The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a
deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
(''
shen'') in
Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and
culture heroes included among the mytho-historical
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and cosmological
Five Regions' Highest Deities (). Calculated by
Jesuit missionaries on the basis of Chinese chronicles and later accepted by the twentieth-century promoters of a universal calendar starting with the Yellow Emperor, Huangdi's traditional reign dates are 2697–2597 or 2698–2598 BC.
Huangdi's cult became prominent in the late
Warring States and early
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
, when he was portrayed as the originator of the centralized state, as a cosmic ruler, and as a patron of esoteric arts. A large number of texts – such as the ''
Huangdi Neijing'', a medical classic, and the ''
Huangdi Sijing'', a group of political treatises – were thus attributed to him. Having waned in influence during most of the
imperial period, in the early twentieth century Huangdi became a rallying figure for
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...
attempts to overthrow the rule of the Qing dynasty, which they considered foreign because its emperors were
Manchu people. To this day the Yellow Emperor remains a powerful symbol within
Chinese nationalism. Traditionally credited with numerous inventions and innovations – ranging from the lunar calendar (
Chinese calendar
The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...
) to
an early form of football – the Yellow Emperor is now regarded as the initiator of Han culture (later
Chinese culture
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
).
Names
"Huangdi": Yellow Emperor, Yellow Thearch
Until 221 BC when
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...
of the
Qin dynasty
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...
coined the title ''huangdi'' () – conventionally translated as "
emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
" – to refer to himself, the character ''di'' did not refer to earthly rulers but to
the highest god of the
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty a ...
(c. 1600–1046 BC) pantheon. In the Warring States period (c. 475–221 BC), the term ''di'' on its own could also refer to the deities associated with the five
Sacred Mountains of China
The Sacred Mountains of China are divided into several groups. The ''Five Great Mountains'' () refers to five of the most renowned mountains in Chinese history, and they were the subjects of imperial pilgrimage by emperors throughout ages. They ...
and colors. Huangdi (), the "yellow ''di''", was one of the latter. To emphasize the religious meaning of ''di'' in pre-imperial times, historians of early China commonly translate the god's name as "Yellow Thearch" and the first emperor's title as "August Thearch", in which "thearch" refers to a godly ruler.
In the late Warring States period, the Yellow Emperor was integrated into the cosmological scheme of the
Five Phases, in which the color yellow represents the
earth phase
The Earth phase, Terra phase, terrestrial phase, or phase of Earth, is the shape of the directly sunlit portion of Earth as viewed from the Moon (or elsewhere extraterrestrially). From the Moon, the Earth phases gradually and cyclically change ...
, the
Yellow Dragon
The Yellow Dragon ( is the zoomorphic incarnation of the Yellow Emperor of the center of the universe in Chinese religion and mythology.
The Yellow Emperor or Yellow Deity was conceived by Fubao, who became pregnant after seeing a yellow ...
, and the center.
The correlation of the colors in association with different dynasties was mentioned in the ''
Lüshi Chunqiu'' (late 3rd century BC), where the Yellow Emperor's reign was seen to be governed by earth. The character ''huang'' ("yellow") was often used in place of the
homophonous ''huang'' , which means "august" (in the sense of 'distinguished') or "radiant", giving Huangdi attributes close to those of Shangdi, the Shang supreme god.
Xuanyuan and Youxiong
The ''
Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
'', compiled by
Sima Qian in the first century BC, gives the Yellow Emperor's name as "Xuan Yuan" ( <
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 12 ...
