There is also notable similarity with the painted pottery shards found at Lower Xiajiadian cultural sites (2200–1600 BCE).Īlthough modern scholars use the word ' Taotie', it is actually not known what word the Shang and Zhou dynasties used to call the design on their bronze vessels as American paleographer and scholar of ancient China Sarah Allan notes, there is no particular reason to assume that the term taotie was known during the Shang period. Some argue that the design can be traced back to jade pieces found at Neolithic sites belonging to the Liangzhu culture (3310–2250 BCE). The design typically consists of a zoomorphic mask, described as being frontal, bilaterally symmetrical, with a pair of raised eyes and typically no lower jaw area.

The Taotie is often represented as a motif on dings, which are Chinese ritual bronze vessels from the Shang (1766-1046 BCE) and Zhou dynasties (1046–256 BCE). The four fiends are also juxtaposed with the four benevolent animals which are Qilin ( 麒麟), Dragon ( 龍), Turtle ( 龜) and Fenghuang ( 鳳凰). They are opposed by the Four Holy Creatures, the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger and Black Tortoise. In Chinese classical texts such as the ' Classic of Mountains and Seas', the fiend is named alongside the Hundun ( 混沌), Qiongqi ( 窮奇) and Taowu ( 檮杌). Taotie are one of the ' four evil creatures of the world'. The Taotie ( Chinese: 饕餮) is an ancient Chinese mythological creature that was commonly emblazoned on bronze and other artifacts during the 1st millennium BC. Taotie on a ding from the Shanghai Art Museum

Tao definition