Taotie: The Mystery of Chinese Mythology’s Famous Glutton | Monstrum

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While its face is scarce in popular culture today, this influential ancient monster from Chinese mythology predates the written word. Inspired by ancient bronze and jade iconography detailing the face of a bulging-eyed, gapping-mouthed beast, the Taotie creature is both mysterious and notorious, inspiring fear with its horrible gluttony.
The greedy, insatiable appetite of the Taotie, one of the four “legendary monsters” or malevolences of Chinese mythology, is its defining trait-but why? Explore the many theories behind this beast as you dive into a mystery that has fascinated archeologists, historians, philosophers, and authors for thousands of years. #taotie #chinesemythology #MonstrumPBS
Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka
Director: David Schulte
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Producer: Stephanie Noone
Illustrator: Samuel Allen
Editor: Ray Lux
Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
Dr. Zarka would like to sincerely thank Longwen Chen, M.D., Ph.D. for his aid with the Mandarin pronunciations in this episode (I tried to do them justice), and his knowledge regarding the Chinese mythological creatures discussed. Monstrum is better because of the generosity of people like you.
The world is full of monsters, myths, and legends and Monstrum isn’t afraid to take a closer look. The show, hosted by Emily Zarka, Ph.D., takes us on a journey to discover a new monster in each new episode. Monstrum looks at humans' unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature, and film and digs deep into the history of those mythologies.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Albert, Dave. The Taotie Image in Chinese Art, Culture, and Cosmology. Createspace Independent Pub, 2014.
Allan, Sarah. Shape of the Turtle, The : Myth, Art, and Cosmos in Early China. SUNY Press, 1991.
Fu, Xiuyan. “The ante-narrative on bronze wares and the Chinese narrative tradition.” Neohelicon, 45 (2018): 191-212.
Glahn, Richard Von. The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture. University of California Press, 2004.
Kesner, Ladislav. “The Taotie Reconsidered: Meanings and Functions of the Shang Theriomorphic Imagery.” Artibus Asiae, vol. 51, no. 1/2, 1991, pp. 29-53.
Lewis, Mark Edward. The Flood Myths of Early China. State University of New York Press, 2006.
Lopes, Rui Oliveira. “Securing the Harmony between the High and Low: Power Animals and Symbols of Political Authority in Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes.” Asian Perspectives, vol. 53, no. 2, 2014, pp. 195-225.
Myhre, Karin. “Monsters Lift the Veil: Chinese Animal Hybrids and the Processes of Transformation.” The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous. Eds. Asa Simon Mittman and Peter J. Dendle. Routledge, 2013: pp. 217-36.
Strassberg, Richard E.. Chinese Bestiary, University of California Press, 2002.
Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan: Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, University of Washington Press, 2016.

[@nkyfong]

Oh, the monsters in the Great Wall movie actually exists. My ancestors most likely are slapping their foreheads at my ignorance.

[@turtleforge3065]

Dishonor on you! Dishonor on your cow!

[@mantisguy746]

I though the same

[@farkasmactavish]

I mean...not ACTUALLY.

[@anarchyantz1564]

Your ancestors weep at your ignorance, you should repent by sacrificing something to the Taotie!

[@masterimbecile]

@@turtleforge3065 No! Not the COW!

[@turtleforge3065]

Tao Tie takes "cry on my shoulder" to a whole 'nother level

[@renedyck6215]

😄

[@devinm.6149]

Not quite, it would either be "eye on my shoulder", or "cry from my shoulder".

[@derekyonkers332]

Ah, the three most wicked creatures: the Tao tie, Tao wu, and Matt Damon’s man bun

[@ohdeargod1726]

The last one...maybe the most feared one of all...

[@korvusmangata9007]

Don't forget Hu Tao

[@4wilmo]

Lol I had thought I recognized the monster from somewhere. Headed to the comments and what do I realize? “Oh right, the Great Wall monsters and Matt Damon”

[@Sam_Aconitum]

which is matt damon?? hun dun or qiong qi?

[@riopratamamartin7870]

That's zhang yi mou for you

[@steevemartial4084]

Chinese folklore is so underrepresented in Western culture. Thank you for bringing some of it to us in this video.

[@80130723]

They don't know anything except KFC and Mcdonald

[@paulatreides1747]

under represented in Western Culture? 1. Myth doesn’t use DEI hiring methods 2. It isn’t represented in western culture because it comes from Eastern culture. Does Chinese myth have any DEI representations of Artemis, Dionysus or Thor?