(
B-S) *''qʰa
��a
', lit. "Chariot Shaft"). Third-century scholar
Huangfu Mi, who wrote a work on the sovereigns of antiquity, commented that Xuanyuan was the name of a hill where Huangdi had lived and that he later took as a name. The
Classic of Mountains and Seas
The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shan Hai Jing'', formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed sin ...
mentions a Xuanyuan nation whose inhabitants have human faces, snake bodies, tails twisting above their heads;
Yuan Ke, a contemporary scholar of early Chinese mythology, "noted that the appearance of these people is characteristic of gods and suggested that they may reflect the form of the Yellow Thearch himself". The
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
scholar Liang Yusheng (, 1745–1819) argued instead that the hill was named after the Yellow Emperor. Xuanyuan is also the name of the star
Regulus
Regulus is the brightest object in the constellation Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation designated α Leonis, which is Latinized to Alpha Leonis, and abbreviated Alpha Leo or α Leo. Re ...
in Chinese, the star being associated with Huangdi in traditional astronomy. He is also associated to the broader
constellations Leo and Lynx, of which the latter is said to represent the body of the Yellow Dragon ( ''Huánglóng''), Huangdi's animal form.
Huangdi was also referred to as "Youxiong" (). This name has been interpreted as either a place name or a clan name. According to British sinologist
Herbert Allen Giles (1845–1935), that name was "taken from that of
uangdi'shereditary principality". William Nienhauser, a modern translator of the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', states that Huangdi was originally the head of the Youxiong clan, which lived near what is now
Xinzheng
Xinzheng () is a county-level city of Henan Province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital. The city has a population of 600,000 people and covers an area of , of which is urb ...
in Henan. Rémi Mathieu, a French historian of Chinese myths and religion, translates "Youxiong" as "possessor of bears" and links Huangdi to the broader theme of the bear in world mythology. Ye Shuxian has also associated the Yellow Emperor with bear legends common across northeast Asia people as well as the
Dangun legend.
Other names
Sima Qian's ''
Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
'' describes the Yellow Emperor's ancestral name as
Gongsun ().
In
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
texts, the Yellow Emperor is also called upon as the "Yellow God" ( ''Huángshén''). Certain accounts interpret him as the incarnation of the "Yellow God of the
Northern Dipper" ( ''Huángshén Běidǒu''), another name of the universal god (''
Shangdi'' or ''
Tiandi'' ). According to a definition in apocryphal texts related to the ''
Hétú'' , the Yellow Emperor "proceeds from the essence of the Yellow God".
As a cosmological deity, the Yellow Emperor is known as the "Great Emperor of the Central Peak" ( ''Zhōngyuè Dàdì''), and in the ''
Shizi'' as the "Yellow Emperor with Four Faces" ( ''Huángdì Sìmiàn''). In old accounts the Yellow Emperor is identified as a deity of light (and his name is explained in the ''
Shuowen jiezi'' to derive from ''guāng'' , "light") and thunder, and as one and the same with the "Thunder God" ( ''Léishén''), who in turn, as a later mythological character, is distinguished as the Yellow Emperor's foremost pupil, such as in the ''
Huangdi Neijing''.
Historicity
The Chinese historian
Sima Qianand much Chinese historiography following himconsidered the Yellow Emperor to be a more historical figure than earlier legendary figures such as
Fu Xi,
Nüwa
Nüwa, also read Nügua, is the mother goddess of Chinese mythology. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven.
As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay.
In the Huaina ...
, and
Shennong. Sima Qian's ''
Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
'' begins with the Yellow Emperor, while passing over the others.
[, and chapter endnotes.]
Throughout most of Chinese history, the Yellow Emperor and the other ancient sages were considered to be historical figures.
Their historicity started to be questioned in the 1920s by historians such as
Gu Jiegang, one of the founders of the
Doubting Antiquity School
The Doubting Antiquity School or Yigupai ( Wilkinson, Endymion (2000). ''Chinese History: A Manual''. Harvard Univ Asia Center. . Page 345, see/ref>Loewe, Michael and Edward L. Shaughnessy (1999). ''The Cambridge History of Ancient China'' Cambridg ...
in China.
In their attempts to prove that the earliest figures of Chinese history were mythological, Gu and his followers argued that these ancient sages were originally gods who were later depicted as humans by the rationalist intellectuals of the
Warring States period.
