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.
Meaning
The feng, or fenghuang (鳳凰, fènghuáng), is the “fabulous bird which we are accustomed to describe as the ‘phoenix’”, in the words of W. Perceval Yetts in 1912. The Book of Rites (Li ji) names it among the four spiritual creatures with the Qilin, the tortoise and the dragon. In the golden age of the sage emperors, the Book of Rites says, male and female phoenixes lived in the marshes beyond the city walls, and when the old kings sacrificed to heaven “phoenixes descended”. Yetts read the bird as the sun, warmth, summer and good harvests, and noted that the classics describe its coming as the herald of some auspicious event. It became the badge of the empress, which the V&A also records, and it remains the bride’s emblem at Chinese weddings, opposite the groom’s dragon (Dragon and phoenix).
Origin and history
Yetts saw two kinds of feng in Chinese art: an archaic bird like a pheasant on ancient bronzes, and a later one with the features of both pheasant and peacock. Professor Giles argued that the later bird was the peacock that attends the Greek goddess Hera, and that Hera herself had been made Chinese as Xiwangmu (Hsi Wang Mu); Yetts thought the case strong, though it is Giles’ theory. The feng was the empress’s badge, Yetts noted. At the wedding of the Guangxu emperor in 1889, the Palace Museum records, the new empress was carried into the Forbidden City in the Phoenix Palanquin, borne by sixteen men, and only on that day could she pass through the central portal of the Meridian Gate, a gate kept for the emperor. The Meridian Gate itself is known as the Five-phoenix Tower for the five pavilions on its top.
Phoenix or Vermilion Bird?
The fenghuang is easily confused with the Vermilion Bird (Zhuque), the bird of the south among the Four Symbols. The China Institute Gallery, describing a Han tomb tile, notes that the Red Bird is sometimes confused with the phoenix and that in many cases nothing in the pictures tells the two apart. Yetts treated them as one: he calls the Vermilion Bird “the Chinese phoenix” and writes that the feng presides over the southern quadrant under that name. The difference is in use. The Vermilion Bird marks a direction of the sky and a season; the fenghuang is the bird of good omen and the empress’s emblem.
The empress’s bird in British houses
Chinese blue-and-white porcelain painted with phoenixes reached Britain in quantity. The V&A, describing a Qing vase of the 1700s with flying phoenixes, notes that the bird stood for the empress in China, a meaning that would have been lost on the Victorians who used such vases to decorate their homes.
Read next
- Next in Chinese mythology and symbolsGuardian 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.
- The same shape in Chinese zodiacYear of the RoosterThe Rooster is the tenth of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, the animal of the earthly branch 酉 yǒu. The last Rooster year ran from 28 January 2017 to 15 February 2018; the next, an Earth Rooster, begins on 13 February 2029 and ends on 2 February 2030.
See also
Qilin, Dragon and phoenix, Vermilion Bird (Zhuque), Chinese dragon (long), Flaming pearl, Pixiu (bixie).
Sources
- 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. 23–24
- 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)
- Vase with flying phoenixes (Victoria and Albert Museum), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, vase painted in underglaze blue with flying phoenixes, Jingdezhen, Qing dynasty, 1700–1800, Victoria and Albert Museum, summary description
- Attend the Grand Wedding of the Guangxu Emperor (The Palace Museum), The Palace Museum, Beijing, “Attend The Grand Wedding of the Guangxu Emperor”, Google Arts & Culture, The Palace Museum, album leaves and captions
- Directional tomb tile with Red Bird of the South (China Institute Gallery), China Institute Gallery, “Providing for the Afterlife: ‘Brilliant Artifacts’ from Shandong”, cat. 48, Directional tomb tile with Red Bird of the South, Eastern Han dynasty, Linyi Municipal Museum, China Institute Gallery, cat. 48, entry text
- Red phoenix sequin embroidery top worn during wedding dinner, 1959 (National Heritage Board, Singapore), National Heritage Board, Singapore, Roots.gov.sg collection record 1237741, “Red phoenix sequin embroidery top that comes with a skirt worn during wedding dinner”, National Heritage Board, Singapore, object description
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research
Added .