What do you mean by Zuo Qinglong, You Baihu, Up Suzaku and Down Xuanwu?

It means that there are four great beasts in China, namely, Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu. Qinglong is the God of the East; White tiger is the god of the west; Zhu is known as the god of the south; Xuanwu is the god of the north.

The ancient ancients divided the sky into four palaces, east, west, north and south, named after Qinglong (black dragon), white tiger, Suzaku and Xuanwu (a turtle-shaped god). In fact, the sky is divided into four parts, which are connected by seven main stars in each part and named after their shapes.

The horn, horn, room, heart, tail and dustpan of the East Palace are shaped like dragons, so it is called Qinglong or Black Dragon. The seven western stars, Kui, Lou, Stomach, Ang, Bi, Horn and Shen, are shaped like tigers, calling the West Palace the White Tiger. The well, ghost, willow, star, Zhang, wing and net in the south are bird-shaped, called suzaku; The northern seven-star bucket, cow, female, empty, dangerous, houses and walls are shaped like turtles and called Xuanwu.

Four spirit and four directions of expand data:

The four spirits originated from ancient myths. Originally called "Four Elephants", it refers to the images of water, fire, wood and gold distributed in all 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, four groups of animals, East Dragon, South Bird, West Lake and North Tortoise and Snake (Wu), were used to represent the four regions of the sky.

These four groups of animals are also the four gods in China's ancient mythology. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, due to the prevalence of the theory of five elements, according to the collocation relationship between five elements and five colors in Huangdi Neijing, wood = cyan, which is the color of young leaves, fire = red, which is the color of bonfire burning, soil = yellow, which is rich in earth and gas, gold = white, which is the color of metallic luster, and water =

Therefore, the four elephants are also colored as Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu respectively. In the Han dynasty, the four elephants evolved into the gods believed by Taoism, so they were immediately called the four spirits.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Spirits