Yang Kuan
Yang Kuan (1914 − September 1, 2005) was a Chinese historian specializing in pre-Qin Dynasty Chinese history. He is considered an authority of the Warring States period, and his ''History of the Warring States'', first published in 1955, rema ...
, a member of the same current of
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians h ...
, noted that only in the Warring States period had the Yellow Emperor started to be described as the first ruler of China. Yang thus argued that Huangdi was a later transformation of
Shangdi, the supreme god of the
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty a ...
's
pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone St ...
.
[.]
Also in the 1920s, French scholars
Henri Maspero and
Marcel Granet
Marcel Granet (29 February 1884 – 25 November 1940) was a French sociologist, ethnologist and sinologist. As a follower of Émile Durkheim and Édouard Chavannes, Granet was one of the first to bring sociological methods to the study of ...
published critical studies of China's accounts of high antiquity. In his ''Danses et légendes de la Chine ancienne''
Dances and legends of ancient China" for example, Granet argued that these tales were "historicized legends" that said more about the time when they were written than about the time they purported to describe.
Most scholars now agree that the Yellow Emperor originated as a god who was later represented as a historical person.
K.C. Chang sees Huangdi and other cultural heroes as "ancient religious figures" who were "
euhemerized" in the late Warring States and Han periods.
Historian of ancient China
Mark Edward Lewis speaks of the Yellow Emperor's "earlier nature as a god", whereas
Roel Sterckx
Roel Sterckx FBA (born 1969) is a Flemish-British sinologist and anthropologist. He is the Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History, Science, and Civilization at Cambridge University, and a fellow of Clare College.
Life and career
Sterckx att ...
, a professor at
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, calls Huangdi a "legendary cultural hero".
Origin of the myth
The origin of Huangdi's mythology is unclear, but historians have formulated several hypotheses about it.
Yang Kuan
Yang Kuan (1914 − September 1, 2005) was a Chinese historian specializing in pre-Qin Dynasty Chinese history. He is considered an authority of the Warring States period, and his ''History of the Warring States'', first published in 1955, rema ...
, a member of the
Doubting Antiquity School
The Doubting Antiquity School or Yigupai ( Wilkinson, Endymion (2000). ''Chinese History: A Manual''. Harvard Univ Asia Center. . Page 345, see/ref>Loewe, Michael and Edward L. Shaughnessy (1999). ''The Cambridge History of Ancient China'' Cambridg ...
(1920s–40s), argued that the Yellow Emperor was derived from
Shangdi, the highest god of the
Shang dynasty
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty a ...
. Yang reconstructs the etymology as follows: Shangdi → Huang Shangdi → Huangdi → Huangdi , in which he claims that ''huang'' ("yellow") either was a
variant Chinese character for ''huang'' ("august") or was used as a way to avoid the
naming taboo for the latter. Yang's view has been criticized by Mitarai Masaru and by Michael Puett.
Historian
Mark Edward Lewis agrees that ''huang'' and ''huang'' were often interchangeable, but disagreeing with Yang, he claims that ''huang'' meaning "yellow" appeared first. Based on what he admits is a "novel etymology" likening ''huang'' to the phonetically close ''wang'' (the "burned shaman" in Shang rainmaking rituals), Lewis suggests that "Huang" in "Huangdi" might originally have meant "rainmaking shaman" or "rainmaking ritual." Citing late Warring States and early Han versions of Huangdi's myth, he further argues that the figure of the Yellow Emperor originated in ancient rain-making rituals in which Huangdi represented the power of rain and clouds, whereas his mythical rival
Chiyou (or the
Yan Emperor) stood for fire and drought.
Also disagreeing with Yang Kuan's hypothesis,
Sarah Allan finds it unlikely that such a popular myth as the Yellow Emperor's could have come from a taboo character. She argues instead that pre-Shang "'history'," including the story of the Yellow Emperor, "can all be understood as a later transformation and systematization of Shang
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narra ...
