Chinese Culture Famous Chinese Folktales & Famous Chinese Proverbs

Fenghuang Wikipedia

Image:chinese-phoenix-from-nanning.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Chinese Phoenix sculpture, Nanning city, Guangxi province.
Fenghuang (鳳凰 pinyin: feng4 huang2; Japanese language|Japanese: Hoo-Oo) are mythological Chinese birds that reign over all other birds. The males are called Feng and the females the Huang; in modern times, however, such a distinction of gender is sometimes blurred into a single female entity, as the bird is often paired with the Chinese dragon which has male connotations. Fenghuang is also called August Rooster (鶤雞 hun4 ji1), and sometimes referred to as the Chinese Phoenix in English.

The fenghuang is said to be made up of the beak of a rooster|cock, 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.

In ancient China, they can often be found in the decorations for weddings or royal family|royalty, along with Chinese dragon|dragons. This is because the Chinese considered the Chinese dragon|dragon and phoenix symbolic of blissful relations between husband and wife.

See also: Chinese mythology, phoenix

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style="font-size: 100%;"|Fenghuang is also a county in western Hunan province of China, formerly a subprefecture. Its name is written with the same Chinese characters as the mythological bird. See also Fenghuang County

Category:Chinese mythologyCategory:Mythical birds
Category:Legendary creatures

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Last Modified:   2005-04-13