Sacred Chinese animal. Animals of China
Chinese dragon
In Chinese mythology, four sacred creatures occupied a large place: the Dragon, the Tiger, the Phoenix and the Turtle. The Dragon was considered a symbol of spring and the east, the Phoenix - of summer and the south, the Tiger - of autumn and the west, and the Turtle - of winter and the north.
The Chinese's favorite mythical creature was the dragon. Although there were eyewitness accounts that dragons sometimes appeared in our space. Here is a description of the dragon, as it was depicted in paintings and described in books: the dragon’s eyes are like those of a rabbit, and the ears of a cow; long mustaches hang down, the body is like a snake, covered with scales; four tiger paws with eagle claws. The whole appearance of the monster is majestic and stern.
According to Chinese folk beliefs, mythical dragons were divided into four types of dragons: the heavenly dragon, guarding the abodes of the Gods; the divine dragon who sends wind and rain; the dragon of earth or water, which determines the direction and depth of rivers, seas and lakes, it does not rise into the sky and was known as the yellow dragon (huang-long); dragon guarding treasures. The dragon had the ability to transform, he could run, crawl, fly. The Chinese associated all incomprehensible natural phenomena with the tricks of the dragon. Images of the dragon in China can be seen everywhere to this day: in temples, in palaces, on obelisks, on many ancient buildings and on the walls of peasant houses. On the banks of rivers, lakes and seas, the Chinese built numerous idols in honor of the dragon.
In ancient myths, the popularity of the dragon is explained this way. One day, while at sea, the dragon king fell ill. No one from the water kingdom could cure him and the dragon king had to go to the people in the guise of an ancient old man, but none of the doctors could determine what kind of illness he had. Finally, he got to the famous doctor, who discovered from the old man’s pulse that his heart beats completely differently from that of people. The old man admitted that he was the king of dragons. The doctor said that he could identify and cure the disease if the old man turned into a dragon again. On the appointed day, the doctor came to the seashore and the dragon appeared above the waves. The doctor examined the dragon and discovered that a centipede had crawled under its scales, which was causing him severe pain. The doctor pulled out the centipede and the pain went away. As a token of gratitude for the healing, the dragon king promised to send good weather and prosperity to the people. Since then, every year on Healing Day, a dragon dance is performed throughout China.
In China, drought and floods have long brought ruin and hunger to the people. The same mythical dragon king could help in the fight against natural disasters. When there was a drought, local residents performed a ritual dragon dance, begging him to send rain. Numerous religious processions took place in honor of the dragon, especially during times of drought. Usually the figure of a dragon, made of blue fabric and illuminated by lanterns, was solemnly carried through the streets of the city. The dragon dance was performed to the sound of a gong, the beating of drums and the bursting of firecrackers. Banners of different colors were carried next to the monster. Yellow and white are wind and water; black and green clouds. One of the participants in the procession carried buckets filled with water on a yoke, sprinkled passers-by and said: “Come, O rain! Come, O rain! Along the procession's path, bonfires were laid on which sacrificial money was burned in honor of the dragon.
According to ancient myths, Chinese peasants in some regions of the country with willow wreaths on their heads, with incense candles and sacrificial money to the sound of a gong, went to the city dragon temple, where they performed an ancient ritual of worship and turned to the gods with a request to send rain:
Let the big rain pour down,
And a little rain - drop by drop.
O jade emperor,
O jade emperor!
O god of the city, O god of the earth!
Have mercy on us!
I hold willow branches in my hands,
Let the rain spill throughout the Celestial Empire!
In Chinese, this procession was called “prayer for rain” - qi-yu. Prolonged drought was seen as the dragon's refusal to send rain. Then they performed the ritual of “flagellation of the dragon”: a dragon made of clay was struck with a whip or a bamboo stick, demanding to send rain. The cloth dragon was torn into pieces, and the image of the “dragon king” was exposed to the scorching rays of the sun so that he could experience what the heat was like.
Judging by the rituals, these customs came from very distant antiquity, but, nevertheless, persisted until the first half of the twentieth century. So, in the city of Changchun in 1926, a similar prayer was performed with the participation of even Buddhist monks, and it ended in an Orthodox church, where everyone knelt together and prayed for rain, which speaks of the religious tolerance of the Chinese. It rained three days later.
To be continued...
Myths, religions, historical legends of China. Since the 5th century. BC. Confucianism begins its journey in China in the 1st century AD. Buddhism comes, brings its ideas and myths. At the same time, Taoism began to spread in China. In the first centuries AD. ancient mythology was finally supplanted by the edifying historical tradition of these teachings and religions. As a result, about 500-600 deities, official and popular, appeared. A special group among them were the deities of nature, whose ideas partly included ancient myths. But most often, the characters of primitive myths received a new life as virtuous or bad kings, dignitaries, and learned magicians.
But the myths themselves were not written down in their entirety, and were not continued in any cycles of legends, like among other peoples. Mythical motifs were pushed into the background of tradition and remained mostly in folklore.
From written sources where traces of myths have been preserved, we should name the “Book of Mountains and Seas,” which contains information about mythical mountains and creatures, and the poem “Questions and Answers,” which contains a list of questions relating to various characters of ancient myths.