." In her view, Huangdi was originally an unnamed "lord of the underworld" (or the "Yellow Springs"), the mythological counterpart of the Shang sky deity Shangdi. At the time, Shang rulers claimed that their mythical ancestors, identified with "the
ensuns, birds, east, life,
ndthe Lord on High" (i.e., Shangdi), had defeated an earlier people associated with "the underworld, dragons, west." After the
Zhou dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
overthrew the Shang dynasty in the eleventh century BC, Zhou leaders reinterpreted Shang myths as meaning that the Shang had vanquished a real political dynasty, which was eventually named the
Xia dynasty. By
Han times – as seen in
Sima Qian's account in the ''
Shiji'' – the Yellow Emperor, who as lord of the underworld had been symbolically linked to the Xia, had become a historical ruler whose descendants were thought to have founded the Xia.
Given that the earliest extant mention of the Yellow Emperor was on a fourth-century BC
Chinese bronze inscription
Chinese bronze inscriptions, also commonly referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, are writing in a variety of Chinese scripts on ritual bronzes such as ''zhōng'' bells and '' dǐng'' tripodal cauldrons from the Shang dynasty (2nd m ...
claiming that he was the ancestor of the royal house of the
state of Qi, Lothar von Falkenhausen speculates that Huangdi was invented as an ancestral figure as part of a strategy to claim that all ruling clans in the "
Zhou dynasty
The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...
culture sphere" shared common ancestry.
History of Huangdi's cult
Earliest mention
Explicit accounts of the Yellow Emperor started to appear in Chinese texts during the
Warring States period
The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...
. "The most ancient extant reference" to Huangdi is an
inscription on a bronze vessel made during the first half of the fourth century BC by the royal family (surnamed Tian ) of the
state of Qi, a powerful eastern state.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
historian Michael Puett writes that the Qi bronze inscription was one of several references to the Yellow Emperor in the fourth and third centuries BC within accounts of the creation of the state. Noting that many of the thinkers who were later identified as precursors of the
Huang–Lao – "Huangdi and Laozi" – tradition came from the state of Qi, Robin D. S. Yates hypothesizes that Huang–Lao originated in that region.
Warring States period
The cult of Huangdi became very popular during the
Warring States period
The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...
(5th century–221 BC), a period of intense competition between rival states which ended with the unification of the realm by the
state of Qin
Qin () was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Traditionally dated to 897 BC, it took its origin in a reconquest of western lands previously lost to the Rong; its position at the western edge of Chinese civilization permitted e ...
. In addition to his role as ancestor, he became associated with "centralized statecraft" and emerged as a figure paradigmatic of emperorship.
The state of Qin
In his ''
Shiji'',
Sima Qian claims that the
state of Qin
Qin () was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Traditionally dated to 897 BC, it took its origin in a reconquest of western lands previously lost to the Rong; its position at the western edge of Chinese civilization permitted e ...
started worshipping the Yellow Emperor in the fifth century BC, along with
Yandi, the Fiery Emperor. The altars were established at Yong (near modern
Fengxiang County in
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...
province), which was the capital of Qin from 677 to 383 BC. By the time of
King Zheng, who became king of Qin in 247 BC and
First Emperor
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
of a unified China in 221 BC, Huangdi had become by far the most important of the four "thearchs" (''di'' ) who were then worshiped at Yong.
The ''Shiji'' version
The figure of Huangdi had appeared sporadically in Warring States texts.
Sima Qian's ''Shiji'' (or ''
Records of the Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese his ...
'', completed around 94 BC) was the first work to turn these fragments of myths into a systematic and consistent narrative of the Yellow Emperor's "career". The ''Shiji''s account was extremely influential in shaping how the Chinese viewed the origin of their history.
The ''Shiji'' begins its chronological account of Chinese history with the life of Huangdi, whom it presents as a sage sovereign from antiquity. It recounts that Huangdi's father was
Shaodian
Shaodian () was the father of Huangdi (黄帝), the Yellow Emperor according to the Records of the Grand Historian. He started the Youxiong family (有熊氏), whilst Shaodian's wives were Fubao and Nüdeng of the Youjiao clan. Fubao later gave ...
and his mother was
Fubao().
