Xiao (mythology)
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In
Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of t ...
, the ''xiao'' is the name of several creatures, including the ''xiao'' () "a long-armed ape" or "a four-winged bird" and ''shanxiao'' () "mischievous, one-legged mountain spirit". Furthermore, some Western sources misspell and misconstrue the older romanization ''hsiao'' as "hsigo" "a flying monkey".


Chinese Xiao

Xiao or Hsiao (), alternately pronounced Ao (), is a mythological creature described as resembling either an ape or a bird. The
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
word ''xiao'' (囂) means "noise; clamor; hubbub; haughty; proud; arrogant". During the
Shang Dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
(c. 1600–1046 BCE), Xiao was both the name of a historical capital (near modern
Zhengzhou Zhengzhou (; ), also spelt Zheng Zhou and alternatively romanized as Chengchow, is the capital and largest city of Henan Province in the central part of the People's Republic of China. Located in north-central Henan, it is one of the National ...
in
Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
province) during the era of King
Zhong Ding Zhong Ding (), personal name Zǐ Zhuāng, was a Shang dynasty King of China. In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' he was listed by Sima Qian as the tenth Shang king, succeeding his father Tai Wu (). He was enthroned in the year of Xinchou () ...
(r. c. 1421–1396 BCE), and the given name of King
Geng Ding Kang Ding (康丁) or Geng Ding (庚丁) was a king of the Shang dynasty of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most po ...
(r. c. 1170–1147 BCE). The
Chinese character Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the Written Chinese, writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are k ...
() for ''xiao'' ideographically combines the radicals ''kou'' ( "mouth", quadrupled as ) and ''ye'' () "head", thus signifying "many voices". The first Chinese character dictionary, the (121 CE) ''
Shuowen Jiezi ''Shuowen Jiezi'' () is an ancient Chinese dictionary from the Han dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary (the ''Erya'' predates it), it was the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give t ...
'' defines ''xiao'' (囂) as ''sheng'' (聲) "sound; noise", and cryptically says (气出頭上) "'' qi'' is emitted on top of the head", which
Duan Yucai Duan Yucai () (1735–1815), courtesy name Ruoying () was a Chinese philologist of the Qing Dynasty. He made great contributions to the study of Historical Chinese phonology, and is known for his annotated edition of ''Shuowen Jiezi''. Biograph ...
's commentary explains as (聲出而气隨之) "noise is emitted and ''qi'' follows it". The ''
Shanhaijing The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shan Hai Jing'', formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed sin ...
'' "Classic of Mountains and Seas" uses Xiao (some editions write the graphic variant 嚻) as the name of a river (Xiaoshui 囂水), a mountain (Beixiao zhi shan 北囂之山), and two mythical creatures. The first Xiao, which supposedly resembles a ''yu'' () "monkey; ape", is found on the western mountain Yuci (羭次),
Seventy leagues further west is a mountain called Mount Ewenext. … There is an animal on this mountain which looks like an ape, but it has longer arms and it is good at throwing things. Its name is the hubbub.
One hundred ninety li farther west stands Black-Ewe Mountain … There is a beast here whose form resembles a Yu-Ape but with longer arms. It is adept at throwing things and is called the Xiao … Noisy-Ape.
The Chinese mythologist
Yuan Ke Yuan Ke (袁珂) (1916–2001) was a Chinese scholar, one of the most important specialists on Chinese mythology.Michael J. Puett. 2001. ''The ambivalence of creation: debates concerning innovation and artifice in early China'', p. 95. St ...
suggests that ''xiao'' (囂) is a copyist's error for the graphically and phonologically similar ''nao'' (夒 "a kind of monkey"). The historical linguist Axel Schuessler reconstructs
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
''nao'' < *''nû'' (夒), ''xiao'' < *''hâu'' (囂) or ''ao'' < *''ŋâu'' (囂), and ''yu'' < *''ŋoh'' (禺). The second Hsiao, a
mythological hybrid Hybrid beasts are creatures composed of parts from different animals, including humans, appearing in the folklore of a variety of cultures as legendary creatures. In burial sites Remains similar to those of mythological hybrids have been found ...
resembling Kuafu (夸父) the legendary giant who chased the sun, is found on the northern mountain Liangqu (梁渠),
Three hundred and fifty leagues further north is a mountain called Mount Bridgedrain. … There is a bird here which looks like the boastfather; it has four wings, one eye, and a dog's tail. Its name is the hubbub. It makes a noise like a magpie. If you eat it, it will cure a bellyache, and it is effective for indigestion.
There is a bird dwelling here whose form resembles Kuafu the Boaster but with four wings, one eye, and a dog's tail. It is called the Raucous-Bird, and it makes a sound like a magpie. Eating it will cure abdominal pain, and it can also stop diarrhea.
Although this passage compares the Xiao bird with the humanoid Kuafu, the ''Shanhaijing'' commentary of
Guo Pu Guo Pu (; AD 276–324), courtesy name Jingchun () was a Chinese historian, poet, and writer during the Eastern Jin period, and is best known as one of China's foremost commentators on ancient texts. Guo was a Taoist mystic, geomancer, collector ...
(276–324) says an early textual version writes the ''Jufu'' (), who is also described as ''yu'' "monkey; ape". The sub-commentary of Hao Yixing (郝懿行; 1757–1825) notes the association may be owing to the similar sounding names ''Kuafu'' and ''Jufu''. The relevant passage concerns the mountain Chongwu (崇吾),
The first peak of the Classic of the Western Mountains, Part III, is called Mount Worshipmy. … There is an animal here which looks like an ape but its forearms have markings like a leopard or tiger, and it is good at throwing things. Its name is the liftfather.
The first mountain along the third guideway through the Western Mountains is called Mount Chongwu. … There is a beast here who form resembles a Yu-Ape with leopard and tiger markings on its arms. It is adept at throwing things and is called the Jufu … Lifter
The flying monkey in ancient China was sometimes simply referenced by the term 飛猱 (''fēináo'', literally meaning "flying monkey"), as in the poem "On the White Horse", by
Cao Zhi Cao Zhi (; ; 192 – 27 December 232), courtesy name Zijian (), posthumously known as Prince Si of Chen (陈思王), was a prince of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China, and an accomplished poet in his time. His style o ...
(though, in this case, ''náo'' particularly implies a type of monkey with yellowish hair color): and also, in this case, the meaning of "fly" extends metaphorically to "go quickly; dart; high".