[@NewMessage]

* slowly looks around, then puts the bag of Oreos under the desk *

[@more17]

The eyes on its shoulders are so wild.

[@MatthewSmith-sz1yq]

Kind of reminded me of "the pale man" from Pan. He had eyes on his palms, so he had to hold his hands out to see. One of the first times I've been actually, legitimately terrified of a monster, I had nightmares for a while about it. I'm usually ok with monsters or scary scenes, but when they get weird with the eye placement, it makes me shudder. There's just something fundamentally wrong about it, like my brain on an instinctual level goes "nope, that's not right."

[@Dualbladedscorpion7737]

Only the queen and her peronal body guards actually have eyes on their heads.

[@theburgerking1236]

@@MatthewSmith-sz1yq It’s probably because we try to humanize everything we look at, so when something has a human feature like eyes (just an example) in an odd placement the brain hates it. So much

[@Dragrath1]

@@theburgerking1236 Is this why many people are afraid of invertebrates?

[@theburgerking1236]

@@Dragrath1 Prolly we also have evolved fear of things that scuttle

[@EliasTressa]

I though the creature was just made up for the movie “The Great Wall”

[@junjiyouscareme2180]

I thought they were just really mean ugly dogs, now I feel like a fool

[@corngreaterthanwheat]

I should've known that classic film was more thoughtful...

[@amirfawzanzainal1991]

#metoo

[@ignisardenti2486]

U should've paid attention to opening then. It said that there were many myths and stories surrounding the Great Wall, and one of them involved the Taotei

[@EliasTressa]

@@ignisardenti2486 I actually didn’t watch the full movie, I found a video explaining the creatures and it didn’t say anything about them in real life mythology

[@Hallows4]

Are the Four Evils counterparts to the Four Heavenly Creatures (Tortoise, Dragon, Feng Huang, and Tiger/Qi’Lin)?

[@roberthintz4017]

Yes.

[@marcellodominic112]

Tbh, when she first mentioned four evils, I expected that Tao Tie will be in the same category as Hundun/Chaos (the only evils I knew) And it does....

[@vincentx2850]

I wouldn't say it is a direct counterpart to the four heavenly creatures. You see the four heavenly creatures has a rich set of rituals and symbolism associated with it, most notably the four directions and four of the five elements. In any ways, there are actually five "heavenly creatures", the fifth being Huang Di, the mythical emperor himself who represents the earth, yellow and the central position (and of course Xuanwu is a tortoise and a snake together hhh). The symbolism of the four evils, on the other hand, are much more vague - just four random villainous beasts doing some unspecified evil things like repelling virtuous people, helping villainous people, and eating people...

[@jasonnung2645]

Both yes and no. The four (five) heavenly beasts are closely intertwined with the Daoist concepts of the 5 elements and the five cardinal directions. In this sense the heavenly creatures becomes an embodiment of natural and cosmological concepts. The four evil creatures also corresponds to the cardinal directions and certain natural disasters, but does not have the same correspondence to cosmological concepts. The Qiong Qi (窮奇）which takes the form of a giant tiger with six wings are associated with snowstorms and the wind; the Hun Dun (混沌) takes the form of a giant black dog and is associated with floods and storms. Tao Tie (饕餮) is associated with corpulence and disease, and Tao Wu (檮杌）a beast with the upper body of a man, the head of a boar and the lower half of a tiger is associated with droughts and fire. What is interesting is that all four of these evil beasts share a common trait- they will seek out and help those that are besotted by greed, selfishness and violence, while kind virtuous people will be attacked and eaten by them.

[@foolslayer9416]

What's a Feng Huang?

[@vincentx2850]

Fun fact, in Chinese, foodies are often called 老饕 or old tao since the Song dynasty, with the second character as a reference to taotie

[@vincentxu8217]

I like your name 🤣

[@顏烈民]

omg as a Chinese art history student, I’m sooooo proud!!!! 🥲 thx thx thx Monstrum and super good job 👏🏻

[@fandomonium3789]

I'd really love to see a video on fairies, as there seems to be a recurring theme of them being recontextualized from the old gods. Whether that be the Tuatha de Danann of Irish mythology becoming the Aos Si, or fairytales like Sleeping Beauty turning Venus, Themis, and Lucenia into wise women and fairies in later iterations of the story. The recurring theme of old pagan gods turning into fairies would be a really fascinating topic to explore.

