CH'I-LIN

Pinyin Qilin, in Chinese mythology, the unicorn whose rare appearance often coincides with the imminent birth or death of a sage or illustrious ruler. (The name is a combination of the two characters ch'i, "male," and lin, "female.") A ch'i-lin has a single horn on its forehead, a yellow belly, a multicoloured back, the hooves of a horse, the body of a deer, and the tail of an ox. Gentle of disposition, it never walks on verdant grass or eats living vegetation. The first ch'i-lin is said to have appeared in the garden of the legendary Huang Ti (Yellow Emperor) in 2697 BC. Some three centuries later a pair of ch'i-lin were reported in the capital of Emperor Yao. Both events bore testimony to the benevolent nature of the rulers. The advent of a great sage was made known when a ch'i-lin appeared to the pregnant mother of Confucius (6th century BC). She thereupon coughed up an inscribed jade tablet that foretold the future greatness of her son. The death of Confucius was foreshadowed when a ch'i-lin was injured by a charioteer. In 1414 a live giraffe was brought to China for the first time and presented as a ch'i-lin to the Ming emperor Yung-lo. The tough old warrior, seeing through the intended flattery, curtly remarked that he certainly was no sage and the animal was certainly no ch'i-lin. In Japanese, a giraffe is called kirin, but the characters are those for ch'i-lin.