phoenix + empress (was) Some people can be wierd about their pets...

[Petra Pan]

No: HPFGUIDX 60235

Peg following-up:
> I still can't find a specific
> reference to "King of the Birds", but
> I have found online references to the
> Feng-Huang, the Chinese phoenix, 
> the "emperor of the birds," and a
> quote from Dryden that describes 
> the phoenix as a queen.  Well, both
> rulers, but not specifically "king." 
> I guess I misremembered the quote.
> 
> 
> In case anybody cares . . .

Just a point of clarification...did the 
references say "emperor of the birds" or 
empress?

In Chinese mythology, dragon and the 
phoenix often exist as a pair.  The dragon 
symbolizes all things yang (the energy 
usually associated with the male) while 
the phoenix symbolizes all thing yin 
(the energy usually associated with the 
female) when used to represent any 
metaphors involving two contrasting 
and/or complementary entities.

This is why emperors are represented by 
dragons while empresses are represented 
by phoenixes in so much of the Chinese 
imperial art.

This applies only to the Feng-Huang; 
most non-Asian references to the phoenix 
seem to either assign the male gender or 
none at all.  So chances are, the 
reference to "King of the Birds" that 
you seek wasn't talking about the 
Feng-Huang.  Hope this makes your search 
just that much shorter.

Petra
a
n  :)

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Calendar - Free online calendar with sync to Outlook(TM).
http://calendar.yahoo.com