Chinese mythology and symbols
The qilin, the dragon and the phoenix, the guardian lions at the gate, the Four Symbols of the sky, and the double happiness, bats and knots of Chinese weddings and festivals, and what each one means.
Test yourself: Chinese mythology and symbols quiz
Auspicious creatures
- QilinA gentle horned beast of Chinese legend, with the body of a deer, the tail of an ox and scales like a fish, whose appearance was said to announce a wise ruler or the birth of a sage. In English it is often called the Chinese unicorn.
- Chinese dragon (long)The long (龍), the dragon of Chinese myth: a long, scaled creature with horns and whiskers that lives in the waters, rises to the sky in spring and brings the rain. It was the emblem of the emperor and is a symbol of China today.
- Flaming pearlThe ball wrapped in flames that Chinese dragons reach for with open jaws, usually called a pearl. What it first stood for is disputed: the sun, thunder or the moon, and for Chinese Buddhists the jewel that grants every wish.
- Fenghuang (Chinese phoenix)The fenghuang (鳳凰), the bird of good omen of Chinese tradition, called the Chinese phoenix in English: a pheasant-like bird with sweeping tail plumes. It was the emblem of the empress, and its appearance was a sign of a peaceful, well-governed age.
- Guardian lions (foo dogs)A pair of stone or bronze lions guarding a gate in China: the male with a paw on a ball, the female with a paw on a cub. In English they are often called foo dogs or fu dogs, but they are lions.
- Pixiu (bixie)A winged, horned beast like a lion. In the Han dynasty it was the bixie, the “warder-off of evil”, carved in stone beside the roads to tombs; today, as the pixiu, it is a charm for wealth, worn in jade or kept in the home.
The Four Symbols
- Azure Dragon (Qinglong)The Azure Dragon (青龍, Qīnglóng) is the dragon of the east, one of the Four Symbols, the animals of the four quarters of the sky in Chinese cosmology. It stands for the east and for spring, and on Han mirrors and tombs it faces the White Tiger of the west.
- Vermilion Bird (Zhuque)The Vermilion Bird (朱雀, Zhūquè) is the bird of the south, one of the Four Symbols, the animals of the four quarters of the sky in Chinese cosmology. It stands for the south and for summer, the direction Chinese palaces and tombs faced.
- White Tiger (Baihu)The White Tiger (白虎, Báihǔ) is the tiger of the west, one of the Four Symbols, the animals of the four quarters of the sky in Chinese cosmology. It stands for the west and for autumn, and it is paired with the Azure Dragon of the east: the dragon on the left, the tiger on the right.
- Black Tortoise (Xuanwu)The Black Tortoise (玄武, Xuánwǔ, “dark warrior”) is the guardian of the north, one of the Four Symbols, the animals of the four quarters of the sky in Chinese cosmology: a tortoise with a snake coiled round it. It stands for the north and for winter.
Weddings and good fortune
- Dragon and phoenixA dragon and a phoenix shown together: the emblems of the emperor and the empress, and at a Chinese wedding the groom and the bride. The pair is embroidered on the red wedding jacket and skirt, the qun kwa.
- Double happiness (囍)囍, the character 喜 (xǐ, joy) written twice and joined into one sign, read shuangxi, “double happiness”. It is the sign of a Chinese wedding, pasted on the door and worked into the couple’s gifts and furnishings.
- Bat (fu)In Chinese art the bat is a sign of happiness and good fortune, because its name, fu (蝠), sounds like fu (福), good fortune. Five bats together stand for the five happinesses.
- Chinese knotA decorative knot tied from a single cord, usually red, in a symmetrical pattern often shaped like a diamond, hung at the Spring Festival and given at weddings for luck. Named knots carry their own wishes: the panchang knot for long life, the tongxin knot for love.