Chinese Shanxiao

Shanxiao or Shan-hsiao () referred to "a short, one-legged, crayfish-eating simian creature that lived in the western mountains". In
Modern Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standa ...
usage, ''shanxiao'' is the name for the African "
mandrill The mandrill (''Mandrillus sphinx'') is a large Old World monkey native to west central Africa. It is one of the most colorful mammals in the world, with red and blue skin on its face and posterior. The species is sexually dimorphic, as males ...
monkey; ''Mandrillus sphinx''". After analyzing numerous stories about ''shanxiao'' "hill-spirits", the Dutch sinologist
Jan Jakob Maria de Groot Jan Jakob Maria de Groot (18 February 185424 September 1921) was a Dutch sinologist and historian of religion. He taught at the Leiden University and later at the University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Univer ...
believes that,
… the Chinese place in their great class of hill-spirits certain
quadrumana Quadrumana is an outdated taxonomic division within the primates. The division of "Quadrumana" from "Bimana" was an attempt at distinguishing ''Homo sapiens'' from the rest of the great apes. For a century, modern science has considered humans as p ...
, besides actual human beings, mountaineers alien to Chinese culture, perhaps a dying race of aborigines, who, occasionally making raids upon their more refined neighbours, were chastised and victimized by merciless mandarins. No doubt the Chinese rank among them human monsters and mongrels which strike the imagination by their oddity.
The ''Shanhaijing'' has two early references to ', named with a manuscript
lacuna Lacuna (plural lacunas or lacunae) may refer to: Related to the meaning "gap" * Lacuna (manuscripts), a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or musical work ** Great Lacuna, a lacuna of eight leaves where there was heroic Old Norse p ...
and ''shanhui'' 山𤟤.
There is a bird here which looks like an owl and it has a human face, a monkey's body, and a dog's tail. Its name comes from its call: acuna Whenever it appears, that town will have a severe drought. (Yanzi Mountain 崦嵫之山, where the sun sets)
There is an animal on this mountain which looks like a dog but it has a human face. It is good at throwing. When it sees a human being, it laughs. Its name is the mountain-monkey. It moves like the wind. Whenever it appears, there will be typhoons over all under the sky. (Yufa Mountain 獄法之山)
Compare the former ' description with the Chinese ''hsiao'' in
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
's ''
The Book of Imaginary Beings The ''Book of Imaginary Beings'' was written by Jorge Luis Borges with Margarita Guerrero and published in 1957 under the original Spanish title ''Manual de zoología fantástica''. The subsequent English version contains descriptions of 120 myt ...
'',
The ''Hsiao'' is a bird similar to a hawk, but it has the head of a man, the body of a monkey, and the tail of a dog. Its appearance presages harsh droughts.
Although Borges cites "T'ai Kuang Chi" as the Chinese source, referring to the (10th-century) ''Taiping guangji'' " Extensive Records of the Taiping Era", this description is not found there. The
Chinese Text Project The Chinese Text Project (CTP; ) is a digital library project that assembles collections of early Chinese texts. The name of the project in Chinese literally means "The Chinese Philosophical Book Digitization Project", showing its focus on books ...
's searchable ''Taiping guangji'' database lists 10 occurrences of ''shanxiao'' 山魈 "mountain elf"—none of which mention a hawk, man, monkey, or dog.
Dongfang Shuo Dongfang Shuo (, c. 160 BCE – c. 93 BCE) was a Han Dynasty scholar-official, '' fangshi'' ("master of esoterica"), author, and court jester to Emperor Wu (r. 141 – 87 BCE). In Chinese mythology, Dongfang is considered a Daoist ''xian'' ...
's (c. 2nd century CE) ''Shenyijing'' (神異經 "Classic of Divine Marvels") writes ''shanxiao'' as ''shansao'' with a rare ''sao'' character (combining the 犭"dog" radical and a ''can'' 參 phonetic).
Deep in the mountains of the West human beings exist, more than a chang in size. They go naked, and catch frogs and crabs. They are not shy of men, and when they see them halt to pass the night, they betake themselves to their fire, to roast their frogs and crabs. They also watch the moment on which the men are absent, and steal their salt, to eat their frogs and crabs with. They are called hill-sao, because they cry out this sound themselves. People have cast bamboo in their fires, which, on exploding therein, leapt out of it and scared the sao away altogether. When an attack is made on them, they cause their assailants to catch fever. Although these beings have a human shape, they take other forms, and thus belong also to the class of kwei and mei 'gui'' (鬼 "devils") and ''mei'' (魅 "demons") Nowadays their abodes occur everywhere in the mountains.
