Black Tortoise 玄武 (xuán wǔ)

Watercolor and Alcohol Markers, 2020
Wen Ting Dong 董文婷

Of the Four Great Celestial Beasts in Chinese myth, the Black Tortoise has the most frightening appearance, being shaped like a giant rough shelled turtle with a snake circling around it. Its frightening appearance means it had a relatively rough start compared to the other Celestial beasts. The Black Tortoise was often mistaken in the early time as an evil beast, causing him to settle in the north where fewer humans lived. Despite this, the Black Tortoise continued to protect passing people by chasing away wild beasts and other monsters. The Black Tortoise’s kind acts were seen by the gods in heaven and they gave it an official space among the four Celestial beasts. The Black Tortoise is known to live in water so it has the power to control water and it symbolizes the season of winter and is the guardian of the north. Black Tortoise is also the god of long life since turtles are a common symbol of longevity in Chinese culture. The snake, which symbolizes cleverness, didn't appear until after the Han dynasty due to the ancient Chinese believing that turtles must breed with snakes to produce offspring, thus the Black Tortoise also became a symbol of fertility.