Qiongqi, the Winged Tiger of the Four Perils
Qiongqi is a man-eater twice over: a bristled ox and a winged tiger in the Shan Hai Jing, and one of the Four Perils that the sage king Shun drove from the world.
- Chinese name
- 穷奇 (qióngqí)
- Oldest source
- Shan Hai Jing, Western Mountains, Book 4
- Where it lives
- Mount Gui
- In the game
- Metal beast · 2 Gold · Kill Feast
What the Shan Hai Jing says
Qiongqi first appears in the fourth book of the Western Mountains, on Mount Gui. The entry is short: the beast looks like an ox, but its coat is made of bristles like a hedgehog's quills. Its voice is the howl of a hound, and it eats people. Nothing in the line says that eating it or seeing it brings luck. It is simply a danger to anyone who climbs the mountain. A river on the same mountain is home to the Luoyu, a fish with bird wings whose appearance means flood, so Mount Gui is not a safe place on either count.
其上有兽焉，其状如牛，猬毛，名曰穷奇，音如獆狗，是食人。
On it lives a beast like an ox with hedgehog bristles, called the Qiongqi. It howls like a hound and eats people.
The winged tiger of the sea books
A second Qiongqi appears in Within the Seas: North, a later part of the book. Here it is shaped like a tiger with wings. It eats people starting from the head, and its victims are described with loose, unbound hair. The text adds that some say it starts from the feet instead. This winged tiger is the Qiongqi most people picture today, and it is the image that later books build on. The two entries show how the Shan Hai Jing gathered material from different sources without forcing them to agree.
One of the Four Perils
In the Zuo Zhuan, an ancient history, Qiongqi is the name people gave to a worthless son of the Shaohao clan. He broke faith, threw away loyalty and dressed up wicked words as fine speech. With Hundun, Taowu and Taotie, he is one of the Four Perils, four villains whom the sage king Shun banished to the four edges of the world. From then on the word qiongqi stood for a person who turns right and wrong upside down.
The beast that eats the honest
The Shenyi Jing, a collection of marvels, gives the winged tiger a moral twist. It says Qiongqi lives in the northwest, understands human speech and, when it hears people quarrel, eats the one who is in the right. When it hears of an honest and loyal person, it bites off his nose. When it hears of someone wicked, it kills a beast and brings it to him as a gift. In Beasts of Shanhai we started from the oldest entry instead: a quilled man-eater that grows stronger with every kill.
Quill Ox in Beasts of Shanhai
In our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai, Quill Ox is a Metal beast that costs 2 Gold. Its skill is Kill Feast. When it kills a foe and survives, it gains +2 attack and +1 HP for the rest of the run. At two stars each kill gives +4/+2, and at three stars +6/+3.
Questions
What does Qiongqi look like?
The Shan Hai Jing gives two forms: an ox with hedgehog bristles on Mount Gui, and a tiger with wings in Within the Seas: North. Later art usually shows the winged tiger.
Is Qiongqi good or evil?
Evil. Both Shan Hai Jing entries say it eats people, the Zuo Zhuan counts it among the Four Perils, and the Shenyi Jing says it eats the honest and rewards the wicked.
Who are the Four Perils?
Hundun, Qiongqi, Taowu and Taotie: four villains in the Zuo Zhuan whom the sage king Shun banished to the edges of the world.
More creatures
Taotie 饕餮A goat-bodied beast with a human face and eyes under its arms, so greedy it eats itself.
Hundun 混沌A faceless god like a red sack, with six legs and four wings. It has no eyes, yet it knows song and dance.
Bo 駮A white horse with a black tail, one horn and tiger fangs. It eats tigers and leopards and keeps war away.
Luoyu 蠃鱼A fish with bird wings and a voice like a mandarin duck. When one is seen, its town is struck by flood.
Nine-Tailed Fox 九尾狐A fox with nine tails and a cry like a baby's. It eats people, and eating it keeps curses away.
Bai Ze 白泽A talking beast that knows the nature of all things. Not in the Shan Hai Jing, but often counted among its creatures.