Fenghuang Colorful Chinese Phoenix Bird

The Fenghuang, or Chinese Phoenix.  Drawn with Conte pastel pencils on black Canson Mi-Teintes paper, 19" x 25".  10/20/2014

The Fenghuang, also known as a Chinese Phoenix bird. In Chinese traditional mythology, the phoenix represents the "Yin" or female, in counterpart to the dragon's "yang", or male. Male phoenixes were originally called "Feng" and the females called "huang", but they have now been mixed into a single entity, the Fenghaung, which is traditionally deemed female in nature. Even though it is referred to as a "phoenix", it is not related to the mythical bird in western literature. They are said to be composed of many parts of different birds, and the different parts of their bodies represent different celestial bodies, such as the sky, sun and moon. Traditionally they are symbolic of virtue and grace. They are commonly found to adorn temples, and used as decoration for weddings or royalty.