Hello, and welcome to Chinese Folk Tales.
This is Beibei.
We talked about the dragon last time, and today we're on to the phoenix.
I'm not sure how the Chinese phoenix and the Egyptian ones are related, if at all.
But today, we will focus on the Chinese version of this magical bird.
And in Chinese, its name is 凤凰.
The image of the Phoenix is also a mixture of the features from different species, including the head of the chicken, the lower jaw of the sparrow, the neck of a snake and others.
The picture of the Chinese Phoenix has a colorful crown of feathers on its head and a stunning display of plumage on its body.
It's probably just a glorified version of the golden pheasant.
I wish I could show you a picture of the Chinese golden pheasant with its showy red belly and a pure golden crown.
It's got stripes like a tiger on the back of its neck and an array of bright colors on its back.
Green, blue, yellow, purple.
This bird is definitely not shy in showing off its unique looks, and not to mention its tail of long feathers that it flaunts when it sets into the air flying.
The sight is most striking when you spot them in the snow.
A flash of bright colors in an elegant form, and the sight will probably feel a bit surreal.
You can take that image of the golden pheasant, enlarge and embellish it with your own artistic fancy and you've probably got something very much like the phoenix.
There are many legends about the phoenix.
Once there lived a princess in the state of Qin, that's around 600 BC.
She married a musician who played the bamboo flute, And whenever he played the flute, all kinds of birds would gather to listen and dance to the music.
Not just little birds like sparrows, but elegant ones like white cranes and peacocks.
The princess learned to play the flute, and the sounds she played were like that of the phoenix.
So real phoenixes came to her palace.
Her father was delighted because seeing the phoenix was as auspicious as it gets in the minds of ancient Chinese.
He was so happy that he built a tower for her.
It's called the Phoenix Tower.
She would play the flute on the tower every day and all the phoenixes, from near and far, would gather there, their feathers glistening in the sky.
Seeing it from afar, the tower seemed to float on rainbow-colored clouds.
This magical performance went on day after day until one day the princess and her husband ascended to heaven, along with the phoenixes disappearing behind rosy-colored clouds, leaving the empty phoenix tower.
Even death sounds auspicious. if you put it this way.
The story of this princess and the phoenix appears often in many classical poems, such as the one by the most famous poet, Li Bai, from Tang Dynasty.
Around the tower, the phoenix floats.
Until the tower is empty, only the river flows.
And that's what it sounds like in Chinese.
In the ancient times, birds were like messengers from heaven in people's eyes, and many worshipped these winged creatures.
And the phoenix, so strikingly beautiful and which could dance and sing besides, had the most outstanding status.
Remember Shaohao, who built the kingdom of birds?
The phoenix was appointed the figure in charge and also one of the five emperors Diku who loved music.
Whenever he played, phoenixes would come and dance to the music.
Even today, the image of the phoenix is still so common like the dragon, and we almost consider them part of the real world, something that not only existed but still exists.
The words dragon long and phoenix feng dot the pages of great Chinese literature, and there are numerous idioms and sayings that refer to their stories.
A common understanding for the chinese that the dragon represents the emperor and the phoenix represents his wife.
Back in the imperial days, only the emperor could use the image of dragons, but the usage of phoenix was not so restricted.
It was common for brides to wear gowns with embroidered phoenixes, and there is this really fancy phoenix crown for brides too.
Nothing but the auspicious when it comes to the phoenix.
As special as the phoenix is in Chinese culture, I have to mention another kind of bird too.
It's huge, unrealistically huge, or maybe just dinosaur huge.
It's called in Chinese and there is a name for it in English the rock bird, ROC rock bird, which was described to be a gigantic eagle in Middle Eastern legends.
It's said that the bird could carry away fully grown elephants.
That kind of huge.
According to Chinese legends, some say that this bird evolved from the Phoenix.
But other records associate it with fish.
A huge kind of fish with its back spanning distance of thousands of miles.
And when it opens its wings, the sun would be blocked from Earth.
And with a light leap, it could ascend from the ocean and fly 90,000 li into the sky.
Does that sound like a pterosaur to you?
One of those dinosaurs with wings?
Real or not, these creatures still exist in our culture today.
In fact, the name of the bird, Dapeng, is used to describe lofty aspirations and bold spirits.
It's quite a common given name for men.
So these are just a few stories about the phoenix and Dapeng, the giant bird, both adored in Chinese culture.
You might wonder, are there any ugly, pesty, horrible magical creatures in Chinese mythology?
Sure there are.
But let's save that for the next episode.
And hope to see you then.
Bye for now.
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