The modern constellation Apus is not included in the Three Enclosures and Twenty-Eight Mansions system of traditional Chinese uranography because its stars are too far south for observers in China to know about them prior to the introduction of Western star charts. Based on the work of Xu Guangqi and the German Jesuit missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell in the late Ming Dynasty,[1] this constellation has been classified as one of the 23 Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, Jìnnánjíxīngōu) under the name Exotic Bird (異雀, Yìquè).
The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is 天燕座 (tiān yàn zuò), meaning "the heaven swallow constellation".
The map of Chinese constellation in constellation Apus area consists of :
| Four Symbols | Mansion (Chinese name) | Romanization | Translation | Asterisms (Chinese name) | Romanization | Translation | Western star name | Chinese star name | Romanization | Translation | ||||||||||
| - | 近南極星區 (non-mansions) | Jìnnánjíxīngōu (non-mansions) | The Southern Asterisms (non-mansions) | 異雀 | Yìquè | Exotic Bird | ||||||||||||||
| ζ Aps[2] | 異雀一 | Yìquèyī | 1st star | |||||||||||||||||
| ι Aps | 異雀二 | Yìquèèr | 2nd star | |||||||||||||||||
| β Aps | 異雀三 | Yìquèsān | 3rd star | |||||||||||||||||
| γ Aps | 異雀四 | Yìquèsì | 4th star | |||||||||||||||||
| 異雀六 | Yìquèliù | 6th star | ||||||||||||||||||
| η Aps | 異雀七 | Yìquèqī | 7th star | |||||||||||||||||
| α Aps | 異雀八 | Yìquèbā | 8th star | |||||||||||||||||
| ε Aps | 異雀九 | Yìquèjiǔ | 9th star | |||||||||||||||||
| 三角形[3] | Sānjiǎoxíng | Triangle | ||||||||||||||||||
| κ¹ Aps | 三角形增三 | Sānjiǎoxíngzēngsān | 3rd additional star | |||||||||||||||||
| κ² Aps | 三角形增四 | Sānjiǎoxíngzēngsì | 4th additional star |