[@emilybarclay8831]

The explanation is boringly simple; if they were admirable figures they became saints, angels or helpful spirits, if they were evil they became demons, faeries or the like when Christianity invaded the British isles and went on a good old fashioned cultural genocide

[@anonymousoff-brand7538]

@@emilybarclay8831 to be fair, even before then the line was kinda thin at points. and granted, in general the line between 'notable supernatural being' and 'divinity' can be vague to non-existent at points(even in supposedly monotheistic religions such as christianity, which can't help but worship various angels or saints as divinities in all but name).

[@TheBloodswordsman]

Being a former Yugioh player my mind immediately went to Taotie, Shadow of the Yang Zing.

[@oddeyes9413]

I still play Yu-Gi-Oh and yea, I thought of that too

[@greyroot00]

and the garbage taotie dragon nobody cared.

[@DingoWalley01]

As someone who watched Nickelodeon's _Kung Fu Panda_, I know Taotie as an Evil Inventor Warthog and Single Father.

[@jollyjelly304]

Why play Yang Zing when Shadoll Winda is still legit good?

[@Nazuiko]

As an SMT player, I clicked on the video because of the Tao Tie little goat cutie. Now I know why it has a weird human face!

[@maniacalkoala]

You know what I’d LOVE to see? The Kushtaka, from Native Alaskan Tlingit folklore, it’s part human part otter, and I’d love to see more Native American monsters in general

[@thegreatmajora5089]

"As for their motivation... - what do they want ?" *video cuts to a pet food ad*

[@DrIgnacious]

That's fairly accurate for what came next 😂

[@danisweet7100]

Mine showed stouffers mac n cheese

[@optillian4182]

Maybe that's why they were so mad; pet food wasn't invented yet.

[@ryuukatamura]

Taotie is pronounced tao-tieh, so when you say taotee and the movie says taotay, both are a westernized pronunciation of the same name.

[@leochan5374]

Yea, it's not even that hard to pronounce. The content of the video is awesome tho!!

[@princecharmling14]

TY! LOL. I was like....u sure ur saying it right? And they're not.

[@DingoWalley01]

Hold on though; In _Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness_ (Yes, the Nickelodeon Show), there's a Character whose name is spelled Taotie but its pronounced 'Dow-Die'. Did they mispronounce it in the show (intentionally or accidentally) or is this beast actually named 'Dow-Die'? Or can Taotie be both?

[@ryuukatamura]

​@@DingoWalley01 die as in dye or die as in dee-eh? Both chinese consonants D and T sound somewhere between the english T and D, so both get kind of randomly assigned english letters depending on who's doing the romanizing

[@ryuukatamura]

@@DingoWalley01 ok then if it's "dow-die" then it's a mispronunciation. There's no reason for the pinyin "ti-e" to be pronounced as "da-i"

[@Imperiused]

Oh man, Hun Dun, or the Dijiang, is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE god/monster from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas. This is what the text has to say about it: "There is a god here whose form resembles a yellow sack with a red aura like cinnabar. He has six legs and four wings and exists in a state of confusion with no face or eyes. He knows how to sing and dance for he is, in fact, Dijiang." Isn't it absolutely adorable!?

[@khoatran-pc6tb]

I too am a yellow sack that exist in a state of confusion

[@lqh1love]

It just sucks that the hundun follows evil people's order because of how confused it was

[@MerkhVision]

I love it! When it first showed up in this video among the 4 evil beasts I just thought “what is that giant dumpling doing there!?” Lmfao

[@MultiGamingStuff]

This monster reminds me of Envy's monstorous form in Full Metal Alchemist.

[@anyathepanther7977]

Thank you! I'm not the only one! {maybe that was an inspiration?}

[@scytheslash]

One would think Arakawa would base Greed's design on Taotei, and not Envy's

[@kaitlyndaenzer9799]

That's what I noticed too!

[@B2WM]

@@scytheslash Well, Gluttony does lose his bottom jaw, and you could make an argument for the bulging eyes...

[@TheOneWhoAsked4373]

We need more info about Eastern creatures....

[@salhb737tm2]

Or less if you want to sleep at night

[@bimbo_eruptions]

I'm from Ohio and really into local legends and monsters. We have so many interesting local monsters so I just wanted to suggest a couple! The Loveland Frogman is my all time favorite and probably the most well known. In doing my own research recently I learned about the Crosswick monster. There was only one siting 200 years ago but over 60 people claimed to see it which I thought you might find interesting.

[@Katzztar]

"we may roll our eyes at the man-bun" ... I'm 50 grew up in the 70s when only men with long hair were either aging hippies or rock'n'roll rebels, but I still don't get modern day hate on the man-bun. Men deserve to have long hair and want to put it up now and then.