[Chinareviewnews.com]
"The ugliest among the empresses and consorts of past ages"
. Retrieved on August 8, 2010. The Yellow Emperor had four wives. His first wife
Leizu of
Xiling bore him two sons.
His other three wives were his second wife Fenglei (), third wife Tongyu () and fourth wife Momu ().
The emperor had a total of 25 sons,
[.] 14 of whom began their own surnames and clans.
The oldest was
Shaohao
Shaohao or Shao Hao ( "Lesser Brightness"), also known Jin Tian (金天), was a legendary Chinese sovereign. Shaohao is usually identified as a son of the Yellow Emperor. According to some traditions (for example the ''Book of Documents''), he is ...
or Xuan Xiao, who lived in
Qingyang by the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
.
Changyi
Changyi (? – ?) was the second son of the legendary Yellow Emperor and the father of Zhuanxu.
History
According to the '' Records of the Grand Historian'' by Sima Qian, the Yellow Emperor had twenty-five sons, two of the known ones who we ...
, the second son, lived by the
Ruo River
Ruo River is the largest tributary of the Shire River in southern Malawi and Mozambique. It originates from the Mulanje Massif (Malawi) and forms of the Malawi-Mozambique border. It joins the Shire River at Chiromo.
The Ruo River watershed incl ...
. When the Yellow Emperor died, he was succeeded by Changyi's son,
Zhuan Xu.
The chronological tables found in chapters 13 of the ''Shiji'' represent all past rulers – legendary ones such as Yao and Shun, the first ancestors of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, as well as the founders of the main ruling houses in the Zhou sphere – as descendants of Huangdi, giving the impression that Chinese history was the history of one large family.
Imperial era
The Yellow Emperor was credited with an enormous number of cultural legacies and esoteric teachings. While
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
is often regarded in the West as arising from
Laozi, Chinese Taoists claim the Yellow Emperor formulated many of their precepts.
The ''
Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon'' ( ''Huángdì Nèijīng''), which presents the doctrinal basis of
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...
, was named after him. He was also credited with composing the
Four Books of the Yellow Emperor ( ''Huángdì Sìjīng''), the ''
Yellow Emperor's Book of the Hidden Symbol'' ( ''Huángdì Yīnfújīng''), and the "Yellow Emperor's Four Seasons Poem" included in the
Tung Shing
''Tung Shing'' () is a Chinese divination guide and almanac. It consists primarily of a calendar based on the Chinese lunar year.
History
''Tung Shing'' originated from ''Wong Lik'' (, the "Yellow Calendar"), which legend attributes to the ...
fortune-telling almanac.
[, pp. 59 and 107.]
"Xuanyuan (+ number)" is also the Chinese name for
Regulus
Regulus is the brightest object in the constellation Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation designated α Leonis, which is Latinized to Alpha Leonis, and abbreviated Alpha Leo or α Leo. Re ...
and other stars of the
constellations Leo and Lynx, of which the latter is said to represent the body of the Yellow Dragon. In the
Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing's
Forbidden City
The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...
, there is also a mirror called the "Xuanyuan Mirror".
In Taoism
In the second century AD, Huangdi's role as a deity was diminished because of the rise of a deified
Laozi. A state sacrifice offered to "Huang-Lao jun" was not offered to Huangdi and Laozi, as the term Huang-Lao would have meant a few centuries earlier, but to a "yellow Laozi". Nonetheless, Huangdi kept being considered as an immortal: he was seen as a master of longevity techniques and as a god who could reveal new teachings – in the form of texts such as the sixth-century ''
Huangdi Yinfujing'' – to his earthly followers.
