Baize 白泽 (bái zé)

Watercolor and Alcohol Markers, 2020
Wen Ting Dong 董文婷

Baize is known as the all-knowing Celestial beast in Chinese legends. Baize appears to have the body of a lion or sheep, horn, and whiskers of a goat. This beast knows everything in the universe from every beast, monster, spirit, and ghost to the smallest gossip passed from person to person. He was so knowledgeable that even the Yellow Emperor himself asked Baize for guidance on ruling all creatures under Heaven. The Yellow Emperor ordered his followers to record everything Baize said into a book called the 《白泽图》, which means Baize Pictures. This book was the encyclopedia for all the beasts and monsters in the world, with eleven thousand five hundred twenty creature’s characteristics and appearances described along with methods to exterminate or kill them. In ancient civilization, the belief in these mythical creatures is widely accepted and the “Baize Book” became an extremely popular book for a household to have. People who have very high respect for Baize begin seeing Baize as being able to ward off evil spirits and start hanging paintings of him in their house to ward off evil.

Fun Fact - Baize's appearance has evolved a lot through time. I started off being goat shaped in body, but the people felt it was not majestic enough so they transformed it into an ox or horse shape. Then Buddhism spread into China, and Baize was believed to become the mount of a Buddhist god who rode on a turquoise lion, and Baize became lion-shaped.