The Tusked Pig That Heralds the Bumper Harvest
Qin Mountain, in the fourth eastern guideway, abounds in gold and jade and has no common stone at all. Its beast is the dangkang: a pig in shape, but with tusks protruding, and a cry that sounds like its own name. Its omen reads 'when it is seen, all under heaven enjoys a great harvest' — the year the dangkang shows itself, the granaries fill.
In the disaster-ridden fourth eastern guideway, the dangkang is the only piece of good news. Its neighbours are uniformly grim: the man-eating xieju of Beihao Mountain, the flood-bringing heyu of Yan Mountain, the plague-bearing fei of Tai Mountain, the drought-fish of Nüzheng Mountain. Alone among them, the tusked pig walks under the sign of abundance. A pig as harvest omen needs little explaining: swine head the sacrificial and festival table among the six domestic animals, and full granaries mean full sties — a fat, strong-tusked boar simply looks like a good year.
Illustrated editions favour a running dangkang glancing back over its shoulder, tusks upturned, body round, almost festive. Later writers on the classic's auspicious beasts habitually pair it with the tongtong — both pig-shaped, one announcing plenty, the other carrying pearls. The eastern mountains assigned both of their blessings to pigs.
