Wei Collection, Middle Volume
Radical: Net (wǎng)
Pī
Kangxi Stroke Count: 20
Page 950, Entry 02
Pronounced bēi.
Book of Rites (Erya), Interpretation of Beasts: The brown bear is like a bear, with yellow and white markings. Commentary: It resembles a bear but has a long head and tall legs; it is sluggish yet fierce and very strong, capable of uprooting trees.
Lu Ji, Commentary on the Book of Odes (Shijing): There are yellow brown bears and red brown bears. They are larger than common bears. Their fat is like that of a bear, but white and coarse in texture, and not as fine as that of a bear.
Wings of the Book of Rites (Erya Yi): The brown bear is the female of the bear, and its strength is particularly fierce.
Book of Documents (Shangshu), Tribute of Yu: Bear skins, brown bear skins, fox skins, and raccoon skins.
Book of Odes (Shijing), Minor Odes: Being the bear, being the brown bear.
Also a name of a person.
Book of Documents (Shangshu), Canon of Shun: Yielding to Zhu, Hu, Xiong, and Pi. Commentary: Names of the four ministers.
Also, in rhyming supplements, pronounced fěi.
Zhang Heng, Western Capital Rhapsody: Like a startled crane and a flock of brown bears. Rhymes with the character qǐ above and the character lí below.
Textual Research: In the Book of Rites (Erya), Interpretation of Livestock, it says: The brown bear is like a bear, with yellow and white markings. Commentary: It resembles a bear but has a long head and tall legs; it is sluggish, fierce, and very strong. We have corrected Interpretation of Livestock to Interpretation of Beasts according to the original text. We have corrected sluggish and fierce to sluggish yet fierce.