In Chinese mythology, the shen or chen () is a shapeshifting dragon or shellfish-type sea monster believed to create mirages.
The Chinese classics use the word shèn to mean "a large shellfish" that was associated with funerals and "an aquatic monster" that could change its shape, which was later associated with "mirages".
The word used to mean a shellfish, or mollusk, identified as an oyster, mussel, or giant clam such as the Pearl of Lao Tzu. While early Chinese dictionaries treat shèn as a general term for "mollusca", the Erya defines it as a large yáo () "shellfish", "clam", "scallop", or "nacre". The Shuowen Jiezi, an early second-century dictionary of the Eastern Han, defines it a large gé (), meaning "clam", "oyster", "shellfish", or "bivalve".
Chinese classics variously record that shèn was salted as a food (in the Zuo Zhuan), named a "lacquered wine barrel" used in sacrifices to earth spirits (in the Rites of Zhou), and its shells were used to make hoes (in the Huainanzi) and receptacles (in the Zhuangzi). They also record two shèn-compounds related with funerals: shènchà(, with cart or carriage) "hearse" (Rites of Zhou, Guo Pu's commentary notes shèn means large, shell-like wheel rims) and shèntàn () "oyster-lime; white clay", which was especially used as mortar for mausoleum walls (Zuo Zhuan, Rites of Zhou).
Wolfram Eberhard describes the shèn mussel as "a strange animal", and mentions the Rites of Zhous zhÃÂngshèn () "manager of shèn", who was a special government official in charge of acquiring them for royal sacrifices and funerals. "It is not clear why these mussels were placed into the tombs," he admits, possibly either as a sacrifice to the earth god (compare shèn below) or "the shell lime was used simply for a purifying and protective effect."
Edward H. Schafer, who translates shèn as "clam-monster", traces its linguistic evolution from originally designating a "large bivalve mollusc":
Second, shèn meant the "clam-monster" that miraculously transformed shapes. The Shuowen Jiezi defines gé (using a graphic variant with the hé phonetic above the radical) as the "category of shèn", which includes three creatures that transform within the sea. A que "sparrow" transforms into a gé or muli "oyster" in the dialect of Qin, after 1000 (commentators say 10) years; a yÃÂn "swallow" transforms into a hÃÂigé (with "sea") after 100 years; and a fulei or fuyi "bat" transforms into a kuÃÂgé after it gets old. These kinds of legendary animal "transformations" (huà"transform, change, convert, turn into; metamorphose; take the form of", see the Huashu) are a common theme in Chinese folklore, particularly for dragons like the shèn. The "dragon's transformations are unlimited", and "it is no wonder that Chinese literature abounds with stories about dragons which had assumed the shape of men, animals, or objects".
The YuèlÃÂng "Monthly Commands" chapter of the Book of Rites lists sparrows and pheasants transforming into shellfish during the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. In Shuangjiang the last month of autumn, "[jue , a rebus character for que "sparrow"] Small birds enter the great water and become [gé ] mollusks", and in (Lidong) the first month of winter, "[zhi "pheasant"] Pheasants enter the great water and become [shen ] large mollusks." While many other classical texts (e.g., Lüshi Chunqiu, Yi Zhoushu, Huainanzi) repeat this seasonal legend about pheasants that transform in dàshui "great (bodies of) water; flood", the Da Dai Liji and Guoyu say they transform in the Huai River. According to Chinese folklore, swallows are a favorite food of both lóng and shèn dragons. Read explains, "Hence if people eat swallow's flesh they should not go out and cross a river (dragons will eat them if they do)."
Eberhard equates the shàn with the jiaolong "flood dragon; crocodile" and compares tales of both these dragons attacking cattle in rivers. The 1596 Compendium of Materia Medica describes the shèn under the jiaolong entry with quotes from the Yueling and Lu Dian's Piya.
The shape-changing shèn is believed to cause a mirage or Fata Morgana. Shèn- synonyms meaning "mirage" include shènlóu (with "multi-storied building", "clam castle" or "high house of the clam-monsters"), shènqì , shènqìlóu , hÃÂishì shènlóu , and shènjÃÂng . In Japanese and Korean, shinkirà Â/singiru is the usual word for "mirage". Compare the association between the lóng "dragon" and "waterspouts", evident in words like lóngjuÃÂn (lit. "dragon roll") "waterspout" and lóngjuÃÂnfÃÂng ("dragon roll wind") "cyclone; tornado"
Many Chinese characters are phono-semantic compounds, written with a phonetic element that indicates pronunciation with a radical or signifier that suggests semantic meaning. Shens standard and antiquated characters combine the character chen ("Dragon (zodiac), duodecimal 5th of the 12 Earthly Branches; period from 7-9 AM; time period; occasion; star; celestial body") phonetic with the chong ("insect; reptile") radical.
A variety of other characters utilize this phonetic chen , which the Wenlin says "may have depicted an ancient kind of hoe" in ancient oracle bone script (compare to the same work's definition of nou "hoe; rake"). Some etymologically significant examples include:
This chen or chenxing "dragon star" is an asterism in the traditional Chinese constellations, a morning star within the Azure Dragon that is associated with east and spring. Specifically, the "dragon star" is in the 5th and 6th lunar Twenty-eight mansions, with its xin "Heart" and wei "Tail" corresponding to the Western constellations of Antares and Scorpius.
Michael Carr etymologically hypothesizes that the chen < *dyÃÂn phonetic series (using Bernhard Karlgren's Old Chinese reconstructions) split between *dyÃÂn "dragon" and *tyÃÂn "thunder". The former words include aquatic shen < *dyÃÂn "large shellfish; sea dragon", celestial chen < *dyÃÂn "dragon star", and possibly through dragon-emperor association, chen < *dyÃÂn "imperial palace; mansion". The latter ones, reflecting the belief that dragons cause rainfall and thunder, include zhen < *tyÃÂn "thunder; shake", zhen < *tyÃÂn "shake; scare", and ting < *d'ieng "thunderbolt".
Axel Schuessler provides a different set of reconstructions and etymologies:
In the present day, the mythical shèn is best known in East Asia through the everyday words for mirage or illusion ().
One is used by the in the manga series Naruto. In the light novel ', shen, in its onyomi form shin, is the race name of the character .