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Characters / Chinese Mythology

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Deities, Spirits, Creatures and Mortals

Please note that this list is incomplete and remains under construction. Mandarin pinyin and traditional Chinese characters are prioritized on this page.

It should also be noted that Chinese mythology and folk religion is very extensive and varies by region, and many folk practices are not recorded in text.

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Cosmic Deities

    Yu Huang Da Di, the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝) 
Ruler of Heaven in Daoist cosmology, and the head of the heavenly bureaucracy.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: He is generally portrayed as a benevolent ruler in the original myths; but there are a lot later myths and tales where he is instead selfish and wrathful, sometimes even serving the role as an antagonist. Journey to the West is the most notable example of this, where the Jade Emperor is a haughty and cowardly ruler who almost constantly deals out Disproportionate Retribution as a way of punishing others.
  • Animal Lover: Implied, as he was stated to have shown respect and benevolence to both men and creatures.
  • The Emperor: Naturally, but as a Type IV, of the benevolent sort.
  • The Good King: The Jade Emperor made sure that everyone in his kingdom found peace and contentment.
  • Good Parents: In the variation of "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" as seen below in the Love-Obstructing Parents entry, the Jade Emperor eventually took pity on his daughter and her husband and allowed the two to meet once a year on a bridge over the Celestial River.
  • I Have Many Names: The Jade Emperor is known by many epithets.
  • Love-Obstructing Parents: In some variations of the story of "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl", the Jade Emperor is the Weaver Girl's father and was infuriated when the Cowherd tricked his (youngest) daughter into staying with him, but was unable to interfere; and when the Weaver Girl grew homesick and visited him, the Jade Emperor summoned the Celestial River (the Milky Way) to separate the lovers.
  • Overly Long Name: The most respectful way to address the Jade Emperor apparently has 38 Chinese characters, "昊天金闕無上至尊自然妙有彌羅至真高天上聖大慈仁者玉皇赦罪錫福大天尊玄穹高上帝", which roughly translates to "Of the Golden Palace in the Vast Sky, Venerated Above All Others, Wonder of Nature, the Vast and Overreaching One, Sage of the Highest Skies, the Great and Benevolent One, the Jade Emperor; Pardoner of Crimes, One Who Bestows Fortune, Great Respected One of the Skies, the High Emperor".
  • Time Abyss: He didn't ascend to the throne until he was nearly 227 million years old.
  • Top God: He's the head of the whole Chinese Celestial Bureaucracy.

    Pangu (盤古) 
A massive giant whose birth heralded the creation of the world and whose death created the world as we know it.
  • Cosmic Egg: Where he came from.
  • Giant Corpse World: After the death of Pangu, his body was made into the earth, his blood the sea, his eyes the sun and moon, and the lice around his body was turned into the first people.

    Xi Wangmu (西王母), Queen Mother of the West 
Rules from the sacred Mount Kunlun. She is a guide to all Daoists, but in particular she guides women who wish to become immortals.
  • Adaptational Nice Girl: In Shanhaijing ("The Classic of Mountains and Seas"), the Queen Mother was a malicious goddess who created natural disasters and plagues. In Taoist interpretations, she is much more benevolent towards her followers.
  • The High Queen: The Queen Mother was said to be held in especially high regard by Chinese women who did not represent the societal norm of the submissive woman. To these women, The Queen Mother of the West was seen as "a powerful, independent deity representing the ultimate yin controlling immortality and the afterlife".
  • Textile Work Is Feminine: She is the embodiment of yin (dark/feminine energy) and is associated with weaving.

    Yanluo Wang (閻羅王) 
The God of death and the afterlife, he's the ruler of Diyu (the Chinese underworld).
  • God of the Dead: He presides over the underworld and judges the souls of the deceased to determine what afterlives or reincarnations they will be sent to. He is often syncretized with Yama.

Three Patrons and Five Deities

    Nüwa (女媧) 
The serpent goddess who created humanity and saved mankind from many a catastrophe. Nüwa used yellow clay from a water bed to mould the first modern humans. These humans were very smart and successful since they were individually crafted. Nüwa then became bored of individually making every human by hand so she improved by putting a rope in the water bed. The small drops of clay that fell from it became more humans, not as smart as the first, i.e. the lower classes.
  • Snake People: Had the lower half of a snake with brilliant white scales. Crosses over with Dragons Are Divine in some versions where she is interpreted as a dragon rather than a humanoid.

    Fuxi (伏羲) 
Nüwa's husband, and sometimes twin brother. A god of agriculture and learning, he was also the First Sovereign of China who laid down laws for the new humans to live by.
  • The Good King: The first ruler of China and a mostly benevolent one too.
  • Snake People: Just like his sister, his lower half was that of a snake.

    Shennong, the Yan Emperor (神農/炎帝) 
The Flame (or "red") Emperor, translated literally as "Divine farmer". He is credited with teaching humans the use of the plow, aspects of basic agriculture, and the use of medicinal plants.
  • Asians Love Tea: While Shennong is more well-known for drinking tea as herbal medicine than a beverage, mythologically speaking, he's the reason Chinese people started drinking tea in the first place.
  • Death by Irony: In some myths, Shennong died as a result of his researches into the properties of plants by experimenting upon his own body — it's said that he ate the yellow flower of a weed that caused his intestines to rupture before he had time to swallow his antidotal tea.
  • Drink-Based Characterization: Shennong is said to have first tasted tea, traditionally in ca. 2437 BC, when tea leaves landed in his cauldron of boiling water. Since then, he's said to take advantage of the medicinal properties of tea to cure him of ailments caused by consuming poisonous herbs.
  • The Medic: Shennong is sometimes called the "Father of Chinese Medicine", being attributed with the invention of acupuncture, and moxibustion, the refinement of the therapeutic understanding of taking pulse measurements, and his discovery of various herbal plants' medicinal properties.
  • Nature Lover: As the inventor of various aspects of agriculture, this is a given.
  • Sniff Sniff Nom: Was said to have tried eating every kind of plant available to see which ones were beneficial and which were poisonous. In some versions of the myth, his quest ended when he accidentally ate a poisonous plant and died before he could drink his medicinal antidote of tea.

    Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor (黃帝) 
The Yellow Emperor, and supposed ancestor of all modern ethnic Chinese. He was something of a Science Hero, teaching the people how to build shelters, tame wild animals and grow the five Chinese cereals. He also invented carts, boats, clothing, the guqin, the diadem, palace rooms, the bow sling, astronomy, the calendar, calculations, sound laws, football, and wrote the Inner Canon on internal medicine that all traditional Chinese medicine was based on. He commissioned Cang Jie to create the first Chinese characters, and his main wife Leizu taught people how to weave silk from silkworms and dye clothes.

Gods of Celestial and Terrestrial Phenomena

    Chongli (重黎) 
He's alternatively called Zhurong (祝融). Revered personage in Chinese myths, according to the Huainanzi and the philosophical texts of Mozi and his followers, Zhurong is a god of fire and of the south. Zhurong was said to be the son of Gaoyang who had also a second son Gun, who in turn fathered Yu the Great. Chongli is the father of Gong Gong, a sea monster and troublemaking deity.
  • God of Fire: He is the god of fire (well, one of them), which is ironic given his son is a sea god.
  • War God: Venerated in armies.

    Feng Po Po (風婆婆) 
Feng Po Po or Feng Popo is the goddess of the wind in Chinese mythology. She is referred to as "Madame Wind" (literally translated as "Grandmother/Old Lady Wind"), and is usually depicted as a crone. Feng Po Po can be seen riding through clouds on the back of a tiger.
  • Blow You Away: The goddess (well, a goddess at any rate) of winds and breezes.
  • Distaff Counterpart: To Fengbo (風伯), the god of wind who she replaces in some variants of myth.

    Hebo (河伯) 
The god of the Yellow River (Huang He), which is one of the world's major rivers and a river of great cultural importance in China. This is reflected in Chinese mythology by the tales surrounding the deity Hebo, whose name translated means "Lord of the River".

    Lei Gong (雷公) 
Leigong or Leishen (the latter name, literally translated, means "God of Thunder"), is the god of thunder in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism. In Taoism, when so ordered by heaven, Leigong punishes both earthly mortals guilty of secret crimes and evil spirits who have used their knowledge of Taoism to harm human beings. He is often depicted as being accompanied by his consort Dianmu (電母, "Mother of Lightning"), Yuntong ("Child of Clouds") and Yu Shi (雨師, "Lord of Rain") who assist him in creating thunderstorms.
  • Arranged Marriage: The Jade Emperor arranged Leigong to be married to Dianmu because he killed her, making it his responsibility to take care of her. However, it's implied that Dianmu forgave him for that and thus shines a light (lightning) onto Earth using a mirror to ensure that Leigong doesn't smite the wrong people.
  • Back from the Dead: The Jade Emperor revived Dianmu and made her a goddess after she was wrongfully killed by Leigong.
  • God of Thunder: His role.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Leigong gets angry easily. This, when combined with how the sky gets dark when he smites people, usually results in him smiting innocents. For instance, he killed Dianmu when she was a mortal because he thought she was wasting food.note 
  • Thunder Drum/Thunder Hammer: He is depicted as a bird-headed humanoid who carries a mallet and drum which can produce thunder, and a chisel to punish evildoers.

    Tudi Gong (土地公) 
He's also known as Dabo Gong (大伯公, "the Great Elder Lord") and is the god of soil and land. He is traditionally venerated as a part of burial rituals, and his reputation for granting blessings has earned him the formal name of Fudegong (福德公), the lord of blessing and virtue.

Gods of Human Virtues and Crafts

    Lord Wenchang (文昌帝) 
God of bureaucrats and culture, scholars typically pray to Lord Wenchang before taking exams, and keeping the Cinnamon Record, in which all men's deeds and fates are recorded, is his responsibility.

    Guan Yu (關羽) 
The god of war and business, originally a historical general from the Three Kingdoms period who was later deified in the Chinese mythological pantheon. It is an interesting thing that both policemen and criminals pray to Guan Yu... mainly because, among other things, Guan Yu is essentially also the god of True Companions.

Imported Deities

    Guanyin (觀音) 
The Chinese (and East and Southeast Asian) version of the bodhisattva of mercy and compassion, originally based on the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. She is sometimes not conflated with Avalokitesvara, and Daoists also worship her as an Immortal. Her worship may be usefully compared to the veneration of the Virgin Mary in Roman Catholicism.
  • God Is Good: Guanyin is the goddess of mercy, compassion, and unconditional love in Chinese mythology. She loves you, will always be there for you, and asks for nothing in return.
  • I Have Many Names: Due to her popularity across not just China, but East and Southeast Asia (which Chinese culture had a fairly large influence on) as a whole, Guanyin has many names across many Asian languages, often derived from her Chinese name.

