The Four Perils () are four malevolent beings that exist in
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...
.
''Book of Documents''
In the ''
Book of Documents'', they are defined as the "Four Criminals" ():
*
Gonggong (), the disastrous god;
*
Huandou (, a.k.a. , ), a chimeric minister and/or nation from the south who conspired with Gonggong against
Emperor Yao
*
Gun (), whose poorly built dam released a destructive flood and disrupted the
Wuxing, and whose son was
Yu the Great;
* Sanmiao (), the tribes that attacked
Emperor Yao's tribe.
''Zuo Zhuan'', ''Shanhaijing'', and ''Shenyijing''
In ''
Zuo Zhuan'', ''
Shanhaijing
The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shanhai jing'' (), formerly Wade-Giles, romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may hav ...
'', and ''
Shenyijing'', the Four Perils () are defined as:
* the
Hundun (, ), a yellow winged creature of chaos with six legs and no face;
* the Qiongqi (), a monstrous creature that eats people,
* the Taowu (), a reckless, stubborn creature; The Taowu is said to appear with "a human face, a tiger's feet, a pig's tusks and a tail 18 feet long."
* the
Taotie (), a gluttonous beast.
Identification
Zhang Shoujie's ''Correct Meanings of the Record of the Grand Historian'' () identifies with ,
Gonggong with ,
Gun with , and the with .
[''Shiji Zhengyi'' "Volume 1" Siku Quanshu version, Zhejiang university's cop]
p. 133
pf 156
See also
*
Four Barbarians
*
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Notes
References
{{Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors footer
Cultural lists
Chinese demons
Chinese gods
Evil gods