24 Feb 2009

Chinese Unicorn - all about the Zhi (a 2008 e-book by Jeannie Thomas Parker)
www.chinese-unicorn.com, Brea, CA, US.
Self-description:
"A Web site containing a full-length book about the Chinese unicorn throughout history, as well as a blog [...] This is the first book published in the English language to explore the origin and significance of the mythic Chinese unicorn and its influence on later unicorn myths. It proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Chinese unicorn was *not* the 'qilin', but a one-horned female goat-like beast called the 'zhi'. It also examines the real animals upon which the myth was based. Its most significant finding, however, is that the unicorn 'zhi' was the ultimate symbol of justice under the law in ancient China."
Site contents:
* About; * Chronology of China; * China's Administrative Districts; * Selected Bibliography;
* Chapters (1. Introduction to the Mythic Chinese Unicorn, 2. Earliest Pictographic Evidence for the Zhi, 3. The Animal Represented in the Zhi Pictograph, 4. Later Evolution of Chinese Characters, 5. The Unicorn Zhi and the Law, 6. The 'Tibetan Unicorn', 7. Images of Zhi in the Shang Dynasty, 8. Earliest Pictorial Evidence for the Zhi, 9. The Confusion about the Lin, 10. Auspicious Animals in Han Art, 11. The Zhi Becomes a Tomb Door Guardian, 12. Three-Dimensional Images of Unicorn Zhi, 13. The Real Unicorn Elasmotherium, 14. Dragon's Bones and Dragon's Teeth, 15. The Transformation of the Unicorn, 16. The Rhinoceros in Ancient China, 17. The Ancient Uses of Rhinoceros Horn, 18. Rhinoceros Horn and the Poisonfeather Bird, 19. Early Maritime Trade in Rhino Horn, 20. The Cinnamon Route, 21. The Tastes of Paradise, 22. The Mythic Rhinoceros-Unicorn, 23. The Magic of the Horn, 24. Ge Hong's Ideas and Their Influence, 25. The Designs on the Horn, 26. The Spirit- Rhinoceros-Unicorn Xiniu, 27. The Ancient Trade in Narwhal Horn, 28. Narwhal Horn Becomes Magical, 29. Summary and Conclusion);
* Preface; * About this book; * Dedication; * Search.
URL http://www.chinese-unicorn.com/
[The final version of a study 'The Mythic Chinese Unicorn Zhi', originally published at the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada web site at the now defunct address http://www.rom.on.ca/ebuff/unicorn.htm - ed.]
Internet Archive (web.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the time of this abstract]
Link reported by: Jeannie T. Parker (jeanniep--at--sympatico.ca)
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Study
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Other
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: Essential
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 30