Regional Deities

    Huang Daxian (黃大仙) 
Literally translated as the "Great Immortal Huang", Huang Daxian is a deified Taoist hermit with the divine power of healing. He is primarily worshipped in Jinhua, Zhejiang, his hometown when he was a human, as well as surprisingly Hong Kong (under the Cantonese form of his name, "Wong Tai Sin"), where a temple dedicated to him gave its name to an entire region and District of the city.
  • Deity of Human Origin: He's thought of as the divine form of Huang Chuping (黃初平, or Wong Cho Ping in Cantonese Romanization, c. 328 – c. 386), a Taoist hermit from the Eastern Jin dynasty.
  • Healer God: He is believed to be one.

    Mazu (媽祖) 
She is a sea goddess also known by several other names and titles, e.g. Tin Hau (天后, "Queen of Heaven") in Hong Kong. She is the deified form of the purported historical Lin Mo or Lin Moniang, a Fujianese shamaness whose lifespan is traditionally dated from 960 to 987. She is venerated after her death as a tutelary deity of seafarers, including fishermen and sailors, her worship spread throughout China's coastal regions (mainly in the south) and overseas Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia. She was thought to roam the seas, protecting her believers through miraculous interventions.

Other Deities and Spirits

    The Eight Immortals (八仙) 
Eight people from across China's social make-up: beggars, nobles, men and women — who all became immortal and are known for celebrating raucously. They are an exception to the 'Celestial Bureaucracy' part of being deities: they hold no official positions.

    The Three Pure Ones 
Three kings, one of which who ruled Heaven and Earth before giving the position to the Jade Emperor. They are the oldest beings in existence. They are more closely related to Taoism and do not play too much part in rural Chinese belief.

    Erlang Shen (二郎神) 
Erlang Shen or just Erlang is a Chinese god with a third truth-seeing eye in the middle of his forehead. Erlang Shen may be a deified version of several semi-mythical folk heroes who helped regulate China's torrential floods dating variously from the Qin, Sui, and Jin dynasties. A later Buddhist source identifies him as the second son of the Northern Heavenly King Vaishravana. In the Ming semi-mythical novels Creation of the Gods and Journey to the West, Erlang Shen is the nephew of the Jade Emperor. In the former, he assists the Zhou army in defeating the Shang. In the latter, he is the second son of a mortal and the Jade Emperor's sister. In the legend, he is known as the greatest warrior god of heaven.

    Meng Po (孟婆) 
Meng Po, translated as Grandmother Meng or Old Lady Meng, is the goddess of forgetfulness. She serves in Diyu and is tasked with ensuring souls who are ready to be reincarnated do not remember their previous life or their time in Hell, which she accomplishes by giving them her Soup of Oblivion on the Bridge of Forgetfulness. Or in Westerners' eyes, think Lethe from Classical Mythology, both the goddess and the river.
  • Composite Character: In some versions, Grandmother Meng had an origin story — that her true identity was Lady Meng Jiang (孟姜女), whose husband died tragically. In those versions, after the death of her husband, Meng Jiang found herself unable to reincarnate due to her grief, so in order to relieve the pain of life of other spirits, Lady Meng took the initiative to create a bowl of soup that would allow spirits to forget the suffering of their material life.
  • Death Amnesia: Invoked Trope. The Soup of Oblivion (迷魂湯/迷魂汤, Míhúntāng, also translated as the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness) is brewed by Grandmother Meng using herbs collected from various earthly ponds and streams. It's drunk by every soul as they leave Diyu for reincarnation. This memory/memories can be recovered through aid from some powerful beings (or by Enlightening yourself), as happened in Journey to the West.

    Zhong Kui (鍾馗) 
Traditionally regarded as a vanquisher of ghosts and evil beings, and reputedly being able to command 80,000 demons, his image is often painted on household gates as a guardian spirit, as well as in places of business where high-value goods are involved.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Inverted. He was unfairly stripped of his title of Zhuangyuan (狀元/状元, top-scorer) of the Imperial Examinations by the Emperor, due to his disfigured and ugly appearance. This caused him to be Driven to Suicide by continually hurling himself against the palace gates until his head was broken.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Due to his friend Du Ping (杜平) burying him and laying him to rest after his suicide, Zhong Kui returned to their hometown after his death and gave his younger sister in marriage to Du Ping to repay his kindness.
  • The Ghost King: Being given the title by Yanluo Wang, he was tasked with hunting, capturing, taking charge of, and maintaining discipline and order of all ghosts.
  • Suicide is Shameful: Zhong Kui's spirit was condemned to Hell because suicide was considered a grave sin, but Yanluo Wang saw potential in him and his intelligence, and judged him worthy of the title "King of Ghosts" in Diyu/Hell.

The Xia Dynasty

The legendary, borderline-mythical first dynasty of China. Since there were no written records during the time supposed to be the Xia Dynasty, tropes related to it belong here instead of the page Dynasties from Shang to Qing.

    Yu the Great (大禹) 
The 1st King and founder of the Xia Dynasty, and one of China's cultural heroes.

    King Jie (夏桀) 
The 17th and last King of the Xia Dynasty. He was overthrown in a peasant rebellion and succeeded by Tang of Shang (商湯), the first King of the historical Shang Dynasty.

