Phoenix (mythology)
Though the phoenix is often called fenghuang today, the words feng and huang originally referred to a pair of colorful birds. Feng is a male bird and huang is female. However, just as the Chinese dragon was used as a symbol for the emperor in the royal court, the phoenix, with its beautiful appearance, was selected to symbolize the empress. The empress’s crown at formal events was usually called the “phoenix crown,” while her dress was called the “phoenix dress.” Both crowns and dresses were decorated with many phoenix images.