In Chinese mythology, the xiao is the name of several creatures, including the xiao (Chinese: 囂; pinyin: xiāo; Wade–Giles: hsiao1) "a long-armed ape" or "a four-winged bird" and shanxiao (Chinese: 山魈; pinyin: shānxiāo) "mischievous, one-legged mountain spirit". Furthermore, some western sources misspell and misconstrue the older romanisation hsiao as "hsigo" [sic] "a flying monkey".
Xiao or Hsiao (simplified Chinese: 嚣; traditional Chinese: 囂; pinyin: xiāo; Wade–Giles: hsiao; literally: "clamor"), alternately pronounced Ao (pinyin: aó; Wade–Giles: ao), is a mythological creature described as resembling either an ape or a bird.
The Chinese word xiao (囂) means "noise; clamor; hubbub; haughty; proud; arrogant". During the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BCE), Xiao was both the name of a historical capital (near modern Zhengzhou in Henan province) during the era of King Zhong Ding (r. c. 1421-1396 BCE), and the given name of King Geng Ding (r. c. 1170-1147 BCE).