Mythological Creatures

    Dragons (龍) 
Among the most famous of the Chinese mythological figures and creatures at large, the Dragon is a symbol of power, strength, and good luck for people who are worthy of it in Chinese (and by extension, East Asian) culture. Traditionally, they also symbolize potent and auspicious powers, particularly control over water, rainfall, typhoons, and floods. In Imperial times, Dragons are also seen as the symbol of the Emperor, and even in the modern day, excellent and outstanding people are compared to Dragons (including in idioms and proverbs). They are usually depicted as a snake-like creature with four legs and a stylized mane.
The linguist Michael Carr analyzed over 100 ancient Dragon names attested in Chinese classic texts.
  • Always Lawful Good: In stark contrast with the usually malevolent Western Dragons, in Chinese mythology, Dragons are regarded as wise and benevolent creatures of good fortune, bringing rain to water the crops of farmers.note  That said, they're absolutely destructive when angered.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Stories of Chinese dragons raping elderly men are quite common.
  • Call a Pegasus a "Hippogriff": In all honesty these things have very little to do with western dragons. Whereas the former are essentially everything wrong about snakes, Chinese dragons (or Lung) are more mammalian, aquatic creatures with divine attributes.
  • Dragon Hoard: The fuzanglong (伏藏龍/伏藏龙, "hidden treasure dragon") lives underground, guarding both man-made treasure as well as natural deposits of precious stone or metal. They are also held responsible for volcanism.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: According to the Han dynasty scholar Wang Fu:
    The people paint the dragon's shape with a horse's head and a snake's tail. Further, there are expressions as 'three joints' and 'nine resemblances' (of the dragon), to wit: from head to shoulder, from shoulder to breast, from breast to tail. These are the joints; as to the nine resemblances, they are the following: his antlers resemble those of a stag, his head that of a camel, his eyes those of a demon, his neck that of a snake, his belly that of a clam (shen, 蜃), his scales those of a carp, his claws those of an eagle, his soles those of a tiger, his ears those of a cow. Upon his head he has a thing like a broad eminence (a big lump), called chimu (尺木). If a dragon has no chimu, he cannot ascend to the sky.
  • Non-Mammalian Hair: It's common for Chinese Dragons, who are more or less universally described as great reptilian serpents, to be depicted with furry manes and whiskers.
  • Our Angels Are Different: Certain types of Dragons serve the same purpose to Judeo-Christian angels, bearing messages from Heaven and back and so forth.
  • The Power of the Sun: Although they are mostly associated with water, they are still pure yang (the masculine and light energy) and sometimes are seen pulling the chariot of the sun.
  • Spear Counterpart: The Dragons are seen as the masculine counterpart of the Fenghuang.

    Fenghuang (鳳凰) 
A species of bird which reigns over all other birds, and resides traditionally in the Kunlun Mountains. They usually symbolize virtue and grace, as well as the union of yin and yang.
  • Call a Pegasus a "Hippogriff": Just about the only thing the Fenghuang and the phoenix have are being Divine Birds.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Initially within the bird species itself, the Feng (鳳) are the males while the Huang (凰) are the females. However, over time, the above distinction is blurred such that the Fenghuang as a species in itself is seen as the feminine counterpart of the Dragon.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters:
    • According to the Erya, the first surviving Chinese dictionary, the Fenghuang has the beak of a rooster, the face of a swallow, the forehead of a fowl, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag, and the tail of a fish.
    • Modern interpretations tone the above down, and depict the Fenghuang as a mix-and-match of various birds, having the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow.
  • The Phoenix: This creature is traditionally translated as the Chinese "Phoenix", but the similarities between the Fenghuang and the (Western) Phoenix are primarily superficial. As a result, the Fenghuang of Chinese mythology will be translated as such, while the term "Phoenix" will be used referring to the phoenix of Western mythology only.
  • Portent of Doom: Inverted Trope. It is believed that the Fenghuang only appears in areas or places that are blessed with utmost peace and prosperity or happiness.

    Huli-jing (狐狸精) 
Literally translated as "Fox Spirits", the Huli-jing are shape-shifting fox-like creatures which can be both benevolent and malicious. The most famous of them are the Jiuweihu (九尾狐, "Nine-Tailed Foxes"), which can be either a good or bad omen, Depending on the Writer.
  • Asian Fox Spirit: The Ur-Example and Trope Maker which the more well-known Japanese equivalent, the kitsune, is based on.
  • Foul Fox: In their malicious forms, they're vampiric shapeshifting foxes composed of yin who need to seduce men to drain their yang.
  • Gold-Colored Superiority: In some accounts, when a Huli-jing is a thousand years old, it ascends to Heaven and becomes a celestial fox, with gold fur and nine tails.

    Jian (鶼) 
The Jian (鶼, Jiān), also known as the Bǐyìniǎo (比翼鳥), the Mánmán (蠻蠻), and other obscure names, are wild duck-like birds with one eye, one wing, and one leg. As a result, two birds can join together as a pair, the jianjian (鶼鶼, Jiānjiān), to support each other.
  • Cyclops: The Jian are said to have one eye each.
  • One True Love: In Chinese tradition, the Jianjian are said to symbolize married couples who are this.note  They seem to conveniently forget it's also said that their appearance as a pair signifies the coming of a great flood.
  • Portent of Doom: Their appearance is said to be a bad omen as it indicates a flood is imminent.

    Jiangshi (殭屍) 

    Longma (龍馬) 
Literally translated as the "Dragon-horse", the Longma is a mystical winged horse with dragon scales that typically appears an omen for the arrival of a legendary sage-ruler.
  • Our Hippocamps Are Different: Dragons in eastern myth are associated more with water than fire. A Longma will sometimes appear from beneath a river and bestow blessings or honors to someone who has earned heaven's favors.
  • Pegasus: It is a kind of winged horse, after all.

