong Kais inscription is translated by Wai-kam Ho, in Sherman
Lee and Wai-kam Ho, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yan Dynasty (Cleveland:
Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968),93.
4 For a basic outline of Rens career, see Marc Wilsons exhibition entry in Wai-kam
Ho et al., Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins
Museum, Kansas City and the Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of
Art, 1980), 116 119.
5 Chu-tsing Li, The Freer Sheep and Goat and Chao Meng-fus Horse Paintings,
Artibus Asiae 30, no.4 (1968): 279 346; for Lis discussion of horses, see 297ff.
6 In Li, The Freer Sheep and Goat, figure16, The Parting of Li Ling and Su Wu, in the
National Palace Museum, Taipei.
7 Ibid.,319.
8 While Zhaos Sheep and Goat and Rens Two Horses, Fat and Lean are a visual match
in terms of their heads-up and heads-down pairing, I assume that Professor Li would
not have regarded the lean horse as an image of humiliation and betrayal as he
did the goat. In other words, to account for the visual rhetoric one must understand
both the traditional iconography and something of the animal itself.
9 Xuanhe hua pu (Hua shi congshu edition, Taipei: Wenshizhe, 1974), 13:145. Du Fu wrote
of Li Xu, In the early years of the [Tang] dynasty, the painting of saddle horses had
already begun; / But for [paintings] divinely wonderful, there was only the Prince of
Jiangdu. Ibid., 13:145.
10 Hongfan lun, author not identified, quoted in Wei shu, ed. Wei Shou (Shanghai:
Dong wen shuju, 1884), 112:21a.
11 Mo-tzu, Basic Writings, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press,
1963), 59 60.
12 SeeW. Percival Yetts, The Horse: A Factor in Early Chinese History, Eurasia
Septentrionalis Antiqua 9 (1934); Edward Erkes, Das Pferd im alten China, Toung

328 Jerome Silbergeld

Pao36 (1942); H. G. Creel, The Role of the Horse in Chinese History, American
Historical Review 70, no.3 (April 1965); Chauncey Goodrich, Riding Astride and the
Saddle in Ancient China, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 44, no.2 (1984), 279 306;
Albert Dien, The Stirrup and Its Effect on Chinese Military History, Ars Orientalis 16
(1986): 33 56.
13 For the location of northern Ji (assuming Ji to be identified with Jizhou), see Albert
Herrmann, Historical and Commercial Atlas of China, rev. (Chicago: Aldine, 1966), 7; cf.
Creel, The Role of the Horse,656.
14 I-ching, trans. Richard Wilhelm and Cary Baynes (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1967), 11. See, further, the comments of Ban Gu (32 92 ce) below.
15 Ibid.,273.
16 Guan Zhong, Guanzi (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1936), 8:107 108. Cheng
Huang was treated variously as more or less horse-like. Often he was regarded as
a stocky, fantastic creature with two prominent humps on his back and one on his
forehead, as illustrated in Wang Qi, ed., Sancai tuhui (Taipei: Chengwen shuju, 1970),
6:2249. Just as often, and in the case we are dealing with here, he was regarded as a
spirit-horse.
17 See Arthur Waley, The Heavenly Horses of Ferghana, A New View, History Today5
(February 1913); further religious aspects of the heavenly horses are discussed in
Richard Edwards, The Cave Reliefs at Ma Hao, Artibus Asiae 17, no.1 (1954): 13ff.
18 Variant editions of these lyrics, essentially serving as state hymns in the Han, were
recorded by Sima Qian and Ban Gu, the latters version being more extensive. The
prose passages and first poem quoted here are from Sima Qian, Shi ji (Shanghai:
Dongwen shuju, 1884), 23:3b 4a; the second poem follows Ban Gu, [Qian] Han shu
(Shanghai: Dongwen shuju, 1884), 22:22b 23a, as translated by Waley, The Heavenly
Horses, 96 97.
19 According to one enumeration, Each [of King Mus eight chargers] was named
according to the color of its hair. . . . The Biography of King Mu [Mu Tianzi zhuan] names
them as Red Ji [Chi Ji, from Ji, the horse-breeding region], Black Thief [Tao Li], White
Virtue [Bo Yi], Great Yellow [Qu Huang], Hualiu [Flower Liu, said in Han shu to be red
like a flower], Purple Yao [Yu Yao], Green Ears [L Er], and Mountain Son [Shan Zi, of
uncertain color.] Sima Qian, Shi ji, 5:3a. The Northern Song art historian Guo Ruoxu, in
the 1070s, described each of these chargers in still greater detail, based on a painting
supposedly dating from King Mus time and painted on plain yellow silk, recovered
in the reign of Jin emperor Wu Di (r.265 290) and still surviving in Guos time in a
copy, the forms and shapes [of which] were so strange as to be really akin to dragons.
The steed Shan Zi was described by Guo as having a purple body, scarlet chest, and
black mane, tail, and hooves. See Kuo Jo-hss Experiences in Painting, trans. A. C. Soper
(Washington, D.C.: American Council of Learned Societies, 1951), 73 74.
20 Huang Ding, Guankui jiyao (originally published in 1613), in Gujin tushu jicheng
(Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1934), shucheng dian:172:2 3. The white horse with a red
mane, along with the jade horse and the lake horse, appear as illustrated omens
with written cartouches at the offertory shrine of Wu Liang in Jiashang County,
Shandong. Wu Hung believes that the reading of these texts must be taken ironically;
for example, the inscribed text, The red-maned white horse appears when the ruler
employs virtuous and good officials is good should be read to conclude, But alas!
Our ruler is not doing so. Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese
Pictorial Art (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1989),106.

329 The Political Animal

21 Ban Gu, [Qian] Han shu, 27:xia zhi shang:13a b.
22 The Complete Works of Chuang-tzu, trans. Burton Watson (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1970), 265 266.
23 See Robert Harrist, The Legacy of Bole: Physiognomy and Horses in Chinese
Painting, Artibus Asiae 57, no.1/2 (1997): 135 156, including comments on the Xiang
ma jing, 135 138.
24 Complete Works of Chuang-tzu, 104 105.
25 Ibid.,106.
26 Han Yu, Four Miscellaneous Works, in Han Changli wenji xiaozhu, annot. Ma
Tongbo, 20 (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1957).
27 Han Yu, Sending off the Hermit, Wen [Wen Zao] to [Serve in] the Army in Heyang,
A Preface, in Han Changli wenji xiaozhu, annot. Ma Tongbo (Shanghai: Zhonghua
shuju, 1957),164.
28 Xuanhe huapu, 13:144 145.
29 For Shi Daoshis copy of Zhou King Mus eight chargers, see Guo Ruoxu in note
18 above. As Guos record suggests, the skillful rendering of horses considerably
predates any named painters and traditions; for a remarkable early design preserved
in bronze, see the late Zhou period inlaid mirror from Jincun, Hosokawa Collection,
Tokyo, illustrated in Sherman Lee, A History of Far Eastern Art (New York: Abrams,
1982), colorplate3.
30 Du Fu, A Song of Painting, To General Cao Ba, trans. David Hawkes, in David
Hawkes, A Little Primer of Tu Fu, 133 144 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967).
31 Zhang Yanyuan, Lidai minghua ji, trans. William Acker, in William Acker, Some Tang
and Pre-Tang Texts on Chinese Painting (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974), 2:260.
32 Cf. Chu-tsing Li, Freer Sheep and Goat, 299 ff.; Osvald Sirn, Chinese Painting,
Leading Masters and Principles (London: Lund, Humphries, 1956), 1:136 142, 2:171 173;
Robert Harrist, Power and Virtue: The Horse in Chinese Art (New York: China Institute
in America, 1997). Among the few finest early examples in the Han Gan manner is a
painting of the Buddhist horse devotee, Zhidun, in the Liaoning Provincial Museum,
Shenyang, reproduced in color in Yiyuan duoying (Beijing), 1978.3, 24 25 (dated there
to the Five Dynasties period). Li Gonglins ink manner is best known through repro-
ductions of his now-lost Five Horses scroll, illustrated in Chu-tsing Li, Freer Sheep
and Goat, pl.10; Sirn, Chinese Painting, 3:191 192; Harrist, Power and Virtue, fig.7.
An early stage in the development of this manner may be seen in the painting of
Emperor Ming-huangs charger, Night-Shining White, attributed to Han Gan, now
in the Metropolitan Museum and reproduced in Wen Fong, Beyond Representation:
Chinese Painting and Calligraphy 8th 14th Century (New York: Metropolitan Museum of
Art, 1992), 16 17.
33 The colored manner is represented among the elder Zhaos works by his Bathing
the Horses scroll in the Palace Museum, Beijing, in Yiyuan duoying, 1979.1, 24 25.
His ink manner is well illustrated by an untitled album leaf in the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, in James Cahill, Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yan
Dynasty (New York: Weatherhill, 1976), 38, pl.8. A mixed style appears in his Horse and
Groom, in the Metropolitan Museum; Jonathan Hay, Khubilais Groom, res 17/18
(Spring/Autumn 1989): 117 139. For further studies of Zhao Mengfus horse painting,
see Chu-tsing Li, Grooms and Horses by Three Members of the Chao Family, in Words

330 Jerome Silbergeld

and Images: Chinese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting, ed. Alfreda Murck and Wen Fong,
199 219 (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991). Chu-tsing Li, Freer Sheep
and Goat, 301, writes that there seems to be no question that Zhao Mengfu saw the
Li Gonglin Five Horses scroll; so did Zhao Yong see his fathers copy of the first of Li
Gonglins five steeds, Phoenix-Headed Piebald? now in the Freer Gallery, illustrated
in Thomas Lawton, Chinese Figure Painting (Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art,
1973), 174 177.
34 See Qians Yang Guifei Mounting a Horse, with its inscription attacking by implica-
tion the imperial neglect of his duties, much as Tang emperor Minghuang (Xuanzong,
r.712 756) neglected his horses in favor of the concubine, Yang Guifei, barren (like a
mule) of legitimate heirs to the throne:
With jade bridle and engraved saddle, he [Minghuang] favors Taizhen [Yang Guifei].
Year after year at the end of autumn, they parade to the Huaqing [warm springs].
With 400,000 horses in the Kaiyuan [stables],
What led him to mount this mule and travel the road toShu?
Translation based on James Cahill, Chien Hsan and His Figure Paintings, Archives
of the Chinese Art Society of America 12 (1958):20.
35 Chu-tsing Li, The Freer Sheep and Goat,307.
36 This falls between February 16 and March 16, 1334. For cataloging information, see
notes 73 and 75 below. Weng Tongwen, Yilin congkao (Taipei: Lianjing, 1978), Wang
Meng zhi fu Wang Guoqi kao, 146 147. The eldest son, Liang, died young; no
information is available for Weng to identify Zhaos first wife. Chen Gaohua, in his
collation of biographical sources on Zhao Yong, still considers Zhaos birth year an
open question; Yuan dai huajia shiliao (Shanghai: Renmin meishu chubanshe, 1980),
p.169.
37 Zhao Yong, Zhao Daizhi yigao, in Zhibuzu Zhai congshu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1999), 32. This small volume includes seventeen shi and seventeen ci poems, followed
by two ci by Wang Guoqi and editorial notes by Wang Chuo and others. Wang Chuo
treats these poems as being written in 1314, yanyuyuan nian, although the text reads liu
nian, or 1319, and he argues persuasively for this dating; Ji Yun, et al., eds, Siku quanshu
zongmu tiyao (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1933), 4:3764, also dates this1314.
38 This is a reference to Zhao Yongs younger brother, Zhao Yi (zi, Zhongguang,
dates not known), who remained at home in Wuxi, dwelling in seclusion and never
accepting political office. Like Zhao Yong, the younger brother was known as a
painter and calligrapher. See Yuan shi leibian, ed. Shao Yuanping (Suzhou: Xishi Saoye
Shanfang, 1795; 1st edition dated 1688), 33:8a; for additional biographical sources, see
Yuan ren zhuanji ziliao suoyin, ed. Wang Deyi et al. (Taipei: Xinwenfeng, 1977), 3:1693.
39 Zhao Yong, Zhao Daizhi yigao, 7b 8a.
40 Translated by Chu-tsing Li, Autumn Colors on the Chiao and Hua Mountains: A
Landscape by Chao Meng-fu (Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1965),82.
41 Chu-tsing Li, Autumn Colors, 81. As Li has demonstrated, Zhao Mengfus Sheep
and Goat painting has been interpreted since early Ming times as concealing moral
misgivings (Freer Sheep and Goat, 284 288). Various other poems by Zhao Mengfu,
and even the name of his studio, the Gull-Wave Pavilion, are also claimed to have
incorporated such sentiments. But see how Zhao balanced and set limits to such
feelings, acting on his sense of public responsibility and expressing this in his art
through a subtle choice of painted subject matter, in Shou-chien Shih, The Mind

331 The Political Animal

Landscape of Hsieh Yu-y by Chao Meng-fu, in Wen Fong et al., Images of the Mind:
Selections from the EdwardL. Elliott Family and JohnB. Elliott Collections of Chinese Callig-
raphy and Painting at The Art Museum, Princeton University, 238 254 (Princeton, N.J.: The
Art Museum, 1984).
42 Tao Zongyi, Shu shi huiyao, quoted in Yuan dai huajia shiliao, ed. Chen Gaohua,170.
43 Zhao Yong, Zhao Daizhi yigao,8a.
44 Bo Qin is usually referred to as the Duke of Lu, gong rather than hou, but there is
ample precedent for this exception.
45 In Zhao Yong, Zhao Daizhi yigao, 12b.
46 Shao Yuanping, Yuan shi leibian, 35:8a.
47 Yuan ren zhuanji zilao suoyin, ed. Wang Deyi et al., 3:1704.
48 Changgu Zhenyi, Nongtian yuhua, in Chen Jiru, Baoyan Tang miji (Shanghai:
Wenming shudian, 1922), 3:shang:6b.
49 Zhang Yu, Jingju ji, Sibu congkan edition (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1936),
2:16a.
50 Liu Renben, Yu ting ji, Siku quanshu edition (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1975),
392:6:26b 27a.
51 Zhao was brought to court in 1341 and received no subsequent appointment for
several years; Yang was first summoned to the capital in 1343 to work on the Song,
Liao, and Jin dynastic histories. For Yang Weizhens politics, see EdmundH. Worthy,
Yang Wei-chen, in Dictionary of Ming Biography, ed. L.Carrington Goodrich, 1547 1553
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1976); Richard Davis, Historiography as
Politics in Yang Weizhens Polemic on Legitimate Succession, Toung Pao 69, no.1 3
(1983): 33 72. Notably, Yang inscribed Ren Renfas famous Nine Horses scroll now in the
Nelson-Atkins Museum, writing that Nowadays, method brought to perfection and
inspiration fully completed are to be found in whatever the notable gentleman [Ren]
paints. Had he lived during the Kaiyuan era [713 741], one does not know whether he
or Cao Ba would have been ranked first. How can he just be placed on a par with Han
Gan! Translated by Marc Wilson in Ho et al., Eight Dynasties,118.
52 Yang Weizhen, Tieyai shi ji, in Yuan dai huajia shiliao, ed. Chen Gaohua,177.
53 Changgu Zhenyi, Nongtian yuhua, shang,6b.
54 The timing of this appointment is not certain, but in an inscription dated 1347
on Zhaos 1343 copy of the first horse, Phoenix-Headed Piebald, from Li Gonglins
FiveHorses scroll, Zhao is already referred to as Haining by the monk Liangqi;
BianYongyu, Shigu Tang shu hua huikao (Taipei: Zhengzhong shuju, 1958), hua:16:15a.
The authenticity of this scroll (location unknown) seems possible to me, although
Thomas Lawton (Chinese Figure Painting, 176) has expressed some doubt. For Zhuang
Shens article on this painting and the reliable Freer Gallery version of 1347, see
Zhuang Shen, Zhao Yong ren ma tujuan kao, in Zhongguo huashi yanjiu (Taipei:
Zhengzhong shuju, 1959).
55 The Jixian [Gathered Worthies] Academy was similar to the Hanlin and at times
merged with the latter. . . . The Guozi Jian or National Academy was subordinate to it.
John Langlois, Chin-hua Confucianism Under the Mongols (PhD diss., Princeton
University, 1974). Thus some texts refer to Zhaos position as Hanlin daizhi; Zeng Lian,
ed., Yuan shu (n.p.: Zengyi Tang, 1911), 56:9b.

332 Jerome Silbergeld

56 For the timing of this and Zhaos 1354 appointment, see Yuan ren zhuanji zilao
suoyin, ed. Wang Deyi et al., 3:1704.
57 Zhang Yu, Jingju ji, 2:16a.
58 Wang Feng, Wuxi ji, Siku quanshu edition (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1971),
347:3:71a. Wang Feng last saw Zhao at Hangzhou. In that same year, Zhao was also
traveling in Wulin, Jiangxi Province; see his inscription on the scroll of horse paint-
ings by Zhao Mengfu, Zhao Yong, and Zhaos son, Zhao Lin, in the Metropolitan
Museum, published in Laurence Sickman et al., Chinese Calligraphy and Paintings
in the Collection of JohnM. Crawford, Jr. (New York: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1962),
101 102.
59 For further information on Zhao Lin, a well-known but perhaps mediocre
painter specializing in horses and human figures, see Yuan ren zhuanji zilao suoyin,
ed. Wang Deyi et al., 3:1714; Sickman, Chinese Calligraphy and Paintings, 102; Chu-tsing
Li, A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines: Chinese Paintings in the CharlesA. Drenowatz
Collection (Ascona: Artibus Asiae, 1974), 1:18 19. Zhao Yongs elder son, Zhao Feng
(zi, Yunwen, dates uncertain) took no official position but devoted himself to the
arts and, it is said, painted orchids and bamboo that could not be told apart from
his fathers; this was complicated by the fact that the father often added his signature
to paintings by the son, For sources, see Yuan ren zhuanji zilao suoyin, ed. Wang
Deyi et al., 3:1707. Zhaos (only?) daughter, Zhao Shuduan (1318 1373), married Cui
Fu (1318 1356) of Hangzhou, who held no office. She bore him a son, Cui Sheng,
who lived as a recluse in Wuxing. Biographical sources for these three may be
found in Yuan ren zhuanji zilao suoyin, ed. Wang Deyi et al., 3:1705, 2:1034, and 2:1033,
respectively.
60 Chu-tsing Li, Autumn Colors,83.
61 Ankeny Weitz, Zhou Mis Record of Clouds and Mist Passing Before Ones Eyes: An
Annotated Translation (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2002), 13, 18, on assumptions about loyalty
to the Song in the early Yuan period; Jennifer Jay-Preston, The Life and Loyalism
of Zhou Mi (1232 1298) and His Circle of Friends, Papers on Far Eastern History
(Australia National University, Department of Far Eastern History), 28 (September
1983); see also 189 192 of my article, In Praise of Government.
62 Chu-tsing Li, Autumn Colors,83.
63 Chu-tsing Li, The Oberlin Orchid and the Problem of Pu-ming, Archives of the
Chinese Art Society of America 16 (1962):53.
64 Ibid.,72.
65 Wang Feng, Wuxi ji, 3: 38b 39a.
66 Weng Tongwen, Wang Meng zhi fu, 148 149. Zhang Guangbin, The Four Great
Masters of the Yuan (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1975), 37 (Chinese text), gives
Wangs birth date as 1284 but offers no supporting evidence.
67 Weng Tongwen, Wang Meng zhi fu,147.
68 Wangs remaining poems, including these inscriptions, are reproduced in Weng
Tongwen, Wang Meng zhi fu, 151 ff. Among these is a ci poem inscribed on Zhao
Yongs painting, Wind and Rain on the Broken Window, which in turn served as the
theme for a Wang Meng painting; see Richard Vinograd, Family Properties: Personal
Context and Cultural Pattern in Wang Mengs Pien Mountains of 1366, Ars Orientalis 13
(1982):6.

333 The Political Animal

69 Vinograd, Family Properties, 5 6, writes, Wang Meng could have assuaged
feelings of loyalty to the Yuan by assuming service under Zhang Shicheng during the
period in which he made a nominal rapprochement with the Yuan government, from
1357 until 1363. Wang certainly would have been in good company in such behavior,
accompanied by high-minded scholars like Zheng Shen and Dai Liang, of whom
John Langlois has written, Zheng Shen was not alone, then, in agreeing to serve in
what nominally were Yuan posts even though in the territory dominated by Zhang
Shicheng. Dai Liang did so out of the belief that Zhangs surrender to the Yuan was
not just the expedient of a confirmed rebel, but that Zhang was actually going [to]
lend his strength to restoring the flagging power of the Yuan in the southeast. When
Zhang no longer seemed to have the constructive and unselfish orientation that
Dai had expected of him, Dai left. Langlois, Chin-hua Confucianism Under the
Mongols,245.
70 Wang Shidian and Shang Qiweng, eds., Mishujian zhi, Siku quanshu edition (Taipei:
Shangwu yinshuguan, 1973), 104:10:13b.
71 Cf. Langlois, Chin-hua Confucianism Under the Mongols, 240 244; John
Dardess, Background Factors in the Rise of the Ming Dynasty (PhD diss., Princeton
University, 1968). For a map of the Yellow River, its flood plain, and its divided course
at this time, see Dardess, Background Factors,327.
72 Zhang Yu, Jingju ji, 2:16a.
73 A color illustration of this painting is published in Lidai hua ma tezhan, Special
Exhibition of Horse Painting (Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1978), no.020, and in
Harrist, Power and Virtue, 29. The painting is cataloged in Gugong shu hua lu (Taipei:
National Palace Museum, 1965), 5:166; several errors and omissions are present in
the transcription there and, especially, in the identification and locating of the seals,
which are corrected and amended in note 75 below. The dimensions of the work are
given as 186cm height, 106cm width.
74 The first is Zhaos style-name. The latter, Noble Family of the Wei Kingdom,
derives from Zhao Mengfus posthumous ennoblement as the duke ofWei.
75 Zhu Gangs seals are as follows: a large square seal along the upper center edge
reading Jinguo kuizhang; two seals toward the upper left between Liu Yongs inscrip-
tion and Zhao Yongs signature, the upper reading Jinfu shu hua zhi yin, the lower
reading Jingde Tang tu shu yin; and two seals along the right edge, just above the tree
branches, reading Qinghe zhen wan above, and Qian kun qing wan below. For notes
on Zhu Gangs collection, see Chiang I-han, Yan Court Collections of Painting and
Calligraphy, Part ii, National Palace Museum Quarterly 14, no.3 (Spring 1980): 29 33
and pl.9b. While Zhu Gang acquired works formerly in the Yuan palace collection,
these were presumably limited to eleven that first passed into the Ming imperial
collection and were registered there with the Si yin half seal, which is absent from
this work. The second seal listed above is inaccurately recorded as Jinfu tushu zhi
yin in Gugong shu hua lu and in Jiangs article; a good reproduction of this seal can
be obtained from Signatures and Seals on Painting and Calligraphy, ed. Joint Board of
Directors of the National Palace Museum and National Central Museum, Zhuang Yan
et al. (Hong Kong: Cafa Company, 1964) 3:80,510.
76 Liang Qingbiaos two seals are placed in the lower left corner: Cangyan and
Jiaolin jushi. There are three seals of the Xuantong emperor (r.1908 1911), a small
round seal along the upper center edge of the painting, just to the left of Zhu Gangs,
reading Xuantong yulan zhi bao, and two rectilinear seals along the right edge, set

334 Jerome Silbergeld

above Zhu Gangs, Wuyi Zhai jingjian xi and Xuantong qianbao. Evidently, the
painting did not enter the Qing imperial collection until the final moments of the
dynasty, which explains its absence from the Qing imperial catalog. It does not seem,
either, to appear in any private catalog.
77 For example, in Changgu Zhenyi, Nongtian yuhua, shang:6b.
78 Zhongwen da cidian (Taipei: Zhonghua xueshu yuan, 1962), 1:658 659.
79 Zhao Mengfus painting was dated equivalent to January 7, 1301. Bian Yongyu,
ShiguTang shu hua huikao, hua:16:137; Wu Sheng, Daguan lu (Wujin: Lishi Shengshi
Lou, 1920), 16:46a.
80 Mencius wrote of Wang Liang:
Formerly, the officer Zhao Jian made Wang Liang act as charioteer for his
favourite Xi when, in the course of a whole day, they did not get a single bird.
The favourite Hsi reported this result, saying, He is the poorest charioteer
in the world. Someone told this to Wang Liang, who said, I beg leave to try
again. By dint of pressing, this was accorded to him, when in one morning they
got ten birds. The favourite, reporting this result, said, I will make him always
drive your chariot for you. When he told Wang Liang so, however, Liang refused,
saying. I drove for him, strictly observing the proper rules for driving, and in the
whole day he did not get one bird. I drove for him so as deceitfully to intercept
the birds, and in one morning he got ten. It is said in the Book of Poetry,
There is no failure in the management of their horses;
The arrows are discharged surely, like the blows of anaxe.
I am not accustomed to drive for a mean man. I beg leave to decline the office. Thus this
charioteer even was ashamed to bend improperly to the will of such an archer. Though,
by bending to it, they would have caught birds and animals sufficient to form a hill, he
would not do so. If I were to bend my principles and follow those princes, of what kind
would my conduct be? And you are wrong. Never has a man who has bent himself been
able to make others straight.
The Chinese Classics, ii: The Works of Mencius, trans. James Legge (reprint, Hong Kong:
Hong Kong University Press, 1960), 262 264.
81 Hua ma zan, quoted in Gujin tushu jicheng, qin chong dian, 93:1a.
82 Sima Xiangru, Zi xu (Su Fantasy), recorded in Sima Qian, Shi ji, 117:21b 22a;
Burton Watson translates this in the plural (the fabulous yaoniao horses) in Chinese
Rhyme-Prose (New York: Columbia University Press, 1971),45.
83 The sage but arrogant Mi Heng (173 200) was recommended to a reluctant Cao
Cao by Kong Rong in a lengthy memorial that drew to a close with the passage, such
fleet horses as Feitu and Yaoniao were looked for by the famous judges of horses,
Wang Liang and Bo Le, so I, the humble one, dare not conceal this man. Your Majesty
is careful in the selection of servants and should try him. Luo Guanzhong, Romance
of the Three Kingdoms, trans. C. H. Brewitt-Taylor (Rutland, Vt.: CharlesE. Tuttle, 1959),
1:242.
84 Gujin tushu jicheng, shuzheng dian, 172:1. Earlier, in the Huainanzi, Lshi chunqiu,
and Hou Han shu, Yaoniao and Feitu were paired but distinct; cf. Zhongwen da cidian,
10:153.
85 Cao Zhis Essay on Famous Capitals began with the lines,

335 The Political Animal

 Famous capitals abound in alluring women.
The capital on the Luo spans youths
With precious swords costing a thousand gold coins,
Competing like cocks along the Eastern Suburbs roadways,
Racing their horses through long rows of catalpas
In Ding Yanxu, ed., Cao Zhi quan ping (Nanjing: Jinling shuju, 1872),5:6b.
86 For Du Fus poem, see note 30 above.
87 See note 16 above.
88 Mo-tzu, Basic Writings, 57 58.
89 For the earliest reference to this, see the Zuozhuan text, ca.fourth centurybce: In
the action at Chengqiu [in the tenth year of his reign, 682 bce], the Duke [Zhuang
of Song] with his arrow called Jin [Golden] Pugu shot [the traitorous Song general]
Nangong Changwan. The Chinese Classics, v: The Chung Tsew with The Tso Chuen, trans.
James Legge (reprint, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960), 89. In one
Yuan-period source, the pugu arrow was described as one that marvelously sought its
mark and then returned to the archers quiver; Yi Shizhen, Langxuan ji, in Xue jin tao
yuan, comp. Zhang Haipeng (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1922), 146:22.
90 Fang Xuanling et al., eds., Jin shu (Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1884), 2:31a.
91 Chu ci (Sibu beiyao edition, Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1936), 2:27b. Many of
the surviving illustrations of the Lord of the East show him with arrow in hand,
including the version attributed to Zhao Mengfu in the Metropolitan Museum and
the fine rendition done by Zhang Wo in 1360, in the Cleveland Museum ofArt.
92 Adapted from translation by James Legge, The Chinese Classics, iii: The Shoo King
(Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press, 1960), 308 309,318.
93 See Yuan ren zhuanji zilao suoyin, ed. Wang Deyi et al.,5:24.
94 Yuan shi, ed. Song Lian et al. (Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1884), 134:13a 16b.
95 Bibliographic sources for Buyan Qutugs biography may be found in Yuan ren
zhuanji zilao suoyin, ed., Wang Deyi et al., 5:2319.
96 Yang Weizhen, Dongweizi wenji, Sibu congkan edition (Shanghai: Shangwu yinshu-
guan, 1935), 583:24:16b 17a.
97 Chan-Kuo Tse, trans. J. L. Crump, Jr. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970),
120 121.
98 The birth date of Togh-an-tmur, the emperor Shundi, was May 27,1320.

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339 The Political Animal

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340 Jerome Silbergeld

chapter9
How the Giraffe Became aQilin: Intercultural
Signification in Ming DynastyArts
Kathlyn Liscomb

In 1414, a giraffe was presented to the Yongle emperor (r.1403 1424) from
a Muslim sultan of Banggela (Bengal), whose name is transcribed in
Chinese records as King Sai fu ding, that is Sultan Saif al-Din Hamzah
Shah (r.1410 1411 or 1412).1 In China, this giraffe was identified as a qilin,
a special animal recorded in ancient texts as an auspicious sign that the
ruler was humane and fostered peace. Hereafter, when referring to any
giraffe called a qilin in a Chinese text, I shall use the term qilin-giraffe
todistinguish these from references to giraffes as such and to any qilin
not associated with the long-necked African mammal. The identification
of these two zoomorphs as one and the same does not readily suggest
itself when comparing portrayals of giraffes (figs.9.1, 9.2, 9.4, 9.5) with
a good example of the pictorial conventions for depicting qilin from the
fourteenth century on (fig.9.6).2 Why and how did this happen? How
does one reconstruct possible scenarios in which an African animal
given by a ruler of Bengal to the Yongle emperor came to be identified
as a qilin? Sinologists naturally tend to focus on the Chinese side of
this event. It is what they are best trained to do, but that provides only
a partial picture of a process that involved dialogue through translation
oflanguages and customs.
In seeking to reconstruct how this instance of intercultural signifi-
cation happened, it helps to begin by recognizing that the giraffe, like
any animal, was not a culturally neutral, blank being. The envoy presen-
ting the exotic animal as tribute would have done so with explanatory
information to ensure that its diplomatic significance was conveyed.

341
figure 9.1
Painting of a qilin-giraffe
and attendant, with Shen
Dus (1357 1434) inscribed
eulogy and his preface
dated 1414. Hanging scroll,
ink and colors on silk,
h.90.4cm. The collection
of the National Palace
Museum, Taipei.

