Chinese myth holds that there are four heavenly “celestials” and four evil creatures to balance those roles.
The Four Evils, or Four Perils are representative of chaos, ignorance, gluttony, and deviousness.
The first Peril, Hundun (混沌), or “chaotic torrent”, represents chaos and is often depicted with no head, facial features, or external sensory organs. It represents chaos older than humanity itself. The chaos in which heaven and earth were eventually separated from.
(from chinamarketadvisor)
“A version of the legend of Hundun was recorded in Zhuang Zi (庄子) , a book by Taoist philosopher Zhuang Zhou. In this version, Hundun originated from an emperor in Central China that has no eyes, nostrils, mouth, and ears. He treated the emperors of the South Sea and the North Sea with great hospitality at his palace, and intending to repay Hundun’s hospitality, the emperors offered to drill seven holes (two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, a mouth) for Hundun.
They drill one hole a day, but when all these seven holes were done, Hundun died and reincarnated as an evil creature.
Since Hundun cannot differentiate right from wrong, it is described that the creature will instigate conflicts when encountering noble people, but will follow the instructions of evil people instead.”
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The second Peril is Taotie (餮), or “greedy glutton”. The entry for this creature at the site i’ve randomly chosen and linked above is fairly short and quoted below in entirety
“In Shan Hai Jing (山经), Taotie was described as a creature with a sheep’s body, humans hands, human face, and a tiger’s teeth. Its bizarre eyes are placed under its armpits so they are hidden. Taotie was depicted as having a human baby’s voice.
Taotie is so voracious that it eats everything, including humans and even its own body. This is why Taotie depictions are often found in various ancient cooking pots. The term “A feast for Taotie” or Tao Tie Shengyan (餮盛宴) is often used to mention a great party with delicious food in the Chinese culture.
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The third Peril is Taowu (檮杌), or “stupid stump”.
“According to the Shan Hai Jing, the Taowu is a creature with a human face, a tiger’s feet, and a pig’s teeth. It has a tail more than 315 meters long and hair that is more than 2 meters long. It is believed that the Taowu lives in regions in the west of China. In Chinese culture, “Taowu” is often used to call a man who is stubborn.
As recorded in Zuo Zhuan, the Taowu is a belligerent son of Zhuan Xu, one of the great ancient emperors of China, this child is arrogant nature and cannot be taught anything. After his death, it reincarnated into one of the Four Evil Creatures.”
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The fourth Peril is Qiongqi, (窮奇), or “poor and strange”.
“There are also various variations of Qiongqi: in Classics of Mountains and Seas (4th century BCE), the Qiongqi was depicted as a winged tiger who eats people from the head. In Shan Hai Jing, however, Qiongqi was depicted as a tiger-like flying beast that knows human languages and eats people. When people are arguing with each other, Qiongqi would eat the noble person. Otherwise, it will hunt food for the evil person.
When the Qiongqi hears that someone is faithful and noble it will bite the nose of this person. However, it will give animals that it has killed to someone who is unreasonable and vicious. Compared to the other Four Perils, Qiongqi was often described to have more personality and wisdom.
Stay curious
-TedMD
“When the Qiongqi hears that someone is faithful and noble it will bite the nose of this person.” ~ brings to mind the saying “cutting off your nose to spite your face.“
What do you do for a living, Ted?