Twentieth century
The Yellow Emperor became a powerful national symbol in the last decade of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
(1644–1911) and remained dominant in Chinese nationalist discourse throughout the
Republican period (1911–49). The early twentieth century is also when the Yellow Emperor was first referred to as the
ancestor of all Chinese people.
Late Qing
Starting in 1903, radical publications started using the projected date of his birth as the first year of the
Chinese calendar
The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...
. Intellectuals such as
Liu Shipei (1884–1919) found this practice necessary in order to "preserve the
anrace" (''baozhong'' ) from both dominance by
Manchu people and foreign encroachment. Revolutionaries motivated by
Anti-Manchuism
Anti-Qing sentiment () refers to a sentiment principally held in China against the rule of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1636–1912), which was criticized by opponents as being "barbaric". The Qing was accused of destroying traditional Han cultur ...
such as
Chen Tianhua (1875–1905),
Zou Rong (1885–1905), and
Zhang Binglin (1868–1936) tried to foster the racial consciousness they thought was missing from their compatriots, and thus depicted the Manchus as racially inferior barbarians who were unfit to rule over
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...
. Chen's widely circulated pamphlets claimed that the "Han race" formed one big family descended from the Yellow Emperor. The first issue (Nov. 1905) of the ''Minbao'' ("People's Journal"), which was founded in Tokyo by revolutionaries of the
Tongmenghui, featured the Yellow Emperor on its cover and called Huangdi "the first great nationalist of the world." It was one of several nationalist magazines that featured the Yellow Emperor on their cover in the early twentieth century. The fact that Huangdi meant "yellow" emperor also served to buttress the theory that he was the originator of the "yellow race".
Many historians interpret this sudden popularity of the Yellow Emperor as a reaction to the theories of French scholar
Albert Terrien de Lacouperie (1845–94), who in a book called ''The Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization, from 2300 B.C. to 200 A.D.'' (1892) had claimed that Chinese civilization was founded around 2300 BCE by
Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c ...
n immigrants. Lacouperie's "
Sino-Babylonianism" posited that Huangdi was a
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
n tribal leader who had led a massive migration of his people into China around 2300 BC and founded what later became Chinese civilization. European
sinologists quickly rejected these theories, but in 1900 two Japanese historians, Shirakawa Jirō and Kokubu Tanenori, omitted these criticisms and published a long summary that presented Lacouperie's views as the most advanced Western scholarship on China. Chinese scholars were quickly attracted by "the historicization of
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions.
Much of ...
" that the two Japanese authors advocated.
Anti-Manchu intellectuals and activists who searched for China's "national essence" (''guocui'' ) adapted Sino-Babylonianism to their needs. Zhang Binglin explained Huangdi's
battle with Chi You as a conflict opposing the newly arrived civilized Mesopotamians to backward local tribes, a battle that transformed China into one of the most civilized places in the world. Zhang's reinterpretation of Sima Qian's account "underscored the need to recover the glory of early China." Liu Shipei also presented these early times as the golden age of Chinese civilization. In addition to tying the Chinese to an ancient center of human civilization in Mesopotamia, Lacouperie's theories suggested that China should be ruled by the descendants of Huangdi. In a controversial essay called ''History of the Yellow Race'' (''Huangshi'' ), which was published serially from 1905 to 1908,
Huang Jie (; 1873–1935) claimed that the "Han race" was the true master of China because it was descended from the Yellow Emperor. Reinforced by the values of
filial piety and the
Chinese patrilineal clan, the racial vision defended by Huang and others turned vengeance against the Manchus into a duty owed to one's ancestors.
Republican period
The Yellow Emperor continued to be revered after the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of ...
of 1911, which overthrew the Qing dynasty. In 1912, for instance, banknotes carrying Huangdi's effigy were issued by the new Republican government. After 1911, however, the Yellow Emperor as national symbol changed from first progenitor of the Han race to ancestor of China's entire multi-ethnic population. Under the ideology of the
Five Races Under One Union
Five Races Under One Union was one of the major principles upon which the Republic of China was founded in 1911 at the time of the Xinhai Revolution. Its central tenet was the harmonious existence under one nation of what were considered the f ...