Worship of Heaven, Sun, Moon, Earth. The main object of the imperial cult was Heaven. It was thought of as a deity who punished misdeeds and rewarded good deeds. The people were declared to be the herald of the will of Heaven. Altars to Heaven were built in large cities. Their shape should always have been round, and the temples should have been located in the southern part of the imperial estate city. These temples were necessarily covered with tiles the color of heavenly azure. Clothes of the same color were to be sewn for the dignitaries who participated in the worship of Heaven. A staircase with nine steps led to the temple. The shapes of the remaining altars had to be square, and placed in other strictly defined sides from the palace.
Sacrifices were made to the sun on the day of the spring equinox, its temple and altar were red, the clothes of the participants in the sacrifice were the same color, and they were decorated with corals. The moon was worshiped on an altar of white stones, and was done in robes of “moon white”, decorated with turquoise.
The ceremonial clothes of the emperors were decorated with images of the sun and moon. On the imperial robe, a light solar disk adorned the right shoulder, and a dark lunar disk adorned the left.
The worship of Heaven and Earth has long been part of the wedding ritual. The newlyweds in the groom's house began the holiday at the family altar, where they took turns bowing to the spirits of Heaven and Earth, the Sun and the Moon. This tradition still exists in the villages. The ritual of worshiping Heaven and Earth, as well as the ancestors of the groom, is considered an official notification of the marriage.
Mythological creatures (animals) in beliefs. The Chinese have preserved and even expanded mythological ideas about various fantastic creatures and the special properties of many real animals.
The Dragon. The main “hero” of mythology is the dragon. To this day he remains the personification of the water element. It is believed that as a larva it overwinters in frozen waters. And in the spring it soars into the skies, and its breath pours out like abundant rain.
To this day he is represented and depicted as a fantastic creature: he has the body of a snake, which is covered with golden carp scales. According to legends, 117 dragon scales have beneficial powers, and 36 are capable of causing harm. The belly of a dragon is like a frog. It has tiger-like paws with four or five claws and a hairy tail. The dragon's head looks even more outlandish: it has the ears of a cow, the eyes of a hare, a mustache and a long beard. Hidden in the beard is a “magic pearl” - a symbol of sunshine. The dragon loves precious stones and does not like iron.
Dragons have become a part of Chinese symbolism. Thus, two dragons, ascending and descending, who fight among themselves for the “fiery pearl”, personify imperial power. According to legend, the first kings of the world possessed a pair of dragons on which they could ascend to heaven. The ceremonial clothes of the emperors were also decorated with embroideries depicting dragons.
Dragon figurines are found in excavations dating back to the ancient Chinese kingdoms of the 1st millennium BC.
Unicorn. According to legend, it was the unicorn who carried on his back and passed on to the founder of the civilization and culture of Fusi the signs from which the writings originated. The unicorn itself has the body of a deer, the hooves of a horse, the tail of a bull, and a large horn growing from its forehead. His voice is strong and beautiful, reminiscent of a bell. The unicorn feeds only on dry grass, has a very gentle disposition, and cannot be caught. He appears before people only in times of general happiness and prosperity. The last time a unicorn was seen was shortly before the death of the ancient sage of the 6th-5th centuries. BC. Confucius, and he complained that the appearance of the wonderful beast was in vain, because the good morals of antiquity could not be resurrected.
Fenghuang bird. Like the unicorn, she appears to people only in times of great peace. It feeds on bamboo seeds. They think that she has the crop of a swallow, the beak of a chicken, the neck of a snake and the tail of a fish. Its plumage is very beautiful, it has five lucky colors - white, red, yellow, blue, black. It was considered the emblem of the empress in the Middle Ages.
Turtle. As we remember, the turtle was an important character in ancient Chinese myths associated with the creation of the world. The image of intertwined turtles has long symbolized the creation of the world. It has become a symbol of longevity, strength and endurance. Her statue often served as the basis for stone monument steles on graves.
There is still a mythical explanation for why the tortoise has such an unusual shell: the wise tortoise helped Fusi to hunt down Nuiva, who was running away from him, for which she broke the tortoise’s shell. Fusi again had to assemble it from separate pieces.
Fish in China still symbolize abundance and harmony. And birds - freedom and joy.
Mythological characters in reliefs, paintings, and popular prints. Most of all, the themes and heroes of mythological tales are represented precisely in the artistic creativity of the Chinese. They can be found on ancient clay and bronze vessels that were used in rituals of sacrifice to the gods.
In ancient times, on both sides of the road that led to the tomb of a noble person, there could be stone sculptures of mythical animals. In the first centuries of our era, the figures of Fusi paired with Nyuwa began to decorate the reliefs of burial structures. They are presented there in the form of a pair of similar creatures with human torsos and intertwined snake (dragon) tails, which symbolizes marriage.
Figurines of mythical creatures were (and still are) installed on the ridges and eaves of house roofs. And in the south of China, the houses of one clan or family form continuous concentric circles, reminiscent of a coiled dragon.
They used things and decorations with mythological themes at weddings. For example, the families of the bride and groom gave each other marriage guarantees, which were written on lucky red pieces of paper decorated with images of a dragon and a magic bird. Gifts were sent in special red boxes. Usually the bride's face was hidden by a veil of red silk with an image of a dragon to protect the newlywed from the evil eye. The bride moved to the groom's house in a special red palanquin. Thus, in one of the provinces a wedding palanquin has been preserved. It was decorated with wooden carvings depicting 20 pairs of magical phoenix birds, 36 dragons, 54 cranes (symbols of longevity), and 250 other mythological characters.
Silk clothes were embroidered with figures of mythical characters. In China, from ancient times to the present day, every girl is taught the art of silk embroidery.