342 Kathlyn Liscomb

The Chinese would have responded in ways mediated by their own
cultural traditions and pertinent agendas of that time. In any dialogue
involving translations of languages and cultural practices, meanings will
be communicated imperfectly. Apparent similarities may seem to facil-
itate understanding, while differences may be addressed using various
strategies, from exaggeration to convenient neglect. When the Chinese
appropriated the giraffe by transforming it into an auspicious sign
indicating that the Yongle emperor fostered peace at home and abroad,
they utilized an animal that already had a long, multicultural history of
significance in foreign diplomacy.
Once one giraffe had been identified as a qilin, then in most contexts
others also were. More were presented to the Chinese court later in
the first half of the fifteenth century, another from Bengal as well as
ones from Malin (Malindi) on the east coast of Africa and from Adan
(Aden) and Tianfang (Mecca) in Arabia (fig.9.3).3 These tribute missions
occurred during an era when vast fleets of imperially sponsored ships
augmented the merchant ships linking China by sea routes with lands
as distant as the eastern coast of Africa. There were also accounts of
these barbarian lands written by some of the men involved in the
series of naval expeditions led by a Muslim eunuch, Admiral Zheng He
(1371 1433). References in Ming encyclopedias, dynastic histories, and
other sources provide opportunities for considering how terminology
and other rhetorical devices varied depending on changing functions and
timeframes.
Before considering the possible agendas and relevant cultural back-
ground for both parties in this instance of foreign diplomacy, I shall
briefly introduce two artworks in the National Palace Museum in Taibei
that are important primary sources. I shall have more to say later about
how the qilin-giraffe is portrayed in each painting and its text, but for
now I shall draw attention to the appearance of the men accompanying
it, because they signal the foreign source of the gift more readily than
the animal itself, whose cultural significance will require a more exten-
sive elucidation. The hanging scroll consists of a picture painted in ink
and colors on silk with an inscription written by Shen Du (1357 1434)
made up of a preface and a eulogy he had composed for the emperor to
commemorate the presentation of the qilin-giraffe from Bengal in 1414
(see fig.9.1).4 From a Chinese perspective, the foreign origin of the man
holding the reins of the giraffe was signaled by his dark complexion,
projecting nose, well-trimmed thick mustache and beard, and his attire,
some features of which, for example his boots and white turban, accord
with descriptions by Chinese travelers of clothing worn by men in

343 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

Bengal.5 Yet the fur-trimmed coat overlapping across his chest instead
fits descriptions of attire under Mamluk rule (1250 1517) in what is
now Egypt and Syria. This sartorial aspect might have been intended to
convey Bengals pan-Islamic associations, or perhaps both the giraffe
and groom originally came from Egypt, where this animal had long
played animportant role in foreign diplomacy.6 Giraffes were not native
to South Asia. Most prior studies regarding the presentation of giraffes
as tribute to the Yongle emperor have depended on later copies of this
scroll, which causes problems when changes introduced by the copyist
are used as evidence or when historians neglect to consider artistic
conventions as a factor influencing visual communication.7
The second painting (see fig.9.2) is part of a handscroll titled
Ruiyingtu (Pictures of auspicious responses), compiled by Zeng Qi
(1372 1432), a government official and littrateur who transcribed the
literary compositions he had composed earlier for the Yongle emperor

344 Kathlyn Liscomb

< figure 9.2
Pictures of Auspicious
Responses, Ming dynasty
(1368 1644), fifteenth
century. Handscroll, ink
and color on paper, with
inscriptions by Zeng Qi
(1372 1432), 686.330cm. the man wearing the fur-trimmed garment in the hanging scroll may
Section portraying a qilin-
giraffe and three men from
Bengal. The collection
of the National Palace
Museum, Taipei.
each time one of these auspicious signs was reported or presented at
court. Zeng added a preface dated November 13, 1414, articulating his
motivation for combining these in a scroll along with the paintings he
had commissioned.8 Again, for now I wish to focus attention on the
portrayal of the foreigners accompanying the qilin-giraffe from Bengal;
well represent a different ethnic type than the three in this handscroll.
His facial features and fur-trimmed cloak are not repeated here, although
the man leading the giraffe in the handscroll also wears a red garment
and has a dark complexion. However, his more advanced years are
signaled by his long grizzled beard and stooped posture, and his nose is
more hooked in shape. He holds a stick for a whip and reins attached to
the giraffesbridle.
Like the other men portrayed in this handscroll, the groom wears a
white turban and long gown, which can be seen more clearly on the man
portrayed facing the viewer. His long ochre-colored robe has a round
collar, which accords with fifteenth-century Chinese travelers accounts
of the attire of males in Bengal, and it is buttoned down the front, which
was considered an Arabic type worn by learned men in medieval South
Asia.9 This man is portrayed as a mature adult with a black beard of
medium length. The beardless man near him wears a similar robe of
light green, and both men conceal their hands within their long sleeves,
a sartorial detail said to have been adopted by Persians from the Chinese.
The eyes of the man facing the viewer have an alert expression and his
skin color is modeled with subtle tonal gradations. Although accounts
left by Chinese men connected with the naval expeditions described the
complexions of most people in Bengal as dark, literally as hei (black),
the painter did not use this color, unlike some others portraying barbar-
ians from South, Southeast, and Central Asia.10 This is not to claim that
the artists serving the Yongle emperor were free of stereotyped conven-
tions for depicting barbarians, but they do seem to have striven to
record complexions and sartorial details accurately. This enhanced each
paintings visual rhetoric of documentation.
cultural contexts and possible agendas:
two sides of a gift
To undertake historically informed speculations regarding a dynamic
interaction between foreign cultures, it is necessary to consider what is
known about both sides. For the Chinese side, I will first provide some
background information regarding qilin and artistic commemorations of
345 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin
auspicious signs and exotic animals received as tribute. Some zoomorphs
fit only one of these categories, while those of interest here fit both.
Afterwards, I will focus on the Yongle emperor in order to explore the
role auspicious signs played during his reign. This will be followed by
an exploration of the Bengal side, during an era when the Ilyas Shahi
dynasty (1342 1415) had wrested independence from the Delhi sultans
who ruled in northern India (1206 1555). The conflicts in Bengal between
those representing the Hindu elite and those supporting rule by Muslim
sultans, as well as the desire of the latter to differentiate their kingdom
from that of the Delhi sultans, should be considered when reconstructing
possible motivations for using a giraffe to cultivate a beneficial relation-
ship with the Chinese emperor.

The Chinese Side General Background

Well before the Yongle era, the qilin had been discussed in many long-
esteemed books. Later authors often referenced these texts, so it will be
helpful to discuss some of these ancient traditions. The two Chinese
characters employed together as the word qilin combine the ideograms
for the male and female, respectively, of this mythical animal. The lin
(the female qilin) is strongly associated with a song in the Shijing
(Book of songs), a collection dating from around 1000 to 600bce.11 In
this song, the feet, forehead, and horn of the lin were equated with the
sons, grandsons, and kindred of the prince, respectively.12 It was explic-
itly characterized as an auspicious animal by the early years of the Han
dynasty in one of the most important early versions of Shijing, that with
commentary by a scholar surnamed Mao.13 From this time on, auspicious
omens functioned as indispensable signs that founding rulers and their
successors possessed the surpassing virtue required by the Mandate of
Heaven doctrine.14 The lins flesh-covered horn was said to indicate that
it was prepared for battle but did not wish to harm others, and it was
considered to be a great omen of universal peace that sometimes foretold
imminent instances of barbarians forming allegiances with China.15
The lin shared traits with the ideal Chinese ruler in its avoidance of
aggression, despite manifest strength.
An early detailed description of the lin is that of Lu Ji (third century
ce), who explains, The lin has the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, a
horses lower legs, yellow color, round hooves, and one horn, the tip
of which is covered with flesh. . . . When roaming, it only goes in select
lands; only after careful examination does it abide. It does not step on
living insects nor tread on living grass. . . . It appears when the king is
the epitome of humaneness.16 Here the singularity of the lins one horn

346 Kathlyn Liscomb

is specified, which is the basis for its occasional translation as unicorn.
Over time there were some variations in the particular physical traits
attributed to qilin, but typically its special nature was evoked by the
resemblance of its body parts to those of multiple different animals. An
enduring theme was that it was auspicious because it appeared only when
the ruler was humane and peace prevailed.
Some auspicious animals were native to China, as was the case for
qilin originally, although by the Han dynasty some thought that they
came from afar.17 The idea that auspicious animals were rare and
unusual facilitated the interpretation of exotic specimens from foreign
lands as favorable signs from Heaven confirming the Chinese rulers
virtue, a practice that goes back to the early Han dynasty.18 These royal
gifts and tribute objects affirmed Heavens support for the ruler not
only because they were, from a Chinese perspective, different from
ordinary things, but also because they demonstrated the superior moral
power of the Chinese emperor, which drew peoples from everywhere into
harmonious relations with China. The occurrence of auspicious signs
and the ideal behavior of foreign states toward China each was part of
a cluster of indications that a sage ruled China.19 When a single animal
signaled this ideal governance in both capacities, it was doubly signif-
icant. In practice the Chinese were not always in a position of greater
power, but for the most part official discourse necessarily framed discus-
sions of diplomatic relations and officially sanctioned trade within a
framework positing foreign rulers as loyal vassals rendering homage to
the Chinese emperor.
In an evolving official Confucian discourse, the concept of valid
omens was not challenged; the danger of placing too much emphasis
on such signs, however, was repeatedly underscored. False ones could
be manufactured by undeserving rulers and by manipulative persons
seeking to ingratiate themselves with the emperor. What mattered was
the responsible, virtuous behavior said to inspire auspicious responses
from Heaven rather than the signs per se.20 These views often were
presented as quotations of a specific emperor, but it is important to keep
in mind that the performance of the imperial role had to accord with
expectations. The mediation of later Confucian officials writing official
histories may also have helped produce a closer fit between ideals and
actual practices.
The resulting impression from such sober responses to auspicious
signs should be tempered with the ample evidence for their laudatory
commemoration by court artists and government officials commis-
sioned to write literary compositions.21 The emperor himself might

347 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

lend his imperial agency to the production of such imagery and texts.22
Auspicious omen pictures were displayed on processional banners,
according to official dynastic histories, other official records, and ency-
clopedias.23 These sources indicate that auspicious signs were taken
seriously as part of statecraft. Government officials played important
roles both by promoting auspicious signs for their maximum impact
at court and by striving to ensure that the emperor was represented as
manifesting the proper detachment to such affirmations of his virtue.
This suggests an ongoing tension that was repeatedly renegotiated as a
succession of emperors and their advisors sought to use both traditions
to enhance imperial power.
The artistic conventions for portraying auspicious responses included
depictions of the specific things or phenomena and also narrative illus-
trations.24 However, because the traditions for visual commemorations
of animals given as royal gifts and tribute are more relevant for the
qilin-giraffe scrolls, I shall focus on these. When such animals were also
interpreted as auspicious responses validating the Chinese emperor
as a sage-ruler, these two categories overlap. The history of painters
commemorating gifts and tribute from foreign kingdoms appears to
go back as early as the sixth century.25 This subgenre, however, was
strongly associated with the Tang dynasty and is documented in a variety
of sources, including paintings attributed to artists of that dynasty and
histories of painting written during that period.26 In later eras, contem-
porary portrayals of foreigners presenting tribute to the court often
emulated specific Tang paintings known through originals and copies,
or at least evoked general artistic conventions associated with that time.
This art-historically informed practice was fostered by the renowned
Northern Song literatus Li Gonglin (ca.1041 1106), who occasionally
painted animals presented as royal gifts and tribute.27 In accord with
the resulting conventions, the foreign figures and animals are typically
depicted against a blank ground or with a minimal setting, and the
implied recipient is not shown.28 Paintings of tribute animals by them-
selves often would have been insufficiently articulate regarding their
origins, but this information could be conveyed through the physiogno-
mies and attire of those accompanying them, in complementary texts, or
through a combination of these strategies.29
The visual arts not only commemorated tribute and royal gifts
domestically, they also at times fostered further intercultural practices.
For example, the Yongle emperor commissioned a painting of the gift
he had received in 1417 from the Timurid ruler Shahrukh (r.1409 1447),
and then sent him this portrayal of the white steed and two grooms as

348 Kathlyn Liscomb

a token of his appreciation.30 Some reflection of this may be preserved
in a Chinese painting portraying two richly attired Chinese grooms on
one side of a white horse, which was modified to suit a Persian manu-
script format and incorporated into Bahram Mirzas (1544 1545) album in
Safavid Iran (1501 1722), although its composition does not match exactly
that recorded for the thank-you painting.31

The Yongle Emperors Use of Auspicious Signs and His Expansion

of the Tribute System
This emperor had every reason to draw upon pre-existing Chinese
traditions regarding auspicious omens and the tributary system as a
framework justifying diplomatic and commercial relations with foreign
lands. Although he was indeed a son of the founder of the Ming dynasty,
he was not the designated heir and had usurped the throne from his
nephew. Auspicious omens not only legitimized his reign, they also
validated his many ambitious and costly programs, including the estab-
lishment of a dual capital system and the active pursuit of diplomatic
and economic ties with other major empires, including those of the
Mamluks and Timurids. In addition to encouraging overland embassies
to and from China, the Yongle emperor sponsored repeated, far-reaching
naval expeditions led by Zheng He and augmented by other official fleets,
including the one led by Yang Chi that probably brought the giraffe from
Bengal to China in1414.32
The qilin-giraffe from Bengal was only one among many different
things and phenomena designated as auspicious within Confucian
and Buddhist contexts during the Yongle era, which were celebrated in
literature, paintings, and at least one northern musical drama.33 The
promotion of these affirmative responses from Heaven should be kept in
mind when reading citations of the Yongle emperors properly modest
responses to officials who requested permission to present memorials
of congratulation on the arrival of qilin-giraffes, one from Bengal in 1414
and another from Malindi in 1415 (see fig.9.3). He reportedly down-
played the significance of such omens and credited his fathers ideal rule
with drawing people from distant realms to the Ming court.34
The Yongle emperor needed proof that he enjoyed the Mandate of
Heaven, so it is easy to see why an exotic animal from afar would have
been interpreted as an auspicious sign. There were ample precedents
for doing so; there are, however, many Chinese auspicious animals from
which to choose. Why was the giraffe identified as a qilin? What role did
the cultural practices and diplomatic agenda of Bengal play in treating
this gift as such an important auspicioussign?

349 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

The BengalSide
Attempts to decipher the diplomatic agenda of the 1414 embassy from
Bengal are complicated by the challenges posed by inconsistent sources
regarding a power struggle at this time between Muslim sultans of the
Ilyas Shahi dynasty and Raja Ganesh, a Hindu landowner. This brief
period should first be placed in a larger historical context. In 1342 the
founder of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty successfully resisted the military
campaign of Muhammad Shah Tughluq (r.1325 1351) to re-establish
control over Bengal.35 The expression Delhi sultanate encompasses a
succession of Muslim sultanates that ruled from this city; those rele-
vant here are the Tughluq (1320 1412) and Sayyid (1414 1451) (see fig.
9.3). In the early thirteenth century, when the first Delhi sultanate was
established, Islam provided a unifying link for their military and admin-
istrative personnel, who came from Afghanistan, eastern Persia, and
Central Asia.36 In the Delhi sultanate, few Indians were permitted to
attain high rank until the fourteenth century, and even then most had
converted to Islam.
In the independent sultanate of Bengal ruled by the Ilyas Shahi
dynasty, tensions between the Indo-Turkish ruling class and the Hindu
Bengali elite surfaced in the late fourteenth century and intensified after
Sultan Ghiyath al-Dins death in 1410, when a Hindu noble named Raja
Ganesh became the de facto ruler. This began during the reign of Saif
al-Din Hamzah Shah, whose brief rule as the apparent governing power

350 Kathlyn Liscomb

< figure 9.3 lasted from 1410 to 1411 or 1412.37 The Ming annals note that on July 30,
Map, Asia, Africa, and
Europe in the early 1400s.
1412, he reported his fathers death to the Yongle emperor, who ordered
Courtesy of Ole Heggen, that this son inherit the title of king of Bengal.38 Numismatic evidence,
Department of Geography, however, suggests that by this time a different sultan functioned as Raja
University of Victoria.
Ganeshs puppet ruler, so Haraprasad Ray has argued that the Chinese
historians made an error in transcribing the foreign name.39 Sally Church
points out, though, that the Chinese historians recorded the relationship
of Saif al-Din Hamzah Shah and his father correctly, and she suggests
that the Chinese relied on information provided by the envoys.40 In 1414,
when another embassy from Bengal came to present the Yongle emperor
with a giraffe, the Chinese historians recorded this as a royal gift from
Sultan Saif al-Din Hamzah Shah, who had not been the puppet ruler for
some time. Church proposes that he might have given the giraffe in an
attempt to strengthen his own position at home.41 Another possibility is
that Raja Ganesh did not consider it important that the Chinese be told
the name of his latest puppet ruler. Perhaps he decided to use instead the
name with which they were already familiar so that they would believe
Bengal was a stable Muslim sultanate, even though he and the elite who
supported him were Hindu.
What is of greater relevance to the gift of the giraffe to the Yongle
emperor is the evidence for ways in which the ruling elite sought to posi-
tion Bengal as an important part of the Muslim world, even while Raja
Ganesh was the de facto ruler behind the sultans of the Ilyas Shahi line
and while his son ruled as Jalal al-Din Muhammad Shah (r.1415 1432), a
converted Muslim sultan. The primary sources for the study of Bengal
during this period do not indicate the intended signification of this
gift,42 but information suggests the larger geopolitical contexts in which
it must be explored. Richard Eaton asserts that from the mid-fourteenth
century on, the Bengal sultans began articulating their claims to
political authority in Perso-Islamic terms. During this period the rulers
employed Persianized royal paraphernalia, adopted an elaborate court
ceremony modeled on the Sassanian imperial tradition, employed a
hierarchical bureaucracy, and promoted Islam as a state-sponsored
religion.43 This includes the initial period of the Ilyas Shahi dynasty,
the interval when Raja Ganesh wielded power behind the scenes, and
the rule of his son. One useful source is the account of Fei Xin (active
ca.1409 1433), who visited the Bengal court as part of Chinese imperial
embassies around 1412 and again in 1415.44
Parties in Bengal promoting their sides in these domestic disputes
sought alliances abroad. Some members of the Indo-Turkic nobility were
unwilling to compromise with members of the Hindu elite regarding

351 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

rule by a Hindu-born youth who had converted to Islam, and they
encouraged the sultan ruling nearby Jaunpur to invade Bengal and
re-establish a purer Muslim state. A Timurid diplomat in the service
of Shahrukh claimed that the latter had intervened in this crisis at the
request of the sultan of Bengal.45 Raja Ganeshs son, who ruled as the
converted Muslim Sultan Jalal al-Din Muhammad Shah, successfully
obtained symbolic marks of his legitimacy as a Muslim ruler through
diplomatic interactions with the Mamluk ruler Sultan Ashraf Barsbay
(r.1422 1437).46 Like earlier Bengal sultans, Jalal al-Din Muhammad Shah
supported the construction of madrasas (Muslim colleges) in Mecca.
Ideas about giraffes in this larger Islamic sphere probably informed the
decision to give one to the Yongle emperor.

giraffes, qilin, and qilin-giraffes

In the following section, I shall first sketch the background for ideas
about giraffes that probably informed those of the Muslim elite in
Bengal, and I will note evidence for the exposure of some Chinese to
these traditions prior to the Ming dynasty. I shall briefly discuss changes
in Chinese modes of visualizing qilin that would have facilitated its
equation with the giraffe, and then discuss a variety of Ming dynasty
sources which represent qilin-giraffes in visual images and texts, some-
times in combination.

Giraffes
Ideas about giraffes circulating in Islamic cultures during the fifteenth
century were partially based on a pre-Muslim legacy that can be traced
back to ancient Egypt, when pharaohs received specimens from Nubian
rulers, and to ancient Rome, when the exotic beasts also were used to
demonstrate political power and foster alliances.47 The second part of
the scientific name Giraffa camelopardalis is based on a combination
of the Greek words for camel and leopard, which relates to the belief of
some that this animal was the result of the mating of these two animals.
Analogies with other animals were also sometimes made, for example,
with oxen and horses. If one has the taxon Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata
in mind, then the association with leopards spots may not make sense,
but in some taxa darker areas appear as splotches on a light ground.48
Several authors in ancient Roman times remarked on the gentle docility
of this huge mammal, which in their opinion manifested no signs of
ferocity and was easily tamed.49 They probably had not seen male giraffes
in their natural habitats fighting with each other.

352 Kathlyn Liscomb

 It is widely recognized that the intellectual treasury of classical
Greece and Rome, filtered through Hellenistic thought and practice,
dominated much of the heritage that was appropriated and adapted
by most medieval Islamic philosopher-scientists.50 With regard to the
giraffe, its Persian name ushtur-gav-palang (camel-ox-leopard) relates to
the Greek-derived one, with the addition of the ox.51 In medieval texts
written in Arabic, scholars continued the debate regarding whether the
strange giraffe was a distinct species or the result of cross-breeding, and
it was described using analogies not limited to the ones postulated by
those who supported the theories of its hybrid origins.52 For example,
Ibnal-Faqih (fl.902) noted,

As for the giraffe, it has the body of a camel, the head of a deer, the
hooves of a cow, the tail of a bird, its front legs have knees while
the others do not, and its skin is brindled. It makes a strange
vision; in Persian, its name is ushtur-gav-palang, which means that
it has camel, bull, and leopard in it; in lexicology, [its Arabic name]
zarafa, means grouping and this animal is so named because of
the likenesses found init.53

Another link with the ancient Roman traditions was the emphasis
in Arabic texts on the giraffes docility. It was characterized as being
affectionate and sociable among other giraffes and remarkably docile.
Al-Masudi (d.956) did note that there were both wild and domesti-
cated ones, but al-Qazwini (ca.1203 1283) decided to group the giraffe
among domestic animals.54 Of course, only people living in parts of
the African continent inhabited by wild giraffes would be accustomed
to seeing them in their natural habitat. In the Islamic medieval world,
this animals domestication and prized status were commonly conveyed
through its adornment, and it was typically portrayed either being led
by a groom or in a garden.55 The latter strategy was adopted by the anon-
ymous illustrator of a page (see fig.9.4) from a late thirteenth-century
manuscript copy of Manafi-i hayavan (The benefits of animals) ascribed
to Ibn Baktishu (d.1058). This copy was based on the Persian transla-
tion of the Arabic original that had been made at the command of the
Ilkhanid (1256 1353) ruler Ghazan Khan (r.1295 1304).56 Here the height
of the giraffes neck is emphasized by its extension beyond the borders
framing the text and most of the illustration, which subtly suggests that
this pampered animal is kept in a walled garden or menagerie. It should
be noted that the manuscript was later trimmed, which resulted in some
loss from the top of the giraffes head. Wearing anklets and a necklace of

353 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

figure 9.4 bells, it eats from the top branches of a fruit-laden tree. The pattern of
The Benefits of Animals,
Ilkhanid (1256 1353)
the giraffes coat is delineated in dark lines creating hexagonal shapes,
manuscript copy of a which are more equilateral than in nature but do adjust in shape and size
Persian translation made to thebody.
in Maragheh, Iran, 1297
1298 or 1299 1300, and Through trade with Arabs, some Chinese were familiar with aspects of
nineteenth century of a this tradition, which is evident in Zhao Ruguas discussion of the Berbera
book by Ibn Baktishu
(d.1058). Eighty-six folios,
coast of Africa. In his early thirteenth-century Zhu fan zhi (Record of the
ink, colors, and gold on barbarians), he writes of the giraffe: There is also an animal called zula,
paper, 35.528.0cm. The it resembles a camel in shape, an ox in size, and is of yellow color. Its
Pierpont Morgan Library,
New York. ms m.500, fore legs are five feet long, its hind legs only three feet. Its head is lofty
fol.16r. Purchased by
J.Pierpont Morgan
(1837 1913),1912.

354 Kathlyn Liscomb

and turned upwards.57 Zhao learned about Africa indirectly from Arab
merchants, whom he probably met in his capacity as maritime trade
supervisor in Fujian and through reading books by earlier Chinese who
had done the same.58 The foreign source of information about the giraffe
is indicated by his use of the term zula, a transcription of the Arabic
name zarafa, or its Persian equivalent zurnapa or surnapa, and his compar-
ison with the camel.
Before considering how similarities in modes of conceptualizing
giraffes and qilin may have facilitated their equation, I shall briefly note
the long-standing use of giraffes in diplomatic relations. This will eluci-
date the importance ascribed to this animal by the ruling elite of Bengal
when their embassy presented one to the Yongle emperor in 1414. The
tenth-century author al-Masudi noted that giraffes were sent as pres-
ents from Nubia in Africa to the kings of Persia, and later to Arab kings
and to Abbasid (794 1258) caliphs and their governors of Egypt.59 When
Egypt was ruled by such governors, giraffes and other African animals
came to be included as part of the exchange of slaves and goods required
to maintain a truce with the Nubians that was first established by others
in the mid-seventh century.60 Other Muslim rulers of Egypt sought to
perpetuate aspects of this truce, and the contents of the exchange came
to include more exotic animals from Nubia. The Tulunids (r.868 905)
and the Fatimids (909 1171) built complexes to house them and displayed
them in parades.61 Mamluk sultans such as Baybars (r.1260 1279) used
gifts of giraffes to further their diplomatic agendas, which exposed parts
of Europe to this African beast.62
More relevant in the present context was the gift of a giraffe in 1404
from the Mamluk Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Faraj (r.1399 1405) to Timur
(ca.1336 1405), also known as Tamerlane, who founded the Timurids
in their rule of Transoxania and Persia. This event was recorded by Ruy
Gonzlez de Clavijo, an envoy of Don Henry iii of Castile and Leon,
who accompanied the Mamluk embassy from Khoy to Samarkand (see
fig.9.3) It was also recorded by Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi in his Zafarnama
(The book of triumph), a panegyric history of Timur, which was
completed in 1425 for his grandson Ibrahim-Sultan (d.1435), who was
then governor of Shiraz while his father, Shahrukh, ruled the Timurid
domain.63 After describing the unfamiliar animal using analogies with
parts and aspects of horses, deer, and buffalo, Clavijo opines, To one
who never saw the Giraffe before this beast is indeed a very wondrous
sight tobehold.64
The Book of Triumph survives in manuscript copies, including one
completed in 1436 by Yaqub ibn Hasan and illustrated by an anonymous

355 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

court painter in Shiraz under the patronage of Ibrahim-Sultan. This
manuscript is no longer intact, but Eleanor Sims observed that two
now-separated pages once formed a unified scene commemorating
the presentation of the giraffe by the Mamluk embassy (see figs.9.5a
and 9.5b).65 According to The Book of Triumph, the giraffe was presented
as part of the celebration of the weddings of some of Timurs grand-
sons; the painter, however, chose to focus on the presentation of the
giraffe by the Mamluk envoys to a single recipient.66 Two hills treated
as flat, decorative backdrops rise to accommodate the tiny head of the
long-necked giraffe and the ornate canopy shading Timur. The text above
the Mamluk embassy records, The ambassadors of the Egyptian Sultan
al-Malik al-Nasir Faraj present their gifts of tribute, including a giraffe
which walked from Cairo to Samarqand, in October 1404.67 The scene of
the wedding celebrations evoked in Sharafuddin Ali Yazdis poem would
require a cast of thousands, if given cinematic visualization:

People from all directions arrived, all happy and ready for
enjoyment.
From every city people arrived, merry and glad, to witness
thecelebration.
From China, from Slavia, from India and
Rm, and from the flourishing borders of Zabul,
From Iran land and Turan territory, from every spot inhabited
bymen.68

The author then proceeds to laud the erudition and piety of the ambas-
sador from Egypt and the richness of the gifts he had brought. There
was also a giraffe, which is one of the marvels of the Creators handicraft,
and nine ostriches, among other rare objects.69 This suggests that the
Chinese embassy might have witnessed the giraffe. The author, however,
had earlier noted that attacking the infidels of China was next on Timurs
world-conquering agenda, and there is some evidence to suggest that
its embassy might not have been present at the wedding ceremonies.70
Wishing to stress the extent of Timurs sphere of influence, Sharafuddin
Ali Yazdi might have included China merely for rhetorical flourish.
This passage, however, does raise the possibility that news of the giraffe
might have reached the Yongle emperor a decade before one arrived at
his own court. If so, there probably was interest in acquiring an animal
highly prized by powerful rivals. Even if the giraffes reputation had not
preceded it, the embassy from Bengal surely would have informed their
Chinese counterparts that it was a royal present signifying great honor.

356 Kathlyn Liscomb

figure 9.5a
Yaqub ibn Hasan, scribe,
and an anonymous
Timurid (1370 1506)
painter. 1436 manuscript
version of The Book of
Triumph by Sharafuddin
Ali Yazdi, which was
completed in 1425 for
Ibrahim-Sultan ibn
Shahrukh. Folio, colors
on paper, 23.817.7cm.
Worcester Art Museum,
Worcester, Massachusetts,
Jerome Wheelock Fund,
1935.26.

figure 9.5b
Yaqub ibn Hasan, scribe,
and an anonymous
Timurid (1370 1506)
painter. 1436 manuscript
version of The Book of
Triumph by Sharafuddin
Ali Yazdi, which was
completed in 1425 for
Ibrahim-Sultan ibn
Shahrukh. Folio, colors
on paper, 20.515.5cm.
Keir Collection, pp5,
Dallas Museum of Art.
From B. W. Robinson et
al., Islamic Art in the Keir
Collection (London: Faber
and Faber, 1988),pp5.
This and the long-standing Chinese interpretation of royal gifts from
foreign rulers as signs of their fealty would have made the arrival of the
giraffe from Bengal advantageous to the Yongle emperor. Its significance
was made even greater when it was interpreted as an auspicious response
from Heaven.
From Qilin to Qilin-Giraffe
Although there were other auspicious animals from which to choose
when ascribing an identity to the giraffe, the qilin was a particularly
beneficial one. It was a major omen associated with benevolent domestic
rule and peaceful relations with foreign realms. If the qilin had continued
to be imaged as possessing only one horn, though, it might have made
it harder to explain why it should be equated with the large two-horned
beast from Bengal. In Han dynasty representations qilin usually resem-
bled deer or horses and sometimes possessed wings along with their
singular horns.71 During the Period of Division, the stone qilin guarding
imperial tombs were bearded beasts with feline legs, wings, and usually
only one horn,72 but by the Yuan dynasty, a new type appeared on
underglaze-blue porcelains, including figure9.6 . Its body proportions,
legs, and head generally resemble those of deer or even goats. Manes,
tails, and sometimes beards adorn the two-horned quadruped, whose
body is covered with dragon-like scales. The flame-forms protruding
from its body further enhance the association with dragons.73 Although
the new qilin type was quite different in appearance from a giraffe, it

357 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

figure 9.6
Jar (guan), Yuan dynasty
(1279 1368). Under-
glaze blue porcelain,
h.48cm. Detail featuring
a qilin. British Museum,
oa1960.7-28.1.

bore more resemblance to one than had some earlier visualizations. It

circulated widely and inspired some imitations among the many Islamic
cultures that imported Chinese porcelains.74 It is difficult, though, to
reconstruct what this zoomorph signified in these foreign contexts.
The extraordinary mix of features of different natural and supernat-
ural animals in the qilin version that became a distinctive type during
the fourteenth century created an impressive distance between it and
more ordinary animals, forcefully signaling its auspicious nature. To
many different observers the giraffe seemed amazingly composite, and
in China, unusual mixes of animal features indicated auspiciousness. In
Arabic texts, giraffes were discussed using combinations of attributes
selected from such animals as camels, leopards, oxen, deer, and horses.

358 Kathlyn Liscomb

Analogies of qilin features with those of mundane animals varied from
text to text, but they regularly included aspects of deer and oxen, perhaps
making it easier to equate it with the giraffe. Furthermore, the gentle
docility of this mammal stressed by various authors writing in Arabic
might have been interpreted by Chinese as proof that it was the peaceful
qilin, especially since the tips of its horns also appeared rounded.

qilin-giraffes in different spheres of signification

Once the designation of the giraffe as a qilin was a fait accompli, there
was no room for debate regarding its identity, but this does not mean that
uniformity prevailed in descriptions of its features and attributes. It is
revealing to observe the extent to which the qilin literature was selectively
applied to the qilin-giraffes in different contexts and the varying degrees
to which Islamic cultural traditions were referenced. Absences are as
revealing as inclusions.

Texts and Images: The 1414 Paintings and TheirTexts

In each of the 1414 paintings (see figs.9.1 and 9.2) the giraffe is accom-
panied by one or more figures set against a blank ground in a manner
evocative of the Tang painting conventions that were often deemed
appropriate by later painters and patrons for tribute themes. Unlike the
Persian manuscript painting of the presentation of the giraffe by the
Mamluk embassy to Timur (see figs.9.5a 9.5b) in the Chinese scrolls,
the recipient is not shown. Zeng Qis inscription, however, indicates
that his presence was implicit, because the giraffe loftily raises its head
toward the imperial throne.75 In each scroll, both the related text and
the portrayal of those accompanying this stately animal signal its foreign
origins.
The style of each of these Chinese paintings is purposefully docu-
mentary; that is, graphic traces signifying the artists personal expression
are minimal, and the subject matter is rendered plausible by subtle
coloration and fine details. An idealized regularity informs the visual-
ization of the auspicious animal, whose reticulation is rendered in fairly
regular hexagonal patterns. In the hanging scroll, the giraffes coat is
beige except for its white forelegs, with some light gray shading near
lines defining key body forms. The reticulation is rendered by leaving
thin areas of plain silk as delineation, supplemented by fine lines. A
pale blue wash enhances the two horns. In the case of the handscroll,
white pigment originally outlined the hexagonal shapes. The giraffes
head is shown in profile so that it appears to have only one horn, which is

359 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

part of a complex and lively pose, as it raises one leg and twists its neck to
look backward. The proportions and integration of its body parts, though,
are less anatomically correct than in the hanging scroll. Overall there are
sufficient differences to suggest two different artists.
The Chinese painters did not modify the giraffes appearance to
accommodate its newly acquired qilin identity, with the possible excep-
tion of the profile head showing only one horn in the handscroll. In the
context of contemporary Chinese painting traditions, each artist paid
fairly close attention to observed forms. A different approach is taken by
Shen Du and Zeng Qi, two authors who stress the tribute animals qilin
traits. They conveniently omit mention of how many horns it possesses,
which is easier in classical Chinese than in many languages, but they
do note the fleshy covering traditionally marking a qilins pacific nature.
Shen Du gives the animals height as fifteen feet, but otherwise repeats
the usual inner and outer traits associated with qilin.76 Zeng Qi may
allude to its long neck indirectly when he writes, loftily it raises its head
toward the imperial throne. Its height is eighteen feet. He stresses its
numinous nature in his selection of analogies: Heaven produces auspi-
cious things, which naturally are unusual. Its forehead, a dragon; its neck,
a phoenix; its body, a deer; and on its back, tortoise shell patterns.77 The
last characteristic aptly suggests the qilin-giraffes reticulation. Although
the strategies of the authors differ from those of the painters, texts and
images work in concert to proclaim that this strange, giant beast is indeed
the auspicious qilin known since ancient times. The scrolls were probably
intended to be viewed by people privileged to witness the actual giraffe, so
that modifications of its visible attributes to approximate conventions for
representing qilin would have undermined their validity as documents.
The literary works by Shen Du and Zeng Qi acknowledge that the qilin-
giraffe was brought from Bengal, but they do not otherwise acknowledge
its cultural baggage. There is no mention of camels, leopards, or foreign
terms in either text. The giraffes foreignness has been subsumed within
the discourse of signs confirming the Chinese emperors sagely virtue.
For example, in Shen Dus preface, the Yongle emperor is said to have
inherited the great foundation established by his father, the founder of
the Ming dynasty, so that the transformative power of his sagely virtue
spreads to harmonize all kingdoms, a point reiterated in Shens eulogy.78
The Yongle emperors equal excellence in military and civilian cultures
is acknowledged, but not his sponsorship of extensive naval expeditions.
A similar strategy was adopted in 1419 by Jin Youzi (1368 1421) for the
third qilin-giraffe presented to the Yongle emperor, this one from Aden,
a major port in Arabia. Jin interprets the repeated presentation of this

360 Kathlyn Liscomb

auspicious animal as firm proof that the rulers far-reaching reputation
for benevolence and righteousness has caused kingdoms everywhere to
submit to him.79 Chinas increased contact with ever more remote places
is acknowledged without any reference to the many endeavors making it
all possible.

