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was easily dismissed by exponents with the reasoning that the illustrators of the Ming era had not the slightest idea what they were doing. Others, more sceptical, on the other hand, came to a different conclusion. The existence of this picture obviously proved that mo, like pixiu, was only a legendary animal.
Zhouyu
The third animal offered by scholars as the giant panda in Chinese history and literature was zhouyu.
In the Book of Odes, the zhouyu was depicted as "A giant animal that could be as large as a tiger, that had white fur but was black in certain areas. It was not carnivorous, and displayed a gentleness as well as a sense of trustworthiness".
So far, this portrait fitted the modern giant panda. There was one flaw, however, as the description of the animal went on to say that **its tail was even longer than its body**.
Subsequent writings on the zhouyu, claiming to be based on actual sightings, however, did not mention the impressive length of its tail.
In one of the Confucian ritual texts, the Rituals of Zhou, it was stated that the term zhouyu was adopted as the title for the imperial official whose responsibilities were the upkeep of the emperor's menagerie of animals and birds. This use of the term implies that the animal of the same name was rare and valuable.
In the History of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was recorded that the zhouyu was sighted in 333 A.D. in Liaodong in eastern China, where fossil remains of the giant panda had been found. In the History of Five Dynasties, by the noted stateman and scholar of the Song era, Ouyang Xiu (1017-1072), the zhouyu was recorded to have been seen two times. In 908 A.D., residents of two localities reported sighting the zhouyu. These localities were Wuding and Bishan, both in Sichuan. Five years later, in 913 A.D., the animal again was seen by residents. (It is regrettable that the Chinese language makes no distinction between singular and plural nouns. Therefore it is not clear whether residents
i
40
was easily dismissed by exponents with the reasoning that the illustrators of the Ming era had not the slightest idea what they were doing. Others, more sceptical, on the other hand, came to a different conclusion. The existence of this picture obviously proved that mo, like pixiu, was only a legendary animal.
Zhouyu
The third animal offered by scholars as the giant panda in Chinese history and literature was zhouyu.
In the Book of Odes, the zhouyu was depicted as "A giant animal that could be as large as a tiger, that had white fur but was black in certain areas. It was not carnivorous, and displayed a gentleness as well as a sense of trustworthiness".
So far, this portrait fitted the modern giant panda. There was one flaw, however, as the description of the animal went on to say that **its tail was even longer than its body".
Subsequent writings on the zhouyu, claiming to be based on actual sightings, however, did not mention the impressive length of its tail.
In one of the Confucian ritual texts, the Rituals of Zhou, it was stated that the term zhouyu was adopted as the title for the imperial official whose responsibilities were the upkeep of the emperor's menagerie of animals and birds. This use of the term implies that the animal of the same name was rare and valuable.
In the History of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, it was recorded that the zhouyu was sighted in 333 A.D. in Liaodong in eastern China, where fossil remains of the giant panda had been found. In the History of Five Dynasties, by the noted stateman and scholar of the Song era, Ouyang Xiu (1017-1072), the zhouyu was recorded to have been seen two times. In 908 A.D., residents of two localities reported sighting the zhouyu. These localities were Wuding and Bishan, both in Sichuan. Five years later, in 913 A.D., the animal again was seen by residents. (It is regrettable that the Chinese language makes no distinction between singular and plural nouns. Therefore it is not clear whether residents
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