Tradition: Chinese Mythology
Alternative Names: Lintao Giants, The Twelve Golden Giants
Category: Giant
The Myth
The Giants of Lintao are legendary giants recorded in Chinese historical and supernatural literature. According to the Soushen Ji (In Search of the Supernatural), during the twenty-sixth year of Qin Shi Huang’s reign, a giant appeared who stood five zhang tall and had feet measuring six chi in length. These traditional Chinese units of measurement varied historically, making the giant’s exact height uncertain.
Other accounts describe twelve giants appearing at Lintao, in what is now Gansu Province in northwestern China, during the twenty-sixth year of the reign of King Zheng of Qin, who later became Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China. These twelve figures are mentioned in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) and the Book of Han (Hanshu).
The literary work Qin’e Yi also refers to twelve golden giants seen at Lintao. Using a traditional conversion of ten chi to one zhang, the giants have been estimated to have stood approximately eight metres tall. The accounts differ in their descriptions, with one referring to a single enormous giant and others recording twelve figures, including the twelve golden giants. Together, they preserve a tradition of extraordinary beings associated with Lintao during the early Qin imperial period.
Sources
“临洮巨人.” Chinese Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Accessed October 16, 2026. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%B4%E6%B4%AE%E5%B7%A8%E4%BA%BA