Accounts by Zheng He and Others Involved in Ming

Naval Expeditions
In contrast to literary works commissioned to laud qilin-giraffes
presented at court are texts associated with the naval expeditions spon-
sored by the Yongle emperor. The most official of these is an essay
engraved on stone titled Tianfei zhi shenling ying ji (Record of the celes-
tial spouses miraculous response), in which Admiral Zheng and other
key figures in the expedition collectively commemorated their gratitude
for her divine interventions in various dangerous situations.80 Here
the ideal rhetoric of the tributary system is fleshed out with details,
including perils at sea and military interventions. In the account of
official missions in western regions, the section on places visited in
1417 notes, The country of Aden presented a qilin, for which the native
name is zulafa, as well as the long-horned oryx.
The most detailed accounts of these naval expeditions are those
written by Fei Xin and by Ma Huan, whose record was completed circa
1434 1436. The former notes only that zulafa (giraffes) were among the
products of Zuofaer, the Chinese transcription of the medieval Arabic
name for Dhufar, a town on the south coast of Arabia.81 Fei Xin does
not link the animal in any way with a qilin. Ma Huan provides a more
detailed description of giraffes in his section on the Arabian port of
Aden. Although employing the word qilin, he does not discuss the exotic
beasts as numinous signs. Instead he provides a concise summary of
notable features including the giraffes long neck, two horns, and lower
hindquarters. Only the most plausible qilin analogies are incorporated
when he observes, it has the tail of an ox and the body of a deer.82 Ma
Huans description appears to have been the unacknowledged source
employed in the official history of the Ming dynasty compiled during
the Qing dynasty in the section about Aden, where the qilin-giraffe is
mentioned among the exotic treasures purchased by a Chinese official
in 1419, a prosaic account divorced from any concepts of auspicious
tribute animals.83 In these texts, regardless of the name employed, the
giraffe is primarily an exotic animal, not a sign of Heavens approval.
Fifteenth-century literati praising the Yongle emperor stressed how
seldom the optimal conditions attracting qilin had occurred in the past.

361 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

For Chinese voyagers who repeatedly saw giraffes in various places,
however, their rarity was diminished.

Most Ming Chinese would not have seen live giraffes, and by the time the
naval expeditions were terminated and the presented animals had died,
knowledge about them depended on surviving texts and images. The
accounts by Fei Xin and Ma Huan did not circulate widely. The ornate
praises composed by officials survived in their literary collections and
other compilations, but they had stressed the Chinese traditions about
qilin so exclusively that little information about the actual appearance
of the giraffe or its foreign cultural associations was transmitted. Many
readers probably would have visualized a conventional qilin, possibly with
a longerneck.
Pictures of qilin-giraffes continue to be employed in aristocratic
contexts in the early sixteenth century. Brocade rank badges on two
outer garments discovered within the coffin of a duke, Xu Fu (d.1517),
featured a qilin on one and a qilin-giraffe on the other.84 Paintings of
qilin-giraffes circulated in the late Ming dynasty, one of which was seen
by Xie Zhaozhe (1567 1624), who writes in his encyclopedia, Wu za zu (Five
assorted offerings): In the Yongle era a lin was received, and an artisan
was commanded to paint it as a gift for an important government official.
I once saw it at my old home. Its body was just like that of a deer, but its
neck was very long, about three or four feet. It was like the [description of
the qilin as having] the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, and the hooves of
a horse, and utterly different from the way it is commonly portrayed.85
Xie must have seen a painting of a giraffe identified in an inscription
as a qilin. Questioning some aspects of received wisdom, he concluded
that this portrayal came closer to the traditional verbal description of
a qilin than the common visual image of it (see fig.9.6). Pictures of a
giraffe standing in profile, attended by one or two grooms, with and
without transcriptions of Shen Dus text, further support the evidence
of Xies encyclopedia. Together they demonstrate the continuing circu-
lation of images of giraffes identified as qilin during the Ming and Qing
dynasties.86 Over time, however, this African mammal failed to supplant
pre-existing descriptions and visualizations of the qilin. When the impe-
rially sponsored Qing dynasty encyclopedia Gujin tushu jicheng (Synthesis
of books and pictures of ancient and modern times) was compiled, a
conventional qilin picture was combined with literary works about that
animal and with those about the qilin-giraffes of the Yongle era, while
a giraffe was portrayed elsewhere as part of an extract from an illus-
trated book in Chinese by Ferdinand Verbiest (1623 1688).87 In earlier

362 Kathlyn Liscomb

eras when exotic animals were equated with Chinese auspicious ones,
asimilar pattern may have occurred; fusion concepts comparable to the
qilin-giraffe may have gained currency for a time, but eventually they
alsowere superseded by evolving Chinese indigenous traditions.88
One challenge to the present study is the ease with which one may
slip into ones own concepts about giraffes, which seem objective and
lead to the erroneous assumption that there was a neutral animal to
which Ming Chinese responded. Another pitfall is the temptation to
conclude that their significance in China was exclusively a Chinese
contribution. The intercultural significance of a gift that served diplo-
matic purposes as well as domestic agendas in the countries of both
the giver and the recipient is difficult to reconstruct. Historical docu-
mentation for the kingdom of Bengal in the early fifteenth century is
sparse, but evidence indicates that local elites positioned themselves in
a larger global context that included China as well as numerous Islamic
states. Documentation for the Yongle era in China is far richer despite
deletions motivated by the later official rejection of this emperors expan-
sionist aims. The foreign role was downplayed in the surviving records.
Sinocentric biases and a focus on elite domestic readers contributed to
this, as did the Yongle emperors political need at home for the gift to be
identified indisputably as a qilin.
Here I have proposed that by the fifteenth century some ideas about
giraffes circulating in Islamic cultures were sufficiently close to Chinese
ones about qilin and tribute animals to create an apparent confluence of
significations, which elite Ming dynasty authors then shaped to serve
the interests of the Yongle emperor. The composite nature of both the
qilin and the Islamic giraffe within their respective traditions, along
with the similarity of some of the specific animal analogies associated
with each, would have made it easier to equate the two zoomorphs. The
giraffes reputation for docility, its manifestation of tame behavior, and
the rounded tips of its horns accorded well with the qilins reputation as
an omen of peace. Earlier instances of exotic tribute animals interpreted
as auspicious responses from Heaven provided precedents for identi-
fying the giraffe as such a proof, and the prestige accorded this animal in
many of the states with which early fifteenth-century China had foreign
relations supported its elevation to such an exalted status.
For the Yongle emperor, the possession of giraffes also functioned as
a sign of power that was readily understood by the many Muslim rulers
with which the Ming dynasty had foreign relations. When communi-
cating with embassies representing Muslim rulers, Chinese officials
possibly used more of the pan-Islamic concepts associated with the

363 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

giraffe. We should not conclude that Chinese foreign diplomacy was
conducted with the same degree of Sinocentrism that is evident in the
literary works composed for an elite domestic readership.89

notes
I wish to express my gratitude to my colleagues at the University of Victoria Drs.
Erica Dodd, Marcus Milwright, and Anthony Welch for helping me explore relevant
aspects of Islamic cultural history, although I alone am responsible for any inaccu-
racies resulting from my own lack of formal training in this broad field. I also wish
to express my appreciation to the anonymous reader who provided especially thor-
ough comments. A grant from the University of Victoria helped fund this research.
The translations of Chinese are mine, but I do note the existence of other available
translations. I have used the pinyin romanization throughout, except that I have not
changed published spellings of authors names or titles in my notes or bibliograph-
ical entries.
1 Huang Zhangjian, comp., Taizong shilu (Veritable records for the reign of Emperor
Taizong) (Nangang: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Lishi yanjiusuo, 1966), juan 155:1 (p.1787),
for Yongle shier nian jiu yue: dingqiu and shuying. These annals use wang (king, prince)
instead of sultan. This portion of the Ming annals was originally compiled in 1430 by
Yang Shiqi etal.
2 Please note that figures 9.1 and 9.2 are qilin-giraffes in the accompanying texts, but
the visual portrayals clearly are of giraffes. For a color overview of the jar (fig.9.6), see
S. J. Vainker, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain: From Prehistory to the Present (London: The
Trustees of the British Museum, 1991), fig.99. Although this and other qilin motifs on
porcelains lack identifying texts, similar ones are identified as such in Ming dynasty
prints and paintings. See Julia Murray, The Temple of Confucius and Pictorial
Biographies of the Sage, Journal of Asian Studies 55, no.2 (1996): figs.2 and9.
3 I am grateful to Fatima Quraishi for her research of available maps and to Ole
Heggen for producing thisone.
4 For Shens eulogy (song) and preface, see Gugong bowuyuan, comp. Gugong shuhua
tulu (A pictorial record of the calligraphy and paintings in the Palace Museum)
(Taibei: Guoli gugong bowuyuan, 1989 2006), vol.9:345 946 [hereafter ggshtl]. I
am grateful to the curators and other staff members who facilitated a special viewing
of this scroll and also of the handscroll of which figure9.2 is a part. Regarding the
likely authenticity of this hanging scroll, see Kathlyn Liscomb, Foregrounding the
Symbiosis of Power. A rhetorical strategy in some Chinese commemorative art, Art
History 25, no.2 (2002): 142 146, and 160 note30.
5 Ma Huan, Yingyai shenglan jiaozhu (A collated and annotated edition of The Overall
Survey of the Oceans Shores), 1433, annot. Feng Chengjun (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu
yinshuguan, 1962), 59; Ma Huan, Ying-yai Sheng-lan The Overall Survey of the Oceans
Shores, trans. J. V. G. Mills (Bangkok: White Lotus Co., Ltd., rpt. ed., 1997), 160 (here-
after Ma Huan/Mills); Fei Xin, Xingcha shenglan jiaozhu (A collated and annotated
edition of TheOverall Survey of the Star Raft), annot. Feng Chengjun (Taibei: Taiwan
shangwu yinshuguan, 1962), 40; and Fei Xin, Hsing-cha sheng-lan: The Overall
Survey of the Star Raft, trans. J. V. G. Mills, rev. and annot. Roderich Ptak (Wiesbaden:
Harrassowitz Verlag, 1996), 76 (hereafter Fei Xin/Mills and Ptak).

364 Kathlyn Liscomb

6 L. A. Mayer, Mamluk Costume: A Survey (Geneva: Albert Kundig, 1952), 23; and Moti
Chandra, Costumes, Textiles, Cosmetics and Coiffure in Ancient and Mediaeval India (Delhi:
Oriental Publishers, 1973), 141 142, notes that the Indian elite emulated contemporary
Persian and Turkish fashions in the fourteenth century.
7 For example, J. J. L. Duyvendak, The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expedi-
tions in the Early Fifteenth Century, Toung Pao 34 (1938): 341 412, reproduces a copy
by Chen Tingbi and a different one then in the collection of Messr. Chait in New
York and now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, both with texts identifying Shen
Du as being not only the author and calligrapher but also the painter. There is no
evidence that Shen was a painter, nor is he indicated as being such on the hanging
scroll belonging to the National Palace Museum, Taibei (see fig.9.1). The scroll in
the Philadelphia Museum of Art has also been reproduced and discussed by SallyK.
Church, The Giraffe of Bengal: A Medieval Encounter in Ming China, The Medieval
History Journal 7, no.1 (2004): 34 35, fig.1, and by James C. Y. Watt, The Giraffe as
the Mythical Qilin in Chinese Art: A Painting and a Rank Badge in the Metropolitan
Museum, Metropolitan Museum Journal 43 (2008): 111 112, pl.2.
8 ggshtl, vol.20:135 140, for reproductions of the pictures and texts. See Liscomb,
Foregrounding the Symbiosis of Power, 146 151, figs.5 9, for this and the other
paintings in this handscroll, which are quite different in style from the portrayal of
the qilin-giraffe.
9 Ma Huan, Yingyai shenglan jiaozhu, 59; Fei Xin, Xingcha shenglan jiaozhu, 40; and
Chandra, Costumes, Textiles, Cosmetics and Coiffure, 143 144.
10 See for example, Robert Harrist Jr., Power and Virtue: The Horse in Chinese Art, exh.
cat., China Institute Gallery, New York, 1997, 26, 94 95, cat. no.22, for a scroll signed
by Ren Bonian entitled Zhigong tu (Tribute bearers).
11 Michael Lowe, ed., Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, Early China Special
Monograph Series, no.2 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 415 423.
12 James Legge, trans., The Chinese Classics, vol.4, The She King (reprint of 1898 ed.;
Taibei: Southern Materials Center, 1985),19.
13 Gao Mingqian et al., Shijing dongwu shigu (Explanations and transcriptions into
modern Chinese of passages about animals in the Book of Songs) (Beijing: Zhonghua
shuju, 2005),26.
14 Wu Hung, A Sanpan Shan Chariot Ornament and the Xiangrui Design in
Western Han Art, Archives of Asian Art 37 (1984): 39 46; Martin Powers, Art and Political
Expression in Early China (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991), chs. 8 9; and
HowardJ. Wechsler, Offerings of Jade and Silk: Ritual and Symbol in the Legitimation of
the Tang Dynasty (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1985), 55 56, and ch.3.
15 He Xiu, a Later Han commentator to the Erya (third century bce) stresses the
benevolence of the lins horn; cited in Hao Yixing, comp., Erya yishu (An annotated
edition of the thesaurus Erya) in Guoxue jiben congshu (A collectanea of foundational
books for studies of national classics), comp. Wang Yunwu (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu
yinshuguan, 1967), vol.101, ce 5, entry 18, 617. Wang Chong (27 ca.97ce), Lunheng
zhushi (An annotated edition of Disquisitions), comp. Beijing daxue lishi xi Lunheng
zhushi xiaozu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1979), vol.3: Zhirui pian (section on auspi-
cious signs), 984, 87; and Alfred Forke, trans., Lun-heng: Miscellaneous Essays of Wang
Chung (New York: Paragon Book Gallery, 1962), 310 312 (hereafter, Wang Chong/Forke).
16 Gao Mingqian, Shijing dongwu shigu, 26, citing Lu Jis Mao shi cao mu niao shou

365 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

chong yu shu (An explanation of the plants, animals, insects, and reptiles in Maos
commentary to the Book of Songs). A similar description occurs in Shen Yue (441 513),
Song shu (History of the Liu Song dynasty), except that the neck is said to resemble
that of a wolf. See Wu Hung, The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese Pictorial
Art (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1989), 236, for the text and his trans-
lation. For additional literary sources, see Zhongwen da cidian (The great dictionary
of Chinese) (Taibei: Zhonghua xueshuyuan, 1980), vol.10:76 77, s.v. qilin; and Jiang
Tingxi (1669 1732) et al., comp. Gujin tushu jicheng (A synthesis of books and pictures
of ancient and modern times) (Shanghai: Zhonghua, 1934), tao 94, bowu huibian,
qinchong dian (The broad category of things, canon on animals), ce 519, juan 56: 40 46,
s.v. qilin bu huikao (A study of diverse sources regarding qilin).
17 Wang Chong, Lunheng zhushi, vol.3: 978, 983 984; Wang Chong/Forke, 309 310.
According to Wang, people often erroneously concluded that dragons, phoenixes,
and qilin were foreign just because they were rarely seen in China.
18 Wu Hung, Sanpan Shan, 43 44.
19 For example, when Han emperor Wudi expressed his desire to emulate the ideal
rule of sagely kings of the Zhou dynasty, he credited their far-reaching cultural
influence for the submission of barbarians, the absence of inauspicious natural
phenomena, and the appearance of auspicious signs such as qilin and phoenixes. See
Ban Gu, The History of the Former Han Dynasty, trans. and annot. HomerH. Dubs with
the collaboration of Pan Lo-chi and Jen Tai (Baltimore: Waverly Press, Inc., 1944),
vol.2: 36 37, for his translation and the text in Chinese.
20 Powers, Art and Political Expression in Early China, 227; and Wechsler, Offerings of
Jade and Silk, 57, 59 60.
21 EdwardH. Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of Tang Exotics
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1963), chaps. 1, 3, and 4, provides many exam-
ples culled from official dynastic histories, literary works, and histories of painting.
22 Maggie Bickford, Emperor Huizong and the Aesthetic of Agency, Archives of
Asian Art 53 (2002 2003), 85 86, and 96 97 note 2, for an extensive bibliography.
23 Bickford, Emperor Huizong, 80 81; and Peter Sturman, Cranes Above Kaifeng:
The Auspicious Image at the Court of Huizong, Ars Orientalis 20 (1990): 34 38.
24 For examples, see Bickford, Emperor Huizong, fig.1 3; and Julia Murray, Mirror
of Morality: Chinese Narrative Illustration and Confucian Ideology (Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press, 2007), pl.16.
25 William R. B. Acker, trans. and annot., Some Tang and Pre-Tang Texts on Chinese
Painting, vol.2, Chang Yen-yans Li Tai Ming Hua Chi, Chapters iv x, Part 1, Translation
and Annotations (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974), 169, and Part 2, Chinese Text, 88 ( juan 7) (here-
after Zhang Yanyuan/Acker).
26 For painting histories, see Zhang Yanyuan/Acker, vol.2, pt. 1, 214, 215 216, 262,
and pt. 2, 104 105; Zhu Jingxuan, Tang chao ming hua lu (Celebrated painters of the
Tang dynasty), annot. Wen Zhaotong (Chengdu: Sichuan meishu chubanshe, 1985),
pp. 8 9, 15, and 23; Alexander Soper, Tang Chao Ming Hua Lu: Celebrated Painters of
the Tang Dynasty by Chu Ching-hsan, Artibus Asiae 21 (1958): 212 213, 217, 224; and
Xuanhe huapu (Catalog of paintings in the Xuanhe Collection), preface dated to 1120,
in Huashi congshu (Collected works on painting history), ed. Yu Anlan (reprint; Taibei:
Wen shi zhe chubanshe, 1974), vol.1, juan 1, 9. For some paintings attributed to Tang
artists, see National Palace Museum, comp., Masterpieces of Chinese Figure Painting in

366 Kathlyn Liscomb

the National Palace Museum (Taibei: National Palace Museum, 1973), pl.3 [Zhou Fang];
and Murray, Mirror of Morality, 52 54, fig.34, for Yan Liben.
27 Xuanhe huapu, juan 7:74 79; and Ankeney Weitz, trans. and annot., Zhou Mis Record
of Clouds and Mist Passing Before Ones Eyes: An Annotated Translation (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
2002), 64 65 (309), 97 (315), and 99 100 (315 316), fig.1. Numbers in parentheses are for
the Chinese texts.
28 In addition to examples cited in note 26, for two portrayals set in landscapes
of envoys presenting lions, see William Watson, Chinese Style in the Paintings of
the Istanbul Albums, in Between China and Iran: Paintings from Four Istanbul Albums,
Colloquies in Art & Archaeology in Asia, no.10, ed. ErnstJ. Grube and Eleanor Sims,
76, figs.79 80 (London: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, University of
London, 1985).
29 An example of the animal and text strategy occurs in Bickford, Emperor
Huizong, fig.1., and an example of the inclusion of the foreigners presenting the
tribute in Harrist, Power and Virtue, 26, 94 95, cat. no.22.
30 Sugimura Toh, The Encounter of China with Persia Research into Cultural Contacts
Based on Fifteenth Century Pictorial Materials, Senri Ethnological Series No.18 (saka:
National Museum of Ethnology, 1986), 13, citing Abd al-Razzaq, whose name is
spelled as Abd-er razzak in E.Bretschneider, Medieval Researches from Eastern Asiatic
Sources (London: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trbner & Co., Ltd., n.d.), vol.2:153 279, where
the texts title is Matla-assaadein. The written account describes a groom on each
side of a white horse. Note that the name Shahrukh is also sometimes written as
ShahRukh.
31 DavidJ. Roxburgh, The Persian Album, 1400 1600: From Dispersal to Collection (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005), 295 297, fig.163 (Chinese painting dated
fifteenth century, color reproduction); and Watson, Chinese Style, 71 72, who
proposes a fourteenth-century date and argues that this painting of the grooms is
not by top-ranking Chinese metropolitan artists. He raises concerns about the rich
clothing of the two men, but perhaps Chinese grooms sent with embassies were
attired to impress foreigners.
32 For useful overviews, see Shih-shan Henry Tsai, Perpetual Happiness: The Ming
Emperor Yongle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001); Watanabe Hiroshi,
Index of Embassies and Tribute Missions from Islamic Countries to Ming China
(1368 1466) as Recorded in the Ming Shih-lu Classified according to Geographic Area,
Memoirs of the Toyo Bunko, no.33 (1975): 285 347; and EdwardL. Dreyer, Zheng He: China
and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1404 1433 (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007).
For clarification regarding inconsistencies about the name of the commander of
this expedition led by Yang Chi (Yang Min), see Fei Xin/Mills and Ptak, Hsing-cha
sheng-lan, 73 note208.
33 For reproductions of some in the National Palace Museum, Taibei, see ggshtl,
vol.9:345 346, and vol.20:61 94 and 135 140. See also W. L. Idema, The Capture of
the Tsou-y, in Leiden Studies in Sinology, ed. W. L. Idema, 57 74 (Leiden: E. J. Brill,
1981); Liscomb, Foregrounding the Symbiosis of Power, 140 151; and Patricia Berger,
Miracles in Nanjing: An Imperial Record of the Fifth Karmapas Visit to the Chinese
Capital, in Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism, ed. Marsha Weidner,
145 169 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001).
34 For Bengal, see Huang Zhangjian, comp., Taizong shilu, juan 155, 1a b (pp. 1787
1788); and for Malindi, see Yang Jialuo, comp. Xin jiaoben Ming shi bing fu bian liuzhong

367 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

(A newly collated edition of the History of the Ming Dynasty and six supplements)
(Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1994), vol.11: 8451 8452 ( juan 326, lie zhuan 214, waiguo 7),
which is based on the compilation by Jiang Tingyu (Qing); hereafter cited as Jiang
Tingyu/Yang Jialuo.
35 Richard Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204 1760 (Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1993), 324 325, uses the following dates and designa-
tions: Ilyas Shahi dynasty (1342 1415), Raja Ganesh dynasty (1415 1433), and Restored
Ilyas Shahi dynasty (1433 1486).
36 CatherineB. Asher and Cynthia Talbot, India before Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006), ch.2, provides a concise introduction.
37 Eaton, The Rise of Islam, 324, gives the dates of Saif al-Din Hamzah Shahs reign
as 1410 1411. Haraprasad Ray, Trade and Diplomacy in Indo-China Relations: A Study of
Bengal During the Fifteenth Century (New Delhi: Radiant Publishers, 1993), 65, using the
transcription Saiffudin, gives the end of his rule as April 13, 1412, based on coins he
issued. Jadu-Nath Sarkar, ed., The History of Bengal: Muslim Period 1200 1757 (Patna:
Academica Asiatica, 1973), 116 and 95, gives his reign dates as 1409 1410 and also notes
problems regarding interpreting the numismatic evidence.
38 Huang Zhangjian, Taizong shilu, juan 129:4a b (pp. 1603 1604).
39 Ray, Trade and Diplomacy, 61 62.
40 Church, The Giraffe of Bengal, 14 17.
41 Huang Zhangjian, Taizong shihlu, juan 155:1a b (pp. 1787 1788); and Church, The
Giraffe of Bengal, 20 21.
42 Sarkar, The History of Bengal, 125 127, regarding the absence of any fifteenth-
century Bengal accounts of the era of Raja Ganeshs power and the rule of his son
and the contradictions among later sources regarding major historical events.
43 Eaton, The Rise of Islam, 47 49.
44 Eaton, The Rise of Islam, 47 49, cites a secondary source; the original source is
FeiXin, who went to Bengal in 1412 in the suite of the assistant envoy, returned to
the capital in 1414, and visited there again in 1415. His comments about Bengal court
ceremonies might refer to either or both of these trips. See Fei Xin, Xingcha shenglan
jiaozhu, juan 1; 38 43; and Fei Xin/Mills and Ptak, Hsing-cha sheng-lan, 73 77.
45 Eaton, The Rise of Islam, 53 54 and notes 52 and55.
46 Eaton, The Rise of Islam, 57. Anthony Welch kindly pointed out in conversation that
formally the requested letter of recognition and robe of honor probably came from
the Mamluk-controlled Abbasid caliph.
47 A fundamental source is Berthold Laufer, The Giraffe in History and Art (Chicago:
Field Museum of Natural History, 1928), 15 25, 58 64, which is well researched but
lacks sufficient notes and bibliography. C. A. Spinage, The Book of the Giraffe (London:
Collins, 1968) is heavily indebted to it and provides only a selected bibliography.
J. M. C. Toynbee, Animals in Roman Life and Art (London: Thames and Hudson, 1973),
ch.12, supplies more of the scholarly apparatus.
48 Jonathan Kingdon, The Kingdon Pocket Guide to African Mammals (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press), 2004, 208209 (giraffe) and 174175 (leopard, Panthera pardus).
49 For example Strabo (d.23ce?), Geographica, xvi, 4, 16; Pliny the Elder (23 79),

368 Kathlyn Liscomb

Naturalis Historica, viii, 27; and Heliodorus (third century ce), Aetheopica, x, 27, which
has been translated by Moses Hadas, An Ethiopian Romance, Heliodorus (Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1957), 265 266. These all are cited in Laufer, The Giraffe
in History and Art, 59 62, and Toynbee, Animals in Roman Life and Art, ch.12.
50 HowardR. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction (Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1995), 162, for the quote, and ch.10: Natural Sciences.
51 I have relied on translations, as I read neither Persian nor Arabic. It should be
noted that the romanizations and translations of Arabic and Persian words vary
among these sources. Anthony Welch helped me resolve some of the problems this
posed. In some cited sources, it is clear that hyena is a more apt translation than
leopard. For help with French translations, I have been ably assisted by Genevieve
Gamache. The dates provided in this chapter are not Muslim ones, but those of the
Christian-derived Common Era. Jahiz (d.868 869ce), Kitab al-hayawan, partially
trans. Lakhdar Souami, Le cadi et la mouche: anthologie du Livres des Animaux (Paris:
Sinbad, 1988), 207; Ibn al-Faqih (fl.902), Mukhtasar kitab al-buldan, trans. Henri Mass,
Abrg du livre des pays (Damas: Institute Franais de Damas, 1973), 94; and Damiri
(d.1405), Hayat al-Hayawan; trans. A. S. G. Jayakar, Ad-Damiris Hayat al-hayawan:
A Zoological Lexicon (reprint of London 1906 1908 ed., Frankfurt: Institute for the
History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 2001),
vol.2, pt. 1,8.
52 Jahiz/Souami, Le cadi et la mouche, 207 209; Ibn al-Faqih/Mass, Mukhtasar kitab
al-buldan, 93 94; Masudi (d.956ce), Muruj al-dhahab wa maadin al Jawhar, trans.
Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, rev. Charles Pellat, Les prairies dor (Paris:
Socit Asiatique, 1965), vol.2:321 322; and Damiri/Jayakar, Hayat al-Hayawan,8 10.
53 Ibn al-Faqih/Mass, Mukhtasar kitab al-buldan, 93 94.
54 Masudi/de Meynard and de Courteille/Pellat, Muruj al-dhahab wa maadin al
Jawhar, 321 322; and Julie Badiee, An Islamic Cosmography: The Illustrations of
the Sarre Qazwini (PhD diss., University of Michigan, 1978), 184 187, Domesticated
Animals, including Giraffe. The part of the fifteenth-century Sarre manuscript
about the giraffe [Freer 54.88v] combines text with an isolated image of a spotted
specimen with no signs of domestication. Male giraffes do fight; see Jonathan
Kingdon, East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, vol.3, pt. B, Large
Mammals (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), 310 311 and 331 333.
55 Marcus Milwright kindly informed me about a luster-painted bowl from Fatimid
Egypt dated to the late tenth early eleventh century: Helen Philon, Early Islamic
Ceramics: Ninth to Late Twelfth Centuries, Benaki Museum, Athens (Athens: Islamic Art
Publications, n.d.), 220 (a spotted giraffe led by a groom near a tree), pl.21, fig.464.
The best reproduction of the giraffe page in a fourteenth-century Mamluk manu-
script copy of al-Jahizs above-cited bestiary (Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan) occurs
in J. R. Hayes, The Genius of Arab Civilization, Source of Renaissance (Oxford: Phaidon,
1976), 46 47 (a bridled giraffe with trefoil spots and an ornate saddle cloth, led by an
African groom in a simple landscape). The latter and the manuscript reproduced here
as figure9.4 are discussed by Robert Hillenbrand, Mamluk and Ilkhanid Bestiaries:
Convention and Experiment, Ars Orientalis 20 (1990): 149 187.
56 Barbara Schmitz et al., Islamic and Indian Manuscripts and Paintings in The Pierpont
Morgan Library (New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1997), cat. no.1 (m.500), 9 19,
especially fig.7; Hillenbrand, Mamluk and Ilkhanid Bestiaries, 155 158. This copy
of the Persian translation of Manafi-i hayavan was made for Shams al-Din ibn Ziya

369 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

al-Din al-Zushki. Its authorship by Ibn Baktishu is questioned by Anna Contadini,
A Wonderful World: Folios from a Dispersed Manuscript of the Nuzhat-Nama,
Muqarnas 21 (2004):95.
57 Friederich Hirth and W. W. Rockhill, trans. and annot., Chau Ju-kua: His Work on
the Chinese and Arab Trade in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, Entitled Chu-fan-chi
(Amsterdam: Oriental Press, 1966), 128, and juan 1:25 for the Chinese text. Chau Ju-kua
is spelled as Zhao Rugua in the present chapter.
58 Hirth and Rockhill, Chau Ju-kua, 22 27, 36 38, and 128 129 note 5 for Zhaos
sources; and Paul Wheatley, Analecta Sino-Africana Recensa, in East Africa and the
Orient: Cultural Syntheses in Pre-Colonial Times, ed. H.Neville Chittick and RobertI.
Rotberg, 76 114 (New York: Africana Publishing Co., 1975), for a good review of the
scholarship about the sources for Chinese knowledge about Africa prior to the first
authenticated voyages of Chinese missions to the African coast in theMing.
59 Masudi/de Meynard and Pellat, Muruj al-dhahab wa maadin al Jawhar,322.
60 I have relied on VonP. Forand, Early Muslim Relations with Nubia, Der Islam 48
(1972): 111 121, and Beshir Ibrahim Beshir, New Light on Nubian Fatimid Relations,
Arabica 22, no.1 (1975): 15 24.
61 Beshir, New Light on Nubian Fatimid Relations, 15 24; and Etienne Quatremre,
trans. and annot., Histoire des Sultans Mamlouks de lgypte, crite en Arabe par Taki-
Eddin-Ahmed-Makrizi (Paris: Oriental Translation Fund, 1837 1845), vol.1, pt. 2, 106
108 note 128. Although this book is a translation of Makrizis (1365 1422) history,
Quatremres three-page note cites many other sources regarding the uses of giraffes
among Fatimid and Mamluk rulers. Laufer, The Giraffe in History and Art, 35 37,
summarizes much of thisnote.
62 According to Laufer, The Giraffe in History and Art, 71, Baybars presented a giraffe
to Manfred (1232 1266), king of Sicily in 1261, and the next year he gave several to the
Mongol Khan of the Golden Horde (in Russia), according to Quatremre, Histoire,
vol.1, pt. 2, 106 108 note 128, citing Makrizi.
63 I have relied on the following: Guy Le Strange, trans., The Embassy to Tamerlane,
1403 1406 (London: Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1928) (hereafter Clavijo/Le Strange); and
W. M. Thackston, trans., Sharafuddin Ali Yazdis Zafarnama, in A Century of Princes:
Sources on Timurid History and Art (Cambridge, Mass.: The Aga Khan Program for
Islamic Architecture, 1989), 63 100 (hereafter, Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi/Thackston).
64 Clavijo/Le Strange, 149 150.
65 Eleanor Sims, Ibrahim-Sultans Illustrated Zafarnama of 1436 and its Impact
in the Muslim East, in Timurid Art and Culture: Iran and Central Asia in the Fifteenth
Century, ed. Lisa Golombek and Maria Subtelny, especially 136, 139 (fig.5a b) (Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1992). I would like to express my appreciation for help provided by Mr.
Richard de Unger regarding the Keir Collection and by the staff at the WorcesterArt
Museum. Please note that the Kier Collection is now part of the Dallas Museum
ofArt.
66 The portion portraying the recipient is also included in B. W. Robinson, ed.
Islamic Art in the Keir Collection (London: Faber and Faber, 1988), 6 7, pp5, where the
author, based on this half only of the original two-page composition, proposed
that the seated figure is the patron of the author of The Book of Triumph. Sims,
Ibrahim-Sultans Illustrated Zafarnama of 1436, 136, 139 (fig.5a b) identifies the
seated figure as Timur.

