Lili, the Spurred Pig That Heralds Earthworks

What the Shan Hai Jing says

The Lili opens the second book of the Southern Mountains. Mount Gui is the first mountain of that book, and the text sets the scene by saying it borders the Liuhuang to the west and looks toward other ranges to the north and east. The Ying River rises there and flows southwest into the Red River, and its waters are rich in white jade and grains of cinnabar.

The beast looks like a young pig, but it has spurs, the sharp claw at the back of the leg that roosters have. Instead of grunting, it barks like a dog. Its name is Lili. When it is seen, the county will have a great deal of earthworks: digging, building and raising walls and dikes. Pigs and boars were familiar farm animals, which makes the spurs and the bark all the stranger.

What "earthworks" meant

The phrase in the original, tu gong, means works done with earth: walls, embankments, canals and building foundations. In ancient China these were carried out with labour drafted from ordinary households, so a year of great earthworks was a hard year for farmers, taken away from their fields. The Lili is therefore an omen with two sides. Building can mean a county that is growing and strong, but it also means heavy labour duty for the people. The text does not say which way to read it, and that ambiguity is typical of the book's quieter omens.

The bird on the same mountain

Mount Gui has a second omen creature. Right after the Lili, the text describes the Zhu, a bird like a kite with human hands, whose cry sounds like its name. When the Zhu appears, the county will see many officials sent into exile. Between them, the pig and the bird of Mount Gui forecast the two great burdens of local life: heavy labour and political trouble. Another pig-like omen beast is the Dangkang of the Eastern Mountains, whose appearance means an abundant harvest.

The Lili in our game

In Beasts of Shanhai the Lili is a sturdy little earth beast. Earthworks became defence: its Golden Body shrugs off the first hit of every battle, and at higher stars it shares that protection with its neighbours, like a dike that shields the fields around it. It costs just 1 Gold and belongs to the earth element. Its low cost and tough opening make it a good first beast to place at the front of a new team.

Spurred Hog in Beasts of Shanhai

In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Spurred Hog is a Earth beast that costs 1 Gold. Its skill is Earthworks. Golden Body: it blocks the first hit each battle. At two stars it is also immune to Burn, and at three stars, when its Golden Body breaks, the allies on its left and right get Golden Body.

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