Was the Chinese Phoenix actually an Ostrich ?

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Recent ornithological and archeological evidence has demonstrated that China once possessed, in Xinjiang Province, its very own species of Ostrich – (Struthio asiaticus), and that this long extinct bird may be the source of the legend of the Phoenix. The Asian Ostrich is known to have become extinct after the end of the last ice age. Images of ostriches have been found in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China on prehistoric pottery and, as petroglyphs indicate, they were around at the same time as early humans in ancient China.

A common depiction of the Phoenix has it attacking snakes with its talons and with its wings spread. According to legend, the Chinese Phoenix, or Fenghuang (凤凰) was said to be made up of the beak of a rooster, the face of a swallow, the forehead of a fowl, the neck of a snake, the breast of a goose, the back of a tortoise, the hindquarters of a stag and the tail of a fish. From a distance, that combination of appearances would very much seem to suggest an Ostrich – especially the hindquarters of a stag, and the neck of a snake. Ostriches also kill and eat snakes, and do tend to spread their wings, especially when being aggressive or during courtship displays.

Images of an ancient, unknown bird have appeared in China for over 7,000 years, the earliest as Shang Dynasty pottery motifs, then appearing as decorated bronzes, as well as jade figurines (many of the most beautiful from the Liao Period). Some believe they may have been a good-luck totem. That this bird was well-known to the early modern humans in Asia, noted for its peculiarity, and hunted for food, is attested by numerous archaeological finds, such as pottery decorated with what appear to be painted ostriches, and bones by early campsites, indicating that it was hunted at the time. It is known that the Ostrich’s range used to extend from North Africa, across the Middle East and into Central Asia, although the Asian Ostrich would probably have been slightly smaller. The old description of a Phoenix again, “with a back of a tortoise” would seem to indicate its back feathers were however distinguishable as being darker, just as in the Ostrich of today.

The Middle Eastern Ostrich, sometimes known as the “Arabian Ostrich”, (Struthio camelus syriacus)

only became extinct in 1966, and is probably as close as we are going to get to how the Asian Ostrich appeared to the early Chinese. Interestingly, Arabian Ostrich tail feathers were considered superior to the African Ostrich as military and decorative symbols in the times of the Roman Empire, another clue as to the Phoenix description of having a tail like a fish. The Asian Ostrich then likely had an impressive plumed tail itself. However, modern drawings of the Phoenix appear these days to have borrowed the tail from another bird – the Peacock, although it wasn’t originally depicted in this manner. Contemporary paintings of the Chinese Phoenix also tend to mix it up with another, similar creature, the Vermillion Bird, which is often painted red. In fact the Phoenix is a completely different animal altogether – being the King of all Birds – another clue as to its origins as an Ostrich – while the Vermilion Bird is a mythological spirit creature of the Chinese constellations.

However, much of Xinjiang’s area is still way off the beaten track, and undisturbed by man, and you never know – if you see a large, snake necked bird, running across the Taklimikan Desert at high speed during sunset ….you might just have seen a Chinese Phoenix for real.

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