Cultural Section: Beyond Dragons

In any Chinese setting, like in a restaurant, one is heavily bombarded with depictions of dragons and phoenixes.  However, the Chinese culture possesses a vast variety of fantastic creatures that would satisfy even a child's thirsty imagination.

A good example would be the Qilin, The term, Qilin, sometimes spelled Kylin, is actually a combination of the male and female names of the same creature but people today often call it by its compounded name.  The Qilin is one of the four sacred creatures, together with the phoenix, the dragon and the tortoise.  Early references describe it as having a single horn on its forehead, the body of a deer, and the tail of an ox.  The one-horn feature prompted its western name -- the Chinese unicorn -- and the Qilin has been academically investigated as the possible origin of western unicorn legends.  Later references to the Qilins are described very differently.

The Qilin is said to be a peaceful creature who only punishes the wicked.  It takes great care when it walks never to tread on any living thing.  It can walk on grass yet not trample the blades and it can also walk on water.  A Qilin appears only when the world enjoys peace and prosperity.  It is a bringer of glad tidings, foretelling that a sage or a great king is to come.

One legend tells of a Qilin who brought a tablet of jade to a woman which foretold the greatness of her future son and proclaimed him to be a King without a Throne.  Soon after this encounter, the woman gave birth to none other than Confucius, a great and influential personage who was later honoured by the people as the throne-less king.

This tale is the origin of the Chinese proverb, 'Heaven bestows a Qilin son.'  It is also the source of an old custom where pictures of the Qilin are displayed in the woman's bedroom in the hope that she would bear a child of great calibre.  The red bridal chairs in Chinese weddings are sometimes engraved with Qilins for the same reason.

Tin-Yu Lam

Hong Kong