Some ''Shenyijing'' editions say ''shanxiao'' are taller than a ''
zhang Zhang may refer to: Chinese culture, etc. * Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname ** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname * Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu * Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan * ''Zha ...
'' (丈 "3.3 meters") while others say a ''
chi Chi or CHI may refer to: Greek *Chi (letter), the Greek letter (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ); Chinese *Chi (length), ''Chi'' (length) (尺), a traditional unit of length, about ⅓ meter *Chi (mythology) (螭), a dragon *Chi (surname) (池, pin ...
'' (尺 "0.3 meter").
Ge Hong Ge Hong (; b. 283 – d. 343 or 364), courtesy name Zhichuan (稚川), was a Chinese linguist, Taoist practitioner, philosopher, physician, politician, and writer during the Eastern Jin dynasty. He was the author of '' Essays on Chinese Characte ...
's (c. 320) '' Baopuzi'' "Master who Embraces Simplicity" lists four ''shanjing'' (山精 "mountain
essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...
"), meaning ''shanxiao'': the ''Qi'' (蚑 "crawl; walk") or ''Renei'' (熱內 "hot inside"), the ''Hui'' (暉) (or ''Kui'' 夔), the ''Jinlei'' (金累 "gold weary"), and ''Feifei'' (飛飛 "fly fly", cf. ''Feilong'' 飛龍 "flying dragon").
The mountain power in the form of a little boy hopping backward on one foot likes to come and harm people. If you hear a human voice at night in the mountains talking loud, its name is Ch'i. By knowing this name and shouting it, you will prevent it from harming you. Another name for it is Jo-nei; you may use both these names together. There is another mountain power, this one in the shape of a drum, colored red, and also with only one foot. Its name is Hui. Still another power has the shape of a human being nine feet tall, dressed in fur-lined clothes and wearing a large straw hat. Its name is Chin-lei. Another is like a dragon, variegated in color and with red horns, the name being Fei-fei. Whenever one of these appears, shout its name, and it will not dare harm you.
Li Shizhen Li Shizhen (July 3, 1518  – 1593), courtesy name Dongbi, was a Chinese acupuncturist, herbalist, naturalist, pharmacologist, physician, and writer of the Ming dynasty. He is the author of a 27-year work, found in the ''Compendium of M ...
's (1578) ''
Bencao Gangmu The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the ...
'' classic materia medica discusses the ''shanxiao'' under the ''Feifei'' '' feifei'' 狒狒 "a man-eating monkey with long hair" entry.
The book ''Shenyi Jing'' by Dongfang Shuo: In the deep mountains in the west, there is a kind of animal in the form of a human being but just over one ''chi'' tall. It is naked. It catches shrimp and crabs, and roasts them over fire and eats then. Such an animal is called Shanxiao. It cries in a way as if it is calling its own name. When a man offends such an animal, he will suffer from chills and fever. This is a disease caused by evil. The animal may appear anywhere. But it is afraid of the piercing noise of firecrackers. The book ''Youming Lü'' by Liu Yiqing: Among the mountain cliffs in Dongchang County, there is an animal that looks like a human being. It is four to five ''chi'' tall. It is naked and has disheveled hair, five to six ''cun'' long. It shouts loudly. It is very difficult to sight one. It turns over stones in streams to catch shrimp and crabs, which it roasts over a fire and eats. The book ''Yongji Ji'': There is a kind of Shangui in Anguo County. It looks like a human being but has only one leg. It is just over one ''chi'' tall. It steals salt from woodcutters to eat with the stone crabs that it roasts over fire. Human beings dare not offend it. If a person offends or hurts such a creature, the person may become sick or his house will be burned down. The book ''Xuanzhong Ji'': Shanjing looks like a human being. It has one leg and is about three to four ''chi'' tall. It eats mountain crabs. It hides itself during the day and comes out at night. A 11,000-year-old toad can eat it. The book ''Baopuzi'': Shanjing looks like a baby. It has only one leg, which is turned backwards. It attacks people at night. It is called a Ji. When it attacks, one should just call out its name. Then it will not able to attack a person. The hook ''Baize Tu'': There is a kind of mountain spirit called Kui that is shaped like a drum. It is red and walks on its single leg. People drive it to catch tigers and leopards. The book ''Hailu Suishi'': There is a kind of animal in the area south of the Five Ridges that has one leg and a reversed heel. There are three digits on each hand and foot. The male is called Shanzhang, and the female Shangu. It knocks on doors at night to beg for things. The