China the Beautiful

[Renjie]

Does anyone have some information on the pixiu 貔貅? I'd like to know more about it's traits and how it differs from the qilin 麒麟 and the xiezhi/jiezhi 獬豸/ 解豸.

[panda]

Pixiu, is an ancient feral beast which can bring luck. Actually in ancient time the "pi" represents male and "xiu" represents female, but in nowadays people call both of them "pixiu".
Because "pixiu" is a beast only live in legend, no one can tell its exact shape, besides it can be made in any material, such like jade, stone, wood, china, copper, silver and gold. Unlike "qilin", "pixiu" is very feral, but that means it can keep your house from other harmful beasts. Another luck he will bring you is wealth, people believe that "pixiu" can not only find money for you but also bring money back for you, so that's why businessman like "pixiu" more than others.

I also found a picture of Pixiu:
http://www.fsdiy.com/product01.htm

[Hua Renjie]

Panda, thanks for the info on the nature of the pixiu. That's far more than I'd been able to find out till now. I have several pairs of pixiu in my collection of Chinese mythological beasts, but most of them (even one with the characters pixiu enscribed on them!) were sold to me as qilin. That's why I'm so curious as to the difference between them. Since the merchant who sell them don't differentiate between qilin and pixiu, I started to wonder if there were any real differences. Appearantly there are. Thanks again.

[sllee]

Panda,

Your handle is in fact pixiu in ancient terms!
If you look up the definition of panda, you may find that. I have written something at the Asiawind forum (Chinese culture).

http://www.asiawind.com/forums/read.php?f=2&i=897&t=877
(in GB fonts)

You are welcome to join in this forum too. Professor Pei and I cross link to each other's forums.
You can do a search for panda in this forum to find more.

SL Lee
_________________
SL Lee
http://www.asiawind.com