High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Bixi also called guifu or baxia, is a stone tortoise, used as a pedestal for a stele or tablet. Tortoise-mounted stelae have been traditionally used in the funerary complexes of Chinese emperors and other dignitaries. Later, they have also been used to commemorate an important event, such as an emperor's visit or the anniversary of World War II victory. Besides China, they can be found in Vietnam, Mongolia, Korea, and even the Russian Far East. According to some 19th-century western authors, the Chinese tradition of using a tortoise as a pedestal may have a common source with the Indian legend of the world being held up by a giant turtle. The tradition of tortoise-mounted stelae originated no later than early 3rd century AD (late Han Dynasty). According to the 1957 survey by Cheng Te-k'un, the earliest extant tortoise-borne stele is thought to be the one at the tomb of Fan Min, in Lushan County, Ya'an, Sichuan.

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