![]() When appearing over households, rainbows were generally believed to be auspicious… In some myths, they were associated with divine women. Their two heads may symbolize the conjunction of yin and yang energies, hence, they also functioned as poetic images of love. Rainbows were thought to lack feet and tails. The most beautiful creatures in this bestiary are the two-headed honghong-rainbows – about which Strassberg notes: These include the fabulously named thoroughly-odd, which “ resembles a tiger with wings.” There are also pearl-turtles (which are “a lung with eyes and six feet” that spits out pearls), bang-fish ( “which have the basic form of a turtle and make a sound like a goat”), the changfu ( “whose form resembles a chicken with three heads, six eyes, six feet, and three wings… Eating it will prevent sleep”), and the five-colored shade-bird, which can blot out the sun, overshadowing entire towns, as it flies. It has a number of truly fantastic – in both senses of the word – beasts. Rowling describes the Shan Hai Jing as “ u tterly fascinating,” and it is not difficult to see why. The idea of the zouwu being used as a ransom for a future king has an immediate storybook appeal (although we know Newt would not use the zouwu for such a purpose), but nonetheless, the repatriation of the zouwu makes sense as an ostensible reason for Newt to travel to China in Secrets of Dumbledore – just as he traveled to America in the first movie apparently to return Frank the thunderbird to his home. In this case, it is the Zouwu that is obtained from the Land of the Lin Clan and presented to King Zhou of the Shang as a ransom for Bochang, the future King Wen of the Zhou. Guo Pu noted a myth in the Six Bow-Bags that is virtually identical to the one about Lucky-Measure. Rare creatures similar to the Zouwu obtained from the Lin Clan are mentioned in several other early texts, though with variant names and appearances. Strassberg’s notes add some further information: ![]() Rowling did not mention in the interview three of the other aspects of the zouwu mentioned here – that its tail is longer than its body, that it can be ridden, and that it can cover vast distances in a single day – but she uses them all. When riding it, one can cover one thousand li in a single day. ZOUWU In the Land of the Lin Clan is a rare beast as large as a tiger, five-colored, and with a tail longer than its body. Strassberg’s translation (the version Rowling has been studying): It finally turned up as beast number two hundred and eighty-nine – hurrah! – so, I can confirm that Rowling’s reading was indeed no cursory flick-through. ![]() This is how it is described in Chinese mythology: gigantic, elephant-sized cat, five-colored.”īack in 2018, therefore, I began reading through the Shan Hai Jing and, to be frank, after reading through over two hundred gnomic descriptions of strange beasts, I was beginning to lose heart that I would ever find the zouwu. The Zouwu is terrifying – if you’re a normal human being – and to Newt Scamander – like a big kitten. Prior to the release of Crimes of Grindelwald, Rowling said that “in Chinese mythology, there’s a Chinese bestiary that is utterly fascinating. ![]() We know the Chinese bestiary she is referring to here because it has, at certain times over the last few years, been visible on her webpage – it is the Shan Hai Jing or, in the English translation Rowling has been reading: A Chinese bestiary: strange creatures from the guideways through mountains and seas (translated by Richard E. Rowling revealed in November 2018 that Chinese beasts would be central to Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. So, at the moment my head is full of Chinese mythical creatures…I don’t want to say too much because I know what’s going to happen in the next story, but I think that there are other interesting places that Chinese mythology can lead us. So, I can’t say too much now, but I’m using something from China in the next movie as well. I’ve been immersed in a bestiary from China – mythical creatures and so on with their various properties. In the movie I include a Chinese creature. ![]()
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