Brief introduction and pictures of four big beasts in China.

The Four Gods, also known as the Four Elephants and Four Spirits, namely the Dragon, the White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu, the Dragon and the White Tiger Palm, Suzaku Xuanwu and Yin and Yang, the Four Spirits Beasts, the Black Dragon, the White Tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu Four Spirits, rarely appear in European and American fantasy, but in China's myths and legends, they appear as incomparable Four Holy Beasts. It is a favorite mascot of ancient people in China.

The four spirits originated from ancient myths. Originally called "Four Elephants", it refers to the images of water, fire, wood and gold distributed in four directions. The Book of Changes said, "Two musical instruments dominate the four elephants." The two instruments are yin and yang or heaven and earth. In ancient times, it was said that four groups of animals were used to represent the stars in the four regions of the sky.

The Qinglong in the Four Spirits is the God of the East in China's ancient mythology. It is a dragon elephant composed of horn, health, surname, room, heart, tail and dustpan for seven nights. It is the noblest of the four spirits.

"Book of Rites" said: "Before the trip, Zhu bird and then Xuanwu, left Qinglong and right white tiger." The God of the West is composed of Osmium, Lou, Stomach, Ang, Bi, Jiao and Shenqi. But in ancient times, some people thought that the white tiger was an evil spirit, commonly known as the white tiger evil spirit. Suzaku, also known as Suzaku, is the god of the south, which consists of seven nights: well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and qi. Xuanwu, the god of the north, consists of seven nights: fighting, cattle, women, emptiness, danger, housing and beauty. In Song Dynasty, it was renamed Zhenwu because of taboo, and Taoism called Xuanxuan (true).

As can be seen from the above, the Four Spirits are the embodiment of China's ancient people's natural worship. After more than one hundred years of evolution, they have become popular mascots in people's thinking concepts. In the Han Dynasty, a large number of images of the Four Spirits were carved into seals for people to wear to ward off evil spirits, thus forming a unique seal of the Four Spirits. Until the Qing dynasty, there was still this legacy. For example, Gaofenggang was engraved with a "notice" and decorated with a dragon and white tiger pattern, which was quaint and had artistic decoration significance. The four spirits are widely used in the decoration of bronze mirrors, such as the bronze mirror with twelve points and four gods. The back patterns of the mirror are mainly Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku, Xuanwu Four Gods and Twelve Points (that is, twelve earthly branches). It is particularly interesting that in traditional Chinese medicine, the soup head of traditional Chinese medicine is named Siling, and there are good names such as Daqinglong Decoction, Xiaoqinglong Decoction, Baihu Decoction, Suzaku Decoction and Zhenwu Decoction.

There are records of 28 stars in early summer. Every star is made up of several stars, and some names appear in The Book of Songs and The Book of History. According to the place where the twenty-eight stars appear, they are divided into seven nights in Qinglong, seven nights in Suzaku, seven nights in Baihu and seven nights in Xuanwu. The specific names are as follows:

Seven nights in Qinglong: Jiao Mujiao Kang Jinlong Nyctereute Fang Ri Rabbit Heart Moon Fox Tail Fire Tiger Basket Water Leopard

Suzaku Seven Nights: Muan Jing Ghost Golden Sheep, Six Rabbits, Zhang Yuelu, Winged Fire Snake and Water Worm.

"Seven Nights of White Tiger": Humpty Dumpling Wolf Loujin Dog Stomach Chicken Angri Chicken Bigou Fire Monkey.

Seven nights in Xuanwu: unicorn, ox, Taurus, female soil, bat, virtual sun mouse, dangerous moon, swallowing room fire, pig wall water.