The Chinese Bestiary catalogs the mythical beings of the Shanhaijing (山海经, Classic of Mountains and Seas, compiled c. 4th century BCE – 2nd century CE). Every entry follows the same discipline:
Original text first. Passages are quoted verbatim from the received text (Guo Pu commentary tradition) with our own new English translation — no recycled Victorian renditions.
Transliteration. Modern pinyin is primary; Wade-Giles is given where it remains common in English-language scholarship.
Sources stated honestly. Beings attested outside the Shanhaijing — Kun Peng from the Zhuangzi, the Qilin from the Book of Songs, Taowu from the Zuo Zhuan — are labeled with their true source rather than pinned to a passage that does not exist.
Game statistics. D&D 5E stat blocks follow the monster-building tables in the Dungeon Master's Guide (p. 274); proficiency bonus scales with challenge rating per the standard chart.
Sources & Illustrations
Historical illustrations are digitized plates from Ming–Qing editions — Hu Wenhuan's Shanhaijing Tu (胡文焕《山海经图》, Ming), Wang Fu's Shanhaijing Cun (汪绂《山海经存》, 1895), the Chongzhen-era color manuscript, and the Sancai Tuhui — alongside the Japanese Kaiki Chōjū Emaki. These works are in the public domain. The complete per-image attribution list is maintained in IMAGE-ATTRIBUTIONS.md in our GitHub repository.
Classical Chinese texts: public domain (ancient works).
Historical illustrations: public domain; any CC-licensed exception is credited in the image caption itself and in the attribution file.
Stat blocks are compatible with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition and based on the Systems Reference Document 5.1, licensed under CC-BY-4.0 by Wizards of the Coast.
Corrections
Classical Chinese is a living field of argument, and we would rather be corrected than wrong. Spot an error in a translation, an attribution, or a stat block? Open an issue on GitHub.