What kind of animal is the legendary Nian?

In ancient times, there was a beast called Nian. It is several times bigger than the current elephant and dozens of times fiercer than the tiger. It eats people, eating dozens of people in one bite, and countless people are eaten by it. The people have suffered. One day, Nian came again, and a young man hated it very much. He said: "It is better to fight it than to let it eat. They are all dead anyway. " He rushed up with an axe and many young people followed him. But they are no match for Nian. All the young people were eaten by Nian. Since then, "Nian" has become more vicious, and all people are angry and hate.

The resentment in the sky shocked the white Venus in the sky, and the hatred in the earthquake shocked the king and bodhisattva in the underground. As soon as Venus Taibai and Bodhisattva Wang Di discussed it, they sent the founder of Shennong to land to collect the new year. Shennong holds a whip, aiming at Nian's ass is a whip. The fierce Nian actually fell to a draw. Shennong ran a few steps, stepped on Nian's head and roared, "Bastard, you ate countless people and did terrible things. Today is your end. " Say, take out two melon bowls from the waist, aim at the word "year" and close them. Nian, bigger than an elephant, suddenly fell into a melon bowl. Shennong buried the bowl with Nian in the ground. When he left, he repeatedly told him: "This bowl is buried in the ground and will grow melons in the future. This melon can't be broken, so be sure to say it's not broken. " Later, a melon really grew in the place where the bowl was buried, and the people called it "North Melon" according to Shennong's "No" voice. The day when Shennong got rid of "Nian" happened to be December 30th of the lunar calendar, so people called this day "Nian", which means to avoid "Nian" and get rid of its meaning. On this day, the class consecrated the North Melon to show the suppression of evil, and beat gongs and drums and lanterns with bamboo poles to commemorate the merits of Shennong's ancestors.