Stele On the Back of Stone Tortoise

It may be necessary to point out that the animal under the stele is no tortoise at all as it is popularly supposed to be. Strictly speaking, its name is Bixi, the ninth son of the mythological dragon. It was born with such unparalleled strength that it could move the mountains and used to play havoc in the seas.

Somehow it was tamed by the Great Yu, the legendary hero who fought the Flood, and helped him move obstacles and dig canals, contributing much to the conquest of the rampant waters. After the Flood had subsided, Yu was afraid that Bixi might slip back to his old ways and, to prevent this, made it carry a mammoth stone with an inscription praising its meritorious feats.

This cost Bixi forever its freedom, as the heavy weight proved too cumbersome. In time ,its image was confused with that of the mundane tortoise. Still it was supposed to possess extraordinary capacity for great weight and, for this, has been employed by emperors of all ages to bear their stelae. And for the Chinese who are accustomed to the sight of Bixi or the tortoise under the stele, it would be unthinkable to see anything else in its place. One might be tempted to ask how the stelae, some of which are as tall as a dozen meters, were lifted up and erected on the back of the stone tortoises in the days when mechanical devices were unknown.

The problem, legend has it, was solved at the suggestion of a deity who appeared to the Ming Emperor Chengzu in his dream .The emperor wanted to erect a monumental stele for his father Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming, but the stele was too big, and the workers were all at loss what to do. The god in the dream told the vexed emperor to use a method in which“the stele and the tortoise will not see each other”.

Enlightened by the cryptic message, the engineers and masons buried the stone tortoise and made a slope with earth, along which the stele was moved up and placed on top of the buried tortoise. With the earth removed, the stele was stood well in place .After that this became the standard operation for stelae,

Tortoise-borne stelae are now regarded as important relics, valued for the light they throw on historical events, studies of calligraphic arts and related subjects.