Xiao (mythology)
In Chinese mythology, the xiao is the name of several creatures, including the xiao (Chinese: 囂; pinyin: xiāo; Wade–Giles: hsiao1) "a long-armed ape" or "a four-winged bird" and shanxiao (Chinese: 山魈; pinyin: shānxiāo) "mischievous, one-legged mountain spirit". Furthermore, some Western sources misspell and misconstrue the older romanization hsiao as "hsigo" [sic] "a flying monkey".
Chinese Xiao[]
Xiao or Hsiao (simplified Chinese: 嚣; traditional Chinese: 囂; pinyin: xiāo; Wade–Giles: hsiao; lit. 'clamor'), alternately pronounced Ao (pinyin: aó; Wade–Giles: ao), is a mythological creature described as resembling either an ape or a bird.
The Chinese word xiao (囂) means "noise; clamor; hubbub; haughty; proud; arrogant". During the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE), Xiao was both the name of a historical capital (near modern Zhengzhou in Henan province) during the era of King Zhong Ding (r. c. 1421–1396 BCE), and the given name of King Geng Ding (r. c. 1170–1147 BCE).
The Chinese character (囂) for xiao ideographically combines the radicals kou (口 "mouth", quadrupled as 㗊) and ye (頁) "head", thus signifying "many voices". The first Chinese character dictionary, the (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi 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's commentary explains as (聲出而气隨之) "noise is emitted and qi follows it".
The Shanhaijing "Classic of Mountains and Seas" uses Xiao (some editions write the graphic variant 嚻) as the name of a river (Xiaoshui 囂水),[1] a mountain (Beixiao zhi shan 北囂之山),[2] and two mythical creatures.
The first Xiao, which supposedly resembles a yu (禺) "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.[3]
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.[4]
The Chinese mythologist Yuan Ke suggests that xiao (囂) is a copyist's error for the graphically and phonologically similar nao (夒 "a kind of monkey").[5] The historical linguist Axel Schuessler reconstructs Old Chinese nao < *nû (夒), xiao < *hâu (囂) or ao < *ŋâu (囂), and yu < *ŋoh (禺).[6]
The second Hsiao, a mythological hybrid 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.[7]
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.[8]
Although this passage compares the Xiao bird with the humanoid Kuafu, the Shanhaijing commentary of Guo Pu (276–324) says an early textual version writes the Jufu (舉父), 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.[9] 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.[10]
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[11]
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 (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 (Chinese: 山魈; pinyin: shānxiāo; Wade–Giles: shan-hsiao; lit. 'mountain imp') referred to "a short, one-legged, crayfish-eating simian creature that lived in the western mountains". In Modern Standard Chinese usage, shanxiao is the name for the African "mandrill monkey; Mandrillus sphinx".
After analyzing numerous stories about shanxiao "hill-spirits", the Dutch sinologist Jan Jakob Maria de Groot believes that,
… the Chinese place in their great class of hill-spirits certain quadrumana, 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.[12]
The Shanhaijing has two early references to shanxiao, named with a manuscript lacuna and shanhui 山