From Out Of The Ashes...

So, when one thinks of the phoenix, you usually think of one of three things: the decent basketball team, the ridiculously ill-fitting-with-it's-surroundings retirement megapolis, or the Western mythological warhorse of a mystical bird that symbolizes eternal life through it's reported combustion and rebirth through it's own ashes. Being that you're a regular reader of the blog (hopefully), I'm going to assume you're familiar with it, but if not, here's somewhere to get a good overview...

That said, here's an analog that I was -not- aware of...the Chinese Phoenix. While so-called, it's not so much like a phoenix as it is an amalgam of many different animals and portrayed as the King of the Birds, or avian ideal in Chinese culture. Used more as a symbol of luck, balance, and prosperity, the Fenghuang actually struck me as having more than a passing similarity to another Western beastie, the Cockatrice. Which itself is related to a variety of other petrifying creatures, such as this, this and this.

Anyways, the point of this post is currently lost on even the author, but I'll end this somewhat link-heavy and disjointed entry by saying that I was at the very least surprised that there was anything like an Eastern analog to the concept of the Phoenix, even if it turned out that the Chinese Phoenix moniker was of mostly Western invention as well. Also, this.