There is the (book called) Qi Xie, a record of marvels. We have in it these words: "When the peng is removing to the Southern Ocean it flaps (its wings) on the water for 3000 li. Then it ascends on a whirlwind 90,000 li, and it rests only at the end of six months." (But similar to this is the movement of) the breezes which we call "the horses of the fields," of the dust (which quivers in the sunbeams), and of living things as they are blown against one another by the air. Is its azure the proper colour of the sky? Or is it occasioned by its distance and illimitable extent? If one were looking down (from above), the very same appearance would just meet his view.
Lin Yutang (1942):
In the Records of Marvels we read: "When the p'eng flies southwards, the water is smitten for a space of three thousand li around, while the bird itself mounts upon a great wind to a height of ninety thousand li, for a flight of six months' duration." There mounting aloft, the bird saw the moving white mists of spring, the dust-clouds, and the living things blowing their breaths among them. It wondered whether the blue of the sky was its real color, or only the result of distance without end, and saw that the things on earth appeared the same to it.
Feng Youlan (1964):
A man named Chi Hsieh, who recorded novel occurrences, said: "When the peng is moving to the Southern Ocean, it flaps along the water for three thousand li. Then it ascends on a whirlwind up to a height of ninety thousand li, for a flight of six months' duration." There is the wandering air; there are the motes; there are living things that blow one against another with their breath. We do not know whether the blueness of the sky is its original colour or is simply caused by its infinite height. When the peng sees the earth from above, just as we see the sky from below, it will stop rising and begin to fly to the south.
Burton Watson (1968):
The Universal Harmony records various wonders, and it says: "When the Peng journeys to the southern darkness, the waters are roiled for three thousand li. He beats the whirlwind and rises ninety thousand li, setting off on the sixth-month gale." Wavering heat, bits of dust, living things blown about by the wind—the sky looks very blue. Is that its real color, or is it because it is so far away and has no end? When the bird looks down, all he sees is blue, too.