Xingxing

The Knowing Ape

White-eared ape-like beast of the southern mountains that walks upright; eating it grants swiftness.

Xingxing is the white-eared ape of Zhaoyao Mountain who walks upright on two legs and, in later lore, knows the names and deeds of the past. Eating its flesh was said to make one swift of foot. Halfway between animal and ancestor, it marks the threshold the Shanhaijing loves to probe.