Zouyu illustration from the Chinese encyclopedia Gujin Tushu Jicheng
Zouyu (Chinese: 騶虞), also called zouwu (騶吾) or zouya (騶牙), is a legendary creature mentioned in old Chinese literature. The earliest known appearance of the characters 騶虞 (zou yu) is in the Book of Songs,[1][2] but J.J.L. Duyvendak describes that the interpretation of that little poem as referring to an animal of that name is "very doubtful".[1]
Zouyu appears in a number of later works, where it is described as "righteous" animal, which, similarly to a qilin, only appears during the rule of a benevolent and sincere monarch. It is said to be as fierce-looking as a tiger, but gentle and strictly vegetarian, and described in some books (already in Shuowen Jiezi[3]) as a white tiger with black spots.[1]
In 1404, during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, Prince Zhu Su, his relative from Kaifeng (in modern-day Henan province) sent him a captured zouyu spotted and captured in Shenhou [zh]; an anonymous painter later painted that zouyu, which was evidently a rare white tiger.[1][4] Another zouyu was sighted in Shandong.[1] The zouyu sightings were mentioned by contemporaneous authors as good omens, along with the Yellow River running clear and the delivery of a qilin (i.e., an African giraffe) by a Bengal delegation that arrived to China aboard Zheng He's fleet.[1]
Puzzled about the real zoological identity of the zouyu said to be captured during the Yongle era, Duyvendak exclaims, "Can it possibly have been a Pandah?"[1] Following him, some modern authors consider zouyu to refer to the giant panda.[5]
Sinologist and linguist Wolfgang Behr includes the zouyu ~ zouwu ~ zouya among several leophoric names, besides 獅子shī-zǐ and 狻猊suān-ní, in ancient Chinese texts to denote lions.[6]
Riordan & Shi (2016) propose that Zou Yu ("驺瑜 [sic]")[a] and other words for some enigmatic pantherine predators in ancient Chinese texts[b] possibly denoted snow leopards.[8][c]
^ abcdefgDuyvendak, J.J.L. (1939), "The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century", T'oung Pao, Second Series, 34 (5): 402, JSTOR4527170
^Behr, Wolfgang. (2004). "Hinc sunt leones – two ancient Eurasian migratory terms in Chinese revisited (I)". International Journal of Central Asian Studies. 9, 2004, p. 14-15 of pp. 1-25
^Classic of Mountains and Seas - Extensively Annotated (山海經廣注) - "vol 12. The classic of regions within the seas: The north (海內北經)"; Siku Quanshu version, vol. 6 - 14, p. 116 of 167
^ abcRiordan, Philip & Shi, Kun (2016). "Chapter 42 - China: Current State of Snow Leopard Conservation in China" in McCarthy, Malton, & Nyhus (editors) Snow Leopards: Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes 1st Edition, p. 524
^Yi Zhou Shu (Lost Book of Zhou) "Wang Hui Jie (The King's Gathering - Explained)". Sibi Congkan version, p. 174 of 236
^Yi Zhou Shu (Lost Book of Zhou) "Wang Hui Jie (The King's Gathering - Explained)". Siku Quanshu version: vol. 7 -10" p. 17 of 79
^Shi Ji, "Vol. 1 - Annals of the Five Emperors"; Siku Quansu version, vol. 1, p. 153 of 237
^Li Shizhen (author), Paul U. Unschuld (translator), (2021). Ben Cao Gang Mu, Volume IX: Fowls, Domestic & Wild Animals, Human Substances. Publisher: University of California Press. p. 673
