Dragon Turtle and Pixiu: The Two Guardians of Wealth

The dragon turtle: the strongest treasure in the tradition

The dragon turtle, known in Chinese as a longwen or bixi, is generally treated as the most auspicious of all feng shui objects, and the reason is that it combines two of the most powerful creatures in Chinese cosmology into a single form.

The dragon is the ruler of the heavens, associated with auspiciousness, authority, control of the weather, good fortune and the ability to bring rain. Among the twelve zodiac animals the dragon is the only one with this standing, and it is the first of the zodiac cycle. In the feng shui tradition the dragon also represents the emperor and the authority of the person it protects.

The turtle is an ancient and long-lived creature, and it carries three associations: longevity, since turtles live for a very long time; stability, since a turtle is slow, grounded and immovable; and wealth, because of the classical image of the turtle carrying a bag of money and a compass. In the bagua the turtle is associated with the Kun trigram of the southwest, the position of the mother, of partnership and of physical support.

Together they make an object that means auspiciousness, longevity, stability, protection and wealth at once, which is why the dragon turtle is described in the tradition as a treasure rather than merely a decoration. A single bronze dragon turtle on a desk is a very common item in Chinese and Southeast Asian business, and it is often given as a gift at the start of a venture.

Placement: the pair, the direction and the position

As a pair. The dragon turtle is traditionally bought and placed as a pair, facing each other, positioned either side of a doorway or a console table, or flanking a piece of furniture in the wealth corner, each turned slightly towards the other.

The head and the tail. The heads should be slightly raised and turned towards the centre of the room, and the tails towards the door. The reason is directional: the head gathers what is in the room, and the tail takes the energy back towards the entrance rather than pushing it out. A pair with their heads pointing out of the house is described as leading the wealth away.

Height and base. They should sit on a flat, stable, clean surface — a console table, a shelf, a cabinet top — raised enough to be seen, and visible from the room rather than hidden behind a lamp or a stack of post.

Which positions. In the wealth corner of the living room, or either side of a main entrance. The turtle is also well suited to a home office or reception desk. It is not placed on a high shelf out of sight, nor on a windowsill in full sun, which is said to disfigure the figure and put it in the position of what is on display rather than what is guarding.

For the corner itself, the wealth corner guide explains how it is calculated and what it responds to.

The pixiu: the collector that must face inwards

The pixiu is a creature from Chinese classical literature that most people in the West encounter first as a carving or a bracelet, and it has one job that is easy to state and easy to get wrong.

What it is. A pixiu is described in the classics as a winged, fierce-looking lion-like creature with a voracious appetite for wealth. It has no anus, so whatever it eats is retained rather than passed on. That single detail is the whole of its function: it devours wealth and keeps it.

The direction rule. Because the pixiu eats wealth, its facing determines whether it gathers or disperses. A pixiu facing inward, towards the middle of the room and the people in it, draws money in. A pixiu facing outward, towards the door, takes the wealth of the house and puts it back on the street. This is the most repeated rule about the pixiu, and the reason so many people report that theirs is not working.

How many. A single pixiu is acceptable and common, particularly on a desk, placed facing towards the person sitting at it or towards the room. Pairs are also used, facing each other. The fu dogs guard a threshold and the pixiu gathers what has been guarded, so the two are often used together.

Where. On a desk, a shelf in the wealth corner, a reception counter or a cash register. It is smaller than the dragon turtle and works where space is limited. The same prohibitions apply: not in a bathroom, a bedroom or the centre of the home, and not facing out of the door.

The Wu Lou and the other wealth figures

Three other figures come up constantly alongside the turtle and the pixiu, and it is worth telling them apart because they do different jobs.

• The Wu Lou. A strange, smiling, deformed creature and the single most important figure for good fortune in the Chinese decorative tradition. The name is a wordplay: wu means five and lou sounds like lu, so the phrase means the five blessings — longevity, wealth, health, virtue and a peaceful death. The Wu Lou is usually depicted in pairs, or in the three-figure group with Fu Lu and Shou Xing.
• The Fu Lu. The god of wealth and status, usually shown with a scroll or a cowl, often as the second of the three-star group.
• Shou Xing. The god of longevity, shown with a long staff and an exaggeratedly high forehead, the third of the group.
• The three-legged toad. A smaller, more directly commercial figure, traditionally shown with a coin in its mouth. It is a common shop counter object in Chinese businesses.
• The double fish. Two fish together, associated with surplus, harmony and abundance, and a standard wedding and business symbol.

The practical point is that these are different objects doing different jobs. A pair of Wu Lou in the wealth corner is not interchangeable with a dragon turtle in the same corner, and neither is interchangeable with a pixiu on the desk.

Material, size and workmanship

Material is the element, and the element decides the strength.

• Bronze and brass are metal. This is the strongest and most traditional material for a dragon turtle or a pixiu, because metal is the hard, decisive element associated with authority, protection and the ability to hold wealth. A bronze figure in the wealth corner is a serious remedy rather than a decorative one.
• Cast stone and marble are earth. Stable and grounding, and a good choice for a metal house that wants warmth rather than hardness.
• Wood is wood. Suitable, and it grows rather than asserts, so it suits a north-facing room where water nourishes it.
• Resin and painted plaster carry no strong element. Many mass-market dragon turtles are resin, and the difference in the tradition is between an object that engages the element and one that only resembles it.

Size. Match the object to the space and to the doorway. A pair of large bronze turtles flanking a front door is the classical commercial arrangement; a single 20cm turtle on a shelf is the domestic one. The proportionality logic that applies to fu dogs applies here.

Workmanship. The details that distinguish a good figure from a cheap one: the dragon’s head and mane, the shell pattern, the eyes, and the inscriptions on the shell, which carry auspicious phrases. A finely cast bronze piece reads with more authority and ages better.

Base and condition. A turtle should sit on a flat base with a small waterproof mat if the surface is wood, and it should be dusted. Tarnish is acceptable and even attractive on bronze; dust and grime are not. The charms guide covers the care principle in full.

Wearing wealth: the pixiu bracelet

The pixiu bracelet is worth separating out, because it is worn rather than placed and it follows a different set of rules.

How it works. As a worn charm, the pixiu operates on the person rather than on a corner of the house. It travels with you, close to the body, and is treated as portable protection against misfortune. The classical description is that it devours bad luck, which is why it is described as warding off evil rather than attracting money — a distinction the jewellery trade tends to blur.

Which way round. The convention that the head of the pixiu faces the wearer’s left hand is frequently cited and followed by most makers. The reasoning is that the left is the receiving side in the Chinese body model. Where a bracelet carries a pixiu and a small ball, the ball is the element it has absorbed.

Material. Metal — gold, brass or silver — is the traditional material, because metal is the element that does the work. A stone or wooden bead carved with a pixiu is decorative rather than a metal charm, and the distinction matters.

Practical requirements. Wear it regularly rather than leaving it in a drawer, keep it clean, and choose one for a reason you still remember. A bracelet bought because a list said it was lucky and worn once is closer to jewellery than a charm, and it is not a substitute for placing a turtle or pixiu in the home.