So I've been wondering about wolves in Chinese mythology.I've become aware of only 3 actual Chinese mythological creatures that are stated to be wolves but only I know one is a half dragon hybrid and son of the Dragon king Yazi some of you will recognize this name from Zhaxian (Immortal Be-header/Executioner), Bei a legendary wolf I can't find anything on but has been mentioned in numerous novels, and Tiangao the Chinese equivalent to Fenrir or the sons of Fenrir Skoll & Hati (swallowing the sun and moon) especially the moon but after being captured becomes the guard dog to the heavens instead of devour of gods like Fenrir. So... What is Bei? Is TianGao a dog or a wolf? I need to know its for a project I'm working on (hobby not school). Thought this would be the best place to ask about Chinese stuff since I cant find it on any English language sites and I know no Chinese whatsoever. I don't even know the spelling for Bei to even look it up! Any help given would be much appreciated, thank you for your time if you've read this far.
well you just gotta look at it directly tian= sky and gao= dog combine it and u get sky dog roughly translated so tiangao= dog not a wolf but you do know wolfs are ancestors of dogs right? so it really doesnt matter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiangou , I think you meant TiangOU not Tiangao? Here's an interesting list and gives you the original chinese to let you search further: https://immortalmountain.wordpress.com/glossary/chinese-bestiary/
It's Tiangou and he differed depending on the era. The earliest written mention of Tiangou according to http://prometheusblog.net/2017/07/30/post-5827/ (It's a Japanese source) is the https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_of_Mountains_and_Seas where it's a beast with the body of a stray cat, a white head, and a cry described as "mao mao." There, it is actually a bringer of good luck and thus wards off bad fortune. It then becomes a dog like being in the Records of the Grand Historian or Shiji where it then became a bringer of bad luck. It was written as a bringer of fire from the heavens because it falls like a meteor and causes a blaze on the place it lands on. It then becomes associated with the sun and moon eating where people would sound gongs and light fire crackers to scare it away. It's next iteration is the one in the legend of https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hou_Yi where he is associated with eating the moon and spitting it out. There, he is Hou Yi's hunting dog, Kuromimi (Black Ear) that ate his wife (and the moon) after some fuck ups (she runs away to the moon) and spat her out (and the moon) in deference to Seioubou's mercy in making him Tiangou. Edit: As for bei: https://www.cherriyuen.com/Idioms.php?idiom=147&keyword=& Quote: "The "bei" is an animal much like the wolf. The major difference between these two animals is that the wolf has long front legs and short hind legs, while the bei has short front legs and long hind legs. The wolf and the bei often work together to catch sheep or cows......Today, when two people work together to accomplish something bad, we can say that "the wolf and the bei are making mischief."" Which refers to this Chinese Idiom - 狼狽為奸