Mythological gems. Of all the precious and semi-precious stones, Chinese craftsmen still give preference to jasper - the embodiment of the creative power of Heaven and all human virtues. In ancient times, jasper was considered so sacred that they limited themselves to minimal processing of the stone, giving it a round (symbol of Heaven) or square (symbol of the Earth) shape. Such jasper disks and plates were used in religious ceremonies. A piece of jasper in the shape of a cicada was placed in the mouth of the deceased, since the cicada, coming to life after hibernation, was for the ancient Chinese the personification of eternal life. In addition, the clothes of the deceased were fastened with jasper clasps in the form of dragons or fish.
The jasper seal was a mandatory accessory of the Chinese emperor and his dignitaries. Until now, a personal seal remains a mandatory property of every Chinese. Nowadays they are made from jasper for any person. But they are still decorated with figures of mythical animals or deities.
At one time, only the emperor could use objects made of white jasper, or “jasper like mutton fat” - the most beautiful and valuable. A story has been preserved from the Middle Ages about how one emperor acquired a piece of white jasper, in which he saw the figure of a dragon fighting two dogs. He called the master, and he said that he saw the image of a carp swimming in the green waters of the Heavenly Palace. After some time, the master presented the finished product to the emperor, and it turned out that the sawdust remaining from processing this piece barely covered one coin with a thin layer.
Since ancient times, jasper has been used to make figurines of mythical creatures, animals - dragons, birds, turtles, unicorns, pairs of fish. And now the Chinese keep their love for this stone. And if a person is compared to jasper, it means that they see him as a great scientist and sage.
Modern folk ideas about mythological characters. Orally, some myths exist among the population of Chinese provinces even today. Thus, experts on the expedition wrote down the legend about Fusi and Nuiva. They turned into myths into brother and sister who escaped the flood, then married to revive lost humanity. They think that Nüwa gave birth to exactly one hundred shapeless lumps of flesh, from which came the human race, called in Chinese “one hundred surnames.”
Fuxi is also believed to have pioneered the invention of the musical instrument se, or lute. The instrument had a square bottom, symbolizing the Earth, and a round top, symbolizing Heaven. The zither had five strings, symbolizing the five world elements, a large head, symbolizing the ruler, and a thin neck - the people. The sound of large strings denoted the voice of the ruler, and small ones - the voice of the people. Beautiful music could be born if the large and small strings were in perfect harmony.
Musical techniques still bear names reminiscent of mythological creatures: “a dragon soars in the sky,” “a turtle emerges from the water.”
Finally, the same Fuxi invented the culinary art in China. And in the names of some of the 5,000 dishes you can hear echoes of myths. For example, “The fight between the dragon and the tiger” is prepared from three types of poisonous snakes, a wild cat and many spices.
Mythological plots in literature. Ancient myths are not widely reflected in Chinese literature. Their themes are found only in individual small poems of the Middle Ages, as well as in “The Tale of the Beginning of the World,” which arose in the 12th century, where there are stories about Pangu and Nüwa.
The most remarkable example of the modern use of such plots is Lu Xun’s essay “Old Stories in a New Presentation.” The author retells in them the story of the Heavenly Arrow Yi and his wife Chang'e, the story of the flood suppressor Yue and others.
So, myths in China continue to live most of all in folk ideas, rituals and traditions. They show the centuries-old respect of the Chinese for the ancient sources of their own history and culture.
Since ancient times, dragons in Chinese culture symbolize the levels of the hierarchy of reigning persons. Legend has it that the Dragon has nine sons: the eldest son Qiu Niu is fond of music, the second son Yai Zi loves to kill, the third son Chao Feng loves risk, the fourth son Ba Xia is able to bear heavy burdens, the fifth son Bi Han loves trials and justice, the sixth son Chi Wen loves to destroy, seventh son Tao Tie is a glutton, eighth son Jin Ni loves fireworks, and ninth son Pu Lao loves ringing and echoing.
The Dragon. Photo: en.secretchina.com
The fourth son has the appearance of a turtle with the head of a dragon, and people call him the turtle dragon. The goddess Nu Wa once supported the collapsing sky with the help of Ba Xia. Like a dragon carrying a heavy burden, it protects people from disasters and misfortunes, protects homes, brings happiness to the house, blesses people with good luck and happiness. The dragon is associated with the masculine principle and is the most sacred creature among the Chinese. It also symbolizes energy, strength, skill and abundance.
Phoenix
Phoenix means "King of Birds" and is the most famous sacred bird of ancient China. The chicken in the Chinese horoscope, which consists of 12 animals, is actually the Phoenix. Originally, the Phoenix, also known as the Sun Bird or Fire Phoenix, represented the masculine, while the Dragon was associated with the feminine, symbolizing aquatic creatures. However, Emperor Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty claimed that he was reincarnated from a white dragon. Since the Emperor is the Son of Heaven, the Dragon and Phoenix switched roles, and the association with the female gender changed to male.
Phoenix. Photo: en.secretchina.com
The Phoenix then adopted feminine characteristics and became the symbol of the Empress. For several thousand years, the Phoenix has symbolized beauty, happiness, kindness, tranquility, strength, nature, and also, following God's will, advocates the development of the humanities, which lead to peace and clarity. Sometimes the Phoenix is used as a metaphor to express the devoted love between husband and wife, or people who are blessed with a happy marriage.
