The Xiezhi
The beast of justice · Keeper of the Hall of Supreme Harmony
A one-horned beast of Chinese legend that could tell the guilty from the innocent. It rides the roof ridge of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
The legend
The Xiezhi is a one-horned beast of Chinese legend that could tell the guilty from the innocent and butted the liar with its horn. It rides the roof ridge of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and the imperial censors, who watched over the emperor's officials, wore its image on their robes.
“I'd tell it the truth, straight away.”
Where it comes from
The story goes back to Gao Yao, said to be the minister of justice under the legendary Emperor Shun, who used the beast in his trials. The philosopher Wang Chong wrote the tale down in his book Lunheng around the year 80. Under the Tang dynasty, censors wore a xiezhi hat, and the Ming and Qing censorate kept the beast as a badge of office.
The creature even sits inside the Chinese word for law. The old form of the character 法 was 灋, which includes 廌, the zhi beast. The water sign beside it is often read as a symbol that law should be level, like the surface of a lake. In Korea the beast is called haetae and was believed to guard against fire. Haechi, a cartoon haetae, is the city mascot of Seoul.
Where to see it
Look up at the roof ridges of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Most roofs in the Forbidden City carry an odd number of small beasts, but this hall is the only building with ten. A figure riding a bird leads the line, and the xiezhi is the eighth beast. The hall, last rebuilt in 1695 to 1697, is the largest surviving wooden building in China. The Palace Museum is closed on Mondays, and every visitor must book in advance under their real name.
In the game
One horn lifts. The Xiezhi studies the plane as if checking it for lies. The Xiezhi snorts and paws the roof ridge, still watching. The Xiezhi lowers its horn to the roof and nods once.
