A CHINESE BESTIARY
THE INTEGRATION OF REALITY AND FANTASY
Book Design, Illustration
Special Thanks to Instructors: Ran Wei
The classic of ‘mountains and seas’ is an ancient fearsome Chinese book. It records a large number of exotic animals, most of them are the combination of the ancient people's fantasy and real life creatures, full of the mysterious taste of the integration of reality and fantasy.
Monsters are the products of the seesaw battle between human and nature. People tend to use monsters’ behavior as their excuse to explain those (natural) phenomenon that beyond their cognition, so as to achieve the purpose of self-comfort.
The existence of the beast has been controversial for many years, what the truth is, has been unknown. Therefore, I adopted the concept of "surrealism" (only the combination of fantasy and reality is the absolute truth and the absolute objectivity) to restore what I think is the truth.
︎︎︎Mindmap
︎︎︎Experiment
Long Zhi:
Five hundred li farther south stands Beautiful-Duck Mountain. On its heights are much metal and jade and at its feet are many Needle-Stones. There is a beast here whose form resembles a fox but with nine tails, nine heads and a tiger`s claws. It is called the Longzhi. It makes a sound like a baby but is a man-eater.
︎︎︎Illustration
GeJu:
At the beginning of the fourth guideway through the Eastern Mountains stands North Shouting Mountain. There is a beast here whose form resembles a wolf with a red head and rat`s eyes. It makes a sound like a pig and is called the Geju.
Tao Tie:
Three hundred fifty li farther north stands Mount Gouwu. On its heights is much jade, and at its feet is much copper. There is a beast dwelling here whose form resembles a goat`s body with a human’s face. Its eyes are behind its armpits, and it has tigher`s teeth and human hands. It makes a sound like a baby and is called the PAOXIAO.
Yiyu-Bird:
There is a bird dwelling here on Wing-View Mountain whose form resembles a crow with three heads and six tails. It is adept at laughing and is called the Yiyu. Wearing a piece of it against the skin will prevent nightmares. It can also repel evil.
