Labeling the Creatures: Some Problems in Han and Six Dynasties Iconography
Fantastic beings proliferate in pre-Han and Han literature and are represented in a variety of forms up through the Six Dynasties period. They pose some problems of identification and classification for both ancient and modern scholars. Thus different sources specify various bird or animal forms for Feilian, the Wind Earl. Chiyou, another pre-Han rebel, now appears as a warlike monster leading a troupe of storm spirits. These thunders of Southeast China do have specific names on one Northern Wei epitaph tablet of 522. Elsewhere auspicious or apotropaic inscriptions on paired messenger birds and evil-averting tomb protectors are often interpreted as names even though archaeological evidence may suggest otherwise. The Chinese “unicorn,” a creature that resists classification, comes to resemble its mate, the “lion.” In general, the forms and functions of mythical beings are established in this period.