Feng-huang

Fenghuang sculpture, Nanning city, Guangxi, China.

Feng-Huang(Chinese: 鳳凰; Pinyin: Fènghuáng; Japanese: 鳳凰 hō-ō; Korean: 봉황 bonghwang; Vietnamese: Phượng Hoàng) is the name of two Chinese mythological birds that were central figures in ancient Chinese cosmology. Sometimes called the Chinese Phoenix, the Feng-Huang is a symbol of summer and spiritual balance, and along with the dragon, qilin and tortoise, is one of the most high revered creatures in Chinese tradition.

Description

Fenghuang

While it is depicted as one being, Feng-Huang is actually a composite of one male and one female bird. The Feng is the male, and the Huang is the female, although both sexes are depicted the same. (Modern tradition combined the Feng-Huang into one bird.)

The Feng-Huang is said to be made up of the beak of a cock, the face of a swallow, the forehead of a fowl, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish. Its body symbolizes the six celestial bodies. The head is the sky, the eyes are the sun, the back is the moon, the wings are the wind, the feet are the earth, and the tail is the planets. Its feathers contain the five fundamental colors: black, white, red, blue, and yellow.

Unlike the Phoenix of the Western World, the Feng-Huang is immortal without needing to go through a cycle of death and re-birth. The bird is attracted to music and nests high in the K'unlun Mountain range.

Origin

The exact origin of the Feng-Huang myth is obscure. Some scholars have suggested that it may be a representation of a large pre-historic bird, similar to an ostrich, which were common in pre-historic China, similar to how some believe that dragons were mythical representations of dinosaurs.

The appearance of the Feng-Huang in Chinese culture dates to around the third millennium B.C.E., right before the death of the Yellow Emperor. Once a new monarch had taken over, the bird came to symbolize an era of peace and prosperity, with a new, benign emperor, and was often used as a symbol of the Empress.

The Feng-Huang is an integral in the ancient cosmology of China, which stated that the world and Heavens were created by the four Si-Ling creatures, the dragon, qilin, tortoise, and Feng-Huang. Once the world was then divided up into four quarters, and the Feng-Huang was given dominion over the Southern Heaven quadrant, which symbolizes Summer.

Meaning

The Feng-Huang over the years has been seen as a symbol of power, prosperity, grace, and virtue. Even more so, the Feng-Huang was at times seen as the sacred symbolic joining of male and female, commonly seen as the Yin-Yang symbol. The Yin is female, the Yang male, and when combined, such as in the combination of Feng and Huang, it is representative of opposite forces meeting into a union that produces harmony and balance.

In the Royal courts, the Feng-Huang came to be seen as a representation of the sacred female, and thenceforth the Empress, while the Emperor was represented by the dragon, and artwork often depicted the dragon chasing the Feng-Huang, or of the two beasts coupled together. This image is often the one that is most widely seen today, but it should be noted that the Feng-Huang itself also symbolizes the union of man and woman.

In art

Plate with feng-huang

Bronze lamp in the shape of feng-huang, National Museum of China, Beijing

The Feng-huang was used in Chinese artwork for hundreds of years. When used as a house-hold decoration it usually meant that the occupants of that house were honest people and could be considered loyal to their family and friends. It was often carved in jade, as ornaments to be worn or good-luck totems. People that wore the jewelry of the Feng-huang were reguarded as being highly moral, and thus only a select few were actually permitted to posses such jewelry.

Eventually the bird was also seen on tombs and graves, marking those dead as having been virtuous in life. Paintings and mural depictions of the feng-huang often showed it in battle with the snake, its natural enemy, or in conjunction with the three other divine mythical creatures of ancient Chinese mythology.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Nigg, Joe. 1995. Wonder Beasts: Tales and Lore of the Phoenix, the Griffin, the Unicorn, and the Dragon. Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 156308242X
• Nigg, Joe. 2001. The Book of Dragons & Other Mythical Beasts. Barron's Educational Series. ISBN 978-0764155109
• Storm, Rachel. 2000. Asian Mythology: Myths and Legends of China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Lorenz Books. ISBN 0754806049
• Werner, E. T. C. [1922] 1994. Myths & Legends of China Retrieved July 30, 2007. Dover Publications. ISBN 0486280926

External links

• Phoenix Retrieved July 30, 2007.
• Feng-huang Retrieved July 30, 2007.
• Sacred bird: Hou-ou Retrieved July 30, 2007.

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