Chinese version of the Phoenix story
It is delightful to find the same or similar figures in western and eastern cultures. This mythological bird is one of them. In the western world, it is called “Phoenix” or “Firebird”. The oriental culture represented by the Chinese calls the bird “Fenghuang”. Japanese uses the same Chinese characters and calls it “Houou”. This sacred bird appears in various mythologies. It is not just a European and East Asian creature. The bird appears in the mythologies of the Greeks, Romans, Persians, Egyptians, and Indians. The common feature is that this bird has eternal life. Jump into a volcano to refresh your life and body, and fly again.
The Chinese version of this bird also appears in Zhuangzi, an ancient story by a Chinese philosopher, as the gigantic bird with eternal life called “Huang”. According to the Zhuangzi story, a gigantic bird lives in the northern ocean. Under water, the ocean is shaped like large fish eggs. When storm season arrives, fly from the depths of the ocean. It looks like an island that comes out of the sea. Emerging from the water, it now looks like a bird. It spreads its wings and flies south, where the water from the Milky Way pours onto the land. Huang flies high with his wings creating a massive wind. The wind from Huang’s wings gives new birth to plants, grasses, flowers, fruits and animals in these lands. The bird is the origin of life, giving new life to the earth by flying.
Sparrows and pigeons watched Huang fly long distances, laughed, and said that migrating 10,000 miles or more is pointless as they can fly 10-20 miles and find enough food.
These birds never understand that the food they get is grown because the Huang bird flies.
This story contains some intriguing meanings. Those who are satisfied with the small world they live in will never be able to grasp the big picture. For sparrows and pigeons, the world is restricted to 10-20 miles from where they live. They will never understand that there is a larger world outside their territory. Those who cling to their own little world will never be able to understand the extent of the whole world.
The second interpretation of this story is to be the size of yourself. The Huang can fly high in the sky and travel around the world because it was created that way. If sparrows or pigeons tried to fly at the same distance as Huang flies, they would be lost and die. It is safer and smarter to stay within your size and capacity.
In ancient China, when a farmer dreamed of being king, his family, relatives, and friends laughed at him. He told those critics that sparrows and pigeons will never understand Huang’s spirit and skill. He did not become the king of the entire Kingdom of China, but instead became a regional lord, while his friends were to serve him and follow his orders. The bottom line of this story is that you can never be a Huang if you don’t dream big.