Luanniao (luan bird)

Lexical and encyclopedic sources describe the luan as a divine or semi-divine bird. The Shuowen Jiezi records a traditional etiology that the luan is 'born from the sperm of Chìdì (赤帝),' framing it as arising from divine/primordial forces. The Sancai Tuhui explicitly characterises the bird as 'the transformation of a divine spirit.' These accounts are transmitted in classical dictionaries and encyclopaedias rather than as a single narrative epic origin.

Classical descriptions present the luan as bird-like with a body-shaped like a chicken, often red with five-coloured markings and associated in some passages with features reminiscent of the fenghuang. Different passages attribute various motifs without asserting they all co-occur: some sections describe the luan trampling snakes and wearing one on its breast, others mention it carrying a shield. It is one of the 'three five-coloured birds' in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Sources emphasise the luan's vocal and omen-bearing roles: the Shuowen Jiezi says it 'sings in the five standard pitches' and appears when hymns of praise are sung to rulers, while the Classic of Mountains and Seas depicts it singing spontaneously in paradisiacal areas and singing while the feng dances to accompany it. Sightings are treated as an omen of peace, and an early legend has the luan presented as tribute to King Cheng of Zhou as a symbol of submission to virtue. An Edo-period encyclopaedia (Wakan Sansai Zue) records a material-technology claim that the luan's blood is viscous and could be used as an adhesive for attaching strings to musical instruments; that claim is recorded as encyclopaedic lore rather than a mythic power.