Qinyuan, the Bee-Like Bird Whose Sting Kills

What the Shan Hai Jing says

The Qinyuan lives on Kunlun Hill, the most sacred place in the mountain books, which the third book of the Western Mountains calls the Heavenly Emperor's capital on earth. Right after describing the god Lu Wu, who keeps the hill, and the man-eating Tulou, the text turns to a bird. The book calls it a bird, but its shape is that of a bee, and its size is that of a mandarin duck. Its name is Qinyuan. Its sting is deadly to everything: any bird or beast it stings will die, and any tree it stings will wither. The verb the text uses for the sting, he, simply means to sting, and the line repeats it twice for emphasis.

A guardian's weapon

Kunlun is described as a divine estate with officials and stores: Lu Wu oversees heaven's divisions, another bird manages the Emperor's clothing and implements, and rare trees and herbs grow on its slopes. Against that orderly picture, a creature whose sting kills any living thing reads naturally as part of the defences, a reason why ordinary beings could not simply walk into the gods' home. The text does not call it a guard, and it gives no omen for seeing it. It only records what the sting does, in words that leave no doubt.

Bird, bee or something between

The Qinyuan is one of the strangest mixtures in the book: classed as a bird, built like an insect, and sized like a duck. Another stinging figure in the Shan Hai Jing is Jiaochong, the two-headed god of Mount Pingfeng in the Central Mountains, who rules all stinging insects and whose mountain is the home of bees. Between them, the book shows how seriously early readers took the small creatures that sting.

The Qinyuan in our game

In Beasts of Shanhai the Qinyuan is a poisoner. Every exchange of blows with it leaves the other beast poisoned, and when a poisoned foe dies, part of that poison spreads to the beast beside it, just as the sting of the Kunlun bird spares nothing it touches. It is an earth beast costing 3 Gold. Its bee-like shape and deadly sting come straight from the Kunlun entry.

Withering Wasp in Beasts of Shanhai

In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Withering Wasp is a Earth beast that costs 3 Gold. Its skill is Spreading Venom. When it attacks or is attacked, the other beast gets Poison 1, and when a poisoned foe dies, half its Poison jumps to an adjacent foe. It applies Poison 2 at two stars, and at three stars it applies Poison 3 and all of the Poison jumps.

Play Beasts of Shanhai free