Turtle
The Chinese were deeply convinced that due to the complex patterns and lines on the shell, the Turtle kept many secrets of heaven and earth. Thus, the Turtle became a symbol of the mystery and richness of the national culture. It also symbolizes long life. People usually use the metaphor "age of the tortoise" or "age of the crane" when talking about longevity. Since ancient times, people have respected the Turtle, she became a prophet, a spiritual being. If you place a jade turtle figurine in your home, it can balance Yin and Yang, regulate magnetic fields and act as a magnet for good luck. A jade tortoise can also serve as a home guard to ensure its safety and well-being.
Turtle. Photo: en.secretchina.com
Qi-Lin
Males are called Qi and females are called Lin. Qi Lin looks very unusual: the head of a dragon, the antlers of a deer, the hooves of a horse, the tail of a bull, the forehead of a wolf and a body covered with multi-colored scaly skin. Legend says that any Qi Lin can bring good luck. In traditional Chinese culture, this is an auspicious sign that shows that “Qi Lin is entering her prime.” People believe that Qi Lin is considered a sacred being who can protect from harm, dispel evil, protect the home and bring good luck, as well as help in career advancement. Qi Lin figurines are given as a sign of gratitude, friendship, blessing, and also when they want to show strength and competence.
Qi-Lin. Photo: en.secretchina.com
Pi Xiu
Pi Xiu is a creature from Chinese mythology. Also called Bi Xie, which means "to ward off evil", Pi Xiu guards the northern part of China. There are several varieties of this beast.
The animal with one horn is called Tian Lu, and the beast with two horns is known as Bi Xie. It has small wings, a curly tail, a mane and a goatee. It is believed that Pi Xiu is a sacred animal because the more it opens its mouth, the more money you will receive. The larger his belly becomes, the more money it contains. People like Pi Xiu because he has an unusual mouth that symbolizes the safety of money. People strive to be like Pi Xiu, not to spend a lot of money, not to be wasteful, and strive for success.
Pi Xiu is believed to be interested in foreign exchange, stocks, finance, horse racing, futures and other types of money channels that are governed by luck. Consequently, when working in business, people place Pi Xiu statues in the company office or workplace. However, Pi Xiu does not work for those who break the law or commit crimes, as it is a spiritual being.
You, my readers, are sincere people who want to learn a lot. And I really want to help you. So try to use my book wisely so as not to harm yourself and others. The famous proverb is true: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I hope you find the right path.
And I promise to guide you along it from the very beginning to the very end.
Feng Shui classics
Heritage of Ancient China
We can only guess what knowledge people had in ancient times. There are practically no written monuments from those times, only legends that were passed down from generation to generation. What we know today as feng shui also originally existed only in oral tradition. But ask the question: can incorrect knowledge persist? Will it be so carefully passed on to descendants? If some teaching does not work or works poorly, then it will die safely. Feng Shui not only did not die, it was able to become the only knowledge about the harmonization of the external environment and the inner world of a person that has been used in China for thousands of years.
China is a huge country with very diverse climatic conditions. In the north, residents constantly suffered from severe winds, in the south - from terrible floods, and where the main soil was composed of loess (this is a fine-grained yellow calcareous rock) - from constant and suffocating dust storms. Unlike Russia, where people mostly live on the plains, China cannot be imagined without mountains. Look at any Chinese landscapes that are sold in art stores - these are mountain landscapes. Mountains in China protect people from the wind, from raging rivers, and from annoying sand. In addition, and every schoolchild knows this, if there are mountains, then the structure of the earth’s crust in such an area is very heterogeneous. Thus, people were forced to learn to understand where they could safely build a house, and where it was better not to do so. Water and rivers bring life, they give people the opportunity to grow plants. But at the same time, China's rivers are dangerous. They sometimes flooded large areas, washed away homes in a furious rush, and people died in their turbulent streams. Therefore, the Chinese are accustomed to treating water with respect. It is from these two components - the characteristics of life in mountainous areas and the ability to control the element of water - that the teaching of Feng Shui was formed.
Life for a Chinese was dangerous and harsh. And he had to locate his house so that in winter it would not tremble from the icy wind, and in the spring he would not perish in the elements of the water flow. In Luoyang, for example, where the soil is composed of loess and the terrain is quite flat, a whole network of tunnel houses was built to escape dust storms. In the south, they tried to live on the slopes, because otherwise the houses would be destroyed or flooded by raging rivers. Each area has its own difficulties. The nature of China is very beautiful, but it is difficult to survive in this beauty if you do not learn to seek harmony with the world around you. And the Chinese intuitively found the optimal location for any building. They began to build houses so that they stood, as it were, halfway to the top: low enough to protect themselves from the wind, and high enough to escape the water. Translated from Chinese, “feng shui” means “wind and water.” What else does a person need for well-being, prosperity and a long, happy life? If only there was water to water the crops and harvest fruits, there would be a mountain to save them from the winter cold... People saw that some houses give their owners protection, while others lead to quick death. Why? They noticed what a bad house looked like and what a good one looked like, paid attention to the smallest details: where the door and windows go, how the walls are located, what angles they form, whether there are trees near the house, whether there is enough water there, what kind of water it is, standing or running , - everything mattered to them. If they saw that their house did not bring prosperity, they tried to change its appearance so that it would become one with nature, would not disturb the harmony of the world, and would resemble the image of an ideal house that serves its owners faithfully. While the area was not very densely populated, it was possible to choose a house location that would give a person advantages. But the population grew. China is now the most populous country in the world. There were many inhabitants there even in ancient times. And gradually it became necessary not only to be able to choose a good place for development, but to improve one that was not ideal. And so it appeared a special science of creating an ideal home in extreme conditions - feng shui.