, Huangdi became the common ancestor of the
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...
, the
Manchu people, the
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...
, the
Tibetans, and the
Hui people, who were said to form the
Zhonghua minzu, a broadly understood Chinese nation. Sixteen state ceremonies were held between 1911 and 1949 to Huangdi as the "founding ancestor of the
Chinese nation" () and even "the founding ancestor of human civilization" ().
Modern significance
The cult of the Yellow Emperor was forbidden in the People's Republic of China until the end of the Cultural Revolution. The prohibition was halted during the 1980s when the government reversed itself and resurrected the "Yellow Emperor cult". Starting in the 1980s, the cult was revived and phrases relating to the "Descendants of Yan and Huang" were sometimes used by the Chinese state when referring to people of Chinese descent. In 1984, for example,
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...
argued for
Chinese unification saying "
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
is rooted in the hearts of the descendants of the Yellow Emperor," whereas in 1986 the PRC acclaimed the Chinese-American astronaut
Taylor Wang
Taylor Gun-Jin Wang (; born June 16, 1940) is a Chinese-born American scientist and in 1985, became the first person of Chinese origin to go into space. While an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Wang was a payload specialist on the Sp ...
as the first of the Yellow Emperor's descendants to
travel in space. In the first half of the 1980s, the Party had internally debated whether this usage would make
ethnic minorities feel excluded. After consulting experts from
Beijing University, the
Chinese Academy of Social Science, and the
Central Nationalities Institute, the
Central Propaganda Department recommended on March 27, 1985, that the Party speak of the
Zhonghua Minzu – the "Chinese nation" broadly defined – in official statements, but that the phrase "sons and grand-sons of Yandi and the Yellow Emperor" could be used in informal statements by party leaders and in "relations with
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
and Taiwanese compatriots and overseas Chinese compatriots".
After retreating to Taiwan in late 1949 at the end of the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...
,
Chiang Kai-shek and the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...
(KMT) ruled that the
Republic of China (ROC) would keep paying homage to the Yellow Emperor on April 4, the National
Tomb Sweeping Day
The Qingming festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival observed by the Han Chinese of mainland China, Hong K ...
, but neither he nor the three presidents that succeeded him ever paid homage in person.
[.] In 1955, the KMT, which was led by Mandarin speakers and still poised on retaking
the mainland from the Communists, sponsored the production of the movie ''Children of the Yellow Emperor'' (''Huangdi zisun'' ), which was filmed mostly in
Taiwanese Hokkien and showed extensive passages of
Taiwanese folk opera
Taiwanese opera () commonly known as Ke-Tse opera or Hokkien opera, is a form of traditional drama originating in Taiwan. Taiwanese opera uses a stylised combination of both the literary and colloquial registers of Taiwanese Hokkien. Its earliest ...
. Directed by Bai Ke (1914–1964), a former assistant of
Yuan Muzhi
Yuan Muzhi (; March 3, 1909 – January 30, 1978) was an actor and director from the Republic of China and later of the People's Republic of China.
Career
As an actor, Yuan became extremely popular and took on the nickname "man with a thousand ...
, it was a propaganda effort to convince speakers of Taiyu that they were linked to mainland people by common blood. In 2009
Ma Ying-jeou was the first ROC president to celebrate the Tomb Sweeping Day rituals for Huangdi in person, on which occasion he proclaimed that both
Chinese culture
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
and common descent from the Yellow Emperor united people from
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
and the mainland.
Later the same year,
Lien Chan – a former Vice President of the Republic of China who is now Honorary Chairman of the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Ta ...
– and his wife
Lien Fang Yu paid homage at the
Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor
The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor () is the alleged burial site of the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) of China. It is located in Huangling County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, China. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor attained immor ...
in
Huangling,
Yan'an, in mainland China.
[.]
