The Rhinoceros: A Precious, Multitasking Animal of Ancient China

Distribution, Catching Methods, and the Production of Luxury Goods under the Tang Dynasty (618–907)

Dr. Chiara Bocci

Big animals similar to buffalos, single or double-horned, make their appearance in the earliest sources of Chinese tradition. If scholars still debate over the identity of the quadruped called si 兕, all agree in identifying xi 犀, still in use in the modern word xiniu 犀牛, with the rhinoceros. Different graphic variants of these characters can be found on bronzes and oracle bone inscriptions, and rhinoceroses are mentioned in early geographical-mythological works, such as the Shanhai jing 山海經 (“Book of Mountains and Seas”, ca. 4th–1st cent.). These pachyderms have inspired ancient artists as well: archaeologists unearthed a rhino-shaped vessel, as early as the 11th cent. BC, which presents exceptionally realistic features. This and other observations led scholars to believe that rhinoceroses originally inhabited a vast area of today’s China, well beyond the jungles of the south. Throughout the dynastic histories, rhinoceros are hunted, sent to the capital alive as tributes, and finally used to manufacture luxurious products. It was their horn, in particular, which attracted people’s attention: besides supposed supernatural, apotropaic properties, it had a similar use as ivory from elephant tusks. The horn was in fact a prized material to manufacture all sorts of fine items, such as hairpins (xi zandao 犀簪導), belts (xi dai 犀帶) and drinking cups (xi bei 犀杯). The thick, almost impenetrable skin of rhinoceroses provided, moreover, sturdy material for armours (kai 鎧). During the Tang dynasty, rhinoceroses came from the southern regions, the so-called Lingnan 嶺南 area (“South of the ridges”), and from Indonesia. Miscellaneous works such as Duan Chengshi’s 段成式 Youyang zazu 酉陽雜俎 (“Miscellaneous Records from Youyang”, ca. 853) report amply on curious catching methods and ancient beliefs around the animal and its horn. The Tang dynastic histories Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書 and Xin Tangshu 新唐書 confirm the relevant, multifaceted role of the rhinoceros, by mentioning it innumerable times amongst tributes and copious mirabilia. In my talk, I will present a selection of data, anecdotes and descriptions, mainly from Tang dynasty sources, which will provide a vivid picture of this fascinating creature.