So Feng Shui is not an abstract invention of an idle mind, not a religious doctrine. This is the simple knowledge of ordinary people, based on the experience of thousands of years. Collected together, this knowledge has become something between science and art. Science - because they are based on systematic observations of natural phenomena. Art - because not everyone can master Feng Shui. It would be foolish to think that anyone can become a specialist in this field of knowledge. Judge for yourself: one person is able to draw beautifully, while another, no matter how hard he tries, cannot even draw a straight line. It’s the same with Feng Shui: someone catches the techniques of this art on the fly, he sees the defects and advantages of the area, he does not need special instruments to understand what problems exist in the house; and the other person tries, but sees nothing until it is explained to him. The fact is that Feng Shui techniques are not difficult to master with enough practice. But not everyone’s eyes open. The ability to correctly see and assess a situation is given on an intuitive level. Some people are capable of this, others are not. That is why many people know the Feng Shui technique, but not many know how to actually change living conditions, make them safer, more comfortable, and turn the shortcomings of a house into its advantages.
Four sacred animals
China is a country with a rich and very developed mythology. Open any Chinese book and you will see that mythological stories are so closely intertwined with real life as nowhere else in the world. Four mythological figures are involved in feng shui: Tiger, Dragon, Phoenix and Turtle (Figure 1).
Rice. 1. Four mythical animals - Tiger, Dragon, Phoenix, Turtle
Each of them has its own properties. The Dragon has monstrous strength, bloodthirsty, unbridled. This image reflects the destructive forces of the earth: the Dragon moved - an earthquake began, breathed heat from its mouth - it incinerated the settlement. Mountainous China was the perfect place for these fabulous creatures to live: many mountains resembled the outlines of dragons, and people knew which parts of the “dragon’s body” were suitable for building houses and which ones would bring misfortune. The image of the Dragon is the most striking and widespread in the fine arts and literature of China. Even the Chinese called drought the Sleeping Dragon, and flood the Angry Dragon. There was a ritual of feeding the River Dragon: so that the rivers overflowing their banks would spare the settlement, beautiful girls were brought as gifts to the Dragon. And until the end of the 16th century, peasants talked about their very real encounters with this fictional creature. So it is not surprising that the central figure in feng shui is the Dragon. The fear of earthquakes was reflected in the advice not to build houses on the Dragon's tail: the Dragon can move its tail and destroy a person. The head of the Dragon is also unsafe: living next to its brain is very good, but there is also a mouth here, one careless movement and you will die in this mouth. And there was nothing to even think about life in the monster’s mouth - he would devour and not notice. Feng Shui Dragon - green, because it was the greenery of the forests that covered the dragon mountains.
One of the three largest countries in the world in terms of the size and diversity of wild animals is China. Having a huge scale of the state, which animals V China only they don’t live: foxes, lynxes, wolves and bears, these are residents of the taiga part.
Jeyran
Beautiful, slender inhabitants of desert areas are gazelle antelopes. On numerous photo of animals in China you can see all the beauty and grace of the gazelle. Males are distinguished from females by their unusual, lyre-shaped horns.
Dzheyrans live, strictly following only their schedule. In early autumn, males begin the rut, that is, territorial division. An interesting sight: the males, having dug out a small depression with their hoofs, deposit their excrement in it, thereby staking out a place. Another, more impudent one, digs them up, pulls them out and puts his own aside, noting that he is now the boss here.
Goitered gazelles winter in flocks, but they do not go high into the mountains, since their slender legs cannot tolerate deep snow. And with the onset of spring, the females leave to seek shelter for themselves and their future offspring.
For the first seven days, newborn babies lie tightly pressed to the ground and stretch out their heads, camouflaging themselves from predators, of which they have a lot. When a mother comes to feed her babies with her milk, she does not immediately approach them.
At first she will look around with caution. Noticing a threat to the life of the cub, she will fearlessly rush at the enemy, killing him with her head and sharp hooves. On hot summer days, in order to shelter from the heat, goitered gazelles look for a tree or bush to hide in the shade, and then move around this shade all day long.
Panda
The well-known bamboo bears, these animals are symbol China, they are officially declared national property. In the ninetieth year of the last century animal contributed to Red book China like an endangered species. After all, there are only one thousand and a half of them left in nature, and about two hundred live in the country’s zoos.
Due to their black and white color, they were previously called spotted bears. And now, if we literally translate the name of the animal from Chinese, it is “cat-bear”. Many zoological naturalists see the panda as similar to a raccoon. These bears grow over one and a half meters in length and weigh an average of 150 kg. Males, as often happens in nature, are larger than their females.
They have a very interesting structure of their front paws, or rather their toes; they are six-toed, so they can easily pick up young bamboo branches with them. After all, an animal needs to eat up to thirty kilograms of plants per day for full development.
Their color is very beautiful, white body, on the muzzle around the eyes there is black wool in the form of a “pince-nez”. Pandas' ears and paws are also black. But no matter how pretty they look, you need to be careful with them. Still, wild nature makes itself felt, and a bear can easily attack a person.
Pandas inhabit bamboo forests and feed on them, very rarely diluting their diet with rodents or grass. Due to the massive cutting down of bamboo, pandas are climbing further into the mountains.
Bears are used to living alone, with the exception of mothers with children. They can live together for up to two years, then go their separate ways. In the Celestial Empire, pandas are highly valued and protected, and those who, God forbid, kill a bear are strictly punished by law; for this, a person is sentenced to death.