[@Almighty_Mage]

Brainless sheep mentality is what it is

[@Mondy667]

Man-bun hate is waning because of AOT

[@hiunaut2833]

Man bun is kinda cool, people just parroting what other people say and think. smh.

[@johncrane6136]

Hair to below my shoulders and a uniform rule that says hair should be worn above the collar. Man bun is kind of an easy option. It looks great on some, I don't get the hate!

[@beth8775]

I think some of it stems from the guys that don't pull it off so well; the rest is plain old misogyny.

[@kingrahzar9351]

Personally I think it looks like a hybrid of: hyena, wildebeest, entelodont, skullcrawler, death jackal

[@kennethsatria6607]

Predates the Death Jackal though. And both are tied to Legendary Pictures.

[@jo_6315]

Saw thumbnail and thought "T-Rex?" Saw title: "Taotie: The Mystery of CHINESE Mythology’s Famous Glutton" Me as a Chinese: Shoot. I don't know what's a Taotie.

[@ce4072]

I also thought it was going to link back to dinosaurs.

[@jollyjelly304]

Lemme guess, immigrant?

[@alphariusfuze8089]

饕餮baby~ XD

[@mythicalcreaturesdoctorsor3589]

taotie : china forest shoulder bulging eyes and gaping mouth teeth strong claws monster creatures face without eye glutton greed man-devouring

[@mythicalcreaturesdoctorsor3589]

Taotie : 🇨🇳 china forest green skin body creature bulging mouth Sharp fangs eye arms glutton and greed devour humans

[@ryanhand5036]

The only series on KZbin I ALWAYS watch. I learn so much.

[@MysticDojo]

And now pokemon has taken inspiration from Taotie in the form of Ting-Lu, 1 of the new legendries in scarlet and violet based off of the four perils, it even has a literal jade bowl with designs paying homage to its origin.

[@LittleDergon]

Now I want a series on the other 3 evils too

[@toca-thatonecrazyaunt4102]

You NEVER disappoint! Had never heard of this monster but I LOVE learning their cultural history and significances! Thank you!

[@farkasmactavish]

Man, if only this creature could have been featured in a better movie.

[@kennethsatria6607]

There's a korean movie with a similarly mythic looking beast, its called Monstrum ironically.

[@shinthantko5954]

The great wall movie

[@ammarpratama1207]

Wdym I love The Great Wall

[@Yerinjibbang]

the great wall is not that bad i really like their version of the monster

[@farkasmactavish]

@@Yerinjibbang Yeah? What are its redeeming qualities that cancel out its insane levels of schlocky stupidity? Is it self-aware? Is the directing good? Soundtrack fits with the scenes? Is the plot interesting? I doubt all of that.

[@VosperCDN]

Never saw that movie, but the monster looks amazing - and the story behind the 'real' one is equally fascinating, how it possibly went from having a good interpretation to being a warning.

[@Stealingcultureisadisgrace.]

是的，饕餮是中国几千年前山海经的四大凶兽之一，传说它是永远吃不饱的就算把全世界吃了也无法满足他，他的胃就像无底洞一样，这也是它的魅力之一❤❤

[@pikachuyip1478]

I think I know that Demon from the Great Wall Movie

[@theotheseaeagle]

Yea the tautai is from The Great Wall

[@nishanth4323]

You got my thoughts dude😎😎

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@nishanth4323 lol

[@nishanth4323]

@@theotheseaeagle YOLO

[@lucimicle5657]

Oh yeah, you're right

[@MariaVosa]

Ok, but the man-eating sheep-monster with human face and hands will give me true nightmares...

[@Voodoo777x]

Where can I find a picture of this sheep monster?!?

[@kleinzmakhi8564]

@@Voodoo777x 8:29

[@alexwschan185]

@@kleinzmakhi8564 Go read "Jinmen" you'll love it!

[@teampuppet7767]

no no no

[@alexwschan185]

@@teampuppet7767 yes Yes YES

[@scarletred616]

Such an Underrated Channel

[@ryanwhorf6665]

Maybe you can do the jotun from norse mythology just a thought though

[@rw8160]

Ooh the four evils are major villains in the anime Yashahime, I'd love to see you cover the other three!

[@Aydenosine]

The art direction of this channel should be appreciated even more.