    Nian (年獸) 
Nian (年, "year"), or Nianshou (年獸, "year-beast"), is a beast which lives in the mountains (or in some interpretations, the sea), and emerges every year in the winter (around the Lunar New Year) to feed, mostly on people and animals. As a result, many people take advantage of its fears and weaknesses to ward it away and keep their homes safe.
The earliest written sources that refer to the nian as a creature date to the early 20th century. As a result, it is unclear whether the nian creature is an authentic part of traditional folk mythology, or a part of a local oral tradition that was recorded in the early 20th century, though it is possible many of its traits are an amalgam of various beasts and traditions in Chinese myths and folklore. In spite of its dubious mythological origins, its story is one of the most well-known folk tales among modern ethnic Chinese, as many of the cultural practices of Chinese New Year in the present day are derived from its story.
  • Child Eater: Among its legendary man-eating tendencies, some versions of the myth say that Nian has a tendency to eat village children.
  • To Serve Man: One of the reasons people used to fear Nian so much is because it mainly comes down from the mountain to feast on humans in the rural villages.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The colour red and loud noises, and in some versions, light and cleanliness. This is exploited by many villages across China, which decorate their houses with red paper decorations like huichun/fai chun (揮春/挥春), wear red clothing, and set off firecrackers to scare it off.

    Nine-headed Bird (九頭鳥) 
A precursor of the fenghuang and the totem of the Kingdom of Chu (楚) from the Warring States period, worshipped by ancient indigenous peoples of what is now Hubei Province. It was demonized by the reigning Zhou Dynasty due to the two states' hostile relationship.

    Qilin (麒麟) 
A hooved chimerical creature which symbolizes luck, good omens, protection, prosperity, success, longevity, and sometimes fertility.
  • Call a Pegasus a "Hippogriff": Sometimes called "Asian Unicorns" but generally are depicted as essentially ungulate dragons.
  • Justice Will Prevail: In Taoist depictions, in spite of their fearsome appearances, the Qilin only punishes the wicked, and there are stories with accounts of court trials and judgments based on the Qilin divinely knowing whether a defendant is good or evil, guilty or innocent.
  • Kirin: The Trope Maker.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Most depictions of the Qilin throughout Chinese history are typically this:
    • In the Jin dynasty (晉朝), the Qilin was depicted as wreathed in flame and smoke, with a dragon-like head, scales, and the body of a powerful hooved beast such as a horse.
    • In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the Qilin was represented as an oxen-hoofed animal with a dragon-like head surmounted by a pair of horns and flame-like head ornaments.
    • The Qilin of China's subsequent (Manchu) Qing dynasty (1644–1911) had the head of a dragon, the antlers of a deer, the skin and scales of a fish, the hooves of an ox, and tail of a lion.
  • Never Hurt an Innocent: In Buddhist depictions, the Qilin takes great care when they walk to never tread on a living creature, and will even refuse to walk upon grass for fear of harming a single blade, but can become fierce if a pure person is threatened by a malicious one.
  • Portent of Doom: Zig-Zagging Trope. The Qilin are said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler.

    Sun Crows (陽烏) 
The children of Xihe (羲和), the solar goddess and co-consort of Di Jun, the ten Sun Crows initially resided in a mulberry tree called the Fusang (扶桑). Each day, one of the brothers would ride a carriage driven by their mother across the skies to bring daylight to the world. However, one day in the reign of Emperor Yao (around 2170 BC), all ten brothers emerged together, creating an Alien Sky and causing the world to burn. Houyi the archer shot down nine of them, leaving only one Sun Crow to provide light.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The Sun Crows have golden plumage, so they are also called the "Golden Crows" (金烏, Jīnwū). It's justified in that they are supernatural entities and embodiments of the Sun.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Some tellings say that the reason all ten brothers rose at the same time was because they were fed up with taking turns, while others say it was out of mischief. Either way, they all emerged together on that fateful day.
  • Divine Birds: As symbols of the Sun, though their mythological claim to fame did end with nine out of ten of them dying.
  • Irony: In spite of being the Sun Crows, they are closely associated with the myths surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival, where Moon worship is practised.
  • Light Is Not Good: These rascals almost caused the extinction of all life on earth as ten suns was enough to burn the surface of the earth. Thankfully, Houyi killed them.
  • The Power of the Sun: The sun is embodied as a crow. Well, multiple birds in the past.
  • Sole Survivor: Houyi shot down nine of the ten Sun Crows, leaving only one of the brothers alive. Some versions of the story suggest Houyi actually wanted to kill all ten of them, but ultimately decided against it (sometimes by the advice of the Emperor) because the people still needed a Sun to provide light and warmth so they could grow crops and survive.
  • Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: The Sun Crows have three legs, causing them to be often called the Three-legged Crows (三足烏/三足乌, Sānzúwū).

    The Thirty-Six Overseas Nations (海外三十六國) 
The 36 Overseas Nations are somewhat similar to the legendary tribes of Classical Mythology, in that they are seen as nations and clans of humanoids with fantastical features. The main sources for these nations are the Huainanzi (淮南子), the Shanhaijing (山海經/山海经, "The Classic of Mountains and Seas"), and other texts.