370 Kathlyn Liscomb

67 Eleanor Sims, The Garrett Manuscript of the Zafar-name: A Study in Fifteenth-
Century Timurid Patronage (PhD diss., New York University, 1973), 91. For consis-
tency I have followed Thackstons transcription of the sultans name and also given
only the Common Eradate.
68 Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi/Thackston,92.
69 Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi/Thackston,92.
70 Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi/Thackston, 91. See also 88, for Pig Khan as an epithet for
the Chinese emperor. According to this account, prior to the weddings, the Chinese
embassy was given leave to depart. In Clavijo/Le Strange, 222 223, 290 291, Clavijo
reports that he had heard the Chinese ambassadors were to be hung, although he
could not confirm that this happened, nor is it clear when this incident was said to
have occurred, or if it reallydid.
71 For Later Han examples, see Powers, Art and Political Expression in Early China,
figs.26, 56, 94, and 103. Figure 43 portrays a one-horned, winged animal with feline
legs that possibly represents a qilin.
72 Ann Paludan, The Chinese Spirit Road: The Classical Tradition of Stone Tomb Statuary
(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1991), chap. 4, figs.47 50, 52 53, 58 59.
73 For paintings of dragons, see Wu Tung, Tales from the Land of Dragons: 1,000 Years of
Chinese Painting, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1997, cat. nos. 92 and108.
74 For further examples of fourteenth-century Chinese porcelains with zoomorphs
typically identified in the Ming as qilin, see Regina Krahl in collaboration with
Nurdan Erbahar and ed. John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum,
Istanbul: A Complete Catalogue (London: Sothebys Publications, 1986), 493, cat. no.563;
Tky National Museum, Special Exhibition: Chinese Ceramics, exh. cat., Tky National
Museum, 1994, cat. no.233; Wai-kam Ho and Sherman Lee, Chinese Art Under the
Mongols: The Yan Dynasty (1279 1368), exh. cat., The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968,
cat. no.147 and possibly also no.148; and Chinese and Vietnamese Blue and White
Wares Found in the Philippines, 5 23 March 1998, Ayala Museum, Manila, exhibi-
tion review, Oriental Art 43, no.2 (1997): fig.2. For this qilin type in Persian arts, see
Sugimura Toh, The Encounter of China with Persia, 43 44, fig.25; and ThomasW. Lenz
and GlenD. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth
Century, exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989, cat. nos. 40,96.
75 ggshtl, vol.20:135 140, reproduces Zengs texts as well as the paintings for
the Ruiying tu. This extant scroll lacks the illustrations and accompanying texts for
three of the auspicious responses for which Zeng wrote literary commemorations.
The latter are provided in juan 3, which is devoted entirely to the Ruiying tu ba pian
(Pictures of auspicious signs in eight sections), in the 1591 Wu Qizhao edition of
Zengs collected writings, Zeng Qi, Zeng Xishu xiansheng ji (The collected writings of
Master Zeng Xishu); this, however, lacks the extant scrolls preface and differs in the
sequence of the eight ruiying. I read a rare manuscript of this in the National Central
Library, Taibei.
76 ggshtl, vol.9:345 346, reproduces the scrolls inscribed text. Duyvendak, The
True Dates, 401 405, provides a complete translation, but it is based on the copy by
Chen Tingbi, which does not exactly transcribe the text on the original scroll. For
example, in the original, the qilin has hooves like those of a horse, whereas in the
Chen version it has an oxstail.
77 ggshtl, vol.20:135 140; and Zeng Qi, Zeng Xishu xiansheng ji, juan 3:28a 31a.

371 How the Giraffe Became a Qilin

78 ggshtl, vol.9:345 346.

79 Yan Congjian ( jinshi 1559), Shuyu zhouzi lu (A record of documents pertaining to

Chinas relationships with foreign countries), annot. Yu Sili (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,
1993), juan 9:317 318; and for a translation, Duyvendak, The True Dates, 406 410. For
literary works by government officials regarding other qilin-giraffes, see Jiang Tingxi,
Gujin tushu jicheng, bowu huibian qinchong dian, tao 94, bowu huibian qinchong dian, ce 519,
juan 56:45a 45b, s.v. qilin bu huikao.

80 Duyvendak, The True Dates, 341 355, for a reproduction of a rubbing of the
inscription and a discussion and translation of it and of a similar essay preserved in
a late Ming book. The essay is dated to the sixth year of the Xuande era (1426 1436),
which corresponds to December 5, 1431 January 3, 1432, and the tablet was at Changle,
Fujian.

81 Fei Xin, Xingcha shenglan jiaozhu, 18 19; and Fei Xin/Mills and Ptak, Hsing-cha
sheng-lan,100.

82 Ma Huan, Yingyai shenglan jiaozhu, 58; and Ma Huan/Mills, Ying-yai Sheng-lan, 158.
In one edition, Ma specifies two fleshy horns, but in another, it is just two short
horns.

83 Zhang Tingyu/Yang Jialuo, 8450 8451 ( juan 326, liezhuan 214, waiguo7).

84 Xu Fu had inherited this rank from his illustrious ancestor Xu Da (1332 1385),
who was awarded this title in recognition of his outstanding military service, which
contributed to the founding of the Ming dynasty. The qilin-giraffe rank badge imagery
was identified as such by James C. W. Watt, The Giraffe as the Mythical Qilin, 114 115.
The caption for Watts figure7 on p.114 follows that of the excavation report in identi-
fying the animal as a celestial deer; but he argues persuasively that it instead portrays
a qilin-giraffe. For the report, see Nanjing shi wenwu baoguan weiyuanhui Nanjing
shi bowuguan, Ming Xu Da wushisun Xu Fu fufu mu (The tomb of Ming dynasty Xu
Das descendant of the fifth generation, Xu Fu, and his wife), Wenwu 2 (1982): 28 33
and pls.3 4, especially pl.3.4 and p.30.

85 Xie Zhaozhe, Wu za zu (Five assorted groupings), Ming Wanli era (1573 1620), han 2,
ce 9, juan 9:5a. I used a rare copy in the University of Chicago library.

86 For other pictures of qilin-giraffes, see note 7 above; a painting in the Metropo-
litan Museum of Art from the collection of A. W. Bahr (Watt, The Giraffe as the
Mythical Qilin, fig.2 and Laufer, The Giraffe in History and Art, pl.5); a painting in
a roundel in the Field Museum, Chicago (Laufer, The Giraffe in History and Art, pl.3,
reproduces the painting but not the imperial inscription above it dated 1485); and
a printed image (Laufer, The Giraffe in History and Art, fig.13). Laufer reproduces a
drawing based on a printed book titled Yiyu qinshou tu (Pictures of birds and beasts
from strange lands), which is discussed and reproduced by A. C. Moule, Some
Foreign Birds and Beasts in Chinese Books, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1925):
241 261, and discussed by Moule, An Introduction to the I Y Tu Chih, or Pictures
and Descriptions of Strange Nations in the Wade Collection at Cambridge, Toung
Pao 27 (1930): 180 (the relevant book is an appendix to that primarily discussed here,
which was first printed in 1489). Here a quadruped led by a bare-chested man is
labeled a qilin, but its body proportions and coat pattern do not much resemble those
of a giraffe. A generic body type is used for various animals in thisbook.

87 Jiang Tingxi, Gujin tushu jicheng, bowu huibian qinchong dian: tao 94, ce 519, juan
56:40 46, s.v. qilin bu huikao; and tao 96, ce 525, juan 125:17, s.v. yishou bu, citing Kunyu

372 Kathlyn Liscomb

tushuo (Illustrated explanations of the earthly realm), entry: enaxiyue shou, a transcrip-
tion of orasius, for giraffe. For Verbiests book, see Nan Huairen (his Chinese name),
Kunyu tushuo, in Congshu jicheng chubian (The first collection in a series of collectanea)
(Shanghai: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1937), tao 131, juan xia, 194b 195a. Laufer, The Giraffe
in History and Art, 51 53 and 72, notes, The source of Verbiests illustration is Edward
Topsells Historie of Foure-footed Beastes (London, 1607). Topsells picture of the
giraffe . . . was drawn by Melchior Luorigus at Constantinople in 1559 and afterward
printed in Nuremberg. Laufer reproduces both the Chinese encyclopedia print and
the 1607 print from Topsell (figs.14 and 18, respectively) and discusses orasius and
related European terms for giraffe.
88 For a possible earlier example, see Paludan, The Chinese Spirit Road, 97, 99, 110;
figs.118, 139, 140; and Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand, 102 103. Paludan
discusses ostrich images at Tang imperial tombs as embodying the vermillion bird
of the south and possibly also at times the phoenix. Schafer does not do so, but he
notes the Tang use of the Persian word meaning camel-bird for ostrich.
89 See, for example, JosephF. Fletcher, China and Central Asia, 1368 1884, in
The Chinese World Order: Traditional Chinas Foreign Relations, ed. John King Fairbank,
206 219 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968).

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378 Kathlyn Liscomb

chapter10
Weird Science: European Origins of the
Fantastic Creatures in the Qing Court Painting,
the Manual of Sea Oddities
Daniel Greenberg

Zoomorphic imagination was a highly sensitive topic at the Qing court.

The empires relationship to the natural world was a topic of great cere-
monial and political importance.1 For the ethnically Manchu emperors of
the Qing, adherence to traditional epistemology was an important part
of their larger policy of continuing the systems inherited from the Ming.2
Qing emperors, however, were exposed to new, European ideas from the
beginning of their reign.3 During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
Jesuits working at court introduced their imperial patrons to European
cartographic, scientific, and artistic traditions. The Jesuit fathers were not
immediately successful; their ideas slowly percolated into court culture
over the course of nearly two centuries. For this reason, early examples of
Sino-Jesuit art with clear connections to European cartography and natural
history are important documents for plotting a changing Qing attitude
toward European science. This chapter traces a unique Chinese painting
album with unusually clear connections to European natural history and
cartography, documenting an early imperial interest in both science and
the manner in which it was expressed visually in Western sources.

a problem of connoisseurship
The 2006 exhibition at the National Palace Museum, The Art and Aes-
thetics of Form: Art and Knowledge at the Ching Court, was remarkable
in its scope. A selection of tribute paintings and albums were chosen to
allow viewers to appreciate and understand the interaction of art and

379
figure 10.1a
Manual of Sea Oddities,
Qing dynasty (1644 1911)
(detail). Album, ink
and colors on paper,
2530cm. National
Palace Museum, Taipei.

figure 10.1b
Konrad Gessner, Historiae
Animalium, 1558 (detail).
Ink on paper. 3040cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

science that took place in China during the 18th and 19th centuries.4
Among the works on display were pieces from the museums collection
that had never before been shown to the public. One such piece is the
Manual of Sea Oddities (below), which was listed in the exhibition without
date or artist.
The subject matter of this piece is quite singular. Although ostensibly
similar to other Qing dynasty manuals of animals and plants that were
on display, the Manual of Sea Oddities seems to lack any order; it appears
to be a confused collection of sea life, real and imaginary. Included in the
album are real and fanciful fish, stingrays, a seal, an octopus, a whale, a
shark, a dragon, and other strange animals that defy categorization.
Stylistically, the painting defies easy attribution to any specific artist
or school. The animals are painted in stunningly bright colors, and their
features are clearly rendered in Chinese pigments with an attentive poin-
tillism. The effect is striking and seems at odds with the traditional style
employed by Chinese artists in the Qing court. This painting style is also
inconsistent with the works of Western court artists such as Giuseppe
Castiglione (1688 1766) or Ignaz Sichelbarth (1708 1780) and their
Chinese students.

380 Daniel Greenberg

figure 10.2a
Manual of Sea Oddities,
Qing dynasty (1644 1911)
(detail). Album, ink
and colors on paper,
2530cm. National
Palace Museum, Taipei.

figure 10.2b
Konrad Gessner, Historiae
Animalium, 1558 (detail).
Ink on paper. 3040cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

Dating is a problem as well. There are no inscriptions on any of

the albums thirty-six leaves, although the cover bears the cyclical date
of wuchen. Generally speaking, the entire piece is framed in a manner
consistent with other Qing dynasty manuals. That it was in the imperial
collection is proven by the collectors seal of the last emperor, but the
piece bears no earlier seals.5
If the mounting is original to the piece and was produced by the
Qing court, the manual could have been made in 1648, 1688, 1748, 1808,
or 1868. Then again, the manual could be an earlier work that was merely
remounted in a wuchen year during the Qing dynasty. One possible
solution to these dating difficulties is to consult the imperial records.
As an official product of the Qing court, there might have been a
record for the mounting of the album and carving of the wooden cover
in the records of the Imperial Household Department. If this were the
case, the manual could be accurately dated and attributed to an artist.
Unfortunately, written records from the Imperial Household Department
were not systematically kept until the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, so
no records are available for the years 1648 and 1688. Also, no entry exists
for the Manual of Sea Oddities for the years 1748, 1808, and 1868. Despite

381 Weird Science

this absence, the lack of an entry in the records in itself is not conclusive
enough to rule out these years.

the manual and western encyclopedias

Artistically and historically, many aspects of the Manual of Sea Oddities
defy immediate explanation. Yet the visually arresting painting style that
initially proved so befuddling warrants further examination. In choosing
a style so at odds with Chinese tradition, perhaps the artist had a specific
model.
The dramatic shading and studied pointillism of the paintings
in the manual recall hand-colored engravings in an old encyclopedia.
Did the manual represent an attempt to copy these foreign engravings
using locally available materials and techniques? A survey of Western
encyclopedias from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries revealed that
each of the thirty-two images in the Manual of Sea Oddities can be traced
to nearly identical images in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Western
encyclopedias.
For example, the similarity between a curious, bell-shaped fish from
the manual and the Monstrosi Piscis Volantis (monstrous flying fish) in
Konrad Gessners (1516 1565) 1558 edition of Historiae Animalium is unde-
niable. In fact, sixteen fish exactly half the number in the Manual of Sea
Oddities have direct models in Gessners encyclopedia. Some of these
creatures, including an odd four-finned creature in the Squatina family
(angel sharks and sand devils) (figs.10.1a and 10.1b) and a fanciful squid
(figs.10.2a and 10.2b), seem to be unique to Gessnerswork.
Other fish with models in Gessners encyclopedia, however, were
reproduced later, in seventeenth-century encyclopedias. For example,
the Monstrosi Piscis Volantis from Gessner (figs.10.3a and 10.3b) was
copied in Ulisse Aldrovandis (1522 1605) De Piscibus Libri v et De Cetis
Libri Unus (1613) and Johannes Johnstones (1603 1675) Historia Naturalis
(1660) (fig.10.3c). Although nearly identical to the image in Gessner,
these later engravings have slight but significant differences. While
Gessners monster has a spiky, sword-shaped appendage extending from
its hindquarters, Aldrovandi and Johnstones versions do not. The head
and wings found in these later engravings also differ from Gessners
version. In all respects, the fish in the manual resembles Gessners
engraving, making it nearly certain that the artist responsible for creating
the Manual of Sea Oddities copied directly from Historiae Animalium.
As for the sixteen creatures not found in Gessner, some can be found
in other early Western encyclopedias. For example, the images of three

382 Daniel Greenberg

figure 10.3a
Manual of Sea Oddities,
Qing dynasty (1644 1911)
(detail). Album, ink
and colors on paper,
2530cm. National
Palace Museum, Taipei.
figure 10.3b
Konrad Gessner, Historiae
Animalium, 1558 (detail).
Ink on paper. 1530cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.
figure 10.3c
Johannes Johnstone,
Historia Naturalis,
1649 1650 (detail). Ink Animalium, then, the artist would have had models for all the fish in the
on paper. 710cm. Manual of Sea Oddities.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.
rays were originally published in Guillaume Rondelets (1507 1566) De
Piscibus Marinum in quibus verae piscium effigies expressae (1554), and nine
other fish were first depicted in a 1648 work on the natural history of
Brazil by Georg Marcgrave (1610 1644) titled Historia naturalis Brasiliae.
Not until Johannes Johnstones Historia naturalis de piscibus et cetis, libri v,
however, can all sixteen images be found in one volume.
First published in 1649 1650, Johnstones book was a very popular
reference book in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe. Matthaus
Merian (1593 1650) executed the fine copper etchings that accompanied
the text in this volume a pastiche of images copied from a variety of
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century encyclopedias, including Rondelet,
Aldrovandi, and Margrave. Between this book and Gessners Historiae
No single work after Johnstone contains the sixteen images missing
from Gessner that appear in the Manual of Sea Oddities, and engravings
in later works differ stylistically from Merians engravings. For example,
Johann Zahns Specula physico-mathematico-historica was published just
thirty years after Johnstone, in 1696. Nevertheless, the engravings in this
volume are stylistically distinct from Merians, employing heavy-handed
crosshatching to render shadows, an effect that differs from the finely
stippled appearance of the creatures in the Manual of Sea Oddities. In
the case of the orbe gibboso,6 the difference in shading is particularly
383 Weird Science
figure 10.4a
Manual of Sea Oddities,
Qing dynasty (1644 1911)
(detail). Album, ink
and colors on paper,
2530cm. National
Palace Museum, Taipei.

figure 10.4b
Konrad Gessner, Historiae
Animalium, 1558 (detail).
Ink on paper. 3040cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

figure 10.4c
Johannes Johnstone,
Historia Naturalis,
1649 1650 (detail). Ink
on paper. 710cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

pronounced when compared to the versions found in Gessner, Johnstone,

or the manual (figs.10.4a, 10.4b, 10.4c, 10.4d). This difference in execu-
tion, combined with slight changes to the shapes of individual fish in
this volume, make it certain that the artist of the Manual of Sea Oddities
had not seen this encyclopedia.
The style of later encyclopedias diverges even more sharply from
the Manual of Sea Oddities. The first Western encyclopedia to include
fish from the Dutch Indies and China, Louis Renards Poissons, Ecrevisses
et Crabes, de Diverses Couleurs et Figures Extraordinaires (1719) was based
partially on Johnstone. Renards orbe gibboso retains the basic shape from
Johnstones version, albeit in a simplified form. The animals depth is
largely conveyed through its coloration, not through stippling or cross-
hatching in the engraving itself. In addition to changes in its spine, head,
and proportions, Renards orbe gibboso lacks a dorsalfin.

384 Daniel Greenberg

figure 10.4d
Johann Zahn, Specula
physico-mathematico-
historica, 1696 (detail).
Ink on paper. 58cm.
noaa Library Collection.

figure 10.4e
Franois Valentijn, Oud
en Nieuw Oost Indien,
1724 1726 (detail). Ink on
paper. 1530cm. Beinecke
Rare Book and Manuscript
Library, Yale University. The same dorsal fin is absent from Franois Valentijns Oud en Nieuw
Oost Indien (1724 1726), an encyclopedia based on Renard that again
featured the fish of the East Indies and China. Valentijns encyclopedia
diverges notably from the above encyclopedias and the Manual of Sea
Oddities, as it shows landed fish on the exotic shores of the East Indies
(fig.10.4e). Although Valentijns engraving beautifully conveys the play
of shadow over the island landscape and the body of the orbe gibboso, the
fish no longer resembles that depicted in the Manual of Sea Oddities.
The above examples, combined with the cyclical dating on the
cover of the manual, allow for a tentative dating of the work based
on its sources alone. The images first published in Margraves 1648
natural history make it impossible that the Manual of Sea Oddities was
made in the wuchen year of 1628. The next occurrence of this cyclical
date, and therefore the first possible date for the manual, is 1688, the
twenty-seventh year of the Kangxi emperor.

jesuits, western science, and the kangxi court

1688 was an eventful year at Qing court. November marked the arrival
of the Kings Mathematicians, a group of Jesuits sent by King Louis of
France. Over the next thirty years, these men would make monumental
scientific and artistic contributions to the Kangxi court. Among these
achievements were the comprehensive cartographical survey of the
Chinese empire (1708 1718), the translation of Andrea Pozzos Perspectiva
Pictorum et Architectorum (a fundamental treatise on the systematic use of
perspective in painting and architectural drawings), and the construc-
tion of a Western-style printing press to produce engraved maps and
drawings.
But these contributions were all years away. In 1688, the high esteem
enjoyed by the Jesuits in Kangxis court was largely due to the emperors
respect for one man: Ferdinand Verbiest (1623 1688). A noted astronomer
and mathematician, Verbiest had proven his mettle to the young Kangxi

385 Weird Science

emperor in 1670, when his accurate astronomical predictions were used
to reform the official Qing calendar. By the time of his death in late 1688,
Verbiest spoke fluent Manchu and had served as a personal tutor to the
Kangxi emperor for many years, even accompanying the emperor on
official inspection tours.
In many ways, Verbiest had a fine pupil in the Kangxi emperor. In his
correspondence, Verbiest wrote that [Kangxi] has a solid intellect, with
great reasoning powers, [and] a lively and sagacious intelligence.7 Over
the course of their time together, Verbiest introduced the emperor to
many branches of Western science, including astronomy, geometry, and
mathematics. In fact, the emperors enthusiasm for Western studies was
evident to others at court. In the mid-1680s, the Dutch ambassador wrote
approvingly that [the emperor] seems born to command, is conversant
with many branches of science, to which he daily applies himself, as also
to the affairs of his empire.8
A revealing account by Father Verbiest in the 1690 book History of the
Two Tartar Conquerors of China captures the emperors fascination with
Western natural science. He writes that while traveling with the emperor
during his 1682 southern inspectiontour,

[W]e reached at last the city of Xin-jam, where we enjoyed

three or four days repose. To this place came certain Coreans
(from the peninsular of Corea), and brought to the emperor
a living sea-calf, which the emperor caused to be submitted to
my inspection, asking me whether in our European books there
were any mention of this fish? And when I replied, that in our
library at Pekin there was a book which contained a likeness and
description of this fish, taken from life, the emperor desired
that this book should be forthwith sent for. On my writing on
this subject to the fathers at Pekin, I received in a few days their
answer, together with two books, which the imperial messengers,
by diverse conveyance so rapid as to resemble a flight through
the air, delivered to me. When the delineation in these volumes
and the description, were found to agree exactly with the spec-
imen brought from Corea, the emperor was much delighted, and
commanded the fish to be conveyed with great care to Pekin.9

Kangxi had a collection of strange and exotic creatures in his plea-

sure gardens, so his curiosity about the sea calf and desire to send it
back to Beijing with great care is understandable. Perhaps the emperor
was testing his Western teachers and their foreign science with such a

386 Daniel Greenberg

pointed question. Nevertheless, his response shows a basic familiarity
with the scope of European biological texts, as well as an openness to
using this knowledge to resolve a practical problem. In many ways, this
attitude is similar to the emperors cautious acceptance of European
astronomy and mathematics.
It is ultimately impossible to know which two versions of the sea
calf the emperor saw, as there is no complete record of the books in
the Jesuit collection, and close cousins to the sea calf were included
in Gessner, Aldrovandi, and Johnstone. The Manual of Sea Oddities
contains a Sea Rhinoceros from Gessner, a seal from Johnstone, and
a whale and a walrus that appear in both volumes.10
From a historical perspective, then, 1688 is a likely year for the
production of the Manual of Sea Oddities. The Kangxi emperor had a
strong training in Western sciences and was an enthusiastic collector of
exotic zoological specimens. As a brief but careful reproduction of the
fantastic marine life in two leading encyclopedias of the day, the manual
would have given its imperial patron an opportunity to view the contents
of the deepest oceans from the comfort of his library in Peking. And
yet, even with imperial support and the necessary visual references, the
actual production of the Manual of Sea Oddities would have presented a
challenge. Its fine execution and unique style demands a careful exam-
ination before a date of production can be positively fixed.

stylistic analysis
The style of the Manual of Sea Oddities is unique among works of Qing
dynasty court painting. A close look at the paintings shows that the artist
skillfully applied Chinese pigment in tiny dots to reproduce the effect of
watercolors over fine stippling, as found in Gessner and Johnstone. The
effect is astounding and must have surprised both Chinese and Western
viewers. Although some forms of pointillism, such as Mi dots, were a
part of the Chinese landscape art tradition, nothing remotely close to the
fine pointillism in the Manual of Sea Oddities had ever been produced for
the Qing court. For a Western viewer, the brilliant Chinese colors and
strange medium of the piece would be striking, even if the animals were
familiar. To ensure the success of this work, the artist adapted his orig-
inal models to achieve consistent form, symmetry, and greater continuity
in the manual.
Significantly, creatures in the manual are similarly sized regardless
of their original models. For example, the squid copied from a full-
page illustration in Gessner shares an album leaf with a fish that was

387 Weird Science

figure 10.5a
Manual of Sea Oddities,
Qing dynasty (1644 1911)
(detail). Album, ink
and colors on paper,
2530cm. National
Palace Museum, Taipei.

figure 10.5b
Johannes Johnstone,
Historia Naturalis,
1649 1650 (detail). Ink
on paper. 1530cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

enlarged from a small inset in Johnstone. The consistent sizing suggests

that images were not copied freehand but were painted using a grid
system.
Some creatures in the manual were modified slightly from their
original models to better suit the format of a Chinese album. One fish
in the Manual of Sea Oddities, for example, is a combination of two
adjacent creatures from Johnstone, the Lycostomus balthicus (bottom)
and the Lupus marinus (top) (figs.10.5a and 10.5b). While the manual
retains the head and tongue of the former, the overall attitude of the
creature in the manual, including its tail, stripes, and gill fins, mirrors
the latter. The Ostrasion America on the opposing leaf of the manual
was also copied from Johnstone (figs.10.6a and 10.6b). The tail of
this fish, however, has been raised to imitate the creature on the
opposing page. Viewed together, these two fish create a well-balanced
appearance.

388 Daniel Greenberg

figure 10.6a
Manual of Sea Oddities,
Qing dynasty (1644 1911)
(detail). Album, ink
and colors on paper,
2530cm. National
Palace Museum, Taipei.

figure 10.6b
Johannes Johnstone,
Historia Naturalis,
1649 1650 (detail). Ink
on paper. 710cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

The Manual of Sea Oddities is therefore a technically demanding work

designed to meet the demands of the Qing court. The artist commanded
an impressive variety of skills, both Chinese and Western. The fine details
of the sea creatures show an understanding of chiaroscuro and a facility
with the difficult technique of stippling, both Western skills. Working
on Xuan paper with a Chinese brush and pigments, the artist was also
proficient in Chinese painting technique. Moreover, his sensitivity to the
demands of the medium of album-book painting shows a strong under-
standing of Chinese courtart.
Ferdinand Verbiest was not a trained artist, and the talented French
artists sent with the kings astronomers arrived in China in late 1687. It
would have been impossible for them to produce such a polished work
of Chinese court art at that early date. This combination of Chinese and
Western skills, however, would not have been unusual for some Chinese
court artists. These anonymous artists had been producing faithful

389 Weird Science

copies of strange animals from Western sources for nearly a century in a
slightly different context: that of mapmaking.

european cartography and the chinesecourt

The first European-style maps were introduced to the Chinese court in
the late Ming dynasty by the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552 1610). According
to Father Nicolas Standaert, the Jesuits in China adopted a missionary
strategy that had four distinct features: Accommodation or adaptation
to Chinese culture; propagation and evangelization from the top down;
openness to and tolerance of Chinese values; and the use of European
science and technology in order to attract the attention of the educated
Chinese and convince them of the high level of European civilization.11
Horology and cartography played an important part of this last strategy.
Ricci produced his first world map in 1584 and was granted an audience
with the Wanli emperor only after offering him the gift of a European
clock. Ricci produced a second, larger map titled Map of the Ten Thousand
Countries of the Earth in 1602, based on the work of the European cartogra-
phers Abraham Ortelius (1527 1598), Gerardus Mercator (1512 1594), and
Peter Plancius (1552 1622), as well as knowledge from his own voyages and
those of his Chinese colleagues. Ricci made a total of eight world maps
before his death in 1610. Demand for these maps was apparently quite high,
and hundreds of prints were made from Riccis original wood blocks.12
It is no surprise, then, that copies of Riccis maps continued to be
made after his death. Woodblock prints continued to be produced after
the fall of the Ming, a change reflected in the label attached to China: da
qing guo. In addition to these prints, hand-painted editions were also
produced by Chinese, Korean, and Japanese artists. Cartographically, all
of these copies are based on Riccis 1602 map. Curiously, however, some
hand-painted versions produced by Chinese artists are decorated with
strange creatures inhabiting the land and oceans. Ricci himself made no
reference to these supplemental images, and his surviving original maps
from 1602 and 1603 are devoid of these creatures.13
The same monsters appear on all the painted versions with only slight
stylistic variations. All of them appear to be based on European models,
but no one source has been identified. As John Day writes in The Search
for the Origins of the Chinese Manuscript of Matteo Riccis Maps,

Maps by Abraham Ortelius (1527 1598), Peter Plancius (1552 1622),

Giacomo Gastaldi (c.1500 1565), Simon Grynaenus (c.1530), Paolo
Forlani (fl.1560 1576), and Arias Montanus (c.1571) have all been

390 Daniel Greenberg

 named as possible sources. Occasionally a specific European
source for one of these manuscript figures can be suggested. In
most cases, however, it is difficult to establish the link with any
certainty. We get an impression of European figures perceived
and drawn by a seventeenth-century Chinese artist unfamiliar
with European visual style.14

For example, two creatures from the Nanjing Museum painted map
are roughly modeled on the Roider and Maximum cetorum genus
from Abraham Ortelius map of Iceland in Theatrum Orbus Terrarum.
As Day rightly notes, the painted monsters are similar in form, but
have noticeable stylistic differences from their European counterparts.
The delicate crosshatching on Ortelius original has been lost in both
examples; the Roider has been stripped of its internal detailing, and
only the scales and carapace of the Maximum cetorum genus remain.
Nonetheless, a sense of depth has been given to these animals, due to the
application of a thin color wash to their outlines.
Based on taboo characters used in the descriptive text, Pasquale dElia
has suggested that the Nanjing copy of the Ricci map dates from around
1672, making it the earliest known painted copy.15 John Day notes that
the work bears a complete set of Jesuit seals, making it a likely product
of the Peking mission.16 This early date, combined with its connection to
the Qing court, sets an important precedent for Chinese court painting
in the seventeenth century. Although they had not yet mastered the
techniques that could produce an accurate painted reproduction of
a European engraving, Chinese court painters could be said to have a
familiarity with this tradition, sixteen years before the first possible date
of production of the Manual of Sea Oddities.
Mapmaking continued to be an important part of the Jesuit agenda
even after Riccis death. In 1623, Father Giulio Aleni (1582 1649) published
a textbook of world geography titled the Chronicle of Foreign Lands and
included maps of his own design. In the same year, Emmanuel Diaz
(1574 1659) and Nicolaus Longobardi (1559 1654) made a globe for the
emperor. In 1648, Father Francesco Sambiasi (1582 1649) published a
colored map of the world. Father Verbiests world map project in the
early 1670s, then, was a continuation of the same Jesuit cartographical
endeavor. For this project, he used European maps and encyclopedias
as well as the cartographical research of earlier Chinese Jesuits. Two
versions of his map, the Full Map of the World, were produced in 1674,
a smaller sketch map and a larger work, which was presented to the
emperor. Like the Ricci map, Verbiests map was popular among Chinese

391 Weird Science

figure 10.7a
Johannes Johnstone,
Historia Naturalis,
1649 1650 (detail). Ink
on paper. 710cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

scholars and was actively printed until the late nineteenth century.17
A number of these printed works survive and are nearly identical.
Additionally, two hand-painted copies of the map survive in the collec-
tion of the Australian National Library and the Bibliothque Nationale
inParis.
The layout of the map itself is based on Joan Blaeus (1596 1673)
world map of 1648, Nova totius terrarum orbis tabula, although it incorpo-
rates explanatory text from the Jesuit Giulio Alenis maps as published
in the 1623 book Chronicles of Foreign Lands.18 Like the painted Ricci
maps, Verbiests map of the world is also decorated with strange terres-
trial and aquatic monsters. A few of the creatures are similar to those
on the copied Ricci maps, but the presence of additional animals from
Ortelius Theatrum Orbus Terrarum not present on the Ricci map suggests
that they were copied from the original European source. The remaining
images on the Verbiest map seem to have been added from a number
of European sources, including Gessner and Johnstone19 as well as
Chinesemodels.
Verbiests printed world map is important for a number of reasons.
Most importantly, the map is clearly signed and dated to the year 1674.
Monumental in scale (15003000 mm) and decorated with elegant
engravings and elaborate Chinese inscriptions, the map was undoubtedly
produced with the help of Chinese court artists. Verbiest himself was
incapable of producing such a work, and the Peking mission was still
understaffed following the persecution and subsequent deportation of
Jesuits in the mid-1660s.

392 Daniel Greenberg

figure 10.7b
Ferdinand Verbiest,
Kunyu quantu
(Map of the world), 1674
(detail). Ink on paper.
Harvard-Yenching Library.

figure 10.7c
Ferdinand Verbiest,
Kunyu quantu
(Map of the world), after
1674 (detail). Ink and
color on silk. Australian
National Library.

