Who is the beast that guards the east, west, north and south?

East Qinglong, West White Tiger, South Suzaku, North Xuanwu.

The four great beasts are the legendary beasts in ancient China, namely, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu, which belong to the combination of ancient mythology and astronomy. Four kinds of animals are represented by different colors: oriental cyan is wood, western white is gold, southern red is fire, northern black is water, and middle yellow is earth. In addition, Huainanzi mentioned that Huanglong, one of the five dragons, is in the middle, which is the length of four beasts.

In ancient China, the stars in the sky were divided into seven star zones, namely "Three Walls" and "Four Elephants". The so-called "wall" is the "city wall". Three walls are arranged in a triangle around Polaris. There are four elephants around the three walls: East Black Dragon, West White Tiger, South Suzaku and North Xuanwu.

That is to say, the stars in the east are like dragons, the stars in the west are like tigers, the stars in the south are like big birds, and the stars in the north are like turtles and snakes. As the earth revolves around the sun, the stars in the sky change with the seasons.

Every evening at the turn of winter and spring, the black dragon appears; At the turn of spring and summer, Xuanwu rose; At the turn of summer and autumn, white tigers emerge; At the turn of autumn and winter, Suzaku rose, known as the "four great beasts".

Extended data:

The ancients divided the sky into four parts, each of which was connected by seven main stars and named after its shape.

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.