The Shanhaijing divides the 36 Overseas Nations by their place of residence:

  • Westernnote 
  • Southernnote 
  • Easternnote 
  • Northernnote 

  • Bird People:
    • The Nation of Feathered People is essentially this. They are described to have long and sharp heads with beaks, Mystical White Hair, and red eyes, and are hatched from eggs. They are also said to have wings on their backs, but cannot fly far.
    • The Nation of the Cheerful-Headed also classify as this. They are said to be half-man and half-bird, having human faces with beaks and wings, but are flightless and have to hold their wings like crutches to walk.
  • The Beastmaster: In some tellings, the People of the Nation of the Three-Bodied have the ability to tame and harness the power of "the Four Birds", with the "birds" in question being the tiger, the leopard, the brown bear, and (presumably) the Asian black bear.
  • Body Horror: The closest description of the Nation of the Holed Chest is this, as their people have holes in their chests (roughly just under the ribs in artwork) like they've been impaled through. Also because of this, they don't wear shirts and sometimes carry each other around with a bamboo-wood pole.
    • There's actually a mythological explanation for this: After Fangfeng the giant-god was executed for being late to an assembly, his descendants blamed Yu the Great for Fangfeng's death and when Yu toured the south after solving the flood problem, those descendants saw him passing by in a chariot and shot at him. However, they killed themselves by stabbing themselves in the chest when they heard thunder, fearing the wrath of the gods. Yu, knowing Fangfeng was late to the assembly because he was trying to save people from the floods, commended on the descendants' loyalty to Fangfeng and ordered people to stuff herbs of the undying into the holes in the descendants' chests, so they would return to life as the Nation of the Holed Chests.
  • Compulsive Liar: According to Flowers in the Mirror, a novel written in the Qing dynasty, the reason the people in the Nation of the Pig-Snouted have their pig snouts is because they were frequent liars in their past lives, but there were so many of them that Avīci (i.e. the Buddhist version of Hell) couldn't hold them all, so the liars with lighter sentences were reincarnated into their next lives with pigs' snouts as punishment.
  • Cyclops: People of the Nation of the One-Armed only have one eye each... along with only one nostril, one arm, and one leg, kind of like a human version of the Jian.
  • Elixir of Life: The Nation of the Undying live on Mount Yuánqiū, where there is a tree which provides immortality when it is eaten, and the water of the Red Spring there gives the drinker eternal youth.
  • Eternal Villain: The Sanmiao tribes were this to pre-dynastic China, having allegedly antagonized the Han Chinese of the Central Plains multiple times even as they were defeated and exiled far away. It took a 70-day-long Final Battle against Yu the Great and his forces for them to be permanently subdued, and even then, their status as this is forever recorded in the "Book of Documents" (書經/书经, Shūjīng) as one of the Four Criminals.
  • Extra Eyes: People of the Nation of the Single-Limbed have three eyes.note 
  • Famous Ancestor:
    • Both the Nations of the White(-clothed) People and the Three-Bodied are said to be descended from Di Jun (帝俊), the Shangdi of the Shanhaijing — the White-clothed are descendants of Di Hong (帝鴻/帝鸿), his son, while the Three-Bodied are descendants of him and one of his consorts, E'huang (娥皇).
    • The Nation of the Cheerful-Headed are descended from the legendary Emperor Yao's son, Danzhu (丹朱), who was described to be cruel and stubborn. The Nation's supposed origin story was that when Emperor Yao passed his power to his successor Shun*  and sent his wayward son south to the Dan River (丹水) to rule over a state, Danzhu started a rebellion alongside the Sanmiao tribes... that got crushed by his father, and Danzhu threw himself into the Southern Sea (now the South China Sea) out of shame. He got turned into the Zhuniao (鴸鳥) for his trouble, and his descendants established the Nation of the Cheerful-Headed.
  • Food as Characterization: Several of the 36 Overseas Nations have their local diets recorded:
    • The peoples that eat millet include the Nation of White(-clothed) People, the Nation of the Three-Bodied, etc.
    • The Nation of the Fertile are said to be satiated by Fenghuang eggs.
    • The Nation of the Cheerful-Headed caught fish and shrimp on the shore and frequently ate white millet, lettuce, "grain planted before the previous crop has been harvested", and willow/poplar/aspen.
  • Friend to All Living Things: The Nation of the Fertile is, according to the Shanhaijing, a place where all beasts get along.
  • Gadgeteer Genius: The Nation of the Single-Limbed are said to be this, being able to make mechanisms to catch multitudes of beasts, and to build flying chariots so they can travel far with the wind.
  • Garden Garment: People of the Nation of Husbands (丈夫國/丈夫国, Zhàngfūguó) wear clothes made of tree-bark.
  • Inverted Trope: People of the Nation of the Three-Bodied, much like Geryon, invert the mythological convention of having a many-headed one-bodied creature/monster, and instead have three bodies and a single head.
  • Lilliputians: People of the Nation of Crossed Shins are said to be only four chi tall, which is equivalent to about 96 centimetres or 3'2".
  • National Geographic Nudity: The Nation of the Nude People has this, except it's to Chinese taboos rather than Western ones. According to Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals, when Yu the Great visited the country, he respected local tradition by taking off his clothes while within their borders, and only redressed after leaving the country.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Only by the virtue of language drift, which applies to Chinese as well. The so-called "Nation of White People" (as translated literally) actually refers to the white clothes the residents wear, not that they have white skin.
  • One-Gender Race:
    • The Nation of Husbands are said to be only populated by men, and reproduce asexually by having two sons split from the backs of their ribs while the original man dies in the birthing process.
    • The Nation of Women, located in an island in the middle of the sea, is said to be only populated by women. The women there become pregnant by either bathing in the Yellow Pool (according to Guo Pu and the Taiping Yulan) or gazing into a mystical well (according to The Book of Later Han). However, while boys can be born from the pregnancy, the Nation enforces Gendercide and kills off any male children when they turn three.
  • Stock Foreign Name: Sort of. Several of the Nations have their clan names (姓, xìng) recorded, implying the stock foreign names of people from these Nations are those clan names.
    • Nation of the Three-Bodied bearing the clan name Yáo (姚).
    • Nation of the Undying: Ā (阿, also transcribed as "Ah").
    • Nation of the White(-clothed) People: Xiāo (銷/销).
  • Two-Faced: The Nation of the Three-Headed have three heads, and subsequently three faces, three brains, and six eyes. This is utilized by Huangdi, who employs them to guard the Lánggān Tree with pearly jade fruit in the Kunlun Mountains, to prevent the Fenghuang from eating the jade.
  • The Unintelligible: The Nation of the Forked/Reversed Tongue has a "reversed" tongue (where the tip is at the throat), and speak a language which only they can understand.
  • Utopia: The Nation of the Fertile is possibly a version of this, as the land is fertile (hence the name), the people feast on Fenghuang eggs and sweet rain/dew-drops, and all beasts get along. It's also said to be a place where the Luan-bird sings and the Fenghuang dances, which only really happens in Chinese mythological paradises.
  • Wild Hair: The Nation of the White(-clothed) People are said to wear their hair loose, unlike their "civilized" Han Chinese contemporaries.