Therefore, this printed map is an important forebear of the Manual of

Sea Oddities. Its high degree of cartographical accuracy and fine engrav-
ings are proof that Ferdinand Verbiest was working closely with Chinese
court artists. The structure of the map itself, as well as the specific
fantastic animals chosen for inclusion, show that they were actively using
European sources, including the encyclopedias of Gessner and Johnstone,
as direct models. Moreover, the images themselves are exceptionally
faithful reproductions of their European sources. Not only do they mimic
the basic form of the original engravings, they also have a convincing
sense of depth, which is conveyed through a crosshatch technique
similar to that found in their original sources. Also, as in the Manual,
the creatures on Verbiests map were resized and sometimes reversed
to better suit the demands of the overall painting. The bird of paradise
taken from Johnstone has been reversed in the Verbiest map, its long tail
trailing gracefully away from the border (figs.10.7a, 10.7b).
When considered together with the painted Ricci map produced just
years before, the printed Verbiest map is proof that Qing court artists
continued to grapple with the European tradition, looking for ways
to more accurately reproduce animal forms. But their rapid success
in producing accurate copies of prints is no guarantee that they could
achieve similar results using pigment and paper.
For this reason, the Australian painted map offers even more tanta-
lizing links to the Manual. Animals in this painted version were copied
from the engraved Verbiest map, which were in turn copied from
European originals. Because of their distance from the original images

393 Weird Science

figure 10.8a
Ferdinand Verbiest,
Kunyu quantu
(Map of the world), 1674
(detail). Ink on paper.
Harvard-Yenching Library.

figure 10.8b
Johannes Johnstone,
Historia Naturalis,
1649 1650 (detail). Ink
on paper. 1530cm.
Medical Historical Library,
Yale University.

figure 10.8c
Ferdinand Verbiest,
Kunyu quantu
(Map of the world), after
1674 (detail). Ink and
color on silk. Australian
National Library.

394 Daniel Greenberg

in Johnstone, Gessner, and Ortelius works, many of the animals, like
the bird of paradise (fig.10.7c), only succeed in mimicking the form
of their distant models. Some images, however, succeed in retaining
stylisticelements of their original Western sources.
For example, let us consider the crocodile on Verbiests printed map
(fig.10.8a). Like its model in Johnstone (fig.10.8b), Verbiests version
is shown with mouth agape, teeth flashing, legs splayed wide from the
body, and tail flailing aggressively upwards (this detail falls on a poorly
connected seam in the Hunterian Museum copy). Importantly, Verbiests
copy attempts to reproduce two of Merians original engraving tech-
niques. In Merians original, the central trunk of the crocodiles body is
covered in large ovoid scales and circled lightly by radial lines. These
medial lines are meant to be read as the effect of light over rough skin.
Meanwhile, all four legs are decorated with a diamond-shaped pattern,
with tiny circles inside each individual scale. In the printed map, the
medial lines have been exaggerated, forming rows of ovoid scales sepa-
rated by plain white space. Although not as dexterously rendered as
Merians original, the neck, head, and underbelly of Verbiests crocodile
have fine medial lines that convey a sense of depth.
Some of these stylistic features have been incorporated into the
painted version of the crocodile (fig.10.8c). The row-like pattern of
scales on the crocodiles back has been attentively copied from the
printed version in a more regular, geometric form, and the diamond-like
pattern of the legs is also nearly identical to the printed map. The fine
lines used to give a sense of shading in the printed map, though, are
lacking from the painted map. A sense of depth is still present, however,
as the artist has used a slightly darker ink to color the back and chest of
the crocodile. This shading, while more sophisticated, recalls the applica-
tion of color used on the Nanjing Museum copy of the Riccimap.
The Australian painted copy of Verbiests map therefore represents
both a continuation of the figural rendering utilized in the Ricci map
as well as an improvement in utilizing Chinese materials to reproduce
Western engraving. We cannot, however, say with certainty when this
improvement came about. Although Tina Faulk has suggested a date
before Verbiests death in 1688,20 this painted copy differs from early
printed versions of the Verbiest map in a few notable ways. Significantly,
the Australian painted copy lacks a date inscription, Verbiests foreword,
and Jesuit seals. Pending further study, we must be careful before we
attribute this work to Qing court artists of the Kangxi period. Indeed,
with printed copies of the Verbiest and Ricci maps made until the
nineteenth century, and painted copies of the latter made well into the

395 Weird Science

eighteenth century, it is entirely possible that the Australian map is a
later version.

the continuing influence of european encyclopedias

at the qingcourt
The enduring popularity of Jesuit maps in China, as well as Chinese
artists continued efforts to reproduce the animals from Johnstone
and Gessner, are good reasons to consider whether the Manual of Sea
Oddities might have been produced in the eighteenth century. After 1688,
the next cyclical date of wuchen occurs in 1748, during the reign of the
Qianlong emperor. And while we have already seen that the Manual of Sea
Oddities is devoid of stylistic influence from Western encyclopedias after
Johnstone, an eighteenth-century production date might be possible if
the Qianlong court continued to use outdated European encyclopedias.
Secondhand evidence supports this concern. Popular works of
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century natural history, including Konrad
Gessners Historiae Animalium, Guillaume Rondelets De Piscibus
Marinum, and Johannes Johnstones Historia naturalis are recorded in the
library archives from the old Northern Church of Beijing, the Beitang.
Eighteenth-century works of natural history, however, are notably absent
from the Jesuit library archives.21 These records are problematic, though,
as they were collected from the fractured collections of all Jesuit and
sacred institutions located in China in 1940. Because the collection
records do not specify when books entered the library and does not
account for books that were lost or stolen during the tumult of the
early twentieth century, it is impossible to get from this resource alone
a comprehensive picture of how European scientific texts were used at
the Qianlong court. For this reason, two imperial poems written by the
Qianlong emperor to accompany a painting of a cassowary provide a rare
opportunity to apprehend how works of European natural history were
utilized at the highest level of the Qing court.
The emperors works, both written in 1774, are a poem titled Ten
Rhymes on the Emu Bird and a longer essay titled Imperial Inscription
for the Picture of Emu Birds. Both works are included in the Collected
Works of Imperial Poetry, as well as the monumental encyclopedia
Comprehensive History of the Empire.22 The two works are prominently
featured in Yu Sheng and Zhang Weibangs 1774 Album of Birds and Yang
Dazhangs large 1782 Emu Portrait.
In fact, the emperor composed both works drawing upon a combina-
tion of Chinese imagery and legend, personal observation, and Western

396 Daniel Greenberg

 sources. In a rare rhetorical turn, he begins his Imperial Inscription for
the Picture of Emu Birds with the phrase, According to the pictures and
its records made by the Westerners, there was no record of the emu in
ancient and modern books.23
While the emperor never tips his hand as to the identity of these
pictures and records, Lai Yu-chih, through a careful study of the
eighteenth-century encyclopedias and articles on natural history, has
suggested that the emperor used a report on the cassowary written by
the French natural historian Claude Perrault (1613 1688) and included
in a work titled Mmoires Pour Servir lHistoire Naturelle des Animaux.24
This two-volume work was published between 1666 and 1669. In a
point-for-point comparison, Lai shows that the emperor faithfully
reproduced Perraults overall description of the bird, including a history
of its collection in European collections and accurate anatomical
measurements.25 And while descriptions of the birds behavior do not
match Perraults analysis, Lai concludes that this was the latest text that
Qianlong consulted regarding this bird. For example, Carl Linnaeus
(1707 1778) hugely influential 1735 work, Systema Naturae, addresses
the classification and history of the cassowary in more detail, but this
analysis is entirely lacking from Qianlongs inscriptions.
If contemporary eighteenth-century sources were not available at the
Qianlong court in 1774, it follows that artists working in 1744 would be
similarly limited. And superficially, the manual seems to correspond with
other aspects of Qianlongs academic interests; as we have seen from his
inscriptions on the Emu Portrait, he was a student of Western science with
an avid interest in exotic animals.26
And yet, this work is inconsistent with other courtly works of the
Qianlong period. Its content, a random compilation of images from two
encyclopedias, is visually exciting but lacks any discernible organizational
scheme. Moreover, unlike other Qianlong-era natural history albums
such as the Manual of Sea Ornaments or Yu Shengs Manual of Birds, it
lacks explanatory text and a set of imperial seals. Although many court
artists had the technical skill to produce such a piece, its style is a clear
departure from both Chinese and Jesuit artistic traditions at the Qian-
long court. Finally, it is unsigned and not recorded in the Huojidang for
the year 1744. While any one of these facts might be overlooked, taken
together, they suggest an earlierdate.

Although a final dating of the Manual of Sea Oddities is ultimately impos-

sible without further documentation, the present body of evidence
surrounding the piece suggests the year 1688. At that time, the subject

397 Weird Science

matter would have been appealing to the scientifically minded Kangxi
emperor and tailored to his interest in natural history. The encyclope-
dias used would have been the most modern, scientific works available
to the Jesuits in Peking. Although an early example of Jesuit-Chinese
cooperation in the realm of court painting, the images copied would have
been closely akin to those reproduced by Chinese artists under Jesuit
supervision in the related artistic tradition of mapmaking. A masterful
combination of European engravings with Chinese mapmaking and
painting traditions, the Manual of Sea Oddities looks to be from a time of
active Sino-European exchange at the Kangxi court. The Jesuits were eager
to share the wonders of Western science and art with the emperor and his
court. For the moment, the Kangxi emperor was paying close attention.

notes
This chapter was originally prepared as a paper for Professor Fu Shens Connoisseur-
ship of Chinese Painting class in December 2006. I am grateful to Professor Fu for his
encouragement and suggestions. Thanks also to Professor Ku Wei-ying at National
Taiwan University for his insight into the life of Ferdinand Verbiest, and Dr. Noel
Golvers at the Verbiest Institute for his help searching the Jesuit records. This chapter
would have been impossible without the help and guidance of Dr. Lai Yu-chih at
Academia Sinica, Dr. John Day, Professor Eugene Wang, and Professor Lillian Tseng
all of whom read and critiqued this article at various stages during its long develop-
ment. I would like to thank my parents for their encouragement, and Iwould like to
thank my wife, Connie, for her unwavering support.
1 For an introduction to the place of natural history at the Ming and Qing courts,
see BenjaminA. Elman, On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550 1900 (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2005).
2 For more on these Qing policies, see JonathanD. Spence and JohnE. Wills, From
Ming to Ching: Conquest, Region, and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century China (New Haven,
Conn.: Yale University Press, 1979).
3 For an introduction to the Jesuit enterprise in the Qing court, see Nicolas Standaert,
S. J., Jesuit Corporate Culture as Shaped by the Chinese, in The Jesuits: Cultures,
Sciences, and the Arts, 1540 1773, ed. JohnW. OMalley, Gauvin Alexander Bailey, and
StevenJ. Harris (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1999).
4 See the online introduction to the exhibition: http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh94/form
9410/Intro_EN.html
5 The only other seals on the painting are those of the National Palace Museum.
6 Or hunch-backed fish, probably a kind of trunk fish (family Ostraciidae)
7 Pierre Joseph DOrleans, History of the Two Tartar Conquerors of China (London:
Hakluyt, 1854),49.
8 Ibid.,120.
9 Ibid.,111.

398 Daniel Greenberg

10 These images may be found in Daniel Greenberg, Yuan cang Haiguai Tuji
chutan Qinggong hua zhong de xifang qihuan shengwu (A brief consideration of
the National Palace Museums Manual of Sea Oddities surprising Western animals in
a Qing court painting), National Palace Museum Monthly 297 (2007): 38 51.
11 Standaert, Jesuit Corporate Culture as Shaped by the Chinese,352.
12 John Day, The Search for the Origins of the Chinese Manuscript of Matteo Riccis
Maps, Imago Mundi 47 (1995): 94 117.
13 Ibid.,98.
14 Ibid.,105.
15 Pasquale DElla, Il mappamondo di Cinese dell P.Matteo Ricci, S. J. (Rome: Vatican
Library, 1938).
16 Day, The Search for the Origins,114.
17 See Hartmut Walravens, Father Verbiests Chinese World Map (1674), Imago
Mundi 43, no.1 (1991): 31 47.
18 Ibid.,31.
19 Ibid.,35.
20 See Tina Faulk, The Ancient Verbiest Map, National Library of Australia News
(September 1991).
21 Hubert Verhaeren and Mission Catholique des Lazaristes a Pekin, Catalogue De
LaBibliotheque Du Pe-Tang, Les Humanites Dextreme-Orient (Paris: Societe dEdition
LesBelles Lettres, 1969).
22 See Yuzhi shiji (Collected works of imperial poetry), iv: juan 21, 32-a-b, in
Wenyuange siku quanshu, vol.1307:616.
23 , .
24 Lai Yu-chih, Images, Knowledge and Empire: Depicting Cassowaries in the Qing
Court, Transcultural Studies 1 (2013): 26 27.
25 Ibid., 97 100.
26 For a discussion of Qianlongs collection of curiosities, see Lai Yu-chih, Cong
Kangxi de sanxue dao Aodili Anbulisibao shoucang de yixie sikao (From Kangxis
mathematics to the collection at Austrias Innsbruck Castle a few thoughts),
National Palace Museum Monthly 276, no.5 (2006). For an overview of Qianlongs
complex relationship with the West, see Joanna Waley-Cohen, China and Western
Technology in the Late Eighteenth Century, American Historical Review 98, no.5
(December 1993): 1525 1544.

references
Day, John. The Search for the Origins of the Chinese Manuscript of Matteo
Riccis Maps. Imago Mundi 47 (1995): 94 117.
DElla, Pasquale. Il mappamondo di Cinese del P.Matteo Ricci, S. J. (Father Matteo
Riccis Chinese World Map). Rome: Vatican Library,1938.
DOrleans, Pierre Joseph. History of the Two Tartar Conquerors of China. London:
Hakluyt,1854.

399 Weird Science

Elman, BenjaminA. On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550 1900. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press,2005.
Faulk, Tina. The Ancient Verbiest Map. National Library of Australia News
(September 1991):7 10.
Greenberg, Daniel. Yuan cang Haiguai Tuji chutan Qinggong hua zhong
de xifang qihuan shengwu
(A brief consideration of the National Palace Museums Manual of Sea
Oddities surprising Western animals in a Qing court painting). National
Palace Museum Monthly 297 (December 2007): 38 51.
Lai Yu-chih, Cong Kangxi de suanxue dao Aodili Anbulisibao shoucang de
yixie sikao (From Kangxis
mathematics to the collection at Austrias Innsbruck Castle a few
thoughts). National Palace Museum Monthly 276 (May 2006): 106 118.
. Images, Knowledge and Empire: Depicting Cassowaries in the Qing
Court. Transcultural Studies 1 (2013):1 75.
Spence, Jonathan D., and JohnE. Wills. From Ming to Ching: Conquest, Region,
and Continuity in Seventeenth-Century China. New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press,1979.
Standaert, Nicolas, S. J. Jesuit Corporate Culture as Shaped by the Chinese.
In The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the Arts, 1540 1773, edited by JohnW.
OMalley, Gauvin Alexander Bailey, and StevenJ. Harris, 352 363. Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,1999.
Verhaeren, Hubert, and Mission Catholique des Lazaristes a Pekin. Catalogue De
La Bibliotheque Du Pe-Tang. Paris: Societe dEdition Les Belles Lettres,1969.
Waley-Cohen, Joanna. China and Western Technology in the Late Eighteenth
Century. The American Historical Review 98, no.5 (December 1993): 1525 1544.
Walravens, Hartmut. Father Verbiests Chinese World Map (1674). Imago
Mundi43, no.1 (1991): 31 47.
Yuzhi shiji (Collected works of imperial poetry). In Wenyuange siku
quanshu . Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan,1985.

400 Daniel Greenberg

chapter11
Huang Yong Ping and the Power
of ZoomorphicAmbiguity
Kristina Kleutghen

I prefer ambiguities or inconsistencies, at the risk of being misunderstood or

misinterpreted.
Huang YongPing1

Considering how China and the West are imbricated in the transcultural
life of Huang Yong Ping (b.1954), the biography of this expatriate Chinese
artist and French citizen epitomizes the impossibility of pinning down
any sort of essential Chineseness in contemporary art that incorporates
Chinese zoomorphism. Born in Xiamen and primarily a painter at the
start of his career, during his so-called Chinese Period2 of the 1980s
Huang was a critical part of the 85 New Wave avant-garde art movement.
He subsequently became well known as the leader of the subversive and
radical (but short-lived and regional) artists collective Xiamen Dada.
During the late 1980s, Huang produced conceptual works that were
defined by chance and spontaneity. He found these ideas paralleled in
the work of twentieth-century Western artists such as Marcel Duchamp
(1887 1968), Joseph Beuys (1921 1986), and John Cage (1912 1992) on
the one hand, and in Chinese Chan Buddhism, Daoism, and ancient
texts such as the divinatory Book of Changes (Yijing) on the other. These
perceived parallels resulted in numerous works directed by random
choice or roulette wheels with arbitrary instructions, which directly
contradicted the idea of artistic agency.3
Epitomizing this early period, the work that launched him onto
the international stage, The History of Chinese Painting and the History

401
of Modern Western Art Washed in a Washing Machine for Two Minutes (1987,
destroyed), resulted when one of the random choice wheels instructed
him to briefly machine-wash two influential textbooks by Wang Bomin
and Herbert Read respectively. First displayed at the brief but ground-
breaking China/Avant-Garde exhibition in Beijing in February 1989,
the resulting illegible and inseparable pulpy mass participated in the
antiwriting trend in Chinese avant-garde art as a commentary on the
cultural politics of art and art history in post-Mao China. It equally
incorporated ancient and modern, East and West, without idealizing or
prioritizing either. This same work precipitated an invitation to join the
landmark multinational-themed exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the
Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in June 1989, which coincided with
the controversial events of June4 in Tiananmen Square. Subsequently
remaining in France, Huang became a French citizen and in 1999 repre-
sented France alongside Jean-Pierre Bertrand at the Venice Biennale.
Since leaving China, his international reputation has increased expo-
nentially not due to multimillion-dollar prices, political dissidence,
or high-profile collectors, but rather in symbiosis with numerous
exhibitions such as the 2005 retrospective House of Oracles and current
representation by kamel mennour Gallery (Paris) and Gladstone Gallery
(New York).
With such a biography, and works that since 1989 have been directed
primarily toward Western audiences, it is no longer possible to label
Huang simply as a contemporary Chinese artist. Indeed, many contem-
porary Chinese artists today believe that some essential Chineseness
in art no longer exists.4 In literature, Huangs work since 1989 might be
described as Sinophone conceptualized in Chinese, as his published
notebook pages show, but produced outside China for more than two
decades. The analogous category for contemporary art is overseas or
diasporic artist. Huang may technically be a diasporic artist, one of many
who left China during the 1980s and 1990s, but this status resulted from
chance rather than intention. He has stated that although he now has no
plans to return to China, in 1989 he originally had no plans to remain
in France.5 Theories of the Chinese artistic diaspora have attempted to
characterize such art, often produced outside of larger mainland move-
ments, as somehow different from that produced by artists who remained
in China. Strategies for this differentiation range along a spectrum from
identifying a binary opposition between Chinese homeland and foreign
settlement, to emphasizing the continuity of some fundamental but
inarticulable Chineseness as a middle ground, to supporting a mutable
concept of Chineseness that changes with time and place to be different

402 Kristina Kleutghen

inside and outside of China.6 Sino-Western artistic combinations have
variously been characterized as the products of Western influence, as
mongrel and monstrous in their hybridity,7 and present within Homi
Bhabas third space in between and yet composed of different cultures.8
The last concept has the most potential and applicability to Huang,
who himself characterizes the culture in which he desires to work as
a geo-cultural plane and neither one nor the other.9 Nevertheless,
any single characterization of diasporic artists and their work, even if
stratified into subtrends, is a strained amalgamation of heterogeneous
individual experiences, cities as different as Paris and New York, and
successes as disparate as commercial and critical. The very category of
diasporic artists is also evolving as a growing number of Chinese artists
do not carry Chinese passports, and some, such as Michael Cherney
(Qiu Mai, b.1969), are not even ethnically Chinese. This more expansive
and personalized methodology more accurately engages Huangs own
individualized experience as an artist living abroad in France rather than
in the United States or United Kingdom, even as it undermines either
a single or a simple definition of Chineseness within his work, and
indeed that of any contemporary artist. Diasporic art may somehow be
different from that produced by artists who have lived their entire lives in
Mainland China, but that difference is as much geographic as existential.
As exemplified by Huangs own diaspora by default, diasporic artists
are now nodes in a tangled network of nationality, ethnicity, geography,
birthplace, style, subject, materials, allusions, and intentions that make
some reference to China, yet still defies any singular characterization
other than diversity.10 Such complicated and blurry heterogeneity that
arises from cross-cultural encounter is precisely what fascinates Huang
most; he loses interest if a culture is too pure or too clean.11 This same
heterogeneity is immediately visible in his oeuvre titled variously in
Chinese, French, or English depending on his goals and the installation
site. By overlapping cultures and their symbols in his works he naturally
risks inconsistencies and contradictory meanings, but as he noted in the
opening epigraph, he welcomes this hazard. In fact, contradictions are
specifically what propel [his] work forward, paradoxically providing
authenticity in their acceptance of something fundamental, even as he
notes that the tendency to embrace contradictions is more Asian than
Western.12
Nowhere are these contradictions and ambiguities more produc-
tive than in the animal imagery that has permeated his work since
1993 as metaphors for the human mind and interpersonal interactions,
particularly within the recurring themes of cross-cultural encounters

403 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

and political conflicts where species stand in for ethnicities and nation-
alities. Juxtapositions of Chinese and Western zoomorphic symbolism
characterize this work across diverse pairings and groupings, strange
hybrid single creatures, and, above all, conflicting meanings. Rather than
resolving the resulting disjunctions, however, the shape-shifting nature
of Huangs animals emphasizes their polysemy and the profound lack
of one-to-one symbolic correspondence. The power of his zoomorphic
works derives from his comfort with ambiguity; although often derived
from Chinese ideas, his works are always globally applicable in their
complexity of transnational experience and their reflection of human
nature as both instinctual and rational.

a sculptors menagerie
As a sculptor working on an operatic, even circuslike scale,13 Huang has
stated that he is unconcerned with market trends, salability, or catering to
the display and storage needs of owners, and argues that the size of his
art is entirely relative in comparison with the vastness of nature.14 His
sculptures are often on the very scale of nature itself by virtue of the
taxidermied creatures, life-size or larger animal forms, and occasionally
even living creatures that he employs. Consequently, the frequently
monstrous aesthetics of his works regularly makes them as repugnant as
they are compelling, especially given their consistent installation in public
human places precisely in order to strike a contrast with humanity.15
Such a contrast was immediately visible in one of his first zoomorphic
works, Yellow Peril (1993), which combined five live scorpions and a thou-
sand live locusts in a white tent-like structure in the Museum of Modern
Art in Oxford, England. The locusts were intended as the scorpions food
source (not as their prey, a tenuous distinction), and although the scor-
pions did ultimately devour the locusts, they nevertheless threatened the
survival of their consumers.16 But with only cloth to contain this plague,
the audience nonetheless must also have felt vulnerable and anxious
about the insects potential to escape and overwhelm them, mirroring the
locusts relationship to the scorpions. Intertwining the themes of power
and mutual destruction, Yellow Peril is an overt commentary on race
and immigration that refers directly to Western fear of being inundated
by Chinese immigrants during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. Huangs incorporation of live creatures (specifically insects
and reptiles) in several works has repeatedly provoked challenges from
animal activists, epitomizing the various emotions ranging from fear to
protectiveness that also occur in human cross-cultural encounters.

404 Kristina Kleutghen

figure 11.1
Huang Yong Ping,
11 June 2002 The
Nightmare of George v,
2002. Installation.
Concrete, reinforced steel,
animal skins, paint, fabric
cushion, plastic, wood, and
cane seat. 243.8355.6
167.6cm. Exhibition view
House of Oracles, Walker
Art Center, Minneapolis.
adagp Huang Yong
Ping. Courtesy the artist
and kamel mennour, Paris.
One of Huangs first works to incorporate taxidermy, 11 June 2002
Nightmare of George v (2002, fig.11.1) uses both the animals and the
medium of taxidermy to comment on European fear of foreign domi-
nation in the context of colonialism. Inspired by a stuffed tiger shot by
King Georgev (r.1910 1936) and the duc dOrleans hunting trophies
from the late nineteenth century, in the work a snarling tiger has climbed
a serenely immobile elephant to menace an unseen colonial entity
represented by the British royal arms marked on an empty howdah. The
elephants immobility and placid detachment contrast with the tigers
action, while the tigers menace to the implied human presence produces
the eponymous royal nightmare of native rebellion. Like artists such as
Cai Guo-Qiang (b.1957) and Damien Hirst (b.1965) who also incorporate
taxidermy, Huang returns this outdated practice to museums, reviving
the roots of the institution in the wunderkammer and the methods of the
earliest public collections that have slowly disappeared over time as
taxidermy acquired the negative patina of obsolence, colonialism, and
ecological destruction.17 But because Huangs works with taxidermy
are presented as art rather than as diorama and incorporate taxidermy
405 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity
often precisely because of its now self-conscious colonial connotations,
their aesthetics of livingness18 as once-sentient animals frozen in
tableaux enhances the theatricality of works with the potential to revive
themselves at any moment. Huangs use of taxidermied animals also
minimizes the visibility of the artists presence in his zoomorphic works
and thus seems to give the creatures more autonomy.
Exemplifying Huangs manipulation of zoomorphic materials and
the monumentalizing potential of sculpture as a medium19 in the
context of globalization are his multiple and continuously evolving Bat
Projects. Inspired by the incident of an American ep-3 spy plane that
collided with a Chinese military aircraft in 2001 and was subsequently
dismantled by the Chinese on Hainan Island, the work cannot but
cause diplomatic tension. Its first three versions were censored and
banned from its first three scheduled international exhibitions at the
Fourth Shenzhen Contemporary Sculpture exhibition in 2001, the First
Guangzhou Triennial in 2002, and the Left Wing exhibition in Beijing in
2003. Bat Project iv (2004 2005), the most fully conceptualized version of
the work, was displayed at the House of Oracles retrospective in the United
States, and seen for the first time in Europe only in 2011 at Nottingham
Contemporary Gallery. All the Bat Projects are built from full-size decom-
missioned aircraft, but these avian forms have had their wings, noses,
and tails clipped, and taxidermied bats populate their mutilated earth-
bound forms. The Nottingham installation also included the documents
narrating the earlier censorship, blending the original event with the
artworks own creation into a historiographic phase of evolution.
Huang has stated that politics is an anti-aging remedy for the arts
as well as that artists should instill their political views in their works,
yet he also argues that artists should distance themselves from power in
order to maintain the independence of their thought.20 In light of these
conflicting statements, it is not surprising that Huang has kept his own
political statement about the 2001 incident ambiguous by leaving both
Chinese and Western bat mythologies equally open to interpretation. In
all of its weakened animal-occupied states, the dismantled American
espionage technology is no longer powerful or secret; the shell of the
plane becomes merely a cave housing bats that can be either sinister or
benign. Are the bats auspicious harbingers of prosperity in the tradi-
tional Chinese sense, indicative of Chinas rising strength on the global
political stage? Or are they inauspicious in the traditional European
sense, suggesting the weakening of the West after being bitten by the
vampiric Chinese dismantling of American intelligence technology? Yet
in the most recent forms of the work, the bats in Bat Project also suggest

406 Kristina Kleutghen

figure 11.2
Huang Yong Ping, Wu Zei,
2010. Installation. Metal,
silicone, foam, and rice
paper. 18.616.67.4 m. event as a meta-work presenting its role as a pawn in Sino-Western
Installation view, Muse
Ocanographique de encounters, an entirely new beast created from intertwined meanings
Monaco, Monaco.
adagp Huang Yong
Ping. Photo: Andr Morin.
Courtesy the artist and
kamel mennour, Paris.
the time the work spent undisplayed in between cancellations, physically
and mentally collecting dust, cobwebs, and conceptual bats. By the time
of its 2011 incarnation, Bat Project had become as much about the original
and self-reflexive material referents.
Similarly monumental, Wu Zei (2010, fig.11.2) demonstrates the
power of installing animal forms in intimate dialogue with particular
surroundings. This fiberglass kraken built on a Vernes-esque scale is
twined over the ceiling and columns of the Salon dHonneur in Monacos
Muse Ocanographique, as if consuming this monument to humans
oceanographic study from within.21 Wuzei is the Chinese word for cuttle-
fish, its two characters literally meaning black and thief, referring to
the creatures tendency to float on the ocean surface as if dead and then
itself preying upon any predatory bird deceived by the performance.
Huang has also punned on the Chinese word for cuttlefish by identifying
the multiple meanings of zei by itself as spoil, corrupt, deterioration,
and renaissance, noting the inseparability of deterioration and renais-
sance in the cycle of destruction and creation.22 Close inspection of this
intimidating creatures tentacle tips and suckers reveals that they are
coated with a black substance, equally identifiable as the black ink cuttle-
fish secrete for protection and the harmful crude oil humans spill in
oceans. Encumbered by discarded garbage, trapped seabirds, and dying
407 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity
small marine life, the giant cuttlefish is slowly being destroyed from the
outside in by the detritus of human oceanic exploitation and pollution.
Whether created with Duchampian ready-mades such as abandoned
aircraft, synthetic materials such as plastic and fiberglass, natural
materials such as wood and animal hides, or the taxidermied creatures
themselves, Huangs menagerie of materials allows him to create an
endless zoo of creatures. But he has a far more intimate relationship with
these fabricated creatures than one might expect, even ironically calling
them his pets.23 It is this intimacy with even dangerous creatures
and the multifaceted symbolism they convey through his handling that
enables them to speak to all possible audiences.

the snake handler

The concept of shedding skin as a sign of rebirth or to reveal an under-
lying truth is a recurring theme in Huangs zoomorphic works, occurring
most unexpectedly in Ombre Blanche (White Shadow, 2009, fig.11.3).
Created by stretching buffalo skins over a frame to give the impression
of taxidermy, a white elephant steps out of a darker gray skin he has
seemingly sloughed off onto the floor, much like a snake sheds its skin
but not at all like an elephant. With this work, however, Huang refers
explicitly to Buddhism, saying that the shadow of the white elephant
and the skin that has been cast off are what we take to be the truth. In
order to attain illusion, we need to trample underfoot the so-called
truth.24 In Buddhism, a gray elephant symbolizes the uncontrolled
mind, running wild and generally wreaking destruction in all areas,
while a white elephant symbolizes the controlled mind, whose power
and strength can be focused purely on the destruction of obstacles
on the path to enlightenment. Pictured in many traditional Chinese
Buddhist images, washing (or sweeping) the elephant (xixiang) is a
metaphor for the washing away of any perceived permanence of material
form in the world. The word for elephant is itself also a homophone
with form, creating a striking contradiction that a creature as large as
an elephant can have no physical form. When Huangs beast steps out
of its freshly exfoliated gray skin and is thus reborn as a white shadow,
the bulky three-dimensional form that remains standing has a signifi-
cantly different presence in the world than either the darker skin it has
discarded or the expected darkness of the shadow any real creature would
cast. Thus Huang has reversed the expected manifestation of materiality
and illusion in the human world as a means of moving the viewer toward
Buddhist enlightenment.

408 Kristina Kleutghen

figure 11.3 Whether or not Huangs mostly Western audience is generally aware
Huang Yong Ping, Ombre
Blanche, 2009. Buffalo
of the specifically Buddhist connotations of the white elephant in Ombre
skins on a resin and steel Blanche, they are undoubtedly familiar with a snakes shedding of its skin
structure. 250450 as a near-universal symbolism of rebirth and metamorphosis. In the
210cm. Exhibition view
Caverne 2009, kamel ancient Chinese thought that Huang also consistently employs, however,
mennour, Paris. adagp snakes also carry a bipolar symbolism that swings between the positive
Huang Yong Ping. Photo:
Andr Morin. Courtesy
(rebirth) and the negative (death). The genetic mutation that regularly
the artist and kamel results in snakes with two heads or two bodies made for an easy connec-
mennour, Paris. tion to the supernatural in ancient China, even as such creatures were
believed to be profoundly inauspicious omens from which humans
also sought protection.25 Huang exploits this ambiguous ophidian
symbolism and the oscillating predator-prey relationship of the human
and the snake in works such as Python (2000) and Tower Snake (2009)
that offer divergent interpretations of colossal serpentine skeletons. The
forty-meter-long wooden Python was originally a site-specific installa-
tion cutting through a small island crossed by the Mblenbrcke Bridge
in Hann Mnden, Germany.26 Huang linked this project to his stated
perception that the town had excellent feng shui and that the island
crossed by the Mblenbrcke Bridge was an energy epicenter. Citing the
ancient Chinese saying that where there are high mountains and big
lakes, dragons and snakes emerge, he created the warm-toned wooden
snake skeleton that wove in and out of the human and natural landscapes
as a zoomorphic reflection of the sites supposedly positive energy. Yet

409 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

figure 11.4 the wooden Python resembles nothing so much as a balsa wood dinosaur
Huang Yong Ping,
Tower Snake, 2009.
skeleton model,27 its monumental but minimalist form merely a lifeless
Aluminum, bamboo, plaything for human entertainment and education.
steel. 6.7111.89 In contrast to his countryside Python, his city-dwelling Tower Snake
11.28 m. Copyright
Huang Yong Ping. (2009, fig.11.4) is far more ominous. Tightly coiled as if ready to spring
Courtesy Gladstone and strike, its silvery aluminum skeleton emphasizes this danger through
Gallery, New York
andBrussels.
a visual analogy to knives. With its metal vertebrae supported by creaking,
rickety bamboo scaffolding (similar to the precarious scaffolding still seen
at Chinese construction sites), viewers walk through the work, climbing
the spiral walkway beneath the snakes elevated spine and traversing its
innards surrounded by the bare skeleton. At the top and center of the coil,
one arrives at a precipice directly below a fanged skull; then the journey
reverses back out through the tail as if the viewer is alternately consumed
and digested by the serpent. But despite this implication, by creating an
architectural form out of skinless bones for the viewer to experience from
both inside and out, Huang has made the audience more powerful than
the creature. Huang has also stripped this fanged primordial beast of its
potent venom, skin, bile, and blood, all important ingredients that benefit
humans in traditional Chinese medicine (tcm). Even today, restaurants
offering snake on their menu will also serve the customer glasses of the
chosen and freshly killed snakes bile and blood mixed with potent white
spirit (baijiu), bracing tonics that symbolize nothing as much as human
domination over the snake and appropriation of its power.