Himalayan bear
An unusually beautiful animal belonging to the category of predators. Himalayan bears, also called white-breasted or moon bears. This is because each of them has a snow-white spot on its chest in the shape of an inverted crescent moon.
The animal itself is smaller in size than its usual counterpart, black in color. Their fur is very soft and plush. They have neat small rounded ears and a long nose. These bears are frequent guests in trees, where they feed and hide from ill-wishers.
Although they are considered predators, their diet consists of 70 percent vegetation. If they want meat, the bear will catch an ant or a toad; it can also eat carrion. When meeting people, the animal behaves extremely unfriendly. There have been cases of fatal collisions.
Orongo
They are Chiru or Tibetan antelopes, coming from the goat family of bovids. Artiodactyls have a very valuable fur coat, so they often become victims of poachers. They are caught and killed en masse, and it is estimated that the number of such animals is just over seventy thousand.
Tibetan antelopes are almost a meter tall and weigh forty kilograms. Males differ from females in their larger size, the presence of horns and stripes on their front legs. Chiru's horns take about four years to grow and grow up to half a meter in length. Orongo is brown with a red tint, a white belly and a black muzzle.
These artiodactyls live in small families, a male and up to ten females. After the calves are born, the male cubs live with their parents for about a year, then leave to gather their harems.
Girls will stay close to their mother until they become mothers themselves. The number of antelopes decreases every year; over the last century there have been one million fewer of them.
Przewalski's horse
In 78 of the 19th century, the great traveler and naturalist N.M. Przhevalsky was given a gift, the remains of an unknown animal. Without thinking twice, he sent them to his biologist friend to examine them. During the course it turned out that this was a wild horse unknown to science. It was described in detail and named after the person who discovered it and did not ignore it.
Currently they are on the pages of the Red Book as an endangered species. The Przewalski's horse no longer lives in the wild, only in zoos and protected areas. There are no more than two thousand of them around the world.
The animal is one and a half meters high and two meters long. Its parameters are a bit like those of a donkey - a strong body, short legs and a large head. The horse weighs no more than four hundred kilograms.
She has a short mane, like the hair on a punk's head, and her tail, on the contrary, reaches to the ground. The horse is light brown in color, with black legs, tail and mane.
During its habitat in the wild, large herds inhabited the territory of China. They were never able to domesticate her, even living in captivity, she retained all the habits of a wild animal. In search of food, horses led a nomadic lifestyle.
In the morning and evening they grazed, and at lunchtime they rested. Moreover, only women and children did this, while their leader, the father of the family, walked around the surrounding areas in order to detect the enemy in time and protect his family. Naturalists have made attempts to return horses to their natural environment, but, unfortunately, none of them were successful.
White Tiger
IN Chinese there are four mythologies sacred animals, one of them is a white tiger. He personified power, severity and courage, and was often depicted in paintings wearing military chain mail.
These tigers descended from Bengal tigers, but having mutated in utero, they acquired an absolutely snow-white color. Out of a thousand Bengal tigers, only one will be white. Coffee-colored stripes run throughout the animal’s snow-white fur coat. And his eyes are like the sky blue.
In 1958 of the last century, the last representative of this family was killed, and after that there were no more of them in the wild. Just over two hundred white tigers live in the country's zoos. And to get to know the animal better, there is nothing left to do but leaf through magazines and surf the Internet in search of information.
Kiang
Animals belonging to the equine family. They inhabit all the mountains of Tibet, which is why they are not very loved by the locals. Because due to their large numbers, livestock have no room left for grazing.
Kiangi is one and a half meters high and two meters long. They weigh on average three hundred to four hundred kg. They have an unusually beautiful body color; in winter they are almost chocolate-colored, and by summer they lighten to light brown. A dark stripe runs from the mane, along the entire length of the spine and to the tail. And his belly, sides, legs, neck and lower part of the muzzle are completely white.
Kiangs do not live alone; the number of their groups ranges from 5 to 350 individuals. In a large herd, there is a predominant number of mothers and children, as well as young animals, both males and females.
At the head of the pack, as a rule, is a mature, wise and strong female. Male kiangs lead a bachelor lifestyle, and only with the arrival of cold weather do they gather in small groups.
From mid-summer, they begin to become sexually active; they join herds with females and organize exhibition fights among themselves. The winner wins the lady of his heart, impregnates her and goes home.
After a year of pregnancy, only one calf is born. He stands firmly on all four hooves and follows his mother everywhere. Kiangs are excellent swimmers, so it is not difficult for them to swim across any body of water in search of food.
It becomes sad and even ashamed for the actions of people, through whose fault almost all of the animals described above are now in critical condition and on the verge of extinction.
Chinese giant salamander
A miraculous creature, even difficult to compare with anyone or anything, lives in the icy, clean mountain rivers of northern, eastern and southern China. It feeds exclusively on meat - fish, small crustaceans, frogs and other small things.
It is not only the largest, but also the most unusual amphibian in the whole world. The salamander grows almost two meters long and weighs more than sixty kg. The head, like the entire body, is large, wide and slightly flattened.
On both sides of the head, far from each other, there are tiny eyes that have no eyelids at all. The salamander has four limbs: two front ones, with three flattened fingers, and two back ones, each with five fingers. And also the tail, it is short, and like all salamanders, it is also flattened.
The upper part of the amphibian’s body is gray-chocolate in color; due to the non-uniform color and highly pimpled skin of the animal, it appears spotted. Her belly is painted with dark and light gray spots.
