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Why I Depict Qilin as a Giraffelike Creature

Writer's picture: jamespederson5jamespederson5

In Chinese legend, the qilin is a magical ungulate that brings prosperity, and appears at the birth and death of a great ruler or a very wise person

(including Confucius)


When the Chinese explorer Zheng He brought back two giraffes from Africa, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty noticed the similarity between these animals and the qilin, and declared that the giraffes were the mythical beasts.

To this day, the Chinese word for giraffe is "qilin".



In homage to this historical anecdote, I depict this benevolent fantastic beast from Chinese mythology resembling a giraffe.

Besides its long neck and legs, it also has giraffelike spots.


On a side note, the Japanese and Korean words for the giraffe ("Kirin" and "Girin" respectively) are also derived from their own words for the Chinese beast.

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