410 Kristina Kleutghen

 For Huang, tcm has been an important recurring referent for its
principles that the human body is connected with nature and thus can
be healed by nature. He has argued for a return to this system that scien-
tific knowledge and modern institutions have rejected, encouraging its
use as a catalyst to provoke a fundamental shift in perspective on the
world.28 Such a perspective is clear in Wells (2007), which at a distance
initially seems to consist merely of human-sized ceramic vases glazed
in monochrome green, blue, and amber that recall both Han funerary
wares and Tang sancai-glazed tomb sculptures. Inside these modern
wells, however, is not pure water, but various taxidermied creatures and
ingredients of animal origin used in tcm. The pair displayed at the
Gladstone Gallery stall at the 2010 Frieze Art Fair in London paired one
jar containing snakes with another containing a taxidermied peacock, a
juxtaposition that refers specifically to peacocks ability and tendency to
eat snakes. Such ophiophagus behavior led to the historical conviction
that poisons harmful to humans actually nourished the peacock, an
exotic bird often presented as foreign tribute for its colorful plumage
and dancelike movements, but that was also believed to protect against
poisons and even produce antivenom for snakebites. Over time this
superlative ability to dispel poisonous influences became a Buddhist
metaphor. The Peacock King (Kongque mingwang, Sanskrit Mahmyr ),
one of the Wisdom Kings protecting the buddhas, is a peaceful (rather
than the typically wrathful) personification that protects believers from
physical and spiritual poisoning, while the image of the peacock in the
poison grove became a Tibetan Buddhist metaphor for physical and
mental practices eradicating spiritual toxins.29
Pairing birds and snakes was traditionally more than simply juxta-
posing predator and prey, however. Birds and snakes generally connoted
the binary correlations of celestial and earthly, fiery yang and watery yin,
and auspicious south and dangerous north within Five Phases (wuxing)
cosmology.30 In this ancient Chinese system, the world, and therefore
the humans in it, are oriented toward the south (rather than the north as
in the West), to balance the warm, bright, male energy of yang influences
with the cool, dark, female energy of yin to achieve the yin-yang balance
that must be maintained for universal balance and harmony in the center.
The symbols for these two phases were the Dark Warrior (xuanwu) of
the north and winter, represented as a snake intertwined with a turtle,
and the long-tailed Red Bird of the south and summer. Inside Huangs
Wells, therefore, animalian and cosmological alchemy is about to occur
in the transformative process of the yang-natured peacock (analogous to
the auspicious Red Bird thanks to its long tail) devouring the yin-natured

411 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

figure 11.5
Huang Yong Ping,
Thtre du Monde et Pont
(1993 1995). Installation:
cages (metal, wood),
bronzes from the muse
Cernuschi in Paris, turtles,
snakes, insects. 10.4 human treatments from medieval preparations that defy modern medical
3.21.8 m. Galerie des cinq
continents, Muse national
des Arts dAfrique et
dOcanie, Paris, France,
1995. Collection Fondation
Guy et Myriam Ullens,
Genve. adagp Huang intertwined zoomorphic structures. The ten-meter-long Bridge is an
Yong Ping. Photo: dr.
Courtesy the artist and
the Guy & Myriam Ullens
Foundation.
snakes. After this, according to prescriptions in the ancient Chinese
materia medica,31 the peacock could be brewed or steeped to produce
antivenom. The juxtaposition of these seemingly disparate animals with
divergent relationships to humankind creates the drama of the work as
the pairing of death in one jar and salvation in the other, new wells of
knowledge.
Drawing explicitly from Five Phases cosmology for Thtre du Monde
and Pont (Theater of the World and Bridge, 1993, fig.11.5), this large and
complex work comprises two physically independent but conceptually
architectonic metal and glass snake complete with faceted scales, its form
echoing its function as a herpetarium housing five live turtles, ten live
snakes, and a number of faux-antique Qing dynasty (1644 1911) bronze
figures of writhing dragons, turtles, snakes, toads, and Dark Warriors
borrowed from the Muse Cernuschi in Paris. Providing continuity
between interior and exterior, the live snakes in Bridge mimic the form
of their enclosure, and the dark patina of the bronzes alludes visually
and materially to the terrariums dark metal skeleton. Huang himself has
noted that the serpentine bridge not only enables the turtles and snakes
to meet in the same space, but also facilitates the meeting of traditional
objects (bronzes) and contemporary artworks (using live animals).32
Below the steep arch in the center of Bridge is a domed and screened
wooden table with radiating panels shaped like a tortoise carapace, which
houses a variety of live insects and small reptiles that slowly devour each
412 Kristina Kleutghen
other for sustenance. The paired serpentine and chelonian forms of the
inanimate meta-creatures that house the living reptiles and insects in
Theater and Bridge together create the ancient image of the Dark Warrior.
Not only were turtles sometimes believed to be snakes with shells, they
were also believed to mate with snakes. This union was even considered
one of the mythological origins of the universe in the coupling of
stability and immutability with change andflux.
Beyond the ancient Chinese cosmological symbolism, Huang has
suggested several other interpretations for this work, including an insect
zoo, a terrarium, a closed system, a test site for Darwinisms survival of
the fittest, a metaphor for cross-cultural conflict, and a cross between
a panopticon and the shamanistic practice of keeping insects.33 Made
famous in Western thought by Michel Foucault as the perfection of
power [that] should tend to render its actual exercise unnecessary,34
the panopticon was British philosopher Jeremy Benthams (1748 1832)
vision of a radially arranged prison in which all prisoners can be seen
from a central tower that preserves the invisibility and omnipotence
of the warden.35 Although there is no central tower for Theater, the
human audience substitutes for the warden while the radial arrange-
ment of the tortoise-shaped cage recalls the radial arrangement of
the tower. Invoking ancient Chinese shamanism in the same breath
as the panopticon, Huang presents himself in the ancient Chinese
tradition of the shaman (wu) as animal communicator and handler of
dangerous creatures for the benefit and occasionally to the detri-
ment of humankind. From the Shang dynasty (c.1600 c.1050 bce)
through at least the Warring States period (475 221 bce), shamans often
held powerful social and even political roles as members of Chinese
society responsible for a variety of practices. These included but were not
limited to herbal medicine, divination, dream interpretation, exorcism,
omenology, genealogy, mythology, geography, calendrical and astro-
nomical calculation, sacrifices, sacred performance, rainmaking [and
even] certain rites of resurrection.36 But keeping insects was a shamanic
activity that carries particular resonance for Theater and Bridge.
An alternative word for shaman or sorcery is wugu, which
combines both the shaman and the specific poison that he created by
combining the very creatures Huang did in the viscera of Theater. The
gu was an artificially cultivated, venom-based poison derived from a
hyperpoisonous creature created by sealing a centipede, snake, scorpion,
lizard, and toad (the Five Venomous Creatures, wudu) in a vessel for a
year, during which they would devour each other in order to survive.37
Whichever creature remained at the end was believed to possess a

413 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

particularly lethal poison that combined all the other creatures venoms,
which a shaman would then extract to use in evil sorcery.38 If the extra-
ordinary juxtaposition of multiple whole, recognizable animal forms in
Huang Yong Pings works can create drama, then the single strange being
in process inside Theater is even more powerful for its hybrid identity as
a supercreature empowered by its fight for survival. When installed in the
Vancouver Art Gallery in spring 2007, this intentional conflict provoked
harsh criticism from the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (bcspca) and resulted in Huangs removing all the
live creatures to leave merely an empty shell. Such a change was strangely
appropriate for the work given that The Book of Changes links gu with
hexagram eighteen, which implies destruction and decay in addition
topoison.
In all its forms, the gu is a polysemous character that collated the
practices or results of malicious sorceries, toxic miasma, and seduction
in addition to the particular poison extracted from the Five Venomous
Creatures. From the Han through at least the Tang dynasties, those
caught practicing gu-sorcery or preparing the gu were severely punished,
often by dismemberment.39 By caging his dangerous creatures inside
Theater and Bridge, Huang seems to render them harmless by trans-
forming the double-headed form of the Dark Warrior into a headless,
inanimate object. Yet while the headless forms are themselves no longer
capable of rebirth, becoming merely empty vessels in which the reptilian
confrontations occur, their viscera continue to contain life. As the gu
sorcerer masterminding the display and the process, Huang the snake
handler dabbles in ancient zoomorphic black magic, demonstrating that
the artist, like his audience, can be both benevolent and malevolent.

shaman of the strange

Bizarre and potentially hybrid creatures such as the Dark Warrior and the
gu supercreature are only two of many such strange creatures ( guaiwu)
populating the cultural landscape of ancient China on which Huang
often relies. Such creatures are defined and described in the Guideways
to Mountains and Seas (Shanhaijing), a cosmography, bestiary, and omen
guide thought to date to the Warring States period that acknowledged the
presence of strange and hybrid creatures on earth and sought to identify
unknown geography through its particular landscapes, florae, faunae,
deities, minerals, metals, and pharmaceuticals.40 The Guideways describes
more than five hundred strange creatures in detail, hybrid animals iden-
tified by their distortion, disjunction, conjoining, and multiplication of

414 Kristina Kleutghen

figure 11.6
Huang Yong Ping, Pril
de mouton, 1997. Wood,
cowskins, sheepskins,
15.712.67 m. Pril de
mouton, Fondation Cartier
pour lart contemporain,
Paris, 1997. adagp
Huang Yong Ping.
Courtesy the artist and
kamel mennour, Paris.

figure 11.7
Huang Yong Ping, Travel
Guide 2000 2046 (1999).
Detail of Part B of
four-part map. Getty
Research Institute,
LosAngeles (2670-698).
Huang Yong Ping
and cca Kitakyushu.

415 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

various animal and human features. This complex, puzzling volume was
also a major source of information about shamanic practices and had
the benefit of disseminating certain shamanic knowledge. By being able
to recognize unknown things or beings in a foreign landscape, regular
people who lacked the shamanic ability to communicate with animals
could not only avoid creatures that could harm them but also interpret
their appearance as omens.
The Guideways appears repeatedly in Huangs work, demonstrating
the fruitfulness of this source for him personally as well as its wider
applicability to the future of global humankind. In Pril de Mouton
(The Danger of Sheep, 1997, fig.11.6), a monumental, primordial bovine
creature created with cowhides over a wooden frame terrorizes a herd
of sheep-shaped forms created with fleeces supported on sticks in a
commentary on European bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow
disease). Huang was struck by the mutually destructive consumption
of humans, sheep, and cows in the commercial meat industry, and his
artist book from 1995 1997 includes numerous repetitions of the endless
cycle of man eats cow, cow eats cow, cow eats man that he saw equally
reflected in French news coverage of the issue and in the Guideways.41
For the large main creature, he drew inspiration from the Guideways
descriptions of the zhuhuai (a creature resembling an ox with four horns,
human eyes, and pig ears) and the tulou (a goat-like creature also distin-
guished by four horns), both of which ate humans. In Travel Guide for
2000 2046 (1999, fig.11.7), an artist book produced for the cca (Center for
Contemporary Art) Kitakyushu in Japan, Huang combined ideas drawn
from the Guideways, Joseph Beuys print Die Wrmezeitmaschine (The
Thermic Time Machine, 1975) that depicted the world as an apple-shaped
globe, and a 1993 Chinese publication giving predictions for the future.42
Unpeeling the map covering Beuys apple-globe in a single spiral strip,
Huang flattened the three-dimensional world into a foldout paper travel
guide marked with 431 predictions for major catastrophes as well as
animal omens drawn from the Guideways. In a detail of the strip showing
equatorial Southeast Asia, for example, Huang marked predictions for a
hurricane, droughts, floods, and other extraordinary phenomena, along
with a catfish-like creature with wings that could ward off soldiers or
weaponry and a multihorned, goat-like creature that augured flooding.
In Huangs vision of the twenty-first century, the global spread of the
predicted cataclysms foretell human inability to find safety or shelter
anywhere in the future. Through the Guideways, therefore, both Pril de
Mouton and Travel Guide might seem to assuage human anxiety about the
future, but instead use the past to portend a dangerous world.

416 Kristina Kleutghen

figure 11.8 In the same year as Travel Guide, the Guideways appeared most
Huang Yong Ping,
Unhomme, neuf animaux,
spectacularly in Un homme, neuf animaux (One Man, Nine Animals, 1999,
1999. Installation. Wood, fig.11.8), Huangs contribution to the French Pavilion at the Venice
aluminum, 23178 m. Biennale and that is now installed in the sculpture park at the Muse
Exhibition view: 48th
Annual Venice Biennial, des Beaux-Arts in Caen. Nine strange creatures from the Guideways
French Pavilion, 1999. formed of aluminum tower above the earth on wooden columns, offering
adagp Huang
Yong Ping. Courtesy
conflicting and ambiguous omens for the global future: a snake with a
Huang Yong Ping and single head and two bodies ( feiyi) that foretells a great drought; a fox with
Fonds national dart nine heads and nine tails (longzhi) that makes a sound similar to a baby
contemporain, Paris.
but also eats humans (yet human consumption of its meat also prevents
airborne gu poisoning); a white ox with four horns and hair like the straw

417 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

used in rain capes (aoyin) that eats humans; a rooster with a human head
( fuxi) that foretells war; a winged fish (wenyaoyu) that flies at night, can
cure insanity if eaten, and augurs abundant harvests throughout the
world; a boar with a human head (heyu) that makes sounds like a baby,
eats both humans and snakes, and portends great flooding; an owl with
one claw and a pigs tail (qizhong) that foretells a great epidemic; a snake
with nine heads that is in fact an ancient minister named Liu (xiang
Liu), an evil official of Gonggong killed by the mythical emperor Yu the
Great; and a monkey with a human head that is an ambiguous omen.43
These hybrid animals are defined through a combination of anomalous
elements from individual, recognizable creatures that alchemically
empower the composite form above and beyond what any single being
might possess.
As in Pril and Travel Guide, knowledge of such creatures is what
grants humankind any sort of power over these powerful and often
dangerous beings. Providing the human component inherent in the
work, the eponymous one man is earthbound. Cast in the heavier metal
of bronze, he stands in a wooden compass-chariot, an ancient clockwork
compass mechanism that perpetually points south and is traditionally
believed to have been invented in the mid-third millennium bce by
the mythical Yellow Emperor, who used it in a battle to save China.44
Mechanical rather than magnetic, this two-wheeled cart supported a
gear train arranged to keep the figure on top perpetually pointing south
regardless of which way the carriage traveled. The integrated human
and mechanical forms have led this to be called an android and the
first step in human history toward a cybernetic machine.45 Perhaps the
strange creatures and their conflicting omens threaten to overwhelm
humans and technology from on high, but in the twenty-first century
it will be the rational humans, inseparable from their technology, who
will dispense with the supernatural and fear of the future. The human
reliance on technology, however, is limited as the compass-chariot only
points in one single direction, while the animal omens suggest many
different possibilities, and the plurality of their predictions also suggests
the variety of events that might occur in the future. Without the benefit
of the Guideways, these are truly strange creatures that leave humankind
ignorant and anxious about the future. With the Guideways, however
meaning with the knowledge of shamans who rely not on technology but
on intuition, magic, and the otherworldly the implication of One Man,
Nine Animals was that humankind might be able to escape these strange
creatures and the omens they portended. But that was not to be. The
complete installation in Venice was produced in the period of ambiguity

418 Kristina Kleutghen

 about the future sometimes anxious and sometimes celebratory just
prior to the turning of the new millennium in 2000. Since then, the evil
omens, good omens, and loss of human life suggested by the creatures
have alloccurred.
Perhaps Huang Yong Ping should be considered a shaman for the
global twenty-first century, one firmly rooted in the ancient Chinese
tradition: divining the future from the strange creatures and animal
auguries in works such as in One Man, Nine Animals and Travel Guide;
raising insects for powerful poisons in Theater and Bridge; brewing
antivenoms from ophiophagus peacocks in Wells; and repeatedly
handling snakes as in Tower Snake and Python. But one could equally
argue that in presenting himself as a shaman, Huang is only sinifying the
practices of Western artists who presented themselves literally and figu-
ratively as shamans, especially Joseph Beuys, who is an important source
of Huangs inspiration. For Beuys, the self-presentation as and perfor-
mance of a shamanistic healer was a critical element of his mythologized
public persona, life, and work. Beuys claimed that after his airplane was
shot down in 1944, a Tartar shaman healed his broken body by wrapping
him in animal fat and felt, which led to the use of both animals and felt
in Beuys work, such as the coyote and gray felt blanket incorporated into
his famous New York performance of I Like America and America Likes Me
(1974). Beuys used art to return mysticism and intuition to what he saw as
an overly rational and scientific society, and Huang has sometimes done
the same with his zoomorphic works, particularly those that incorporate
elements touching on ancient Chinese shamanism and cosmology.
Yet Huang has claimed no origin story for his interest in shamanism.
Furthermore, his ancient Chinese shamanic references are outnumbered
by the diversity of animals and animal references in his work, making
him only a shaman in the sense of a mediator or communicator between
humans and animals. He has even stated that while Beuys took up the
causes of students as the biggest party in the world, Huang himself
chose the even larger party of animals as a way of intervening in the
world without separating species.46 As he does not separate but instead
integrates cultures, his Chinese symbols take on a universal nature that
makes them applicable to all humankind as his audience. Any exclusive
focus on the Chinese elements in Huangs work risks oversimplifying
its diversity of inspiration and sinocentrically essentializing his practice
when that is not his intention. One writer has argued that Huangs use
of explicitly cosmological beasts and mythological hybrids has created a
patently essentialist image of China.47 On the contrary: by incorporating
certain strange creatures from the Guideways, Huang is offering up not

419 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

figure 11.9 just visualizations of otherworldly beings present in ancient China and
Huang Yong Ping, Camel,
2012. Taxidermy animal,
its imaginaries, but rather important knowledge from what he treats as
rug, needle, and cord. aglobal cultural past in order to interpret a shared future.
1.633.40.66 m.
Huang Yong Ping.
Courtesy Gladstone
Gallery, New York and
the divine ringmaster
Brussels.
Ancient Chinese allusions may often historicize and contextualize much
of the zoomorphism in Huangs works from the 1990s and early 2000s,
but more recently he has increasingly incorporated references from
global religious traditions that require much deeper engagement with
the intertwined nature of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism in the
twenty-first century. In Camel (2012, fig.11.9), for example, he presents
a taxidermied camel with a large, threaded knitting needle through
its nose in a perversion of the well-known biblical verse about a camel
passing through the eye of a needle, the text of which is branded in
French on the creatures side. The camel kneels as if in prayer on a
Muslim prayer rug in the direction of Mecca, inherently fouling the
carpet with its unclean presence; as an animal, it is unable to ritually
purify itself prior to prayer as a human must according to Islamic tenets.
Camel assumes the viewers basic familiarity with both religions and the
tensions between them. Perhaps as equal opportunity sacrilege, Camel
seeks not to divide Christians and Muslims as is so often the case in
the post-9/11 world, but instead to unite them in shared indignation.

420 Kristina Kleutghen

figure 11.10
Huang Yong Ping,
La Pche (2006). Fiberglass,
animal fur, wood, bamboo,
iron, 495205230cm.
Exhibition view Huang Yong
Ping: Amoy/Xiamen, Muse
dart contemporain de
Lyon (February 15 April 15,
2013). Private collection.
adagp Huang Yong
Ping. Photo: Blaise Adilon.
Courtesy of the artist and
Galerie Anne de Villepoix,
Paris.

References from Islam are increasingly part of Huangs most recent work
as a whole, but they are still less prevalent in his zoomorphic sculptures,
making Camel an important example of religious and animal symbolism
in his recentwork.
Blending Christianity and Buddhism, La Pche (Fishing, 2006,
fig.11.10) depicts a monstrous amphibian, an entirely unnatural
mammalian reptile with a carnivorous lupine head, front paws, and
torso; a menacing eusuchian mid-body with the large gray-green scales

421 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

422 Kristina Kleutghen
< figure 11.11 and protruding back ridges of an alligator; and a long, slim fantail to
Huang Yong Ping, Arche
2009 (2009). Installation.
propel it through the water. It has been hooked through its gaping maw
Wood, paper, and stuffed on a spiritual line or sacrilegious rosary48 cast by the historical buddha
animals, 18.1m (length) Sakyamuni, weighted by seven grinning round-bellied Budai laughing
4.12m (width) 8m
(height). Exhibition view, or lucky buddhas (manifestations of Maitreya, buddha of the future),
chapel of the Petits- and baited with the crucified Christ, all in wood. The creatures compo-
Augustins, cole nationale
suprieure des beaux-arts,
sition from various land- and water-dwelling creatures indicates that
Paris. adagp Huang it belongs wholly to neither environment, immediately marking it as
Yong Ping. Photo: Andr a strange creature that would be entirely at home in the cosmology of
Morin & Marc Domage.
Courtesy the artist and ancient China and among the beings described in the Guideways. But its
kamel mennour, Paris. form and the works overall composition are drawn from an illumination
of a leviathan in the medieval manuscript Hortus Delicarium (The Garden
of Delights, ca.1170; destroyed in the nineteenth century). For God the
Father shown fishing with the seven prophets in the original illustration,
Huang substituted the two buddhas but kept the crucified Christ as the
bait to attract the Leviathan, a medieval zoomorphic manifestation of
Satan that threatened to destroy the world and humanity. Rather than
Christianity saving the world from the Leviathan, it is only the super-
ficial bait: Huangs various manifestations of the Buddha are what save
humanity from strange hybrid creatures in the twenty-first century. Still,
all the religious figures depicted are simply wooden sculptures, them-
selves works of art more commonly seen in museums today, while the
composite leviathan projects a contrasting sense of animation with its
various animal skin surfaces. Will art, devoid of religion in a museum
context, therefore save humanity? Who or what is really doing the
fishing here, and what is the intended catch? Leaving these questions
unanswered just as prayers often are, Huang forces the viewer to confront
the strength of his or her own faith.
Arche 2009 (Ark 2009, 2009, fig.11.11) is thus far the grandest mani-
festation of biblical imagery in Huangs work: a paper boat, folded as if
through origami into a fragile vessel, carries a host of paired taxidermy
animals clustered around a wooden mast. Flames have scorched and
damaged the mast and several animals, suggesting some invisible confla-
gration burning the ark from its core. This work developed after a visit to
the legendary Deyrolle taxidermy shop in Paris after it was damaged by
fire, evolved further after Huang encountered a sixteenth-century Persian
miniature of Noahs ark, and was given concrete form when the chapelle
des Petits-Augustins at the cole des Beaux-Arts, also in Paris, was chosen
as the installation site. Huang has identified this as his most complex
project: the works produced before Ark were always particular animals
related to a precise context, whereas this time the project is about

423 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

bringing together as many different species as possible. . . . In as much
as the Ark contains all the animals of creation, this cancels the symbolic
dimension linked to each species.49 The fact that the boat is made of
merely paper, which will ultimately disintegrate in any body of water, and
is already burning with an invisible flame, indicates that nothing in the
end will survive despite the salvation that an ark implies. The prow of the
boat is also already open, equally a gangway and a rupture, deliverance
and destruction.
Consequently, it is tempting to characterize Huang as some sort of
anti-Noah, destroying creation rather than preserving it, and he himself
has noted the metaphor that the doomed ark carries for nonspecific
global crises. Yet he has also said that despite any appearances to the
contrary, it is not meant to be simply sculptural representation of a
biblical episode and has additionally (and repeatedly) denied any parallel
with Chinese flood mythologies, most notably that of Yu the Great.50
Other than the fact that the boat itself is shaped like a Chinese sampan,
Huang insists that whether or not there is a Chinese component to
the work is not important, instead wanting audiences to focus on its
dreamlike nature: there is a relation to reality, but what is important
is the fracture between dream and reality. That is the artists desired
takeaway, particularly because of its original installation in a former
chapel now filled with study copies of Western art masterpieces such
as Michelangelos Last Judgment and numerous sculptures, the material
manifestations of the divine for the artists studying at the cole des
Beaux-Arts. Both destruction and salvation, neither biblical nor Chinese,
a new animal piece set against old human works Ark 2009 can only ever
be a dream.
For all the intelligence and protective technology gained by humans
over the past several thousand years, Huangs works demonstrate that
his audiences still fear those creatures that are unknown, unseen, or
unfamiliar. They therefore confirm the need for his superhuman omni-
scient presence behind the scenes. It is this supernatural role that
synthesizes all his other roles as sculptor, snake handler, and shaman, yet
this presence has rarely been seen in the works themselves. Perhaps this
is now changing, as in Circus (2012, fig.11.12). Under and around the bare
skeleton of uncovered tent poles, unnatural headless animals including
a lion, bear, horse, goat, bat, and more range and roam with only a bright
red flat slice where they were beheaded.51 In the center of the uncovered
circus tent, a monkey skeleton dressed in a ragged, transparent gauze
cap and robe manipulates another, smaller monkey-skeleton marionette.
Although the gallery press release claims that the puppeteer is inspired

424 Kristina Kleutghen

figure 11.12 by the character of Sun Wukong from the novel The Journey to the West, it
Huang Yong Ping, Circus,
2012. Wood, bamboo,
bears a far closer resemblance to the macabre skeletal puppetry depicted
taxidermy animals, resin, in paintings by Li Song (fl.1190 1230).52 The monkey marionettist is
steel, cord, and cloth. seated on the upturned fingerless palm of a monumental artists wooden
8.4110.010.0 m.
Huang Yong Ping. articulated hand model, its joints and digits scattered as if fallen from
Courtesy Gladstone the ceiling and fragmented on the ground.
Gallery, New York and
Brussels.
The shattered hand claimed by the skeleton show-monkey and
surrounded by animals that should not be able to stand, much less move

425 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

around, might suggest that the animals bit the hand feeding them and
successfully overtook the human realm. But the marionettist is itself
manipulated by strings held by a second, complete wooden hand model
descending from above through the open oculus of the tent, demon-
strating that an anthropomorphic artistic presence still directs the show
occurring in and around the tent below. This supernatural artists hand
is a unique visual reminder of Huangs persistent role as the divine ring-
master choreographing the movements of all the animals participating in
his works. By combining sources from around the world and across time,
he purports to help us identify and interpret the strange creatures that
populate our contemporary physical and mental landscape. Yet he always
leaves their meanings ambiguous, offering multiple interpretations in
light of a shared global heritage that we must parse in order to survive in
the twenty-first-century jungle of daily culture collision. As epitomized
in Circus, Huang pulls the strings that equally direct and misdirect our
interpretations, harnessing the profound power and potential of zoomor-
phic ambiguity.

notes
1 Huang Yong Ping and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Book: An Immanence: Dialogue
between Huang Yong Ping and Hans Ulrich Obrist, in Huang Yong Ping, Huang
Yong Ping, no page number (Paris: Cyrille Putman, 1999).
2 Fei Dawei, Two-Minute Wash Cycle: Huang Yong Pings Chinese Period, in House
of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective, ed. Philippe Vergne, 6 10 (Minneapolis:
Walker Art Center, 2005).
3 Martina Kppel-Yang, Semiotic Warfare: The Chinese Avant-Garde, 1979 1989 A
Semiotic Analysis (Beijing: Timezone 8, 2003), 132 151.
4 Bernhard Fibicher and Matthias Frehner, eds., Chineseness Is There Such a
Thing? A Letter from Uli Sigg to the Artists Taking Part in Mahjong and Their
Responses, in Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection (Ostfildern,
Germany, and New York: Hatje Cantz, 2005), 49 55.
5 Deborah Nash, I Always Insist That the Artist Must Be Given Carte Blanche:
Interview with Huang Yong Ping, Art Newspaper 17 (August 2008):35.
6 Melissa Chiu, Theories of Being Outside: Diaspora and Chinese Artists, in
Contemporary Art in Asia: A Critical Reader, ed. Melissa Chiu and Benjamin Genocchio,
327 345 (Cambridge, Mass.: mit Press, 2011).
7 CaryY. Liu, In the Mischievous Role of Naturalist: Classifying the Chineseness
in Contemporary Art, in Outside In: Chinese American Contemporary Art, edited
byJerome Silbergeld et al., 141 158 (Princeton, N.J., and New Haven, Conn.: P. Y. and
KinmayW. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton University, Princeton University
Art Museum, and Yale University Press, 2009).

426 Kristina Kleutghen

8 Gao Minglu, Toward a Transnational Modernity: An Overview of Inside/Out: New
Chinese Art, in Inside/Out: New Chinese Art, ed. Gao Minglu, 33 35 (San Francisco,
NewYork, Berkeley, and Los Angeles: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Asia
Society Galleries, and University of California Press, 1998); Hou Hanru and Gao
Minglu, Strategies of Survival in the Third Space: A Conversation on the Situation of
Overseas Chinese Artists in the 1990s, in Inside/Out: New Chinese Art, ed. Gao Minglu,
183 189 (San Francisco, New York, Berkeley, and Los Angeles: San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, Asia Society Galleries, and University of California Press, 1998).
9 Huang and Obrist, Book: An Immanence, no page number.
10 Jerome Silbergeld, Chinese Art, Made-in-America: An Encounter with Geography,
Ethnicity, Contemporaneity, and Cultural Chineseness, in Outside In: Chinese
American Contemporary Art, ed. Jerome Silbergeld et al., 133 (Princeton, N.J. and
New Haven, Conn.: P. Y. and KinmayW. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton
University, Princeton University Art Museum, and Yale University Press, 2009).
11 Huang and Obrist, Book: An Immanence, no page number.
12 Ibid.
13 Holland Cotter, House of Oracles Looks Back at Huang Yong Pings Legacy,
New York Times, April 14, 2006, Art section, http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/14/
arts/design/14ping.html; Doryun Chong, Huang Yong Ping and the Question of
Sculpture, in Muse dart contemporain (Lyon), Huang Yong Ping, Amoy/Xiamen,
70 80 (Paris and Lyon: Muse dart contemporain de Lyon and kamel mennour
Gallery, 2013).
14 Nash, I Always Insist.
15 Huang and Obrist, Book: An Immanence, no page number.
16 Richard Leydier, Lost Ark, in Huang Yong Ping and kamel mennour Gallery,
Huang Yong Ping: Myths, translated by Charles Penwarden, 42 47, 44 (Paris: Galerie
kamel mennour, 2009).
17 Rachel Poliquin, The Matter and Meaning of Museum Taxidermy, Museum and
Society 6, no.2 (July 2008): 123 134.
18 J.Burt, The Aesthetics of Livingness, Antennae 5 (2008):4 11.
19 Chong, Huang Yong Ping and the Question of Sculpture.
20 Huang and Obrist, Book: An Immanence, no page number; Nash, I Always
Insist,35.
21 Huang Yong Ping and kamel mennour Gallery, Wu Zei (Paris and Monaco: kamel
mennour and Muse Ocanographique de Monaco),2011.
22 See the notebook pages for this work published in ibid., no page number.
23 Huang and Obrist, Book: An Immanence, no page number.
24 Leydier, Lost Ark,47.
25 Sarah Allan, The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1991),163.
26 Because of its size, no single image can do this work justice. See the numerous
illustrations and notebook pages in Philippe Vergne, ed., House of Oracles: A Huang
Yong Ping Retrospective (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2005), 54 57.

