What are the four great beasts of the peace elite?

The four great beasts in the peace elite are Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu.

In ancient times, the ancients in China looked up at the starry sky near the ecliptic, divided the astrology near the ecliptic into several areas, called Twenty-eight Hostels, and associated these Twenty-eight Hostels with the four elephants according to their directions and seasons. The ancients successively chose 28 stars near the equator of the ecliptic as coordinates. Because they revolve around the sun, the moon and the five stars, they are very similar to the places where the sun, the moon and the five stars live, so they are called twenty-eight lodgings. According to the orientation, season and four images, it is divided into four palaces: East, South, West and North, with seven nights in each palace. Imagine the seven-night couplets belonging to each palace as animals and consider them as "the four spirits of heaven and square". Qinglong (Black Dragon), White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu (a turtle-shaped god) are named after them. In fact, the sky is divided into four parts, which are connected by seven main stars in each part and named after their shapes.

The horn (wood horn), kang (golden dragon), vulture (native raccoon), house (Japanese rabbit), heart (moon fox), tail (fire tiger) and dustpan (water leopard) in the east are shaped like dragons, so the East Palace is called Qinglong or Black Dragon.

The seven western stars, Kui (wooden wolf), Lou (golden dog), stomach (pheasant), Zan (Japanese chicken), Bi (moonlit monkey), tapir (fire monkey) and ginseng (water ape), look like tigers, and call the West Palace the White Tiger.

In the south, wells (wooden roofs), ghosts (golden sheep), willows (earth roes), stars (Japanese horses), Zhang (moon deer), wings (salamanders) and water worms are combined into a bird shape, which is called Suzaku.

The northern seven-star bucket (Mu Yi), ox (Taurus), female (native bat), virtual (Japanese rat), dangerous (moon swallow), house (fire pig) and wall (water book) are shaped like turtles, which is called Xuanwu. As a result, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu have become the four gods who guard the Heavenly Palace, create evil and adjust Yin and Yang.