Vermilion Bird
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Categories: Chinese mythology stubs | Chinese constellations | Chinese astronomy | Chinese mythology | Legendary birds | Chinese legendary creatures
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The Vermilion Bird (Chinese: 朱雀; pinyin: Zhū Què) is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. According to Wu Xing, the Taoist five-elemental system, it represents the fire-elemental, the direction of south, and the season summer correspondingly. Thus it is sometimes called the Vermilion Bird of the South (南方朱雀, Nán Fāng Zhū Què). It is often mistaken for Fenghuang, but they are two different creatures. Fenghuang is the king of birds, while the Vermilion Bird is a mythological spirit creature of the Chinese constellations.
The Seven Mansions of the Vermilion BirdLike the other Four Symbols, the Vermilion Bird corresponds to seven "mansions", or positions, of the moon.
Nature of The Vermilion BirdThe Vermilion Bird is an elegant and noble bird in both appearance and behavior, it is very selective in what it eats and where it perches, with its feathers in many different hues of reddish orange. Vermilion Bird in different languagesThe Chinese constellations were not only used by Chinese cartographers, they were also used by Korean and Japanese cartographers as well.
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