Rhinoceroses in ancient China
It has a horn on its nose and another one on the crown of its head; it resembles a pig"; and the sì (written as 𤉡, a variant of 兕) is defined as being "like a wild ox and dark-colored".
[2][3][4] In the Erya glossary, probably compiled during the 3rd century BC, the xī is said to resemble a boar, whereas the sì is said to resemble an ox, but the commentary by Guo Pu (276–324) elaborates, stating that the xī is like a water buffalo, but with a large paunch, short legs, three toes on each foot, and three horns on a pig-like head, two on its forehead and one on its nose; and the sì has a single horn.
Some authorities suppose that the sì refers to the one-horned Javan Rhinoceros, and some follow the definition given, for examples, in the Tang book Xinxiu Bencao by Su Jing (aka Su Gong, died 674),[8] in the 1037 CE rime dictionary Jiyun, or the Ming dynasty materia medica, Bencao Gangmu, that the sì is the name for a female rhinoceros;[9][10][11][12] on the other hand, many scholars believe that the sì refers to a type of wild buffalo,[13] or even that the si may have been used as a name for both the more common buffalo and the rarer rhinoceros.
[16] Northern China was also home to the gigantic one-horned near-rhino Elasmotherium, which persisted in the Western Siberian Plain until about 36,000–35,000 years ago.
A wooden sculpture of a charging bull-like creature with a huge single horn, similar to reconstructions of the Elasmotherium, was discovered in a late Western Han (206 BC – AD 9) tomb at Wuwei, Gansu in 1959.
In 2021, a study examined the skull dome and neck musculature of Elasmotherium and challenged traditional portrayals with a long horn.
[19] Most depictions of rhinoceroses in Shang, Zhou and Han art show two distinct horns, and in some cases wrinkles around the eyes are also evident, which are features only found in the Sumatran Rhinoceros.
[citation needed] One of the last outposts of the native Chinese rhinoceros was Sichuan, where rhinoceroses were reported to be living up to the late 17th century.
[26] The Book of Songs, dating to the Western Zhou (c. 1046–771 BC), also describes the hunting of the sì: We have bent our bows; We have our arrows on the string.
The character for the xī, which is universally agreed to refer to the rhinoceros, does not occur in oracle bone inscriptions, so there is no certain literary evidence that rhinoceroses were hunted during the Shang dynasty.
[28] In the Manshu (Tang dynasty) it states that rhinoceroses were hunted by the Nanzhao (in modern Yunnan) using pit traps, and that it was believed that killing one would always bring a thunderstorm.
[20] The earliest, and one of the most impressive, examples of a rhinoceros in Chinese art is a bronze zun wine vessel unearthed in Shandong in 1843, and formerly in the collection of Avery Brundage, which is thought to date to the reign of the last king of Shang, during the first half of the 11th century BC.
[1] Another bronze rhinoceros wine vessel, dating to the Western Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 9), was discovered in Shaanxi in 1963 (shown at the top of this page).
[31] It is also a more highly decorated piece of art, with complex cloud patterns inlaid into its skin with gold and silver wire.
[33] Rhinoceros and buffalo hide was also recorded to have been used for the inner coffin of the emperor, as it was supposed to preserve the body, similar in function to Han dynasty jade burial suits.
[34] In the Manshu (Tang dynasty) it states that rhino and buffalo hide was used for saddles, armor and weapons of Nanzhao troops in Yunnan.
