From their depictions in myths, stone drawings, and the Shan-haiching, or The Classic of Mountains and Seas, the world at one time would seem to have been filled with imaginary creatures, and the rulers and sages of far antiquity are often portrayed in half-human, half-animal forms.
從山海經、神話、畫象石之中所描述的，無不是布滿幻獸的世界，連遠古的祖先、帝王或具有造物性格的神明，也往往被塑造成半人半獸的形象。