By the age of five years, the salamander is ready to reproduce. About half a thousand babies are born from its larvae. They are born three centimeters long. Their external gill membranes are already sufficiently developed for a full-fledged existence.
The Chinese giant salamander, like many animals in China, is listed in the Red Book as an endangered species. This is facilitated by natural and human factors.
Recently, in an isolated mountain cave with a spring, a two-hundred-year-old salamander was discovered. She was one and a half meters long and weighed 50 kg.
Bactrian camel
He is also a Bactrian or haptagai (this means domestic and wild), of all camelids he is the largest. Camels are unique animals because they feel absolutely comfortable both in the scorching sun and in the frosty winter.
They cannot tolerate dampness at all, so their habitat is the hot regions of China. Camels can go without liquid for a whole month, but when they find a life-giving source, they can easily drink up to one hundred liters of water.
The humps are an indicator of satiety and sufficient moisture in the body. If everything is in order with the animal, then they stand straight as soon as they sag, which means that the camel should refuel well.
Back in the 19th century, the great traveler Przhevalsky, already familiar to us, described it, which suggests that two-humped camels are the most ancient of their entire family. Their numbers in the wild are decreasing at a rapid pace, and natural biologists are sounding the alarm, doubting that even the measures taken to save them may not help them.
Little panda
The one that really looks like a raccoon is the red or red panda. The Chinese call it “fire cat”, “bear cat”, and the French called it in their own way – “brilliant cat”.
Back in the 8th century, the historical chronicles of ancient China mentioned a “cat-bear”. And then only in the 19th century, during another expedition by a naturalist from England T. Hardwick, the animal was noticed, studied and described.
For a very long time, the red panda could not be attributed to any species; it was either attributed to raccoons or bears. After all, the red panda's muzzle looks like a raccoon, but it walks just like a bear cub, bending its furry paws inward. But then, after carefully studying the animal at the genetic level, they identified it as a separate family - the little panda family.
Wonderful animals live in densely overgrown coniferous and bamboo forests. Unlike giant pandas, they eat not only bamboo, but also leaves, berries, and mushrooms. He loves bird eggs very much, stealing them from the nest.
Don’t mind catching a fish in a pond or an insect flying by. Animals go in search of food in the morning and evening, and during the day they lie down on branches or hide in empty hollows of trees.
Pandas live in a temperate climate with an air temperature of no higher than twenty-five degrees Celsius; due to their long fur, they practically cannot tolerate much. On too hot days, animals collapse on tree branches with their paws hanging down.
This cute little animal is half a meter long, and its tail is forty centimeters long. With a beautiful round red face, white ears, eyebrows and cheeks, and a small white nose with a black spot. The eyes are black, like two coals.
The red panda has a very long, soft and fluffy coat of an interesting combination of colors. Her body is dark red with a brown tint. The belly and paws are black, and the tail is red with a light transverse stripe.
Chinese river dolphin
A rare species, which, unfortunately, is already doomed. After all, there are about ten of them left. All attempts to save dolphins in artificial conditions as close as possible to natural conditions failed; not a single individual took root.
River dolphins were listed in the Red Book back in 75 of the last century as an endangered species. This year, a special commission in China officially declared this species extinct.
They are inhabitants of shallow rivers and lakes in eastern and central China. River dolphins were also called flag-bearing dolphins, since their dorsal fin is small and shaped like a flag.
This mammal was first discovered in the 18th century. The dolphin's shape was more like a whale, with a blue-gray body and a white belly. Its length is from one and a half to two and a half meters, and its weight is from 50 to 150 kg.
The river dolphin differed from the sea dolphin in its rostrum-beak (i.e. nose), it was curved upward. He ate river fish, which he took from the river bottom using his beak. The dolphin led a daytime life, and at night preferred to rest somewhere in shallow water.
They lived in pairs, and the mating season occurred at the end of winter - the beginning of spring. The female dolphins are believed to have carried their pregnancies for just under a year. They gave birth to only one meter-long baby dolphin, and not every year.
The baby couldn’t swim at all, so his mother held him with her fins for some time. They have poor eyesight but good echolocation, thanks to which he could navigate perfectly in muddy water.
Chinese alligator
One of the four sacred animals of China. Rare, critically endangered species. After all, there are two hundred of them left in nature. But in nature reserves, caring people managed to preserve and reproduce reptiles, and there there are almost ten thousand of them.
As often happens, “diligent” poachers have caused the extinction of alligators. Currently, the Chinese alligator lives in eastern China on the banks of a river called the Yangtze.
They differ from crocodiles in a slightly smaller size; on average, they grow to one and a half meters tall reptiles, with a long tail and short limbs. They are gray with a reddish tint. The entire back is covered with armor - ossified growths.
From mid-autumn to early spring, alligators hibernate. Having awakened, they will lie for a long time and warm up in the sun, restoring their body temperature.
Chinese alligators are the calmest of the entire crocodile family, and if they happen to attack a person, it is only in self-defense.
Golden snub-nosed monkey
Or Roxellan's rhinopithecus, its species is also on the pages of the Red Book. There are no more than 15,000 monkeys left in the wild. They live in mountain forests at altitudes from 1000 to 3000 meters and never go lower. They eat only vegetarian food; their diet includes twigs, leaves, cones, moss, and bark.