book ''Shenyi Jing'': There is a kind of animal called Ba or Hanmu in the south. It is two to three ''chi'' tall. It is naked, and its eyes are on the top of its head. It runs as fast as the wind. When such an animal is sighted, there will be a major drought. When such a thing is encountered, the person should throw it into a manure pit. In this way the drought can be avoided. The book ''Wenzi Zhigui'': Hanba is a kind of mountain ghost. When it stays in a place, no rain will fall there. When a female Ba enters a house, it may steal things. When a male Ba enters a house, it kidnaps the woman. Li Shizhen's comment: The above books recorded creatures that are more or less similar. All of them are ghosts and devils. Now such a creature is called "one-legged ghost" In the past it was reported that such creatures existed everywhere. They hid themselves and sneaked into houses to copulate with the women in the house, causing trouble and disease. They might set fires or steal things from houses. Taoist masters could not drive them away, and no medicine could treat these diseases. So people worshipped it as a spirit to plead for peace. But nobody knew the nature of such things. This is recorded here for reference. When such a thing appears, one of the ways to throw off its evil is to call out its name. In this way it will not harm people. A 1,000-year-old toad can eat it. These are ways to control it, and there must be other ways to control it too. There is also a kind of Zhiniao, a bird recorded in the "Category of the Fowls" that is also a creature that harms people. There are plenty of such harmful spirits and ghosts in this world. Such things are recorded in the books ''Baize Tu'', ''Xuanzhong Ji'', ''Baopuzi'' and ''Youyang Zaju''. We have to know about them. But if a man behaves virtuously, such ghosts dare not approach him. This is one way to protect oneself.
The sociologist
Wolfram Eberhard Wolfram Eberhard (March 17, 1909 – August 15, 1989) was a professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies. Biography Born in Potsdam, German Empire, he had a strong f ...
says ''shanxiao'' "were referred to by a great variety of names, some of which were different writings of a dialectical word in one of the southern dialects while others probably were variant readings". Regarding names for the mythological one-legged mountain creatures ''xiao'' and ''kui'', Eberhard says, "This information proved that one of the two series of names for the imps (hsiao, ch'ao, ts'ao, etc.) came from the languages of the Yue and Yao, while the second series (k'ui, kui, hui) came from a more western language". Mentioned above are the ''Shanhaijing'' ''shanhui'' (山𤟤), ''Shenyijing'' ''shansao'' (山and 犭+參), and ''Baopuzi'' ''qi'' (蚑 "crawl"), ''renei'' (熱內 "hot inside"), etc. The ''Nuogaoji'' 諾皋記,Tr. . copied in Duan Chengshi's (863) ''Youyang zazu'' (" Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang"), lists ten other variant names – ' (山蕭, with "desolate"), ' (山臊, "urine smell"), ' (山魅, "a demon"), ' (山暉, "sunshine"), ' (山駱, "camel"), ' (山蛟, "a dragon"), ' (濯肉 "wash meat"), ' (熱肉 "hot meat"), ''feilong'' (飛龍 "
flying dragon ''Flying Dragon'', known in Japan as , is a fighting game with role-playing video game elements that was developed by Culture Brain and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998. Part of the '' Hiryū no Ken'' series, it was published in Japan by Cu ...
"), and ' (治烏 "manage crow"). Additional names include ' (山繅, with "reel silk from cocoons") and ' (山都, "metropolis"). De Groot suggests, "All those terms are applied by Chinese authors indifferently to whatever demons play tricks upon man and disturb his peace, and which we may take to represent for China the broad class of sprites, elves, fairies and hobgoblins, with which mankind generally peoples forests; rocks and hills, increasing their ranks daily with souls of the dead buried abroad." After discussing numerous Chinese accounts of the ', Eberhard concludes
The concept of the shan-hsiao, very common among Miao tribes in present-day Kuichou existed only in South China from Yünnan to Chekiang since early times. The belief seems to have originated in the west because the older sources emphasized that the shan-hsiao lived in the western mountains. Their characteristics were: being one-legged and of short stature, similar to monkeys, living in trees, being afraid of crashing noises but loving music, being more like an imp or good-natured goblin than truly malicious. In my opinion the descriptions leave no room for doubt that these goblins hung together with monkeys, just like the mu-k'o 客 "tree guest" The original carriers of these stories seem to have been Yao peoples, because only Yao were distributed over this whole area. There seems to be some indication that the shan-hsiao were a kind of spirit of the dead.


