Pixiu are considered powerful protectors of the souls of the dead, xian,[1] and feng shui practitioners, and resemble strong, winged lions.

A Pixiu is an earth and sea variation[clarification needed], particularly an influential and auspicious creature for wealth, and is said to have a voracious appetite exclusively for gold, silver, and jewels.

Pixiu are auspicious, winged animals, written about in ancient Chinese history and heralded through the millennia by fantastic stories of powerful and grandiose feats of victory in battle.

[8][circular reference] Ancient Chinese descriptions, depictions and stone carvings of Pixiu from the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) show the male with a single antler and the female with two.

Many have a bifurcated (split) tail that hangs low and downward that covers its rear, a representative metaphor that they hold gold inside their stomachs but will not let it out.

[citation needed] Imperial Pixiu used during the Qing dynasty developed the physical characteristic of a fatter, more rotund body, indicating a stomach that could be loaded with unlimited amounts of gold and all forms of wealth and good fortune.

Due to their similar appearances, Pixiu are often confused with stone lions and qilin, but they can easily be distinguished from those two animals by its pair of feathered wings with which it can fly between Heaven and Earth.

Statues of Pixiu are commonly found on the four corners of the roofs of houses, palaces and halls of the most important people such as the Chinese Emperor.

In feng shui, Pixiu (aka Piyao in some modern cultural translations) is the heavenly variation of a creature of good fortune.

In American Born Chinese, Shiji Niangniang has a pet Pixiu that was turned into a dog, along with having his anus sealed, after he pooped in the Jade Emperor's pond.