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===Chinese mythology=== [[File:Pottery unicorn. Northern Wei (386-534 CE).jpg|thumb|Pottery unicorn. Northern Wei. Shaanxi History Museum.]] The ''[[qilin]]'' ({{zh|c=麒麟}}), a creature in [[Chinese mythology]], is sometimes called "the Chinese unicorn", and some ancient accounts describe a single horn as its defining feature. However, it is more accurately described as a hybrid animal that looks less unicorn than [[chimera (mythology)|chimera]], with the body of a deer, the head of a lion, green [[Scale (zoology)|scales]] and a long forwardly-curved horn. The [[Japanese mythology|Japanese]] version (''kirin'') more closely resembles the Western unicorn, even though it is based on the Chinese ''qilin''. The Quẻ Ly of [[Vietnam]]ese myth, similarly sometimes mistranslated "unicorn" is a symbol of wealth and prosperity that made its first appearance during the Duong dynasty, about 600 CE, to Emperor Duong Cao To, after a military victory which resulted in his conquest of [[Tây Nguyên]]. In November 2012 the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences, as well as the [[Korean Central News Agency|Korea News Service]], reported that the [[Kiringul]] had been found, which is associated with a kirin ridden by [[King Dongmyeong of Goguryeo]].<ref>{{citation|title=Lair of King Tongmyong's Unicorn Reconfirmed in DPRK|date=November 29, 2012|url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201211/news29/20121129-20ee.html|publisher=[[Korean Central News Agency]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203012958/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201211/news29/20121129-20ee.html|archive-date=December 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Quinn|first=Ben|title=Unicorn lair 'discovered' in North Korea|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/30/unicorn-lair-discovered-north-korea|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=5 August 2013}}</ref> Beginning in the [[Ming dynasty]], the ''qilin'' became associated with [[giraffe]]s, after [[Zheng He]]'s [[Treasure voyages|voyage]] to [[East Africa]] brought a pair of the long-necked animals and introduced them at court in [[Nanjing]] as ''qilin''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Samuel M. |title=The Emperor's Giraffe |journal=Natural History |date=December 1992 |volume=101 |issue=12 |url=http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART |access-date=2012-04-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202235051/http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART |archive-date=2008-12-02 }}</ref> The resemblance to the ''qilin'' was noted in the giraffe's [[ossicones]] (bony protrusions from the skull resembling horns), graceful movements, and peaceful demeanor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinanews.com/news/2004year/2004-05-31/26/442822.shtml|title=此"麟"非彼"麟"专家称萨摩麟并非传说中麒麟|website=www.chinanews.com}}</ref> ''[[Shanhaijing]]'' (117) mentioned the ''Bo''-horse ({{zh|c=駮馬|p=bómǎ}}), a chimera horse with an ox tail, a single horn, a white body, and a sound like a person calling. The creature was said to live at Honest-head Mountain. [[Guo Pu]] in his ''jiangfu'' said that the ''Bo''-horse was able to walk on water. Another similar creature, also mentioned in ''Shanhaijing'' (80) and said to live in Mount Winding-Centre, was the ''Bo'' ({{zh|c=駮|p=bó}}), but it had a black tail, tiger's teeth and claws, devoured leopards and tigers.<ref name=str>{{cite book|title=''A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas''|author=Strassberg, Richard E.|publisher=University of California Press|year=2002|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-21844-4|pages=116–117, 127–128}}</ref>
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