427 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

27 Ryan Holmberg, The Snake and the Duck: On Huang Yong Ping, Yishu 8, no.5
(October 2009):42.
28 Hanru Hou, Change Is the Rule, in House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping
Retrospective, ed. Philippe Vergne, 16 (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2005).
29 J. F. Marc Des Jardins, Le stra de la Mahmyr : rituel et politique dans la Chine de
Tang (618 907) (Quebec: Presses de lUniversit Laval, 2011); Lhundup Sopa, MichaelJ.
Sweet, and Leonard Zwilling, Peacock in the Poison Grove: Two Buddhist Texts on Training
the Mind (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001).
30 JohnS. Major, Characteristics of Late Chu Religion, in Defining Chu: Image and
Reality in Ancient China, ed. ConstanceA. Cook and JohnS. Major, 129 (Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press, 1999).
31 Bencao gangmu, juan 49, 11b, kongque entry, in Dainian Zhang, ed., Chuanshi
cangshu ziku yibu bencao lei (Haikou: Hainan guoji xinwen chubanshe, 1996).
32 Fei, Two-Minute Wash Cycle.
33 Doryun Chong, Huang Yong Ping: A Lexicon, in House of Oracles: A Huang Yong
Ping Retrospective, ed. Philippe Vergne, 105 (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 2005).
34 Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan
(New York: Vintage Books, 1995),201.
35 Jeremy Bentham, Panopticon: or, the Inspection-House (Dublin: Thomas Byrne, 1791).
36 RichardE. Strassberg, ed., A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways
Through Mountains and Seas (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 7. On
shamanism in ancient China, see K. C. Chang, Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political
Authority in Ancient China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983); Arthur
Waley, The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China (London: G.Allen and
Unwin, 1956); DavidN. Keightley, Shamanism, Death, and the Ancestors: Religious
Mediation in Neolithic and Shang China (ca.5000 1000 b.c.), Asiatische Studien /
tudes Asiatiques 52, no.3 (1998): 763 831; Gopal Sukhu, Monkeys, Shamans, Emperors,
and Poets: The Chuci and Images of Chu During the Han Dynasty, in Defining Chu:
Image and Reality in Ancient China, ed. ConstanceA. Cook and JohnS. Major, 145 165,
210 212 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999); Gopal Sukhu, The Shaman and
the Heresiarch: A New Interpretation of the Li Sao (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 2012).
37 The character gu consists of three pictographs for insects (chong, originally snakes
or worms in oracle bone script) on a plate (min), depicting the contents and the
process of transformation; see Allan, The Shape of the Turtle,163.
38 H. Y. Feng and J. K. Shryock, The Black Magic in China Known as Ku, Journal of
the American Oriental Society 55, no.1 (March 1935):1 30.
39 PaulU. Unschuld, Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1985), 46 50.
40 Altogether the Guideways encompasses more than 500 animate creatures in addi-
tion to approximately 550 mountains, 300 rivers, 95 foreign lands and tribes, 130 kinds
of pharmaceuticals (to prevent some 70 illnesses), 435 plants, 90 metals and minerals,
as well as specific forms of ritual sacrifice to various mountain gods, all organized
within a geographical framework. See Strassberg, A Chinese Bestiary, 3; Anne Birrell,
trans., The Classic of Mountains and Seas (New York: Penguin Putnam, 1999).

428 Kristina Kleutghen

41 Huang Yong Ping, Huang Yong Ping (Paris: Cyrille Putman, 1999), fascicle 4,
figs.194 201 with notes.
42 Li Yu, Weilai shiji (Beijing: Zhongguo heping chubanshe, 1993).
43 Strassberg, A Chinese Bestiary, 126, 138, 112, 102, 105 106, 143, 156, 176 177,215.
44 Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol.4 part 2 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1965), 286 303; see also the entry for south-pointing
chariot in Chong, Huang Yong Ping: A Lexicon,106.
45 Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol.4, part 2,300.
46 Huang and kamel mennour Gallery, Wu Zei,134.
47 Holmberg, The Snake and the Duck, 40 41.
48 Chong, Huang Yong Ping and the Question of Sculpture,72.
49 Leydier, Lost Ark, 42,44.
50 Both this quote and the following are drawn from the interview in ibid., 44 46.
51 Titled Chefs (Heads, 2012), the heads were skewered in increasing size order along
a long metal skewer and displayed as a semi-independent work in a different room
of the gallery simultaneously with Circus.
52 Jeehee Hong, Theatricalizing Death in Performance Images of Mid-Imperial
China (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2008).

references
Allan, Sarah. The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China. Albany:
State University of New York Press,1991.
Bentham, Jeremy. Panopticon: or, the Inspection-House. Dublin: Thomas
Byrne,1791.
Birrell, Anne, trans. The Classic of Mountains and Seas. New York: Penguin
Putnam,1999.
Burt, J. The Aesthetics of Livingness. Antennae 5 (2008):4 11.
Chang, K. C. Art, Myth, and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,1983.
Chiu, Melissa. Theories of Being Outside: Diaspora and Chinese Artists.
In Contemporary Art in Asia: A Critical Reader, edited by Melissa Chiu and
Benjamin Genocchio, 327 345. Cambridge, Mass.: mit Press,2011.
Chong, Doryun. Huang Yong Ping and the Question of Sculpture. In Muse
dart contemporain (Lyon), Huang Yong Ping, Amoy/Xiamen, 70 80. Paris and
Lyon: Muse dart contemporain de Lyon and kamel mennour Gallery,2013.
. Huang Yong Ping: A Lexicon. In House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping
Retrospective, 97 104. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center,2005.
Cotter, Holland. House of Oracles Looks Back at Huang Yong Pings Legacy.
New York Times, April 14, 2006, Art section. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04
/14/arts/design/14ping.html.

429 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

Des Jardins, J. F. Marc. Le stra de la Mahmyr : rituel et politique dans la Chine de
Tang (618 907). Quebec: Presses de lUniversit Laval,2011.
Fei Dawei. Two-Minute Wash Cycle: Huang Yong Pings Chinese Period. In
House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective, edited by Philippe Vergne,
6 10. Minneapolis: Walker Art Center,2005.
Feng, H. Y., and J. K. Shryock. The Black Magic in China Known as Ku. Journal
of the American Oriental Society 55, no.1 (March 1935):1 30.
Fibicher, Bernhard, and Matthias Frehner, eds. Chineseness Is There Such
a Thing? A Letter from Uli Sigg to the Artists Taking Part in Mahjong
and Their Responses. In Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg
Collection, 49 55. Ostfildern, Germany, and New York: Hatje Cantz,2005.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by Alan
Sheridan. New York: Vintage Books,1995.
Gao Minglu. Toward a Transnational Modernity: An Overview of Inside/Out:
New Chinese Art. In Inside/Out: New Chinese Art, edited by Gao Minglu, 33 35.
San Francisco, New York, Berkeley, and Los Angeles: San Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, Asia Society Galleries, and University of California Press,1998.
Holmberg, Ryan. The Snake and the Duck: On Huang Yong Ping. Yishu 8, no.5
(October 2009): 38 46.
Hong, Jeehee. Theatricalizing Death in Performance Images of Mid-Imperial
China. PhD dissertation, University of Chicago,2008.
Hou, Hanru. Change Is the Rule. In House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping
Retrospective, edited by Philippe Vergne, 12 22. Minneapolis: Walker Art
Center,2005.
Hou, Hanru, and Gao Minglu. Strategies of Survival in the Third Space: A
Conversation on the Situation of Overseas Chinese Artists in the 1990s. In
Inside/Out: New Chinese Art, edited by Gao Minglu, 183 189. San Francisco,
New York, Berkeley, and Los Angeles: San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, Asia Society Galleries, and University of California Press,1998.
Huang Yong Ping. Huang Yong Ping. Paris: Cyrille Putman,1999.
Huang Yong Ping and kamel mennour Gallery. Wu Zei. Paris and Monaco:
kamel mennour and Muse Ocanographique de Monaco,2011.
Huang Yong Ping and Hans Ulrich Obrist. Book: An Immanence: Dialogue
between Huang Yong Ping and Hans Ulrich Obrist. In Huang Yong Ping,
Huang Yong Ping, no page number. Paris: Cyrille Putman,1999.
Keightley, David N. Shamanism, Death, and the Ancestors: Religious
Mediation in Neolithic and Shang China (ca.5000 1000 b.c.). Asiatische
Studien/tudes Asiatiques 52, no.3 (1998): 763 831.
Kppel-Yang, Martina. Semiotic Warfare: The Chinese Avant-Garde, 1979 1989 A
Semiotic Analysis. Beijing: Timezone 8,2003.
Leydier, Richard. Lost Ark. In Huang Yong Ping and kamel mennour Gallery,
Huang Yong Ping: Myths. Translated by Charles Penwarden, 42 47. Paris:
Galerie kamel mennour,2009.
Lhundup Sopa, MichaelJ. Sweet, and Leonard Zwilling. Peacock in the Poison Grove:
Two Buddhist Texts on Training the Mind. Boston: Wisdom Publications,2001.
Li Yu. Weilai shiji. Beijing: Zhongguo heping chubanshe,1993.

430 Kristina Kleutghen

Liu, Cary Y. In the Mischievous Role of Naturalist: Classifying the Chineseness
in Contemporary Art. In Outside In: Chinese American Contemporary
Art, edited by Jerome Silbergeld et al., 141 158. Princeton, N.J., and
New Haven, Conn.: P. Y. and KinmayW. Tang Center for East Asian Art,
Princeton University, Princeton University Art Museum, and Yale University
Press,2009.
Major, John S. Characteristics of Late Chu Religion. In Defining Chu: Image
and Reality in Ancient China, edited by ConstanceA. Cook and JohnS. Major,
121 143, 207 210. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,1999.
Nash, Deborah. I Always Insist That the Artist Must Be Given Carte Blanche:
Interview with Huang Yong Ping. Art Newspaper 17 (August 2008):35.
Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China. Vol.4, part 2. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press,1965.
Poliquin, Rachel. The Matter and Meaning of Museum Taxidermy. Museum
and Society 6, no.2 (July 2008): 123 134.
Silbergeld, Jerome. Chinese Art, Made-in-America: An Encounter with
Geography, Ethnicity, Contemporaneity, and Cultural Chineseness. In
Outside In: Chinese American Contemporary Art, edited by Jerome Silbergeld
et al., 115 139. Princeton, N.J., and New Haven, Conn.: P. Y. and KinmayW.
Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton University, Princeton University
Art Museum, and Yale University Press,2009.
Strassberg, Richard E., ed. A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways
Through Mountains and Seas. Berkeley: University of California Press,2002.
Sukhu, Gopal. Monkeys, Shamans, Emperors, and Poets: The Chuci and
Images of Chu During the Han Dynasty. In Defining Chu: Image and Reality
in Ancient China, edited by ConstanceA. Cook and JohnS. Major, 145 165,
210 212. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press,1999.
. The Shaman and the Heresiarch: A New Interpretation of the Li Sao. Albany:
State University of New York Press,2012.
Unschuld, PaulU. Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. Berkeley: University of
California Press,1985.
Vergne, Philippe, ed. House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective.
Minneapolis: Walker Art Center,2005.
Waley, Arthur. The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China. London:
G.Allen and Unwin,1956.
Zhang, Dainian, ed. Chuanshi cangshu ziku yibu bencao lei. Haikou: Hainan guoji
xinwen chubanshe,1996.

431 Huang Yong Ping and the Power of Zoomorphic Ambiguity

Glossary

Entries are alphabetized character by character.

Adan (Aden) Bili

azhali Biludong
Album of Birds Bishamen Tianwang
Anle Temple bi xiang
anshou wansui bixie
Anxi bianqiao
Anyang bianwen
Anyue bianxiang
Aohan Bin
aoyin bing xing
Ascending Dragons Bole
Budai
bagua Buddhist texts say [that] dragon
bazi fire [when it] comes into contact
baijiu with water, blazes, [whereas] human
bailu (a hundred blessings fire [when it] comes into contact
or salary) with water, is extinguished.
bailu (white deer) , .
Baitou yin Bu Qianqiu
Bai Yuchan Buyan Qutug
ban (propagate)
Ban Gu Cangshan
Banggela (Bengal) Cao Ba
Baoding Shan Cao Yuanzhong
Baofeng Cao Zhi
Baofeng Shan Chan
Baoning Temple Changle county
beidou Changshe
Beifang Bishamen Tianwang Changzhou
chedian
Beishan chen
Beitang Chen
Bencao gangmu Chen Heng
Beneficent Rain Chen Mengfa
Benji Chen Rong
bi (avert) Chen Wendi
bi ( jade) Chen Yisuo
bi (wall) Chen Zhen
bi bu xiang Chenggu
Bi Lan Chenghuang

433
Cheng Lin Dengxian
chi Dengzhou
Chifeng di
Chiyou di (sacrifice)
chong Di Renjie
Chongde Dianmu
Chronicle of Foreign Lands Dingzhou
divine object
Chuci Dokhung-ni
chu qun xiong dongqing
Chu Suiliang Dongwangfu
chu xiong Dowager Empress Ling
chu xiong bi bing Du Fu
chuzi Du Guangting
Chunxi era Dujian
ci (poetic form) Dujiangyan
ci (shrine) dui
cipai Duke Mu of Qin
Cixian
Collected Works of Imperial Poetry Erlang (secondlad)
Erlang (youngman)
Comprehensive History of the Empire Erlang Shen
Erlang Wei
cong Erligang
Cui Fu Erlitou
Cui Guang Ershenwang Shan Dawang Ci
Cui Hong
Cui Jingyou Er Wang Miao
Cui Sheng Erya yi

Dadianzi faming
Dafo Si fashen
Dafowan Faxiang zong
dalun Fan Pang
Dashu Wang Fei
Dawang fei (cockroach)
Daxiangguo Temple fei (flying)
Dayangzhou Feilaifeng
Dazhong feilian
Dazu feima
Dai Feitu
Daitokuji Fei Xin
daizhao feiyi
Danyang Fenshen
Dangshi jia guanhua fenye
daochang Feng
daozhe Fenggan
denglong fenghuang

434 Glossary
Feng Jing Guankou Shen
fengshui Guan Lu
Fengzhu Guanxian
Five Dragons Guanyin
Foguang Temple Guan Yu
fomu Guan Zhong
for a full three days Guangdashan
Fotu Cheng Guanghan
Fozuyan Guangji Wang
fuba Guangyou Yinghui Wang
Fu Bi
Fu Dashi Gui bai zhujing tu
fugui Guishen
Fu Hao Guishen soushan tu
Fulong Langjun tu Guo Pu
Funan Guo Ruoxu
Fu on the Beplumed [Imperial] Guo Xi
Hunt
Fu on the Shanglin Park Hall of Thunder and Lightning
Fuxi
fuxi Han Feizi
Han Gan
gaitian Hanshan
ganlu Han shu
Gaochang Han Wudi
Gaopian Han Yu
Gao Yang hao
Gao Yi Haoshan
geng, xin, ren, and kui days Hayashi Minao
, , , heyu
Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Hezhou
Shining) hei
gold crown hengsao yiqie niugui sheshen
gong
Gongde Tian Hong Mai
Gonggong hou
Gong Kai Hou Han shu
Gongsun Long Hou Shu
Gou Mang Houtu
gu houxu
gu bi Hufa Shen
Gu Kaizhi Huguo Lingying Wang
guai Hu Wenhe
guaiwu Hualiu
Guan Daosheng huashen
Guankou Huayan
Guankou Dawang Ci Huayandong
Guankou Erlang Huainanzi

435 Glossary
Huaisu kong
huanxi kongque
Huang Gongwang Kongque Mingwang
Huang Jucai Kory
Huang Quan Kuishan
huangshulang Kkai
Huang Tingjian Kunguo quantu
Huang Yong Ping Kunlun
Huangyou
Huineng Lady Yuan
Huizong lang
Huotian Langjun Shen
Langjun Shen Ci
Ignaz Sichelbarth (Ai Qimeng) Langzhou
leiwen ,
immortal ( yuren) Leizhou
Imperial Inscription for the Picture of Leizhu
the Emo Bird li
Li Bing
jade seal ( yu yin) Li Daoyuan
jade tablet ( yu gui) Lidui
jili Li Gonglin
Jixiang Tiannu Li Jing
Jiazhou Li Ling
Jiankang shilu Li Que
Jianghan Li sao
Jiangsu Li Shun
Jiang Tingxi Li Xian
jingang lishi Li Xu, Prince of Jiangdu ,
Jinjiacun
Jinshi lu Li Xueqin
Jinshi suo Li Yi
jin shu Li Yuanchang, Prince of Han
Jin Youzi ,
Jingnan Li Zai
Jingtu li zhi (immediately arrived)
jingxiang Liang Kai
Jiuge Liang Qingbiao
jiuzhi Liang shu
juxu Liang Wudi
Juecuo Liangzhu
jueduan Lieque
Junma tu liezhuan
lin
Kaiyuan ling
Kaiyuan Temple Linghui Hou
Ke Jing Liuan
Koguryo Liu Benzun

436 Glossary
Liu Chang mingqi
liu dao Mingshan Temple
Liu Fu Mingshan Temple
Liujiazhuang mingwang
Liu Kezhuang Mogao ku
Liu Renben Mozi
Liu-Song Mount Longhu
Liu Sui Mount Wuyi
liutong shenxiang Mu, King
Liu Xiu Mulang zhou
Liu Yong, zi Yaofu , Muqi
Liu Yuxi Muye
liu ze Myh-in
Longmen
longqiao Nagahiro Toshio
Longwang miao (Dragon King Nanshi
Temple) Nanyang
longzhi Nazha
Lou Rui Ni Zan
lu (blessings or salary) Nine Dragons
lu (deer) nine resemblances
Lu Ji niugui sheshen
Lu You Nwa
L Buwei
L Dalin one collar for a ritual robe
lshi
Lshi chunqiu Ouyang Xiu
Lun heng Ouyang Yuan
Luo Dajing
luopan Panguan
Luo Yuan Panlongcheng
pi
Ma Huan pi
Malin (Malindi) pomo (splashed ink painting)
Ma Yuan Pucheng county
Manual of Sea Oddities Pude Miao
Manual of Sea Ornaments pugu
Maoshan Puyang
Meishan
Mei Yaochen qi
Meng Chang qilin
Meng Kang Qi Mingdi
Mi Fu Qian (family)
mijiao Qiande
Mimeng qianlong
min qianqiu wansui
Minjiang qianqiu wansui yonggu
Minqing county Qian Xuan

437 Glossary
Qiang Shide
qin shier chen
Qin Guan shier gongchen
Qinshihuang shier shen
qizhong shier shengxiao
Qingli shier shi
Qiu Mai shier yueci
Qu Yuan shier zhishou
Quan Shixiong Shi ji
Shijiahe
rain prayers Shi jing
rangzai shijue
Raozhou, Anren county Shilipu
Shishinzuka
ren (nut) shi shu hua
Renge-in shizi
Ren Renfa shou (winter hunting)
ritual sword shou
riyue tianzi shoufu
Ruru shou mian
shu
Sai Fu Ding Shuijing zhu
sancai shuilu
Sanjsangen-d Shuilu Tianwang xingdao shi
sanshiliu qin
Sanxingdui Shuishen
sanyuan yijia Shuowen jiezi
Sengqie Sima Xiangru
Shanhaijing Siming (modern Ningbo)
Shangcheng sishen
Shangqing Lingbao dafa sisheng
Six Laws of Painting
Shaoxing Sofukawa Hiroshi
shen Songlinpo
Shen Du Song Wendi
Shen Gua Song Wudi
shenshoujing Song Xiang
shenxian Song Zun
Shen Yue sou (spring hunting )
Shenzong Soushan Dawang
Shengde Guangyu Yinghui Soushan Tianwang xiang
Wang
Shengshou Temple Soushan tu
shengxiao Su Shi
shi Su Wu
shi Suiningxian
Shi Anchang suixing
Shi Daoshi suiyin

438 Glossary
Sun He wannian taiping
Sun Mian Wanquan
Sun Wei Wang Bin
Sun Yang Wang Boyi
Sun Zuoyun Wang Chong
suo Wang Chuzhi
Wang Du
taisui Wang Feng
Taizong Wang Fu
Taizu Wang Guoqi, zi Delian
Tan Zixiao ,
Tanzhou Wang Jian
Tangchao minghualu Wang Jun
taoba Wang Liang
taoba shizi Wang Meng
Tao Hongjing Wang Xizhi
taotie Wang Xiangzi
Tao Zongyi Wang Xiaobo
Ten Rhymes on the Emo Wang Yan
Bird Wang Yande
tian (summer hunting) Wang Yansou
Tianfang (Mecca) Wang Yun
Tianfei zhi shenling ying ji Wang Zeng
Wang Ziqiao
tiangong Wei
Tianlang Weimo Hall
tianlu (heavenly blessings or weishi
salary) weixin
tianlu (heavenly deer) Wei Yan
tianlu bixie Weizhou, Jixian
tianlu xiamo Wendi
Tianpiao (Ladle of Heaven) wenyaoyu
Tianshi Wowa
Tianshuixian wu
Tianwang Wu
Tianwen wu
Tianzhu wu
Tianzhu wuchen
Tiefu bixie tu Wu Di
Tongan county, Quanzhou Wu Ding
wudu
Tonggou wugu
Tuhua jianwenzhi wuguan
Tuhui baojian Wuguancun
tulou Wuhuo
tu xiang Wujin Sidun
tuiming wuling
Tuota Li Tianwang Wu Quanjie (1269 1350)

439 Glossary
Wutai Shan Xuzhou
Wu Taisu xuanwu
wuxing Xuan Zang
wuxing Xuanzong
Wu-Yue Xue
Wu za zu
wuzei ya
wuzhu Yalan mieguai tu
Yan Hui
Xibeigang Yan Liben
Xining Yanshi
Xiwangmu yang
xixiang Yang (one of the family names
Xiyou ji given to Erlang)
Xiajiadian yang (sheep)
Xia Wenyan yang (of yin-yang)
xian (fall hunting) Yang Chi
xian (immortal) Yang Dazhang
Xian Li (Immortal Li) Yang Jie
Xianying Miao (Xianying Yang Sixu
Temple) Yang Weizhen
Xianzong Yang Wujiu
xiang Yang Xiong
Xiang Liu Yang Zhi
Xiaofowan Yang Zigong
Xiao Hong Yao
Xiao Hui yaoren
Xiao Jing Ye Mengde
xie Ye Ziqi
Xie He Yidu ji
Xie Zhaozhe Yi Jian zhi
xiezhai Yijing
Xingan Yinan
xing Yiyong Wuan Wang xiang
xingdao Yi Yuanji, zi Qingzhi ,
Xingdao Beifang Tianwang Yizhou
yin
Xingdao Tianwang yinci
Xingshu Dawang yinsi
xingsu Yinxu
Xingtang Temple yinyang
xingxing Yingchao Dawang Ci
Xiongnu Yingzong
xiu Yongkang
Xu Shen Yongkang Jun
Xu Song Yongle
Xu Xi Yongzheng
Xu Zhichang Yu Sheng

440 Glossary
yutang fugui Zhao Yong, zi Zhongmu ,
yuwen Zhao Yu
Yuzhu Zhao Zhifeng
yuanchen Zhen Dexiu
Yuanfeng Zhenjiang
Yuanhe Zhenjun
Yuan Hui Zhenren
Yuanjuedong Zhenshui
Yuanqing Zhenwu
Yuan Song Zhen Xishan ji
yuanxiang Zheng Dekun
Yuanyou zheng fa [shen]
yuefu Zheng He
Yungang Zhenghe
yunshen Zhengzhou
zhinanzhen
zaju Zhongfeng Mingben
Zeng Gong zhongliu
Zeng Qi Zhongshan
Zeng Yu Zhou Bao
Zhansheng Tianwang Zhou Fang
Zhang Dehui Zhubing guiwang Wuwenshi zhe
Zhang Gongyou zhong
Zhang Heng or Zhu fan zhi
Zhangmou Huangdian Zhu Gang
Zhang Sicheng zhuhuai
Zhang Side zhu sha
Zhang Shigu zhushou
Zhang Weibang Zhu Xi
Zhang Yanyuan Zhu Xizu
Zhang Yaozuo Zhu Xie
Zhang Yong Zhuzhici
Zhang Yu Zhuanyun Shi
Zhang Yucai Zhuanggu
Zhang Zhu Zhuang Su
Zhao Chang Zhuo Wenjun
Zhao Feng Zidanku
Zhao Gao Zong Tiao
Zhao Lin, zi Yanzheng , Zong Zi
Zhao Mengfu zula (giraffe; Arabic, zarafa)
Zhao Mingcheng zulafa (giraffe; Arabic, zarafa)
Zhao Rugua zun
Zhao Shuduan Zunyi
Zhao Wen Zuofaer (Dhufar)
Zhao Yi Zuo Guankou Erlangshen xiang
Zhao Yi

441 Glossary
Contributors

sarah allan is the Burlington Northern Foundation Professor of Asian

Studies, Dartmouth College, and the editor of Early China. Her books
include The Shape of the Turtle: Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China, The Way
of Water and Sprouts of Virtue, and Chinese Bronzes: A Selection from European
Collections (Ouzhou suocang Zhongguo qingtongqi yizhu, with Li Xueqin).

qianshen bai is professor of art history at Zhejiang University and

associate professor emeritus at Boston University. He is the author of
FuShans World: The Transformation of Chinese Calligraphy in the Seventeenth
Century and is currently working on a book on Wu Dacheng, a government
official, scholar, collector, and artist in the nineteenth century.

susan bush is the author of The Chinese Literati on Painting: Su Shih

(1037 1101) to Tung Chi-chang (1555 1636), the coeditor with Christian
Murck of Theories of the Arts in China, and the cocompiler with Hsio-yen
Shih of Early Chinese Texts on Painting. Her areas of research include Six
Dynasties decorative motifs and Song and Jin dynasties painting and
archaeological subjects.

daniel greenberg is a PhD candidate at Yale University. His research

interests lie primarily in the intersection between paintings, architec-
ture, and the conduct of foreign relations at the court of the Qianlong
emperor (r.1735 1796). Prior to his studies at Yale, he spent three years
in the ma program at National Taiwan University, where he majored in
history of calligraphy. Greenberg has worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer
in Deyang City, Sichuan, and as a translator for the National Palace
Museum, Taipei.

carmelita (carma) hinton is a Harvard PhD and the ClarenceJ.

Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies at George
Mason University. She has codirected a number of documentary films
together with Richard Gordon, including Small Happiness, Abode of
Illusion, and The Gate of Heavenly Peace, which have won two George Foster
Peabody Awards and numerous other prizes.

443
judy chungwa ho is professor emerita of art history and visual studies
at the University of California, Irvine. Born in Hong Kong, she received
her PhD at Yale University and published on topics of art and culture in
medieval China in the United States, mainland China, and HongKong.

kristina kleutghen is the DavidW. Mesker Career Development

Professor of Art History in Arts & Sciences and assistant professor of
art history and archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis. Her
research interests include the Qing imperial court, optical devices,
foreign contact, and the connections between science and mathematics.
Her publications include Imperial Illusions: Crossing Pictorial Boundaries in
the Qing Palaces (University of Washington Press, 2015).

kathlyn liscomb is professor emerita in the Department of History

in Art at the University of Victoria, Canada. She has researched Chinese
theories of painting as well as evidence for creating, commissioning, and
collecting paintings. She also has explored interactions of various visual
arts with diverse genres of literature in the context of larger cultural
practices. Her publications include many articles and book chapters as
well as Learning from Mount Hua: A Chinese Physicians Illustrated Travel
Record and Painting Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1993) and an
exhibition catalog, China and Beyond: The Legacy of a Culture (University of
Victoria, 2002).

jennifer purtle is associate professor of Chinese and East Asian art

history at the University of Toronto. She is the author of Peripheral Vision:
Fujian Painting in Chinese Empires, 909 1646, and coeditor (with Hans
Thomsen) of Looking Modern: East Asian Visual Culture from Treaty Ports to
World Warii.

jerome silbergeld is the P. Y. and KinmayW. Tang Professor of

Chinese Art History at Princeton University and director of Princetons
Tang Center for East Asian Art. He has published more than seventy
books, catalogs, articles, and book chapters on topics in traditional and
contemporary Chinese painting, architecture and gardens, and cinema
and photography.

henrik srensen has been an independent scholar since 1998,

with a PhD from the University of Copenhagen, in 1988, in East Asian
cultures and languages. His fields of interest include Buddhism and
material culture in medieval and premodern China, including religious

444 Contributors
art broadly defined, all aspects of Esoteric Buddhism in East Asia, and
Korean Buddhism, especially early Sn as well as ritual practices. He
has engaged in extensive fieldwork in China, Korea, Japan, India, and
Tibet since1975.

eugene y. wang is Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art

at Harvard University. He has received the Guggenheim Fellowship
and Academic Achievement Award for his book Shaping the Lotus Sutra:
Buddhist Visual Culture in Medieval China. His publications range from the
early to modern and contemporary Chinese art and cinema.

