Answer

A pixie (pixua) comes in land, sea, and sky models, depending (it is claimed) on where they are spotted.

As the ninth “son” of the constellation Canglong (Bluegreen Dragon), there could be some coded astronomy in the creature. But the rest of its lore seems to be recent in feng shui terms — perhaps the last dynasty. All pixua are apotropaic devices (talismans) as door gods of China.

The Dragon Boys

Pixua is a winged lion that looks ferocious but is auspicious. It bears an interesting resemblance to the griffin of Assyria — which makes sense, because Iranian “wise men” were in China as early as the Neolithic. For Iranians, the griffin symbolized wisdom.

Canglong had nine sons:

1. Bixi (at the base of tablets because he was good for carrying things)
2. Haoxian (sits on the eaves of palaces because of his adventurous nature).
3. Yazi (on the hilts of blades because of his ferocity).
4. Chiwen (on high spots because he loves to look off into the distance).
5. Baxia (a frequent image on bridges because he is a good swimmer).
6. Pulao (on bells because he is noisy).
7. Qiuniu (on musical instruments because he loves music).
8. Suanmi (on incense burners because he loves fire and smoke).
9. Jiaotu keeps his mouth shut and likes closing things, so his image is used on gates. Jiaotu is the pixua.

The Three Pixua

• The earth model (Pi Xiu). The Pi Xiu was reserved for the emperor. It is also a name of the endangered Giant Panda! Males have a fiercer look and sharper horns while females are more curvaceous and have smoother horns; both should have big heads, big mouths and big posteriors. Pi Xiu is an odd creature because male and female do not have an anus, thus the metaphor that what is consumed — power, money, etc. — is never excreted.

  Pi Xiu is used to remedy the effects of the Year-Breaker (counter-Jupiter or fan taisui).

• The seas model (Pi Kan).

Pi Kan is also the same of a wise man (Tai Shen), who had his heart cut out by his relative King Zhou Xin (the last Shang king). Pi Kan exclaimed “[The terrors of] Great Heaven are very excessive.”

Pi Kan adorned prison gates because it was believed he loved the courts and their arguments, and resorted to violence when angry.

• The sky model (Pi Yao). Pi Yao patrols the skies around its domain to protect against demons and infectious diseases. It also protects against the Five Yellow star (sickness star) if you place a pair at your primary entrance, facing out of the house.

Qilin and Pixie

You notice that some of the description of a pixie matches a qilin, sometimes called the Chinese unicorn. Qilin were based upon real animals — giraffes given to an emperor — but became a fantastical creature.

As far as I can tell, qilin function as apotropaic devices.

The curved Chinese roof, invented during the Shang, was designed to emulate the celestial bird (the phoenix). A roof belongs to the celestial beings. It is like the runway for spirits to take off and return to our world. Make the roof a hospitable “airport” for the celestial beings, and in return you receive protection, blessings, and abundance. Koji pottery (roof art) aids communication with the celestial world. Here is another koji for protecting the house.

Qilin can be found on the edges of a roof, typically as the last animal. All animals follow an emperor riding a chicken.

C.A.S. Williams says in Chinese Symbolism

In the year 283 BC, the tyrant Prince Min of the state of Qi, after being defeated by a combination of other states, was strung up to the end of a roof ridge and left hanging there without food and water, exposed to the sun until he died. To stigmatize his evil deeds, the people placed a effigy riding a hen, on the roofs of their houses. With the weight of the prince, the hen cannot fly down. To prevent the hen from escaping over the roof, a qilin was placed at the other end of the ridge. It was not until the time of Ming Emperor Yongle that other figures were added. A correct set would be in this order –- hen, dragon, phoenix, lion, unicorn, celestial horse, qilin. If more is required, any one can be repeated except the hen and the qilin, but always so as to form an odd number up to eleven — odd number comes under influence of Yang.

A pair of qilin (male and female) are used in situations where the sha is overwhelming on big projects, such as large buildings, entire building complexes, etc. (One of the Vegas casinos used to have a qilin at the main entrance if I remember correctly.)

You do not install qilin in your front yard because you don’t like the neighbors. Nor would you put a pair on a balcony because you don’t like what is across from you. Qilin work for entire complexes and have to be installed appropriately.

I have seen a pair used at a housing complex being overwhelmed by a tall office building at some distance. The air conditioning equipment on the roof of the tall building looked like an immense ocean liner bearing down on the smaller structure. This affected sales right where the offending structure appeared to be pointing. The qilin were installed and sales picked up.

Did the people looking to buy the property notice the sha to begin with? No. The property management analyzed where things weren’t selling. The units that weren’t selling were in a conspicuous pattern. The management suspected a feng shui problem, so they called a consultant. The consultant saw to the installation of the qilin.

If you don’t know, you may think they are part of some cool landscaping concept. That’s what most people thought about the qilin at the casino.