What is the name of the Chinese phoenix?

The Chinese phoenix is called the fenghuang. In Chinese, 鳳凰 (simplified 凤凰) is pronounced fènghuáng and names a legendary bird found across the Sinosphere, including China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Fenghuang traditions describe the bird as ruler of other birds and a symbol of virtue, harmony, peace, and prosperity. Older traditions distinguished feng as male and huang as female, but later usage generally treats fenghuang as a single, often feminine, figure. It is frequently paired with the dragon, which traditionally represents masculine power.

The fenghuang is not simply the Chinese version of the Western phoenix. The two birds share associations with majesty and renewal, but their mythologies developed differently. Chinese descriptions portray a composite bird with features associated with several animals and, in some traditions, five symbolic colors.

A famous historical image paired the fenghuang with a dragon on China’s Twelve Symbols emblem, used from 1913 to 1928. In folklore, the bird appears when a realm is peaceful and well-governed.