Bifang Bird, the One-Legged Fire Crane of the Shan Hai Jing

The bifang bird looks like a crane on a single leg, cries its own name and brings wild fires to any town where it is seen.

Chinese name: 毕方 (bìfāng)
Oldest source: Shan Hai Jing, Western Mountains, Book 3
Where it lives: Mount Zhang'e
In the game: Fire beast · 1 Gold · Burning Hit

What the Shan Hai Jing says

The bifang bird lives on Mount Zhang'e in the third book of the Western Mountains, a range full of jade, strange stones and powerful gods. The text says it is shaped like a crane but stands on a single leg, with red markings on a blue-green body and a white beak. Its call is its own name, bi-fang, a pattern the Shan Hai Jing uses for many creatures whose names seem to come from the sounds they make.

有鸟焉，其状如鹤，一足，赤文青质而白喙，名曰毕方，其鸣自叫也，见则其邑有讹火。

A bird lives here, like a crane with one leg, red markings on blue, and a white beak. It is called the Bifang and cries its own name. When it appears, strange fires break out in its town.

Shan Hai Jing, Western Mountains, Book 3 · Mount Zhang'e · Translation by Morrow Blue

Ming dynasty woodblock illustration of the bifang, a crane-like bird standing on a single leg — Bifang of Mount Zhang'e in the Ming dynasty Jiang Yinghao woodblock edition of the Shan Hai Jing. Source: National Diet Library Digital Collections, Japan, public domain.

The omen is the heart of the entry. When the bifang is seen, its town suffers e huo, strange or uncontrolled fires that start with no clear cause. In a world of wooden houses, thatched roofs and granaries, a fire could wipe out a whole town in a night, and a bird that announced one was a creature to fear rather than admire.

A second bifang beyond the seas

The bird appears again in the Beyond the Seas: South book, which places a bifang bird east of a land in the far south, west of the Qing River, and describes it with a human face and a single leg. The two entries do not match exactly, which is common in the Shan Hai Jing. The book was put together from different sources over a long time, and the same name can carry a slightly different body in different chapters. What stays the same is the one leg.

Beside the Yellow Emperor's chariot

Outside the Shan Hai Jing, the philosopher Han Feizi tells of a great gathering of spirits that the Yellow Emperor held on Mount Tai. The emperor rode in a carriage drawn by an elephant and six dragons, and the bifang walked beside the wheel. The Huainanzi, a Han dynasty book, lists the bifang among spirits born from nature, saying that wood gives birth to the bifang. Read next to the fire omen of the Shan Hai Jing, these lines are often taken to mean a spirit of fire that springs from wood, the very fuel it burns.

Bifang in Beasts of Shanhai

In Beasts of Shanhai, our browser game built on these creatures, the bifang is a cheap Fire beast that sets everything it touches alight. Each attack adds a small burn that ignores armor, and the burn grows with its star level, so a single bifang can wear down a heavily shielded foe. Its fragile body matches the bird in the text: dangerous for what it brings, not for its strength. For the gentler fire bird of the book, see the Fenghuang.

Bifang Firecrane in Beasts of Shanhai

In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Bifang Firecrane is a Fire beast that costs 1 Gold. Its skill is Burning Hit. Its attacks add Burn 1 (true damage). At two stars the burn rises to 2, and at three stars to 3.

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Questions

What is a bifang?

The bifang is a bird in the Shan Hai Jing shaped like a crane with one leg, red markings on blue and a white beak. It lives on Mount Zhang'e and cries its own name.

What does seeing a bifang bird mean?

According to the Shan Hai Jing, when the bifang appears, strange fires break out in its town.

Why does the bifang have one leg?

The Shan Hai Jing does not explain it; it simply describes the bird with one leg in both of its entries. Its single leg is the detail every later picture keeps.

More creatures

See the whole Shan Hai Jing bestiary