    Yeren (野人) 
Literally translated as the "wild man", the Yeren is a cryptid apeman which resides in remote mountainous regions.
  • Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: In the modern day, they're considered to be a bit like the Chinese equivalent of Bigfoot. In particular, Hubei Province capitalizes on the creature's infamy to attract tourists to its remote villages.
  • Frazetta Man: Somewhat like a Chinese version, the Yeren is said to be fast-moving, long-haired, and strong. They live in caves in the mountains and only descend to raid villages for food or for people to wed or rape.

Villainous and Antagonistic Figures

    Ao Guang (敖光) 
The evil Dragon King of the East Sea in Chinese belief. Was defeated by Nezha, which humbled him and made him end his villainous ways. He also appeared in different works including Fengshen Yanyi and Journey to the West, in the latter being tricked by Sun Wukong.
  • Butt-Monkey: He was first defeated by Nezha, a 7-year-old boy. Then, if Journey to the West is counted, Sun Wukong, a monkey, steals a pillar from his palace.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Is said to have undergone one after being defeated by Nezha.

    Dájǐ (妲己) 
Dájǐ was the favorite consort of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang Dynasty in ancient China. She is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit in legends as well as novels, though some Chinese historical books and records simply depict her as an exceptionally beautiful human woman (and attribute King Zhou with acts of cruelty associated with her). Her identification as a fox spirit seems to have originated from at least the Tang dynasty. These accounts have been popularized in works such as the Wu Wang Fa Zhou Pinghua, the Fengshen Yanyi, and the Lieguo Zhi. She is considered a classic example of how a beautiful woman can cause the downfall of a dynasty in Chinese culture.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Daji was supposedly best known for her invention of a method of torture known as the Bronze Toaster (炮烙), a bronze cylinder covered with oil heated like a furnace with charcoal beneath until its sides were extremely hot. The victim was forced to walk on top of the slowly heating cylinder, and was forced to shift their feet in order to not burn. The oily surface made it difficult for the victim to maintain their balance, and if the victim fell into the charcoal below, they would be burnt to death.
  • Females Are More Innocent: Inverted. On a meta level, traditional Chinese belief attributes her malicious personality to the fall of the Shang Dynasty, and uses this to claim that all women were evil and to justify cultural misogyny.
  • Foul Fox: She is sometimes identified with a malicious fox spirit, and... look at the other tropes attributed to her.
  • Love Ruins the Realm: It's widely believed that King Zhou's infatuation with Daji caused him to neglect state affairs and do whatever it takes to appease her, causing the kingdom to fall into ruin.
  • Sadist: She was said to have enjoyed torture and executions, allegedly laughing at them.
  • The Vamp: It's said that Daji's beauty caused King Zhou to become so infatuated with her that he started neglecting state affairs to be with her and would order embarrassing activities (e.g. nude hide-and-seek games in the Forest of Meat) and executions to make her amused or happy.

    Hundun (混沌) 
His name translated is "muddled confusion". Hundun is both a "legendary faceless being" in Chinese mythology as well as the "primordial and central chaos". He is one of the "Four Fiends", the others being Taotie ("gluttony"), Taowu ("ignorance") and Qiongqi ("deviousness").
  • Eldritch Abomination: Hundun, similar to Chaos in Classical Mythology, is a monster formed from the remnants of the proto-world that was not shaped into the ordered universe. Interpretations of what he is vary: he is sometimes an internal organ-less celestial dog, a faceless giant, a sentient force of nature, or even just a huge lump of flesh. All are Lovecraftian, but he is usually depicted as quite nice. In one story, two Emperors, Shu and Hu, thought that since they had holes in their bodies (eyes, mouth, nostrils, etc.), Hundun should have them as well. They thus drilled those holes in Hundun, killing him in the process. In other words, Hundun was an Eldritch Abomination that got punched out by overzealous public servants.
  • Primordial Chaos: One explanation for the creation of the world in Chinese mythology (yes, there are multiple creation myths) is that the universe was once a formless chaotic thing called Hundun. Two Emperors came across Hundun (somehow) and decided that Hundun should have seven holes in its body, since people have seven holes (a mouth, two nostrils, two ears, and either two eyes or the anus and the other one). They drilled the seven holes, and Hundun died, creating the universe.

    Xingtian (刑天) 
Chinese guardian deity who fought against the Supreme Divinity, not giving up even after the event of his decapitation. Losing the fight for supremacy, he was beheaded and his head buried in Changyang Mountain. Nevertheless, even without a head, with a shield in one hand and a battle axe in the other, he continues the fight, using his nipples as eyes and his belly-button as a mouth although they could not see. Due to symbolizing the indomitable spirit which maintains the will to resist no matter what tribulations one may undergo or what troubles one may encounter, Xingtian has been lauded in poetry and prose.
  • Back from the Dead: This god was so angry, he returned to life and resumed his fight.
  • Belly Mouth: Is described to have this after losing his head in battle, more specifically on his belly-button.
  • Determinator: Xingtian was beheaded after an attempt to overthrow the Supreme Divinity. The guy still kept at it with his rebellion, using his nipples and belly-button as eyes and mouths respectively, and running around with his axe and shield as if nothing happened.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: It is unknown what happened to him after he resumed his battle against the Supreme Divinity.