[@bdbgh]

I actually never heard of this monster, cool

[@purplealice]

I have several Chinese cookbooks written by Fuchsia Dunlop, an Englishwoman who studied cooking in Sichuan province. In the introductions to her books, she describes how in Chinese culture, moderation in dining is encouraged - overeating (overharvesting, overfishing, and reckless use of resources) upsets the balance of the universe. These principles make Chinese cuisine very healthful (and tasty). She mentions the Taotie myth as a caution against overeating and other forms of greed.

[@UnderDrigger]

Amazing video, as always! I'd love to see more Latin American monsters, but not limited to just Mexico. Maybe take a look at the Cadejos, from the Costa Rica folklore.

[@saniyagilani3536]

As soon as I saw your video on my feed it was an instant click. This is my favourite KZbin. Love all of your videos Dr. Z🥰🥰

[@smolbirb2]

Dr. Zarka, you make me regret no going for an English degree every time I watch a video on here. I love folklore and mythology. I especially love your zombie videos and PBS content. I went for Art History /Museum Studies because I wanted to learn more about the history of art and culture through human evolution, but I really do wish I did an different degree focusing in mythology now. Maybe when I go back to school later in life, Ill go for that. I deeply love your content, and it makes me so happy to know others out there who are also interested and desire to learn more about ancient and modern mythology, folklore, and mystical origins of humans and out monsters we have written about. It feels like a niche thing outside of the internet, I have no friends who are into this in my offline life. Thanks for posting and making this safe haven for us folklore lovers♡

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

Yeah, I sometimes wonder about not pursuing an anthropology degree and becoming a folklorist, myself. However, you can still relate your degree to the study of mythology though.

[@xFirebird925x]

Great to finally see some Chinese mythology on the channel! However, I will say, the vast majority of paintings used in the video are neither from pre-Han dynasty nor depict pre-Han dynasty subjects, so although the script is good, if the visuals can go along with the subject, that would make the video even better!

[@nynekats]

i freakin' love monstrum...and the animations/illustrations are brilliantly stellar! :)

[@benjaminacuna8013]

He’s mentioned in the sequel anime to Inuyasha in Yashahime

[@msc2608]

it* many of Taoism creatures are seen as gender-fluid or undefined until they have human forms, in fictions 饕餮 can have human form of female

[@SpiffierShindigs]

The Taotie face designs remind me of the Fused Shadow from Twilight Princess.

[@AnkhAnanku]

IKR?! The resemblance is uncanny! It had to be the inspiration for the fused shadow (and probably majora’s mask, too)

[@RaymondoPerson]

also majora's mask and midna

[@riza-2396]

If you look close enough most of Zelda's ancient relics are based on Shang dynasty Chinese bronze sculptures, for example in the newest Zelda game Tears of the Kingdom, the Zonai who are similar to Oocca from Twilight Princess also have that Shang dynasty bronze and turquoise sculpture art.

[@neosenju5099]

Love your videos! Could you please do one regarding giants? They seem to be a recurring theme in many mithologies

[@prehistoricfanboy101]

Why is Hundun just a hippo blob with six legs and four wings? Why is Qiong Qi a winged tiger? Why is Tao Wu the monstrosity it is? If the Taotie represents Greed and Gluttony, what deadly sins do each of these three represent?

[@hanliu3707]

I made a card game based on ancient Chinese monster years ago, Qiongqi is indeed described as something like a winged tiger, Hundun is a faceless being with wings and 6 legs. I remember Qiongqi is the embodiment of violence and Hundun just mean chaos. Don't remember Taowu

[@Imperiused]

I know Hundun represents chaos. I don't know about the others. Hundun has no eyes or mouth to represent it as existing in a state of confusion or chaos.

[@hoangvietnguyen949]

Qiong Qi represents betrayal Tao Wu is violence Tao Tie is greed and gluttony Hundun is basically chaos. The sins it represents is : not following the society oder

[@riza-2396]

Hundun literally means chaos, it have no idea what it is doing and will do bad things randomly because it does not know anything. Qiong Qi represents power's wrong trust, for example an emperor listening to aspersion instead of truth. Tao Wu represents an obstinate person too stubborn to change.

