Luduan (甪端

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: lùduān) is a legendary Chinese auspicious creature. It has the head of a lion, the horn of a rhino, the body of a dragon, the paws of a bear, the scales of a fish, and the tail of an ox, It can travel 18,000 li (9000 km or 5500 mi) in a single day and speaks all world languages. It appears during the reign of enlightened rulers. A legend says a luduan once appeared to

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

and convinced him to abandon his efforts to conquer India. The throne of the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

in the Hall of Supreme Harmony has two incense burners shaped like the luduan as an auspicious symbol. Inner Mongolia Museum bronze incense burner in form of a luduan

Inner Mongolia Museum bronze incense burner in form of a luduan

References

See also