Atlas / For prosperity & business / PixiuNo. 35

Plate IEast Asia · China Pixiu, drawn by Wishlore

Pl. IPixiu. A crouching pixiu, after traditional carvings. Drawing: Wishlore.

No. 35 · For prosperity & business · East Asia

The pixiu

A fierce beast of Chinese myth. In Sima Qian’s Shiji it is trained for war by the Yellow Emperor; today shops sell it as a keeper of money.

Earliest record: Named in Sima Qian’s Shiji
Source: Sima Qian, Shiji, “Annals of the Five Emperors” (Wikisource)
Region: East Asia · China
Wish: For prosperity & business
Layers: Record Folk Modern · No early record

Keep this symbol · from £2.99 Read the sources

The story · three layers

The story, in three layers.

Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.

Record

Western Han, Shiji

A beast of war

Sima Qian’s Shiji tells that the Yellow Emperor trained fierce beasts, among them bears and pixiu, to fight the Yan Emperor. In this record, the pixiu is a beast of war.

Folk

Not yet sourced

Between then and now

We have not yet found a record of how people kept the pixiu between the Shiji and today. We will add one when we do.

To verify: A museum object showing the pixiu in later use

III

Modern

Shops, today

“Money in, never out”

Shops sell obsidian pixiu bracelets and say the beast lets money in but never out. We found no early record of that idea.

Pixiu

Named in Sima Qian’s Shiji

Story and sources on the reverse

Pl. IIThe story card. Every printed piece carries the story and a code that opens the full source list.

Keep it close

How would you like to keep it?

Download & print

Print-ready card and phone wallpaper

£2.99Sample price

Printed story card, posted

Story and source code on the reverse

£8Sample price

Wish for someone

A private note in your own account. Nothing is sent to them.

Free

Add to bag · £8

No jewellery for this symbol yet; story card and download only
Printed cards are made in our partner workshop in China and shipped worldwide
Delivery: [UK/EU/US days TBC]; duties shown at checkout

Watch the story

The story, in a minute.

It opens with the pencil construction, then follows the record, how people used it, and the piece we make today. Every fact in it comes from the sources on this page.

Length: 1:00
Narration: English, with subtitles on screen
Images: Pencil construction and the atlas drawing on this page, animated; no AI images; jewellery shown as a line drawing
Sources: Listed at the end of the film

Story film · 1:00 · Drawn from the atlas plate · no AI images

In one breath

It began as a beast of war. Who would you keep it for?