[@msc2608]

I was confused when I heard shang dynasty; when a appears as Chinese spelling it is always pronounced like the a of sharp; the name 饕餮 is pronounced like tao tee-ay so the name Taotei they used in the Great Wall isn't a derivation, they exactly tried to create 饕餮 in the film(but seems like they failed haha) aside from these pronunciation stuffs, it's actually quite an impressively well-researched video

[@markdavis7397]

In standard pinyin, each terminal sound is represented by a set of roman letters. They have no meaning except as a whole. In Shang dynasty (商), the terminal code is -ang, and there it does sound sort of like a short "a". But other pinyin codes contain the roman "a," such as -ia, -ai, -iang, -iao, and so on, but in each case, you have to think of the whole as just a code representing a terminal sound. You can't literally read them letter-by-letter (and it is not clear what that even means, since their sounds vary in English). The pinyin for the terminal sound of 餮 is -ie. It is the terminal sound you may have heard if you ever heard somebody say "thanks" (謝謝). It is, as you say, close to "tee-ay", but in one syllable.

[@vampyricon7026]

Taotei should be Lanjingese

[@williamgray8104]

Great job ! to hear the real story is very rare

[@Mokiefraggle]

I love these beasties. It's neat to finally see a little history behind the myth, as I'd heard of the Taotie before (before even their appearance in The Great Wall!), but never been able to find much on them. There's a Taotie (or, given that it's from a manga and uses a Japanese transliteration of the name, a Toutetsu) in the series Petshop of Horrors, who initially disguises himself as a human chef in order to lure humans in for him to devour, until he attempts this with Count D, the owner of the mysterious petshop. He ends up as one of D's collection of animals, and spends most of his time biting the sometimes rude police detective who investigates the mysterious deaths that are often tied to pets from the shop. Though T-chan the Toutetsu takes on a much cuddlier form than the ones in the artwork here, as he's a chimera-like thing the size of a medium dog, made up of the body and horns of a goat, the paws, eyes, and teeth of a tiger, and a human-like face. Really neat to see more obscure things on Monstrum! It's a great series, because it always has at least that one piece of information I've never heard before, even when I know about the creature or legend in question.

[@BeatrixTomomizu]

Me finding this video in my subs: "taotie... defuq did I subscribe... MONSTRUM! I'M GONNA GO!" I must admit I really don't know anything about chinese mythology (which I really need to change) and for this video I was SO excited and I am still to learn something I never even heard of *-* well, it's definetly not the first time and won't be the last... I really can't describe in words how much I love Monstrum... Love it... every single video *A*

[@skf101]

Another amazing episode 😍 Keep up the good work Dr. Z 🙂 Hopefully you would cover some South Asian especially Bangladeshi myth as well 🤗

[@katedann8377]

That would be awesome!! I haven't seen many people talk about stories from that area and it would be wonderful to learn about it :) great suggestion I hope they do cover some stories from there soon :)

[@skf101]

@@katedann8377 Thanks for your comment 🙂

[@BK-Vatras]

Fitting that this would show up in my recommended shortly after Touhou 17.5 released. A game featuring a unique take on this very creature. Always fun to learn about the legends and stories that inspired the characters and creatures in more modern games and media, especially in regards to something I love as much as Touhou.

[@kelimar3014]

It would be really cool to see a video on the medieval Questing Beast.

[@yeezyyankie324]

Could you do The types of giants for norse mythology like: Ice giants Fire giants Giants

[@thaddbusing8141]

I was excited to finally see that you made a new video. I always enjoy watching your new videos and learning about new monsters. I am looking forward to seeing your next video and I am hoping that my suggestions get made into episodes in the Monstrum series

[@JackWendigo1234]

Got a seafood ad right at 10:14 If that's not perfect timing, then what is?

[@Just_Some_Guy_with_a_Mustache]

*Me, after watching Shang Chi* *sees top right corner of **6:09* Whoa...Shang and his friends were packing a real monster with them...The Dweller in Darkness was lucky to only fight the dragon... Also, wow. The last place I would expect to see a Yu-Gi-Oh reference.

[@MrLordbubasith]

wait "the wall" is based on mythology, ... mind blown!!

[@hanliu3707]

only some elements though

[@hiddenleif6854]

This was extremely informative, awesome vid

[@ag20085]

I love this series !! Amazing episodes ! Best one so far . Keep up the good work !! Can you make an episode on sucubbus from mediaeval Europe and the krasue from southeast Asia ?

[@amirfawzanzainal1991]

I watched 'the great wall' movie like a few hundred times already... Now I'm gonna go watch it again... Thanks Dr Em....

[@sleeplesssongbird7625]

There actually is an older Manga called "Petshop of Horrors" and the taotei (or "Tetsu" as the character is later called as a nickname) and the proprietor is named D....x'D

[@nxope]

Love your channel and your videos, and the pronunciations in this are really good, but if I may ask, why is Taotie pronounced "tao-ti"? The 'tie' in Taotie is more like "ti-eh" said really fast, closer to the way Tao Tei was pronounced (I can only imagine why the movie changed the spelling, but it might be because the combination T-I-E is an existing English word with a very different sound). Does the 餮 in 饕餮 have multiple pronunciations?

