What are the four spirits of ancient China?

Qinglong-the patron saint of the East in Taoism

There are many legends about dragons, and there are also many stories about the origin of dragons. Some said it was imported from India, while others said it was transformed from China. India itself is said by the dragon god, but the status of dragons in India is not high, and there is a real thing-python.

White Tiger

In Four Holy Beasts, China, another dragon is often compared with the "white tiger"; The tiger is the leader of all animals. Its strength and legendary ability to subdue ghosts make it a beast belonging to Yang, and it often goes out with dragons. The cloud follows the dragon and the wind follows the tiger' to become the best partner for subduing ghosts.

rosefinch

Suzaku can also be said to be a phoenix or a mysterious bird. Suzaku is one of the four spirits, and like the other three spirits, it comes from the star, which is the general name of the seven southern nights: well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and bird. Think of it as Suzaku. Scarlet, like fire, the south belongs to fire, hence the name Phoenix. It also has the characteristics of being far from fire, also called fire phoenix, just like the immortal birds in the west.

turtle

Xuanwu is a spiritual thing composed of turtles and snakes. Xuanwu originally meant Xuanming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are interlinked. Wu means black; Ghost means yin. At first, Xuan Ming described the turtle divination as follows: the turtle's back is black, and the turtle divination first invited the turtle to ask questions in the underworld, brought back the answers and showed them to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu is the tortoise. Since then, the meaning of Xuanming has been expanding. Turtles live in rivers, lakes and seas (including turtles), so Xuan Ming became a water god; The tortoise lives long, and Xuan Ming has become a symbol of immortality; It turned out that the underworld was in the north, and the divination of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty was' its divination will be in the north', so Xuan Ming became a northern god again.