The White Tiger (baihu) turns its neck backwards and roars with bared fangs. Its elongated body prances forward, with legs in mid-stride and long tail curving up into a bottom-heavy loop. The shoulders are muscular and well articulated, underscoring the tiger’s physical power and ferocity. Atop its body are three scaly horn-like projections that may be wings. A raised, ribbed band articulates the curvature of its neck and runs along the flat underside of its torso, continuing to the tip of the tail. This band defines the structure of the tail giving it the effect of chain link armor.

Tigers have long occupied an important position in the hierarchy of cosmological animals. They were represented in Shang dynasty bone inscriptions and depicted on bronzes of the Zhou dynasty. Their protective role is demonstrated on two Han dynasty painted bricks from Sichuan on which fierce stalking tigers were depicted next to the inscriptions “to avoid evil” (bixie) and “to remove evil” (chuxiong).[1] During the Han dynasty, under the emperor Wudi, a correspondence was formalized between the directions and their related animals, as well as the seasons, elements, and colors. Formal poems recited at ceremonies placed the directional animals at the same level as Taiyi, the Supreme Unity:

The chariot of the divinity is made of clouds.
It is drawn by winged dragons; innumerable are its feathered pennants.
The divinity descends as though carried by chargers of the wind;
To the left, the Green Dragon, to the right, the White Tiger.[2]

During the Han dynasty, both tigers and the color white were associated with immortality. Immortals such as the legendary Pengzu, who lived eight hundred years, attracted the presence of tigers.[3] Sima Qian and Ban Gu’s descriptions of the islands of immortality state that they were inhabited by “creatures, birds, and beasts completely white.” [4] Tigers also had an apotropaic role at tomb sites. According to the Zhouli, the chief exorcist (fangxiang) would lead the funeral procession and upon reaching the tomb, would descend into the burial pit to drive out the spectral denizens of the ground.[5] In the Fengsu tongyi, Ying Shao (ca. 140–206) cites this Zhouli passage as an explanation for the custom of planting a thuja tree on the tomb and placing a stone tiger at the head of the path to the tomb. The tiger and thuja combat the predatory spirits in the tomb and act as magical prophylactics to create a safe environment for the deceased.