Chinese Xiaoyang

or Hsiao-yang (lit. 梟楊 "owl poplar") is a final example of Chinese mythological ''xiao''s. This ''xiao'' is an archaic name for "owl" (' 貓頭鷹 "cat-head hawk" in modern usage), and the ''Yang'' clan in southwestern China were supposedly descended from monkeys. The variant transcription ''xiaoyang'' 梟羊 "owl goat" names the legendary '' feifei'' 狒狒 "a man-eating monkey with long hair", which is the modern Chinese name for "baboon". The '' Ai shi ming'' "Alas That My Lot Was Not Cast" poem in the ''
Chuci The ''Chu ci'', variously translated as ''Verses of Chu,'' ''Songs of Chu'', or ''Elegies of Chu'', is an ancient anthology of Chinese poetry including works traditionally attributed mainly to Qu Yuan and Song Yu from the Warring States period ...
'' ("Songs of the South") is the first reference to Xiao Yang.
Above, I seek out holy hermits. I enter into friendship with
Red Pine ''Pinus resinosa'', known as red pine (also Norway pine in Minnesota), is a pine native to North America. Description Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from in height and in trun ...
; I join Wang Qiao as his companion. We send the Xiao Yang in front to guide us; The White Tiger runs back and forth in attendance. Floating on cloud and mist, we enter the dim height of heaven; Riding on white deer we sport and take our pleasure.
The British sinologist David Hawkes notes Xiao Yang was "an anthropoid monster whose upper lip covers his face when he laughs. His laughter was sinister, it was said, being an indication that he was about to eat human flesh"; and glosses, "A hideous man-eating demon living in solitary places."