About chinese mythology and symbols
These pages are about the creatures and signs of Chinese myth and custom that people meet on porcelain and robes, at temple and palace gates, and on wedding clothes. The Book of Rites (Li ji) names four spiritual creatures, the Qilin, the phoenix, the tortoise and the dragon, and M. W. de Visser, in The Dragon in China and Japan (1913), explains that their appearance was taken as an omen of a good age. The sky has its own four: the Azure Dragon (Qinglong) of the east, the Vermilion Bird (Zhuque) of the south, the White Tiger (Baihu) of the west and the Black Tortoise (Xuanwu) of the north. The Huainanzi gives each a direction, a season and a planet, and in 130 BC the Han emperor Wudi formally adopted the four as the animals of the directions; they were stamped on the tiles of Han tombs. At the gate stand the Guardian lions (foo dogs), beside the road to the tomb the Pixiu (bixie), and before the dragon the Flaming pearl.
Puns, weddings and good fortune
Many of these signs are puns. Chinese has few syllables for a great many characters, W. Perceval Yetts told the China Society in 1912, so a picture can stand for a word that sounds the same: the Bat (fu), fu, for happiness. At a wedding the dragon and the phoenix stand for the male and female sides of the marriage, the doubled character 囍 is pasted on the door, and the Chinese knot is given for love and fidelity.
Signs still in use
The Palace Museum in Beijing counts more than 10,000 dragons on the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the terrace below it, and a pair of bronze lions still guards the Gate of Supreme Harmony. Hong Kong lists the sewing of the kwan kwa wedding costume and the Hakka unicorn dance among its intangible cultural heritage. Where a meaning comes from feng shui or from a later story, these pages say whose belief it is. The animals of the calendar are in the Chinese zodiac, the customs of the New Year in Lunar New Year symbols and the crane, the peach and the trigrams in Taoist symbols.
Sources
- The Dragon in China and Japan (M. W. de Visser, 1913), M. W. de Visser, The Dragon in China and Japan (Amsterdam: Johannes Müller, for the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, 1913), Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam, Book I, ch. II, § 3, Li ki (pp. 39–40)
- Huainanzi, Tianwen xun 天文訓 (Chinese Wikisource), Huainanzi 淮南子, chapter 3 “天文訓” (Celestial Patterns), 2nd century BC; Chinese text on Wikisource, Wikisource (Chinese), Tianwen xun, “What are the five planets?”
- Directional tomb tile with Green Dragon of the East (China Institute Gallery), China Institute Gallery, “Providing for the Afterlife: ‘Brilliant Artifacts’ from Shandong”, cat. 46, Directional tomb tile with Green Dragon of the East, Eastern Han dynasty, Linyi Municipal Museum, China Institute Gallery, cat. 46, entry text
- Jade Pi-Hsieh, auspicious beast (National Palace Museum, Taipei), National Palace Museum, Taipei, “Jade Pi-Hsieh, auspicious beast”, Han dynasty, Google Arts & Culture, National Palace Museum, object description
- Symbolism in Chinese Art (W. Perceval Yetts, 1912), W. Perceval Yetts, “Symbolism in Chinese Art”, read before the China Society, 18 January 1912 (Leyden: E. J. Brill, 1912), The China Society, pp. 23, 26–27
- Bridal ensemble (qun gua) (Victoria and Albert Museum), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, bridal ensemble (qun gua), jacket and skirt, China, 1930s, Victoria and Albert Museum, summary description
- Wedding door calligraphy, Hong Kong (Museum of Anthropology at UBC), Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, item 396/4, calligraphy on red paper from a set of wedding door decorations, Hong Kong, record on the Reciprocal Research Network, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, object description
- Chinese knot ties Taiwan artist to traditional culture (Xinhua), Xinhua, “Chinese knot ties Taiwan artist to traditional culture”, February 2025, republished by the Gansu provincial Belt and Road portal, Xinhua News Agency, article text
- Spot the Sacred Animals in the Imperial Palace (The Palace Museum), The Palace Museum, Beijing, “Spot The Sacred Animals In The Imperial Palace”, Google Arts & Culture, The Palace Museum, Dragons; Guardian lions at the Gate of Supreme Harmony
- First Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Hong Kong announced (Hong Kong Government), Hong Kong SAR Government press release, “First Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage for Hong Kong announced”, 14 August 2017, Government of the Hong Kong SAR, press release text
- Foo Dog-Lions (China Heritage), The Editor (Geremie R. Barmé), “Foo Dog-Lions”, China Heritage, 2018, with photographs by Lois Conner, China Heritage, introduction
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research