[@chengkuoklee5734]

Trevor Noah once said: ascent is someone else speaking your language using their rule. She tried to twist her rule to pronounce a foreign wor d. I think it's cool and shouldn't nitpick.

[@nxope]

@@chengkuoklee5734 Edit: did a cursory scroll through the comments and notice how I am not the only one bothered by her pronunciation. The lack of engagement with comments pointing it out is very telling and very disappointing. She is running an educational channel making educational videos for a mainly English-speaking audience about creatures from other cultures. Thinking it's 'cool' does not give her a free pass to change a sound to this degree, and blaming it on her accent is a much weaker argument when she has demonstrated in the same video that she is capable of producing a much closer 'tie' sound when she talked about Tao Tei (though still not that accurate). The provided captions gave the creature's name in Mandarin pinyin and the other Chinese words were said in Mandarin as well, which imply 'taotie' is supposed to be read in Mandarin as well. Since that is the case, unless there is an alternative 'ti' sound for 餮 that I was unable to find myself, pronouncing Taotie as 'tao-ti' is categorically incorrect, not to mention the fact that 'ti' is a valid sound for a whole host of other words in Mandarin. The reason why I am so fixated on her pronunciation for Taotie is simply because that is the creature in the spotlight, and getting its Mandarin name so wrong is not a good look. I am not ruling out the possibility that the 'ti' sound was influenced by the creature's name in other Sinitic languages which I do not speak, which is why I sought clarification in my original post. However, when everything else in the video is pronounced in Mandarin, leaving only Taotie not pronounced in Mandarin is an odd choice. If I were truly being nitpicky, I would pick on the pronunciations for 'shang', 'zuo', 'zhou' or how she said 'piaoshu' instead of 'paoxiao'. For 'zuo', 'zhou', and 'pao', these are the result of her accent and the sounds being hard for English-speaking tongues. For 'shang', she uses a very American version with a completely different vowel sound from the Mandarin pronunciation. For 'xiao', again, she uses a completely different (and valid!) sound that encompasses a whole other range of words in Mandarin. For this, her accent changed the 'x' sound into 'sh' since 'x' is difficult for English speakers, but it does not change the fact that her vowel sound is completely different. In this video about the Taotie (vimeo.com/100391454), the American presenter does a very good job capturing the sounds for Shang and Taotie, though he did slip up sometimes and his 'zhou' is more like 'zjhou'. These are recognisably English-influenced Mandarin pronunciation. Notice how he keeps the 'e' sound at the end of Taotie. To me, the pronunciations in that video are the product of accent. Pronouncing Taotie as 'tao-ti' is not.

[@jennieteen]

You're not the only one who noticed! I enjoy these videos overall, but she has a bad habit of mispronouncing. The way she said "Canovanas" in her Chupacabra video made me cringe so hard (I'm Puerto Rican).

[@chiefbawor_thegr8966]

Damn, its been one year? Surprised we didn't get Qiong Qi, Tao Wu and Hun Dun

[@CLBrierley]

Great video. I thought this creature looked familiar then I remembered the film The Great Wall. The monsters in that were good, no argument there. Your videos are so full of facts and I love it and your delivery!

[@DivineDragonFelgrand]

I love the fact that you included Yu-Gi-Oh, I was not expecting that at all, that was awesome

[@nikgokuhil]

I know what I'll be calling my sister now

[@falcoskywolf]

With the cinematic version being green, it evokes not just jade, but also verdigris- the green patina that copper and bronze develop through oxidation. So green is the *perfect* color for them, even before the western concept of envy is added. Gluttonous overconsumption of food by the ruling class might be one major reason food was sacrificed to gods in the first place- because if the rulers said "X amount must be sent to the gods," it was that much less food that the commoners had available to them- since there's only so much that a king and his family can scarf down.

[@jakafe1188]

wow...nicely summarized

[@shanesamuelson7418]

Thanks! You put in a in lot of work to make this fantastic video!

[@suzannestrickland1586]

Yay another Monstrum vid!

[@lyndsaybrown8471]

More malevolences, please! They seem like a fun bunch.

[@zeiitgeist]

The next Chinese mythology and since you started on Shang, you should discuss on the depiction of the Ninetail Fox, not just Daji but also the depictions with Xiwangmu.