Mortals and Specific Characters

    Chang'e (嫦娥) 
A goddess who lives on the moon, thanks to her eating a pill of immortality meant for her husband Houyi.
  • God of the Moon: She's associated with moon, to which she was lifted after drinking an immortality elixir. In the modern day, she's the namesake of the Chinese lunar exploration program.
  • Moon Rabbit: One of her companions on the moon.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: She lives on the moon for perpetuity, overlooking humanity.

    The Cowherd (牛郎) and the Weaver Girl (織女) 
The main protagonists in the Chinese folktale "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl". While their story varies Depending on the Writer, one thing they have in common in all versions is that they are a pair of Star-Crossed Lovers, in the most literal sense. Once a year, however, during the Qixi (七夕) festival on seventh day of the seventh lunisolar month, a flock of magpies form a bridge (鵲橋) that crosses the river, allowing the lovers to meet.
In Mandarin, they are Niulang and Zhinü, respectively. Variants of this story can also be found in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese folklore, and the Qixi festival celebrated in their honour is better known on this site by its Japanese counterpart, Tanabata.
  • Multiple-Choice Past: The story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl and how they ended up in such a circumstance really depends on who you ask.
    • One of the more popular versions is that the Cowherd saw the immortal Weaver Girl and her six older sisters bathing in a river, and he stole her clothes in the meantime, a la The Swan Maiden. They fell in love eventually.
    • Another version from a Southern Dynasty author wrote that the Weaver Girl was the daughter of the Jade Emperor who wove heavenly clothes from the clouds, but wasn't particularly good-looking. Her father took pity on her and betrothed her to the Cowherd, but when the Weaver Girl started to abandon her duties, he was furious and separated the two lovers to the two sides of the Milky Way.
  • Rule of Seven: The Qixi festival takes place on the seventh day of the seventh lunisolar month, and is said to be the day the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are closest to each other such that they could meet again on the Bridge of Magpies. On top of that, in some versions, the Weaver Girl is the seventh and youngest daughter of the Jade Emperor.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Quite literally, as the two are represented by two stars in the sky and are separated by the Milky Way itself, unable to meet.
  • Stellification: The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl were forbidden from seeing one another and placed into the sky as the stars Altair and Vega, respectively, with the Silver River (銀河, the Milky Way) separating them forever.
  • Textile Work Is Feminine: The Weaver Girl, obviously. In ancient China, many women and girls, especially unmarried ones, would pray to her so they could have sharp eyes and quick hands for weaving and needlework.
  • Too Upset to Create: The Han dynasty poem "The Distant Cowherd Star"*  describes the Weaver Girl to be working on her loom in the duration of the year, but "all day long, the section remained unfinished, as her tears were as numerous as raindrops".note 

    Houyi (后羿) 
Chang'e's husband. He was responsible for slaying the sun-birds that were scorching the Earth. He also accomplished many heroic tasks while in the World slaying monsters and demons that threaten humanity.
  • The Exile: In some interpretations, after he had shot down nine of the Sun Crows, Emperor Di Jun stripped him of his immortality and banished him from Tian.
  • Master Archer: Houyi was essentially a combo of Hercules and Robin Hood on steroids, po the point that he is sometimes said to be the god of archery. He was able to take out nine Suns with arrows. And, in some versions, would have taken out the tenth and final Sun if it weren't for the Emperor reminding him that we still need at least one Sun to survive.
  • Mortality Ensues: When his wife drank the Elixir of Life, he was deprived of the chance to reclaim his godhood.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: In some variations of the Mid-Autumn Festival story, Houyi was proclaimed a hero-king by the people after shooting down the sun-birds and became a tyrant, and Chang'e consumed the Elixir of Life so that he could not subjugate the people to his cruelty forever.

    Jingwei (精衛) 
The daughter of Yandi who was transformed into a bird by Nüwa. She is also considered a goddess by some. After she drowned when playing in the Eastern Sea, she metamorphosed into a bird. Jingwei is determined to fill up the sea, so she continuously carries a pebble or twig in her mouth and drops it into the Eastern Sea.
  • Determinator: This is a girl whose goal is to render the seas shallow by filling it up with enough pebbles. She definitely qualifies for this trope.
  • Forced Transformation: Got turned into a bird.

    Nezha (哪吒) 
A Daoist deity that was born as a lump of flesh, which split open to reveal Nezha as a boy instead of an infant. He killed the third son of the Dragon King of the East Sea, who confronted Nezha and threatened to flood Chentang Pass and report Nezha to the Jade Emperor. To save his family, Nezha flayed and disemboweled himself to return his body to his parents. The Dragon King was moved by his filial piety and spared his family. Nezha was later brought back to life by his teacher, Taiyi Zhenren, who used lotus roots to construct a human body for his soul.

Other Figures

    Hua Mulan (花木蘭) 
Hua Mulan, a legendary or possibly fictional warrior woman from the Northern and Southern dynasties period of Chinese history, originally described in The Ballad of Mulan. In the ballad, Hua Mulan, disguised as a man, takes her aged father's place in the army. Mulan fought for twelve years and gained high merit, but she refused any reward and retired to her hometown. See the Ballad's page for more details about her.

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