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Chinese constellation Wikipedia

Chinese constellations are different from the western constellations, due to the independent development of ancient China|Chinese astronomy. Ancient Chinese skywatchers divided their night sky in a different way, but there are also similarities. The Chinese counterpart of the 12 western zodiac constellations are the 28 "Xiu" (宿) or "mansions" (a literal translation).

The zodiac was divided into four regions, or four symbols (四象), with 7 Xiu in each one of them:

note: all translations of the names of the Xiu are done literally, they may not be the true and original meaning note 2: the name following the tranlations are the approximate location of the Xiu on the western skymap
(四象)	colspan="4" align="center" >"Xiu" (宿)
name	pinyin	lit. translation	vicinity in western sky
rowspan="7"|The Azure Dragon of the East (東方青龍)|角	Jiao	Horn	Spica
亢	Kang	Neck	Virgo
氐	Di	Root	Libra
房	Fang	Room	Libra
心	Xin	Heart	Antares
尾	Wei	Tail	Scorpius
箕	Ji	Winnowing-basket	Sagittarius
rowspan="7"|The Black Tortoise (or Xuan Wu) of the North (北方玄武)|斗	Dou	Dipper	Sagittarius
牛	Niu	Ox	Capricornus
女	Nü	Girl	Aquarius
虛	Xu	Emptiness	Aquarius
危	Wei	Rooftop	Aquarius/Pegasus (constellation)|Pegasus
室	Shi	Encampment	Pegasus
壁	Bi	Wall	Pegasus
rowspan="7"|The White Tiger of the West (西方白虎)|奎	Kui	Legs	Andromeda (constellation)|Andromeda
婁	Lou	Bond	Aries
胃	Wei	Stomach	Aries
昴	Mao	Hairy head	Pleiades (star cluster)|Pleiades
畢	Bi	Net	Taurus (constellation)|Taurus
觜	Zi	Turtle beak	Orion (constellation)|Orion
參	Shen	Three stars	Orion
rowspan="7"|The Vermillion Bird of the South (南方朱雀)|井	Jing	Well	Gemini
鬼	Gui	Ghosts	Cancer (constellation)|Cancer
柳	Liu	Willow	Hydra (constellation)|Hydra
星	Xing	Star	Alphard
張	Zhang	Extended net	Crater (constellation)|Crater
翼	Yi	Wings	Corvus (constellation)|Corvus
軫	Zhen	Chariot	Corvus

Last Modified:   2005-04-13