[@CJLloyd]

Excellent video! I am so happy to see Chinese mythology on here. I would just like to point out a small matter: the pronunciation is closer to what a native English speaker would read from Tao Tyeh. Although the other pronunciations in the video were much better (to my laowai ears, anyway) - so your lessons from Dr Chen were not entirely in vain. :D But, as I said, a small matter. Otherwise a great video. :)

[@luolisa818]

Finally, you have done an episode for the Chinese monster.

[@Hamlettte]

Haven't watched the vid yet but a lot of the stories I've read have Taotie's having a human face with a lion/dog like body

[@SeraphimCramer]

I wanna' know what the other three malevolences represent.

[@jackcarson5401]

Oooh, please do one on Shang-chi's Morris. How can the embodiment of primordial chaos also be the most precious little wonton ever?

[@xylonpesquera8605]

I am subscribed for Monstrum. Good to see another episode.

[@stevenbaumann8692]

Excellent as always! Suggestions: Mishipeshu or hodag

[@samuelwolch1302]

9:06 YO! a shout out SMT's Raidou!

[@muic4880]

The classic of mountains and seas is the earliest geography and biology encyclopedia in China, as it list countries, animals, humans around China. This channel could do a whole series of video simply basing on this book.

[@TheMiko048]

I lover that narrator she knows her work Keep on teaching us about those marvelous monster.

[@AveryTalksAboutStuff]

Oooh, I'm so excited for this video!

[@BurningOrchid9888]

I love your videos. I love it if you to talked about creatures from Mexica and Taíno mythology.

[@rosswebster7877]

Looks like something out of Beetlejuice. I’m wondering if the Taotie has any roots in the Neolithic “pig dragon” creature found in very early East Asian pre-history.

[@hanliu3707]

I thought some place around Yangzi river still call crocodile ''pig dragon''

[@mehchocolate1257]

@@hanliu3707 so the taotie were real I always thought they were a fictional character as seen in the movie the wall with actors Matt Damon and William Dafoe

[@jeromeheramis2932]

1:21 Why does that Reminds me of Zelda: Twilight Princess designs? Like that of the twilight realm motifs that the likes of Midna is wearing?

[@BenjiSun]

the rounded rectangular shapes that comes to sharp points also looks somewhat similar to the designs used by the Haida people in coastal British Columbia and the Ainu people of Hokkaido. interestingly enough, all three are shamanistic and create totems on wooden poles.

[@jeromeheramis2932]

@@BenjiSun there is something like that exist in hokkaido? That makes sense now.

[@fbritorufino]

Only yesterday did KZbin recommend this, even though I either like and fully watch or save to a playlist every video from this channel as soon as I see it. Strange. Anyway, activated the notifications.

[@michaelcain9324]

Excellent video.

[@leoornstein3963]

Wow, the Yang Zing archetype was mentioned. As a Yughioh player, I could say that we are honnered.

[@aryagadingprabowo8758]

Just found this channel, and i love it how she tell the story❤

[@anne-kristinvaudour2900]

This is the best summary about the Taotie that I have ever received. Not even the scholars make it so clear. Just the pronunciation of the “tie” part is wrong in the video. M

[@wimvanderstraeten6521]

You should do a video on the Japanese Gashadokuro or skeleton ghost.

[@CerebrumMortum]

are we gonna get an episode for each of the four great monsters? PLEASE

[@fidelpablo6340]

How i miss this...

[@FenrirsBite77]

Great video Doctor!

[@StrayChordian]

Another fantastic video. Monster Request: The Poukai

[@CyricZ]

I've seen Taotie in SMT games for a while and I literally clicked on this video so I'd know how to pronounce it finally. :)

[@tanijazhu8983]

it's actually pronounced Tao TiE (there are no silent letters in chinese. so if it's there, you have to pronounce it). Obviously she doesn't speak chinese and it really isn't that important to get it absolutely right, but since you seem to be interested in the right pronunciation.... :)

[@TupocalypseShakur]

I barely use for anything outside of fusion

[@robertzontorrevillas3106]

This is not what i envisioned what a taotie looks like from all cultivation novels I've read

[@Kuwagumo]

Finally another monstrum video! Still hoping that someday DR.Z will cover brazillian monsters! But I kinda prefer to learn about new ones, so thats great!

[@arriolabiblechurch3595]

I've been waiting for a new episode for a while and I was excited to see that there finally was one. I enjoy learning about new mythical creatures. This monster was new to me. I am looking forward to the next one and I hope you make my suggestions into videos soon.