Four Perils
The Four Perils are four malevolent beings that exist in Chinese mythology.
''Book of Documents''
In the Book of Documents, they are defined as the "Four Criminals" :- Gonggong, the disastrous god;
- Huandou, a chimeric minister and/or nation from the south who conspired with Gonggong against Emperor Yao
- Gun, whose poorly built dam released a destructive flood and disrupted the Wuxing, and whose son was Yu the Great;
- Sanmiao, the tribes that attacked Emperor Yao's tribe.
''Zuo Zhuan'', ''Shanhaijing'', and ''Shenyijing''
In Zuo Zhuan, Shanhaijing, and Shenyijing, the Four Perils are defined as:- the Hundun, a yellow winged creature of chaos with six legs and no face;
- the Qiongqi, a monstrous creature that eats people,
- the Taowu, a reckless, stubborn creature; The Taowu is said to appear with "a human face, a tiger's feet, a pig's tusks and a tail 18 feet long."
- the Taotie, a gluttonous beast.