These monkeys are of unusual beauty; first of all, I would like to describe its face: it is blue in color, with an absolutely flattened nose so that even its nostrils are elongated. Light ears stick out to the side, and in the center of the head there is a black hair like a punk's. And the cubs look like little Yetties, light-colored and with long hair.
The monkey's body is golden-red in color, its length is seventy centimeters, the length of its tail is the same. Males grow up to fifteen kilograms, while females are almost twice as large.
David's Deer
In the 18th century, one Chinese emperor donated deer to zoos in three countries: the Germans, the French and the British. But only in Great Britain did the animals take root. There weren't many of them in the wild.
In the 19th century, the French zoologist Armand David, in the garden of this emperor, found the remains of two long-dead adults and a baby deer. He immediately sent them to Paris. Everything there was carefully examined, described and given a name.
This is how the hitherto unknown deer began to be called by the proud name of David. Today they can only be found in zoos and nature reserves, particularly in China.
The animal is large in size, weighing two hundred kilograms and one and a half meters in height. In the summer, their fur is brown with a red tint; by winter it becomes grayer in color. Their antlers are slightly curved towards the back and deer change them twice a year. Female David's deer are generally antlerless.
South China tiger
He is the smallest and fastest of all tigers. In pursuit of prey, its speed is 60 kilometers per hour. This wild cat is 2.5 meters long and weighs on average 130 kg. The Chinese tiger is one of ten animals that are becoming extinct at a catastrophic rate.
It lives and has lived in nature only in China. But for the sake of preserving the species, many zoos have housed these endangered animals. And, lo and behold, in our century, in a reserve in Africa, a baby was born, the heir to the family of South Chinese tigers.
Brown eared pheasant
These unique birds inhabit the northern and eastern forests of China. At this time, most of them are in captivity, as they are on the verge of extinction.
They are the largest of their family, with a plump body and a long velvety tail. Their legs are quite short, powerful, and like roosters, they have spurs. They have a small head, a slightly curved beak and a red muzzle.
On the top of the head there is a cap of feathers and, of course, ears, which is how these birds got their name. Externally, the male and female are no different.
These birds are moderately calm except during mating periods, then they become very aggressive and, in a fever, can fly at a person. Females lay eggs either in holes they dug or on the bottoms of bushes and trees.
White-handed gibbon
Gibbons live in the south and west of China, in dense tropical forests. Primates spend almost their entire lives in trees, being born, growing up, aging and dying. They live in families; the male chooses a female once and for life. This is how mom and dad, children of different ages, perhaps even elderly individuals, live.
The female white-handed gibbon gives birth to one baby only once every three years. For almost a year, the mother feeds the child with her milk and protects him in every possible way.
Moving from branch to branch in search of food, gibbons can jump over distances of three meters. They feed mainly on fruits from fruit trees, in addition to which they can eat leaves, buds, and insects.
They range from dark to light brown in color, but their paws and muzzle are always white. Their fur coat is long and thick. The forelimbs and hindlimbs are long, the forelegs are large, for better tree climbing. These animals have no tail at all.
These animals each live on their own territory and, indicating where whose land is, they begin to sing. Moreover, the chants begin every morning, and with such volume and beauty that not every person can do this.
Slow loris
This is a thirty centimeter primate weighing 1.5 kilograms. They are like plush toys, with thick dark red fur. A stripe of dark color runs along their back, but not all of them, and the abdomen is slightly lighter. The eyes are large and bulging, with a stripe of white fur between them. The ears of the loris are small, most of them are hidden in the fur.
The slow loris is one of the few mammals that is toxic. The slits on his hands produce a certain secretion, which when combined with saliva becomes poisonous. In this way, lorises protect themselves from enemies.
Animals live alone and in families, while sharing territories. And they mark it by soaking their paws in their own urine. And every touch on the branch more and more indicates his possession.
Ili pika
This is the most secretive animal in the whole world, which lives only in the Middle Kingdom. Its territory is the mountain slopes of Tibet, the pika rises almost five kilometers high into the mountains.
Outwardly, she looks like a miniature hare, albeit with small ears, and her paws and tail are exactly like a hare’s. The fur coat is gray with dark specks. Ili pikas are an endangered species, their numbers are very small.
Snow Leopard
Or the snow leopard, one of the few animals that has never been fully studied. There are very few people who have come face to face with him. This is a very cautious and distrustful predator. Following his paths you can only see traces of his life.
The leopard is thin, flexible and graceful. He has short legs, a neat small head and a long tail. And its entire length, including its tail, is two meters and 50 kg. in weight. The animal is gray in color, with solid or ring-shaped black spots.
Chinese paddlefish
The largest and oldest river freshwater fish. It is also known as the sword sturgeon. Paddlefish grow about five meters in length and weigh three centners.
Because of their extraordinary nose, they received this name. Only oceanologists cannot understand the direct purpose of this oar. Some believe that with its help it is more convenient for the fish to eat, others think that this nose has remained since ancient times.
They feed on small fish, crustaceans and plankton. Now it is very fashionable to keep these fish at home in large aquariums, and they will live half their lives with their owners.
Tupaya
Its appearance is very similar to the degu squirrel, having a sharp muzzle and a fluffy tail. It is twenty centimeters long, brown-gray in color. Its small legs have five toes with long claws.
They live high in the mountains, in forests, on farm plantations and in gardens. In search of food, there were cases of barbaric break-ins of people's houses and theft of food from the table.
Like a squirrel, the animal eats while sitting on its hind legs and holds its captured piece with its front legs. They live strictly demarcating their territories. There are single individuals, and there are whole groups of these animals.