Part of the A-to-Z blog challenge. My theme is legends and legendary creatures (both real and fiction). I hope you enjoy following along!
Qilin of Asia
by KatePfeilschiefter
A mythical hooved creature from Chinese and Asian culture, said to appear with the arrival or passing of a sage or great ruler, and seen as a good omen.
The qilin is described as a vegetarian with a quiet nature, bearing antlers like a deer and scales like a dragon or carp fish, eyes with thick eyelashes, and manes and beards that flow up. The body is depicted in many different forms, but mostly shaped like an ox, deer, or horse. Sometimes they have feathery features and decorations, curly tufts of hair on parts of the legs, or decorative fish-like fins or whiskers.
According to Taoist mythology, although they can look fearsome, qilin were creatures who punished the wicked. They were seen as divinely knowing whether a person was good or evil, guilty or innocent, in ancient lore and stories.
Later in legend, the qilin became a stylized representation of the giraffe in the Ming dynasty. This began after Zheng He’s voyage to East Africa when the Ming Dynasty bought giraffes from Somali merchants. They were referred to as “qilins” so that the Emperor could claim he possessed “magical creatures” (though they were just giraffes), and act like it was some symbol of the greatness of his “power.”
When I read through The Lunar Chronicles book #1, Cinder, these qilin creatures were mentioned as decorating the king’s palace. I couldn’t resist researching them a bit. 🙂 They are curious-looking, aren’t they?
Do you prefer a giraffe qilin or a scaly qilin?
If you read Cinder, did you recognize these creatures right away?
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(Information: wikipedia, credit: Art/gifs belongs to their respective owners, not me.)
E.E. Rawls Writes 
I like the sound of these creatures. I like the scaly ones the best. They seem more, mystic-like. 🙂
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Me too. Scaly creatures are so unique, they have the feel of fantasy about them. 🙂
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They do. And I think maybe part of that is because they feel old. Connected to creatures like dinosaurs.
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I think I prefer the scaly qilin for the same reason Phoenix gave. Though I kinda like the blue-and-red one in the very first picture. It’s purdy, if not scary. 😉 And in general, it’s interesting to see how dragons are portrayed in different cultures.
Have you read Eon by Alison Goodman? That’s another Asian-inspired story featuring dragons, though I don’t think they were specifically qilin.
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I love that first picture too! I thought it had some type of scales on it, but I can’t tell for sure. Maybe they swoop more like feathers, but they still look shiny like scales. Either way, it’s the purdiest. 😉
No, I haven’t read Eon. Did you write a review for it?
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I did, back when I was writing longer reviews. Here’s the link: https://saraletourneauwriter.com/2015/01/12/recent-reads-eon-alison-goodman/
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I haven’t read Cinder, but I keep seeing the covers for the Lunar Chronicles all over the place, so I’ll probably pick them up soon (and keep an eye out for the mentions of these interesting creatures!) I don’t know which one I like better, but the giraffe one kind of reminds me of the character Discord in the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon (that my children watch, and I watch with them without complaining… haha) he’s my favorite character because: John DeLancie = Q… so I’m gonna have to be partial to the giraffe-looking one. The scaly one is cool, too, though! Ah! I can’t decide. Thanks for writing about these, I’ve never heard of them before!
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I think you’ll enjoy them! The character Cinder is one of my favorites now. 🙂
Oh wow, you’re right! I just Googled Discord and that is one odd looking pony (so different from the old 90’s ones I grew up with)! 😀 Ohmygoodness, he was Q? Lol, I loved Q! Okay part of me likes the giraffe-version now too.
Your welcome, it’s been fun sharing these! 😀
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I prefer the scaled version and I knew about these creatures way before Cinder because of a drawing book. I drew one once and I really want to include these in my stories sometime. I love the mixture of animals.
storitorigrace.blogspot.com
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That sounds like a cool drawing book! I love creative drawing books that showcase unique and lesser known creatures.
Cool! What will the quilin be like in your stories?
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I’m not sure. I was thinking of having them be more common in a swamp region, but I also like the mystery in rarity. Perhaps I’ll have common ones and a rare one sort of like the white stag legend.
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I like the white stag idea. It would be fun to have qilin common in a story, but then have a special kind that are rarely seen.
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[…] Qilin the Dragon-like […]
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