A phoenix is a divine bird who rules the world of birds according to Chinese legends. Since this bird doesn’t exist in our daily life, we should trace the origin of how it came into being, at least in the description of Chinese legendary stories.

Fenghuang (the Chinese name of phoenix) is 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. Today, however, it is often described as a composite of many birds including the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow.

Its body symbolizes the six celestial bodies. The head is the sky, the eyes are the sun, the back is the moon, the wings are winds, the feet are the earth, and the tail represents the planets in the universe. Its feathers contain the five fundamental colors: black, white, red, blue and yellow. It is also sometimes depicted as having three legs.