445 Contributors
Index
Boldface page numbers indicate illustrations.
Aden, 343, 360,361
Ai Weiwei,95
Aldrovandi, Ulisse,382
altered consciousness. See hypnagogoic
experience
Amoghavajra,149
ancestral sacrifices, 24, 44, 48, 56n6;
and animals, 52, 55; and bronze
vessels, 25, 53 54; and oracle bone
inscriptions, 21,45
android,418
Animal Farm (George Orwell), 1 2, 4,4
animals: in Buddhism, 137 163;
Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist
attitudes toward, 8 10;
demonization, 196 199; ears, 51 52,
54; as human passions, 141; hunting
of, 24 25, 52, 171, 196; hunting, ritual,
196 197; hunting, used in, 192;
hybrid, 411 418, 421 422; literature
and film on Chinese attitudes,
17n13; metaphoric function, 138;
part human, 171, 185, 186 187;
role as divinities and demons,
138 139; sacrifices, 24, 32, 52, 55; and
shamanism, 33, 48, 61n64; spirits,
96, 101, 103, 106, 109, 118; symbolic
function, 138; as vehicles/mounts
of divinities, 137 138; wild, 23 24,
25. See also bailu; bee; bird; bird
imagery; bird spirits; Bishamen
Tianwang; bixie; buffalo; camel;
cat; cattle; Celestial Wolf; chicken;
chimera; cicada motif; crane;
crocodile; cuttlefish; Dark Warrior;
deer; dog; dragon; eagle; egret;
elephant; Erlang; falcon; fish; fox;
gibbon; giraffe; goat; hare; horse;
hound; jinshu; lion; mongoose;
monkey; ox; peacock; phoenix; pig;
447
qilin; ram; rat; sea oddities; sheep;
snake; tiger; toad; tortoise; tribute
animals; turtle;wolf
anthropomorphism: defined and
characterized, 1 8; in landscape,1 3
antiquarians: catalogers, 78 79;
Ouyang Xiu and Shen Gua,78
Anyang Yinxu (Henan), 21, 28, 29, 35, 37,
47, 50. See also Fu Haotomb
apotropaic imagery, 70 71, 84; and
inscriptions, 83, 85,88
astrology, 105; Chinese, 126n36, 131n105;
global, 95; horoscopic, 102, 121, 123;
Western, 121, 126n36. See also zodiac
astronomy, 97; archaeoastronomy,
124n6
auspiciousness, 215, 219 223, 237 241,
243n3; inscriptions, 72, 75 76,88
bailu (white deer), 80 81,81
baitou niao or baitou weng
(hoary-headed bird), 233,236
Baitou yin (Song of the Hoary
Head),235
Ban Gu, 300 301
Baoding, Mount, 139 141, 143, 156, 162,
164n4; Cmu depicted at, 138;
dragon depicted at, 138, 144 145,
150 151; the Five Messengers of
Pestilence depicted at, 147; Ganea
depicted at, 138; garuda depicted
at, 138; Hayagrva depicted at, 138;
kalavinka depicted at, 138; kimnaras
depicted at, 138; kumbhas
depicted at, 138; ngas depicted at,
138; Nine Planets depicted at, 144;
qilin depicted at, 138; Vajravarah
depicted at, 138; Vinyaka depicted
at, 138; Yamataka depicted at, 138.
See also Hell Tableaux; Lord of
 Thunder; Mother of Lightning;
ox herding; Six Thieves Tableaux;
Wheel of Life; Yaka Generals
Baoning Temple,152
bee, 225, 240 241
Beishan,152
bells: in Erlitou culture, 36, 37, 39, 40,
41, 43, 54; Neolithic,58n32
Benefits of Animals (Ibn Baktishu),
353,354
Bengal, 341, 343 346, 349 352, 355 357,
360, 363, 365n7, 367n34, 368n35
Bentham, Jeremy,413
Beuys, Joseph, 401, 416,419
bi disks, 27,83 84
Bin diviner group, 51,52
bing xing (shaft-shaped) artifacts, 40,
42,43
bird imagery, 73; in Bu Qianqius tomb
and on Dengxian tile, 74 75; in
Dokhung-ni,75
bird spirits, 73, 74; Bianqiao and Gou
Mang, 74; as messengers,74 76
birds, 39, 40, 222, 233 238, 234, 237,
241 242, 392 393; and dragons, 23,
32, 33, 54, 55; part human, 46, 47 48;
and shamans, 48. See also chicken;
crane; eagle; egret; falcon
birth, 105. See also rebirth
birth signs, 95, 96, 98, 115, 119, 123,
124n8, 128n62
birth year,105
birthdays,97
birthplace,115
Bishamen Tianwang, 188 190; animals
associated with, 192 194, 196; cult of,
190 192, 196, 208n91; iconography
of, 188 189, 192, 195 196, 198; role
in Soushan tu paintings, 184, 192,
195 197, 198, 209n101, 209n103;
Rules for the Worship of Bishamen
(Bishamen yigui) (Bukong), 190, 192,
193, 208n91. See also Buddhism: Four
GuardianKings
bixie: as classifying term for chimera,
78 79; on mirrors, 81 83; as
ornament, 81. See also chimera
bodhisattvas, 119, 120, 121, 130n98
448 Index
Bole (Bo Le, Sun Yang), 291, 302 303,
316 319,321
Book of Changes (Yijing), 401,414
Book of Triumph (Sharafuddin Ali
Yazdi), 355 356, 357, 370n66
bronze metallurgy, 21, 22, 30; in Central
Plains, 43, 59n43; in Erligang culture,
43 44; in Erlitou culture, 35,54
Buddha: Maitreya (Budai), 423;
Sakyamuni, 423
Buddhism: animal symbolism in,
137 163, 408 409, 411; Bezeklik
cave temples, 186 187, 189, 192,
195, 196, 197, 206nn70 71, 208n96;
Chan Buddhism, 137, 142, 158 162,
401; Famen Temple, 188; Foguang
Temple, 185, 186, 189, 190; Four
Guardian Kings (tianwang), 184 186,
189, 191; Gaochang, 187, 196, 206n70;
Jixiang Tiann, 189 190; Yulin
caves, 194. See also Baoding, Mount;
Bishamen Tianwang
buffalo, 33, 355, 408,408
burials, 95, 99, 100, 107, 108, 125n23,
125n26, 128n65, 128n67, 130n85;
chambers, 117, 118; customs, 121;
dates, 105, 127n55; manuals, 108;
Puyang, 100, 118; rituals,165
Burkert, Walter, 24,25
Buyan Qutug (Yuanqing), 325 327
Cage, John,401
Cai Guo-Qiang,405
calendrical cycles, 119, 124n3, 126n30,
129n77, 131n99, 131n110; animals, 98,
114 118, 124n3, 127n52; inescapable,
119; life, 100; perpetual, 119;
sixty-year (sexagenary), 96, 102;
twelve-year (duodenary), 95, 97, 98,
101; wheel as a cycle,119
camel, 138, 282n70, 352 355,
358, 360; camel-bird, 373n88;
camel-ox-leopard, 353, 420 421,420
Cammann, Schuyler,76
cannibalism, ritual, 25, 28,52
Cao Ba, 304 305, 317, 320 321
Cao Zhi, 321, 355n85; Rhapsody on the
Goddess of the Luo River,222
cartoons, modern, 5 6, 8, 8,198
cat, 8 9, 11, 51 52, 141, 148,150
cattle,33
Celestial Wolf (Tianlang), 320, 323 324
censorship,406
Central Asia, 186, 187, 188, 195, 208n91,
208n94. See also Buddhism: Bezeklik
cave temples; Buddhism: Gaochang
Chang, K. C., 48,52
Changsha, 225,227
Chaves, Jonathan,84
Chen Rong, 254 255, 258, 260, 261 263,
264, 265, 266, 267, 268, 270 274,
277n19, 278n29
Cheng Huang (the yellow mount),
297, 320 324, 329n16
Chengdao muniu song,158
Chenggu (Shaanxi),43
chicken (cock, rooster), 2, 16n13, 73, 95,
98, 117, 117, 119, 122, 138, 144, 146, 156,
156, 335n85,417
Childs-Johnson, Elizabeth, 23, 55n1,
55n5, 56n6,60n49
chimera: as grave guardian, 69, 79,
86 87, 86 87, 91n50; as ornament,
81,82
China/Avant-Garde exhibition
(1989),402
Chineseness in contemporary art,
402 404, 419 420
Chiyou, 28, 68, 69 70; as Han War God,
70,88n7
Christianity, 420 421, 423 424
Chu ci, 68,75
Chu silk manuscript, 31, 103 105;
schematic drawing of, 31,104
Chu Suiliang,228
chu xiong: and bixie,85; as inscription,
83, 85
ci, 217 218, 224n8, 245n21, 248n66
cicada motif, 32, 35,36
cinema, 2, 4 5,17n13
cinnabar,39
Classic of Judging Horses (Xiang ma
jing),291
classification issues: the Changzhou
tomb report, 74, 76 77. See also
ZhuXizu
449 Index
cock. See chicken
colonialism, 405 406
compass, 96, 97, 108; compass-chariot,
418; magnetic compass, 108, 128n64.
See also fengshui
Confucius,8
cong tubes, 27, 30, 34,35
cosmos, tiered, 33, 44, 54 55,57n20
crane, 116, 160, 237, 239,308
crocodile, 394,395
cross-cultural conflict, 404 407,413
cults: licentious ( yinsi), 173, 180, 203n39,
205n49; Song court policy toward,
173, 177, 180, 183. See also Bishamen
Tianwang; Li Bing;Shu
Cultural Revolution,199
cuttlefish, 407 408,407
Dadianzi, Aohan Banner (Inner
Mongolia),41 42
Dafowan. See Baoding,Mount
Daoism, 198, 203n38, 209n103. See
also Dark Warrior; Five Phases
Cosmology; yin-yang
Daoist imagery, 70 71,73
Dark Warrior, 101, 109, 411 414
Dazu. See Baoding,Mount
death, 27, 44 45, 48, 51, 52, 54,59n45
deer, 22, 32 33, 68 70, 73 77, 80 81, 138,
221, 222, 230 231, 231, 247n47, 282n70,
346, 353, 355, 357 362, 372n84. See also
bailu; tianlu
deities, 172 173; Mao as, 199; of
mountains, 209n100; of rivers
(shuishen), 172 173, 175, 177, 201n17;
soldiers, celestial, 185 187, 199,
206n66; Soushan Dawang, 195 196.
See also Bishamen Tianwang;
Buddhism: Four Guardian Kings;
Buddhism: Jixiang Tiann; Daoism;
Erlang; GuankouShen
Delhi, 346, 350; sultanate, 350;
sultans,346
demonization, 173, 181, 198, 199; of
foreigners and Christians, 196 197,
196 197, 198 199
demons, 180; in bird form, 186 187,
188; contested identity of, 171, 173,
 184, 185, 187; vanquishing of, 171, 173,
174, 185 187, 190, 191, 192,199
Deyrolle, 423 424. See also taxidermy
diamond motif, 41, 42 43,49
diaspora, 402 403
Dipper: Mother, 126n36; Northern, 97,
99, 101, 106
dog, 2 4, 6, 25, 73, 95, 98, 122, 132n114,
144, 154, 157, 198, 323. See alsohound
dragon, vii, 22 23, 29, 32 39, 54 55, 67,
69 70, 82 84, 84, 95, 98 101, 99, 111,
117, 117, 138, 145, 150 151, 253 288,
297 299, 301, 304, 322, 357, 360,
366n17, 371n73, 380, 409, 412; and
birds, 23, 32, 33, 54, 55; dragon-like
giraffes, 357, 360; in Erlitou culture,
35 36, 37, 38, 39; killing of, 175, 179;
knotted, 84; kui, 23, 29; subduing
of, 171, 173 174, 174, 178, 179, 184,
197 198; turquoise, 35 36, 37, 38, 39.
See also dragon-horse; Wowa River
dragon-horse
dragon-horse, 299, 317 318, 320 321
drums, 37, 40,41
Du Fu, 305, 317 318, 321,328n9
Duchamp, Marcel, 401,408
Dujiangyan, 175, 200n12, 201nn20 21
Dunhuang, 174, 188, 189, 191, 193, 194,
195. See also MogaoCaves
eagle, 73, 282n70,297
earth, 97, 98, 100, 106, 107, 108, 124n6;
symbol of,105
earthly animals,100
earthly branch characters, 108,
128n70
earthly branches, 96, 97, 98,109
earthly counterparts,98
earthly deities,101
eating, 27, 28,32
cole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 423 424
ecology,8 10
egret, 223 224, 224, 226 231, 226,
228 229,239
85 New Wave,401
elephant, 8 9, 16n3, 51, 138 139, 405,
405, 408 409,409
Ellora,150
450 Index
Elvin, Mark: The Retreat of the Elephants,
8 10,18n25
Emperor Huizong, 223 233, 235 238,
248n62, 248nn65 66
Erlang, 175 176; animals associated
with, 195; as in Erlang wei, 174; as
generic term, 173 174, 202n25;
as Guankou Erlang, 178, 181; as
Guankou Shen, 179 180; as Langjun
Shen, 178; relation to Li Bing,
175 176, 178, 200n12, 204n45; as
river deity, 172; role in Soushan
tu paintings, 172, 184, 197 198,
199nn2 3, 208nn97 98, 209n103; as
seen by Song court, 173, 177, 201n24;
in The Journey to the West (Xiyou ji),
174, 208n98, 209n101; as Zhao Yu,175
Erlang Shen (musical title),173
Erligang culture (early Shang), 43 44,
45,52
Erlitou culture, 30, 34, 35 43, 48, 49, 54;
and Erligang culture, 43 44; periods
of, 38 39; as state,57n24
Esoteric Buddhism (mijiao), 138, 140,
144, 155, 164n13
Evil Beasts of Shu (Shu taowu) (Zhang
Tangying), 179, 203n35, 203n38,
204n43
Experiences in Painting (Tuhua jian-
wenzhi) (Guo Ruoxu), 171, 205n60,
206n64, 208n91
eyes, 32, 54; apotropaic function of, 44,
59n46; in Erlitou culture, 34, 36, 43;
forms of, 22, 34, 35, 44; in Liangzhu
culture, 34 35; and Neolithic art, 28,
33; and shamans, 30 31, 33, 43, 44 45;
in Xiajiadian culture,41
falcon, 171, 187, 192,196
Fan Kuai,2 3
Fanshan (Jiangsu),35
fate, 96, 98, 102, 105, 125n16, 127n50;
calculation, 105, 106, 111, 127n51
Fei Xin, 351, 361 362, 364n5, 365n9,
367n32, 368n44, 372n81
Feilian: as feima flying horse, 77; as
Wind Earl, 68, 69,69
Feitu,319
Feng Jing (Dangshi), 224, 227 229, 232,
246n42, 247nn52 53
fenghuang (male and female phoenix).
See phoenix
fengshui (geomancy), 106, 107, 108, 409;
tool for calculation (luopan), 108,
128nn63 64
fish, 384 385, 388 389
Fitzgerald-Huber, Louisa,42
Five Phases Cosmology (wuxing),
411 413. See also Daoism; Dark
Warrior of the North; yin-yang
Foucault, Michel,413
Four Spirits (Blue Dragon, Red Bird,
White Tiger, and Black Tortoise),70
fox, 131n109, 139, 148, 154,417
Fu Bi,232
Fu Dashi, 153, 167n42
Fu Hao tomb, 29, 35, 47; jade figure
from, 36, 37; man-in-tiger-mouth
motif in,50 51
Full Map of the World (Kunquo quantu).
See Verbiest, Ferdinand
Funan (Anhui),49 50
funerary monuments: epitaph tablets
of Ke Jing, 73, 73; Lady Yuan,
69 73,69
Gao Yi, 171, 173, 184, 199nn2 3, 205n60,
206n64
Gaopian, Sanxingdui (Sichuan),35
George V (Britain),405
Gessner, Konrad, 380 382
gibbon, frontispiece, 10, 223 233,
239 240, 245n30, 224, 226, 228 229,
231, 246n37, 247n47
giraffe, 342, 344, 354, 357; qilin as, 341,
343, 348 349, 352, 357, 359 363, 364n2,
365n8, 372n79, 372n84, 372n86. See
also surnapa (Persian); zarafa (Arabic);
zula (Chinese); zulafa (Chinese);
zurnapa (Persian)
goat, 22, 33, 138, 145, 198, 220, 293 294,
296, 328n8, 357, 415 416,424
Gong Kai: Lean Horse, 290 294, 294,
305,307
Gu Kaizhi: Admonitions of the
Instructress to the Court Ladies,
451 Index
Nymph of the Luo River,222
Guan Daosheng, 307, 309,313
Guan Zhong, 297,322
Guankou Shen, 175, 179 180, 181, 182,
183, 203n38, 204n41, 204n45
guardian beasts: juxu, 82, 85; White
Tiger and lion, 82. See also chimera
Guo Pu (276 324), 69,76
Han Gan, 304 305, 317 318, 320 321,
330n32, 332n51
Han Wudi, 68, 80,81
Han Yu, 303 304
hare, 95, 98, 122, 123,145
Hayashi Minao, 56n6,82
heaven, 103, 106, 107, 119, 126n29,
129nn80 81; symbol of, 105,108
heavenly bodies, 111,116
heavenly spirits, 96, 101, 103 106, 112,
122, 126n32, 128n58, 129n42
Hell Tableaux, 154 156
Herzog, Werner: Grizzly Man,5
Hirst, Damien,405
Historia naturalis de piscibus et cetis. See
Johnstone, Johannes
Historiae Animalium. See Gessner,
Konrad
homonyms, 80, 81,84
Hong Mai, Yi Jian zhi (Stories of Yi
Jian), 232, 247n51,250
horns, 22, 23, 32, 44, 55n1,55n5
horse: 4, 7, 13, 24, 50, 68, 77, 77, 82, 95,
98, 117 118, 117 118, 122 138, 146,
154 155, 155, 188, 190, 193, 195 196,
265, 290 291, 293 294, 346, 352,
357 358, 424; as metaphor, 289 295,
304 307; as portent, 295 304. See also
Cheng Huang; Feitu; Hualiu; Muye,
plain of; Wowa River dragon-horse;
Yaoniao
Hou Han shu, 78,81
hound, 171, 187, 188, 190, 192, 194, 195,
196, 208n96. See alsodog
hu vessels,44
Huaisu, Autobiographical Essay,228
Hualiu (bay stallion), 299, 317 318,
329n19
Huang Jucai,238
Huang Quan, 238; Soushan tianwang
xiang, 184, 192, 195, 197, 206n64
Huang Tingjian, 218,229
Huang Yong Ping, 401 426
Huangyou, 245n34
Huanxi and Shoufu (Happiness and
Good Luck), 72, 74 75,88
Huizong (Yuan dynasty emperor). See
Togh-an-tamr
human forms: part bird, 46, 47 48;
skull, 25, 28, 52; in taotie, 22 23, 48;
on Zhengzhou shard,45 49
hypnagogic experience, 32 34; and
death, 44 45, 52, 59n45; in Erlitou
culture, 37, 43; and eyes, 34, 44;
and Neolithic art, 33; as source of
imagery, 45; and transcendence, 28,
32 33; transformations in, 33,55
Ibn al-Faqih, 353, 369nn51 53
Ibn Baktishu: The Benefits of Animals,
353, 354, 370n56
Ibrahim-Sultan (ibn Shahruk), 355 356,
357, 370n66
Ilyas Shahi dynasty, 346, 350 351,
368n35
inscriptions: on the Cangshan tomb,
83 84; on Chengdu tomb bricks,
85; on Dengxian tomb tiles, 74 75,
76 77, 79; on mirrors,81 83
Islam, 420 421
jade: in Erlitou culture, 36, 37, 39, 40,
41, 43, 54; in Liangzhu culture, 34 35;
pendants of, 46, 47; taotie on, 27,30
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Shah (sultan),
351 352
Jtakas,138
Jesuits: cartography 390 391
jia vessels, 38,41
Jiang Wen: Devils on the Doorstep,2
jiao vessels, 38,41 42
Jingnan,227
jinshu (golden rodent), 192 195, 194,
208n92, 208n94
Johnstone, Johannes, 383 384
Journey to the West, The (Xiyou ji), 74,
199n3, 208n98, 209n101,425
452 Index
Jupiter, 97, 101, 102, 125n15, 126nn35 36.
See also Taisui
Kaifeng, 246n38, 248n66
Kangxi emperor, 385 387
Karlgren, Bernhard,81
Keightley, David, 32,45
lacquer artifacts: in Erlitou culture, 39,
40, 41; residue from, 39; taotie on, 35,
41, 42, 44, 48, 54, 58n35; in Xiajiadian
culture,41 42
Langjun Shen, 177 179, 180 181, 198,
202n25, 202n27, 202nn29 30, 204n45
Langzhou,216
Larson, Gary,6
Lewis-Williams, David, 33, 43, 44,45
Li Bing: cult of, 176, 177, 178, 179,
200n12, 201n21, 202nn26 27, 202n30,
204n41; hydraulic projects of, 175,
176, 177, 203n38. See also Dujiangyan;
Erlang: relation to Li Bing; Guankou
Shen; LangjunShen
Li, Chu-tsing, 293, 307, 311 312, 331n41
Li Daoyuan, Shuijing zhu,239
Li Gonglin, 304, 320 321, 330n32. See
also Phoenix-Headed Piebald
Li Ling,292
Li Song,425
Li Xu, 295,328n9
Li Xueqin, 34,51
Liang Wudi, 70; his parents graves,
78 79,87
Liangzhu culture, 28, 30,34 35
lin. Seeqilin
lion, 17n13, 52 53, 67, 73, 76 79, 82 83,
138 139, 141, 156 157, 157, 367n28,
424,425
literary tradition, 31, 53,57n19
Liu Fu, Qingsuo gaoyi, 224 225,
245nn33 34
Liu Renben,310
Liu Xiu, Han Guangdi,86
Liu Yong, 294, 307; biography, 313;
inscription on Noble Horses, 315 321;
text of inscription, 317. See also Noble
Steeds
Liu Yuxi, 216,244n9
Liuan (Anhui),43
Liujiazhuang,55n4
Loehr, Max,30
Lord of Thunder, 151 152, 166n30
L Buwei,27
L Dalin,27
Luo Bi,28
Luo Dajing, 232, 247n52, 247n54
Luo Ping,28
Lshi chunqiu,27
Ma Huan, 361 362, 364n5, 365n9,
372n82
Ma Yuan (Han period),312
mad cow disease,416
magic, 100, 101, 105, 118, 126nn27 28,
128n66, 129n76; mirror, 111, 129n78;
magical, 100, 104, 105, 108, 127n48;
mantic, 105,112
magicians,118
Mahmayrvidyrji, 149 151 358 359, 361 362, 371n76; in Lou Rui
Mahsahasra-pramardana stra,144
Malindi, 343, 349, 367n34
man-in-tiger-mouth motif, 35, 49 51,54
Majusri, 138, 157
maps, 390 396; Jesuits and, 390 391
Martel, Yann: The Life of Pi,4
masks, 28,56n9
Masudi, al-, 353, 355, 369n52, 369n54,
370n59
Mei Yaochen, 227, 246n42
Meng Kang, 76,79
Mi Fu, 227 228, 246n43, 247n45
Mogao Caves, 140,150
mongoose, 194, 208n94
monkey, 95, 98, 115, 116 117, 138,
144 145, 144, 153, 161, 185 186, 186,
223, 240 241, 418, 424 425
Mother of Lightning,151
mountains: Buddhist (see Wutai,
Mount); deities of, 209n100;
searching of (soushan), 171, 172, 173,
184, 195 196, 197, 198; spirits in,199
Mozi, 295,322
Mu (king), 299, 317, 329n19
Muqi,142
Muye, plain of, 323 324,328
myth and art, 31 33,57n13
453 Index
Nagahiro Toshio,72
Nast, Thomas: Republican elephant
and Democratic donkey,16n3
Needham, Joseph,80
Neolithic period, 21, 28, 33, 45,58n32
Noble Steeds (painting by Zhao Yong):
306; description and style, 315 316;
inscriptions by Liu Yong and Wang
Guoqi, 315 328; materials, seals, and
transmission, 314nn74 75; text of
inscriptions, 317, 319 320
oracle bone inscriptions, 27, 51, 56n6;
and ancestral sacrifices, 21, 45; on
hunting, 24, 52; and kingship, 48;
and writing, 32,57n15
Ortelius, Abraham, 390 392; Theatrum
Orbus Terrarum,392
ox, 95, 112, 122, 129n83, 131n109, 115,
138 139, 144, 155, 198, 346, 352 354,
tomb,112
ox herding, 158 162, 159 162
pan vessels, 44,54
Panlongcheng (Hubei), 43,59n43
panopticon,413
peacock, 149 150, 410 412,419
Pearce, David, 33, 43, 44,45
pendants, jade, 46,47
phoenix, 67, 74, 75, 297, 360, 365n17,
365n19
Phoenix-Headed Piebald, 320 321, 330n33
physiognomy, in relation to animals,
2, 5,5
Pictures of Auspicious Responses (Zeng
Qi), 344,345
pig, 1, 4, 25, 95, 98, 117, 119, 137 138,
144 145, 146, 151 152, 152, 157, 196,
199, 371n70, 416,418
pollution, 407 408
pugu arrow, 320, 323 324, 326n89, 326n91
puns, 198 199
puppetry, 424 426
Qiang ethnicity,25
Qianlong emperor: natural science
and, 396 397
qianqiu wansui (a thousand autumns,
ten thousand years), 67, 74 76,78
qilin (unicorn), 14, 67, 70, 72, 74, 76 80,
77, 138, 341 378, 358; on Dengxian
tile, 76, 79; lin (female), 346, 362,
365n15. See also giraffe
Qin Guan,227
Qin Shihuangdi (First Emperor),2 3
Qu Yuan,322
rabbit. Seehare
Raja Ganesh, 350 352, 368n35, 368n42
ram, 117, 221, 239, 243n1, 245n23. See
alsosheep
rat, 95, 98, 109, 112, 117, 141, 144. See also
jinshu
realism, 31 32,55
rebirth, 119, 130n97, 131n110
rebus, 215 223, 229 230, 233 242
Red Turban rebellion, 313, 321, 324,
326 327
religion, 100, 108, 123, 125n15, 126n35,
127n49, 130n91; everyday, 101, 121,
123, 126n33
Ren Renfa: Two Horses, Fat and Lean,
289 294, 290 291, 293, 305, 307,
332n51
Renzong (emperor), 309,313
Ricci, Matteo,390
rivers: and dragons 175, 179, 197;
flooding of, 175, 179; taming of, 175,
177, 178, 201n17. See also deities
rodent. See jinshu
rooster. See chicken
sacrifice, 24, 25, 32. See also ancestral
sacrifices
Saif al-Din Hamzah Shah (sultan), 341,
350 351, 368n37. See also Ilyas Shahi
dynasty
sancai glaze,411
Sanxingdui (Sichuan), 35, 49,60n56
Sanyuan (Three firsts), 224 225, 227,
229 233, 246n37, 246n39
sea oddities, 379 400, 380 381
Shahrukh, 348, 352, 355, 357, 367n30
shamanism, 413 416, 418 419, 424,
428n36; and insect sorcery, 413 414
454 Index
shamans: and animals, 33, 48, 61n64;
and death, 59n45; in Erlitou culture,
34, 37, 40, 41, 43, 54; and eye motif,
30 31, 43, 44 45; in Fu Hao tomb, 36;
and kingship, 48 49; in Liangzhu
culture, 34; and mythic art, 57n13;
transformation of, 55, 60n49; and
wine, 37, 41, 54; and Zhengzhou
shard,45
Shangcheng, 43; shard with human
figure from, 45 49,54
Shanhaijing, 72, 74, 76, 414 420,423
Sharafuddin Ali Yazdi: The Book
of Triumph, 355 356, 357, 370n63,
371nn68 70
sheep, 2 3, 5, 22, 33, 73, 95, 98, 220,
245n21, 293 294, 296, 415, 416. See
alsoram
Shen Du, 342, 343, 360, 362,365n7
Shen Zhou,1 3
Shi Anchang,73
Shi Daoshi,304
Shi diviner group, 51,52
Shimen, Mount, 150 151
shou mian (animal face),28
Shu (region): cults, 174 175, 176, 177 178,
179 182, 183, 202n29, 203n38; history
of, 177, 183; paintings in, 189, 192, 194,
197; rebellions in, 183; Song officials
accounts of, 180, 182, 183, 203n39;
stone carvings in, 176, 191, 201n17.
See also Evil Beasts of Shu; Huang
Quan; Song court: relationship
withShu
Shuilu ritual,147
Shundi, emperor. See Togh-an-tamr
Shuowen jiezi, 51,53
Sichuan. SeeShu
Sickman, Laurence,79
Sima Xiangru, 68, 235,318
Simu Wu ding,50
Singer, Paul,42
Six Thieves Tableaux, 153 154
sixty: calendrical gods, 126n36; days,
96; sixty-four permutations, 98;
stem-branch combinations, 96;
year gods, 102. See also calendrical
cycles
skeleton, 424 425
skin, shedding of, 408 410. See
alsosnake
sky, 97, 99, 101, 111, 117, 121, 125n12;
as a canopy, 97; Chinese, 126n38;
lore, 125n21; map, 99, 100; sky-earth
correspondences,103
snake, 2, 32, 34, 36, 42 43, 46, 48 49, 54,
75, 101, 119, 138 139, 144 145, 150 151,
154, 198 199, 198, 408 414, 410,
418 419,424
Sofukawa Hiroshi, 71, 76,91n50
Sogdian deities,73
Song court: painters (see Gao Yi;
Huang Quan); policies toward
regional cults, 173, 176 178, 180 183,
202n30, 204n41; relationship with
Shu, 175, 180, 182 183, 203n35,
204n46
Song Xiang, 225, 246n37, 247n54
star(s), 97, 100, 101, 111, 112, 116, 125n25,
126n35; animal, 100, 101; baleful,
126n35; gazing, 100; goddess, 126n36;
gods, 101, 102, 104, 106; pattern of,
99; starry, 97, 117; Year Star,97
Sterckz, Roel,6 7
Su Shi, 3, 217 218, 228 229, 244n11,
247n45
Su Wu,293
Sun Mian,225
Sun Wukong,425
Sun Yang. SeeBole
Sun Zuoyun, 68,75
Sung, Hou-mei: Decoding Messages,10
surnapa, 355. See also giraffe
Taisui (Great Year), 102; as Jupiters
shadow planet, 97; as the sixty
calendrical gods, 126n36
Taizong (emperor), 171, 173, 184, 196,198
Tang Wei, 45,46
Tanzhou,227
Tao Hongjing,70
Tao Zongyi,308
taoba and fuba lions, 76,79
taotie motif: 22 26, 28, 38; character-
istics of, 21 25; mouths in, 22, 23, 51;
mutability of, 29 30; origin of, 34 35;
455 Index
pre-bronze media for, 41, 42, 48,
58n35; terms for,27 29
tattoos,192
taxidermy, 404 406, 408, 411, 420,
423,425
thirty-six animals, 106, 112 113,
128n58
Thousand-Armed Avalokitevara,
150,152
thousand-li horse, 290 291, 298, 300,
303,319
thunder monsters, 69,72
Tiananmen Square,402
tianlu: as classifying terms for chimera,
76, 77 78, 79; heavenly blessings/
salary, 80, 86, 87, 88; heavenly deer,
76, 80 81; as ornaments, 81; tianlu
bixie (heavenly blessings averting
evil), 67, 76, 77, 80,88
tiger, vii , 2 3, 9, 22 23, 51 54; mouths
of, 23, 32 35, 49 51, 50, 52, 53 54,
53, 55, 69 70, 81 83, 85 86, 85,
94, 98 101, 99, 111 112, 114, 123,
138 139, 141 146, 142, 157 158,
173, 175, 194, 197, 282n70, 298, 327,
405,405
Till, Barry,78
Timur (Tamerlane), 355 356, 359,
370n63, 370n66
toad, 80, 122, 131n109, 412 413
Togh-an-tamr (Yuan emperor
Huizong, Shundi), 310, 336n98
Toghto, 313 314
tomb,75 76
tortoise, 70, 73. See also turtle
traditional Chinese medicine (tcm),
410 412
tribute, 341, 343 344, 346 349, 356, 359,
365n10, 367n29
tribute animals, 348, 360 361,363
tribute missions, 343, 367n32
tribute system,349
tribute themes,359
turtle, 21, 32, 52, 54, 138, 239, 257, 260,
411 413. See also tortoise
Vairavaa. See Bishamen Tianwang
Venice Biennale (1999), 402, 417 418
Verbiest, Ferdinand, 385 386; Full
Map of the World (Kunquo quantu),
391 396
vessels, bronze: in ancestral sacrifices,
21, 25, 53 54; in Erligang culture,
43 44; in Erlitou culture, 35, 37 38;
eyes on, 34; man-in-tiger-mouth
motif on, 35, 49 51; southern, 49 50,
52, 54; taotie on, 21 22, 29, 39, 41,
58n35; in Zhou period, 55. See also
bronze metallurgy
vessels, cooking,44
vessels, jade, 27,30
vessels, lacquer, 41, 42,54
vessels, pottery, 48; at Dadianzi,
41 42; in Erlitou culture, 37 38, 39,
40,42 43
vessels: and transcendence,32 33
vessels, wine, 22, 23, 25, 29, 37 38, 39, 42,
43 44,55
vessels, wood,58n35
visions. See hypnagogic experience
Wang Anshi,3
Wang Feng,312
Wang Guoqi, 294, 308, 314 315, 320 325;
biography, 312 313; inscription
on Noble Steeds, 319 325; text of
inscription, 319 320. See also Noble
Steeds
Wang Ji, 326 327
Wang Liang, 317, 335n80, 335n83
Wang Meng, 313, 334n69
Wang Tao, 27,28
Wang Xizhi, 227, 319,321
Wang Yansou,225
Wang Yi,323
Wang Yunxi, 235,243n5
Wang Zeng, 224, 246n37
Wang Ziqiao, the immortal,75
warfare, 24, 29,32
weapons, ritual, 21, 24, 27, 29,33
Wei Yan,304
Wen (king of Zhou dynasty),322
wenzi youxi (wordplay),241
Wheel of Life, 138, 148 149,149
wine: in Erlitou culture, 37, 43; and
ritual sacrifice, 21, 29, 31, 55; and
456 Index
shamans, 37, 41, 54; vessels for, 22, 23,
25, 29, 37 38, 39, 42, 43 44,55
wolf, 2. See also CelestialWolf
Wowa River dragon-horse, 298,317
Wu (Zhou king), 309, 322 323
Wu Chengen. See Journey to the
West, The
Wu Di (Han emperor), 297 299, 318,321
Wu Ding (Shang king), 36, 47, 50,51
Wu Huo (pre-Han strongman), 72,73
Wujin Sidun,30
Wuling (five heraldic creatures; Four
Spirits and the unicorn),70 71
Wunderkammer,405
Wutai, Mount (Wutai Shan), 185, 197.
See also Buddhism: Foguang Temple
Xi Jinping,2
Xiajiadian culture,41 42
Xiamen Dada,401
Xiaofowan, 146 147
Xibeigang, 28,55n4
Xingan, 46,47
Xining, 246n37
Xu Shen: Shouwen jiezi (Analysis
of Characters to Explain Writing),
220 221, 245n21, 245n24
Xu Xi,238
Xuanhe huapu (Catalog of the Imperial
Painting Collection during the
Xuanhe Era),227
Xue ding,38
ya (teeth),85 86
Yaka Generals: nine, 143 148, 143;
twelve, 131n104
Yama,138
Yan Hui,240
Yan Liben,227
Yang Weizhen, 309, 312, 325, 332n51
Yang Xiong,69
Yang Zhi, 224, 246n37
Yangshao culture,56n11
Yanshi, Erlitou: Tomb m2, 41; Tomb
m3, 37, 38, 40; Tomb m4, 35 36, 40;
Tomb m11, 35 36, 40, 41; Tomb
m57,40 41
Yaoniao, 317 319, 335nn82 83
Yellow River flood, 313, 319, 321 322
Yi Yuanji, 223 231, 238, 246n37, 247n47
Yijing, 296,301
yin-yang,411
Yongle emperor, 341, 343 346, 348 349,
351 352, 355 357, 360 363, 367n32
you vessels, 44, 49, 51, 52,53
Yu the Great, 418,424
Yuanqing. See BuyanQutug
yue-axes, 29,50 51
Yuefu (ballads), 216, 243 244nn4, 5,
6,11
zarafa, 353, 355. See also giraffe
Zeng Qi: Pictures of Auspicious
Responses, 344, 345, 359, 360, 371n75,
371n77
Zeng Yu,228
Zhang Boyu,312
Zhang Shicheng, 313 314, 334n69
Zhang Wei, 45,46
Zhang Yanyuan,305
Zhang Yaozuo,232
Zhang Yu, 310 311,314
Zhao Chang,225
Zhao Feng, 333n59
Zhao Lin,311
Zhao Mengfu: 305, 307 309, 313,
316; Freer Gallery Sheep and Goat,
293 294, 296, 296; loyalty question,
294, 308 309, 311 312, 331n41
Zhao Yi, 225, 246n35
Zhao Yong: biography and political
career, 306 311; birth, 307; career
fall, 311, 314; death, 407; imperial
commands to paint, 310; painting,
306, painting collected by emperor
Renzong, 309. See also Noble Steeds
457 Index
Zhao Zhifeng, 153, 156, 161, 164n13,
168n53
Zheng Dekun,85
Zheng He, 343, 349, 361, 367n32
Zhengzhou, 43, 59n43; shard with
human figure from, 45 49,54
Zhengzhou Minggonglu, 22,23
Zhenwu, Sanxingdui,35
Zhongmou Huangdian,22
Zhou Fang,227
Zhou period, 51, 53,55
Zhou Xin (last king of Shang dynasty),
322 323
zhu sha (red sand), 39, 40,41
Zhu Xi,176
Zhu Xie,79
Zhu Xizu, 78 79,80
Zhuangzi, 301 304,321
Zhuo Wenjun, 235, 248n59
Zhuzhici,217
zodiac: Chinese, 95, 97, 138, 144 147,
165n16; Western, 96, 97,121
Zong clan of Nanyang, 86 87,91n49
Zong Zi, 86 87; chimeras of, 78, 86,
87
zoocephalic, 105, 114,122
zoomorphism: in cartoons, 5 6, 8; in
cinema, 2, 4 5, 17n13; in Communist
propaganda, 2 4; defined and
characterized, 1 8, 16n1; foreigners
and ethnic minorities, 3 4, 6,
17n11; and physiognomy, 15 16; as
slander,1 3
zu altar,28
zula, 354 355. See also giraffe
zulafa, 361. See also giraffe
zun vessels, 44,49 50
zurnapa, 355. See also giraffe
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