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.
Meaning
The Vermilion Bird presides over the southern quadrant of the sky. W. Perceval Yetts, in 1912, explained the season: the sun stands in the south at noon, so the bird of the south is summer, and he read it as the sun, warmth and good harvests. The Huainanzi’s chapter on the heavens gives the south to fire and to the planet Mars and calls its beast the zhu niao (朱鳥), the vermilion bird. It faces the Black Tortoise (Xuanwu) of the north, as the Azure Dragon (Qinglong) of the east faces the White Tiger (Baihu) of the west. On a Han tomb tile from Shandong described by the China Institute Gallery, the Red Bird flutters across the tile with its wings spread and a three-petalled flower in its beak.
Origin and history
Birds were already guardians in Chinese tombs before the Han. In the southern kingdom of Chu, the China Institute Gallery notes, carved birds with wings of antlers stood guard in front of coffins, and these may have been the model for the Red Bird, which the Han made the emblem of the south. Red birds were also good omens and became auspicious symbols of the empire. The bird outlasted two of its companions: by the Tang dynasty, the gallery notes, the tiger and the tortoise had lost importance, while the dragon and the bird became still more prominent as auspicious animals. The V&A has a grain jar for a tomb, made between 1250 and 1350, with the Vermilion Bird of the South on its lid and the Green Dragon of the East on its neck.
The south-facing door
Important buildings and tombs in China were laid out from north to south with their entrances facing south, the China Institute Gallery notes, the most auspicious direction, and the direction of the Red Bird. So the Red Bird’s direction was the one a palace or a tomb faced.
Vermilion Bird or phoenix?
The bird of the south is often taken for the Fenghuang (Chinese phoenix), the Chinese phoenix. The China Institute Gallery notes that in many cases nothing in the depiction tells the two birds apart, and Yetts simply calls the Vermilion Bird “the Chinese phoenix”. The Goryeo chest in the V&A, from Korea, is described both with a Vermilion Bird of the South and with a “red phoenix”. The difference is in what the bird is doing: as the Vermilion Bird it holds the south and the summer; as the fenghuang it is the omen of a peaceful age and the emblem of the empress.
Read next
- Next in Chinese mythology and symbolsWhite 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.
- The same shape in Halloween symbolsApple (apple bobbing)An apple floating in a tub of water: ducking or bobbing for apples, a Halloween party game recorded in England, Scotland and Ireland, where apples and nuts were the food of the night.
See also
Black Tortoise (Xuanwu), Fenghuang (Chinese phoenix), Qilin, Chinese dragon (long), Flaming pearl, Guardian lions (foo dogs).
Sources
- 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?”
- 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. 14, 24
- 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
- Funerary jar with the Vermilion Bird and Green Dragon (Victoria and Albert Museum), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, funerary jar for grain offerings, Qingbai ware, Song–Yuan dynasties, 1250–1350, Victoria and Albert Museum, summary description
- Burial chest with the Four Guardian Animals, Korea (Victoria and Albert Museum), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, slate container for cremated remains incised with the Four Guardian Animals, Goryeo dynasty, Korea, Victoria and Albert Museum, summary 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
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