Popular culture

The ''
Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia The ''Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia'' is a 1991 book published by TSR, Inc., as a continuation of the basic edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, which ran concurrently with ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''. Its ...
'' lists:
Hsiao (Guardian Owl) The hsiao (sh-HOW) are a race of peaceful cleric-philosophers who inhabit woodlands and forests. Hsiao look like giant owls with broad feathered wings and large intelligent golden eyes. These creatures live in trees, making earthen nests and tunnels high above the forest floor. The hsiao know and work closely with other woodland creatures (including actaeons, centaurs, dryads, elves, treants, and unicorns), and may call on them for aid. Their goals include the preservation of woodland wilderness against intrusions by dangerous humanoids.
Note this D&D name's evident connection with Chinese ''hsiao'' or ''xiao'' meaning "owl". The ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' sourcebook ''
Oriental Adventures ''Oriental Adventures'' (abbreviated OA) is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of ''Oriental Adventures'' provides rules for a ...
'' contains the ''shan sao'', which also appears in ''
The Book of Lairs ''The Book of Lairs'' is an accessory book for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, first published by TSR in 1986. It contains an assortment of monster-themed mini-adventures. A second volume was published in 1987. TSR coded t ...
II''. The creature is depicted as a foot-high humanoid that lives in bamboo thickets, works with tigers, and cooks a valuable stew.


Non-Chinese mistaken "Hsigo"

Numerous modern print and internet resources give a
ghost word A ghost word is a word published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference work even though it had not previously had any meaning or been used intentionally. A ghost word generally originates from a typographical or linguistic error, t ...
of Chinese "Hsigo" "a flying monkey" . However, ''hsigo'', which is not a possible
romanization of Chinese Romanization of Chinese () is the use of the Latin alphabet to transliterate Chinese. Chinese uses a logographic script and its characters do not represent phonemes directly. There have been many systems using Roman characters to represent Chin ...
, is a common typographical error for ''Hsiao''. For two examples,
Hsigo A Chinese composite creature, having a man's face, a monkey's body, dog tail and bird wings.
Hsigo–The Chinese Hsigo are much like the flying monkeys from '' The Wizard of Oz''. I think they are probably based on fruit bats, or "flying foxes," of India, Asia, Indonesia and Australia. These monkey-size bats are not related to the other insectivorous bats, but are genetically closer to primates.
Victor H. Mair Victor Henry Mair (; born March 25, 1943) is an American sinologist. He is a professor of Chinese at the University of Pennsylvania. Among other accomplishments, Mair has edited the standard '' Columbia History of Chinese Literature'' and the ''C ...
noted on '' Language Log'' that,
If you do a web search for "Hsigo", you will find thousands of references and hundreds of images. I won't give specific references, because they're all complete and utter nonsense, but you can read detailed descriptions of these fake, mythical Chinese monkeys—including pseudo-learned discussions of their name—in works like the following: Erudite Tales, Creepy Hollows Encyclopedia, Mythical Creatures Guide, Encyclo, Societas Magic, Monstropedia, etc., etc. Hsigo are supposedly flying monkeys with bird-like wings, the tail of a dog, and a human face.


See also

*
Simians (Chinese poetry) Simians of various sorts (including the monkey, gibbon, and other primates of real or mythological nature) are an important motif in Chinese poetry. Examples of simian imagery have an important place in Chinese poetry ranging from the ''Chu Ci'' ...


References

* * * * * * * Footnotes {{reflist, 25em, refs= Yuan Ke (袁珂) (1980), ''Shanhaijing Jiaozhu'' (山海經校注), Shanghai Guji. p. 27. {{in lang, zh. Schuessler, Axel (2009), ''Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese'', University of Hawaii Press. pp. 180, 197, 149. Tr. Ware, James R. 1966. ''Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of A.D. 320: The'' Nei Pien'' of Ko Hung''. Dover. p. 287. {{ISBN, 0-486-24088-6. Luo Xiwen, tr. (2003), ''Bencao Gangmu: Compendium of Materia Medica'', 6 vols., Foreign Languages Press. p. 4130. Allston, Aaron, Steven E. Schend, Jon Pickens, and Dori Watry (1991), ''
Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia The ''Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia'' is a 1991 book published by TSR, Inc., as a continuation of the basic edition of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, which ran concurrently with ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''. Its ...
'', first edition, TSR.
Cooper, J. C. (1992), ''Symbolic and Mythological Animals'', Aquarian/Thorsons. p. 133. Zell-Ravenheart, Oberon (2006), ''Companion for the Apprentice Wizard'', Career Press. p. 178. Mair, Victor H. (2013)
Hsigo, the imaginary flying monkeys of Chinese mythology
'' Language Log'', 14 October 2013.


Further reading

*Schiffeler, John W. (1978), ''The Legendary Creatures of the Shan hai ching'', Hwa Kang.


External links


An Attack of a Mountain-Spectre
''shanxiao'' illustration (de Groot 1908, Plate IV, between pages 514 and 515) Chinese legendary creatures