Qilin
c. 500 BCE – 2026 CEattested
China
- Chinese
Appears only when a sage is born or a just ruler reigns, and is so gentle it will not tread on grass. A giraffe presented to the Ming court in 1414 was declared to be one.
Known for
- omen of a sage
- treads on nothing living
- the Ming giraffe
Dates are estimates. A great deal of what this atlas covers is only datable to within a century.