Gay studies researcher Louis Crompton has cited
Ji Yun
Ji Yun (; 1724–1805), also known as Ji Xiaolan () or Ji Chunfan () was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer. He was an influential scholar of Qing dynasty China and many anecdotes have been recorded about him. Ji Yun left behind a b ...
's report in his popular ''Notes from the'' Yuewei ''Hermitage'' (1800), that some claimed the Yellow Emperor was the first Chinese to take male bedmates, a claim that Ji Yun dismissed. Ji Yun argued that this was probably a false attribution.
Today,
Xuanyuanjiao based on Taiwan represents an organised form of Yellow Emperor worship married to Confucian orthodoxy.
Elements of Huangdi's myth
As with any myth, there are numerous versions of Huangdi's story, emphasizing different themes and interpreting the main character's significance in different ways.
Birth
According to
Huangfu Mi (215–282), the Yellow Emperor was born in
Shou Qiu
Shou Qiu () is a historical site on the eastern outskirts of the city of Qufu in Shandong Province, China. According to the legend, Shou Qiu is the birthplace of the Yellow Emperor.
Shou Qiu itself is today marked only by a pyramidal monument ...
("Longevity Hill"),
[, note 6.] which is today on the outskirts of the city of
Qufu in Shandong. Early on, he lived with his tribe near the
Ji River –
Edwin Pulleyblank states that "there seems to be no record of a Ji River outside the myth" – and later migrated to
Zhuolu in modern-day
Hebei
Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...
. He then became a farmer and tamed six different special beasts: the bear (), the
brown bear
The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear species found across Eurasia and North America. In North America, the populations of brown bears are called grizzly bears, while the subspecies that inhabits the Kodiak Islands of Alaska is k ...
(), the ''pí'' () and ''xiū'' () (which later combined to form the mythical
Pixiu), the ferocious ''chū'' (), and the tiger ().
Huangdi is sometimes said to have been the fruit of
extraordinary birth, as his mother
Fubao conceived him as she was aroused, while walking in the country, by a lightning bolt from the
Big Dipper. She delivered her son on the mount of Shou (Longevity) or mount Xuanyuan, after which he was named.
Achievements
In traditional Chinese accounts, the Yellow Emperor is credited with improving the livelihood of the nomadic hunters of his tribe. He teaches them how to build shelters, tame wild animals, and grow the
Five Grains, although other accounts credit
Shennong with the last. He invents carts, boats, and clothing.
Other inventions credited to the emperor include the Chinese diadem (), throne rooms (), the
bow sling, early
Chinese astronomy
Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categorized in the tw ...
, the
Chinese calendar
The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...
, math calculations, code of sound laws (),
[.] and
cuju
''Cuju'' or ''Ts'u-chü'' (蹴鞠) is an ancient Chinese football game. Cuju is the earliest known recorded game of football. It is a competitive game that involves kicking a ball through an opening into a net without the use of hands. Descripti ...
, an early Chinese version of football. He is also sometimes said to have been
partially responsible for the invention of the
''guqin'' zither, although others credit the Yan Emperor with inventing instruments for
Ling Lun's compositions.
In traditional accounts, he also goads the historian
Cangjie into creating the first
Chinese character
Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji' ...
writing system, the
Oracle bone script
Oracle bone script () is an ancient form of Chinese characters that were engraved on oracle bonesanimal bones or turtle plastrons used in pyromantic divination. Oracle bone script was used in the late 2nd millennium BC, and is the earliest k ...
, and his principal wife
Leizu invents
sericulture
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, '' Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively stud ...
and teaches his people how to weave silk and dye clothes.
At one point in his reign the Yellow Emperor allegedly visited the
mythical East sea and met a talking beast called the
Bai Ze who taught him the knowledge of all supernatural creatures.
[iFeng.com]
"The traitor Bai Ze"
; from . Retrieved on 2010-09-04.[.] This beast explained to him there were 11,522 (or 1,522) kinds of supernatural creatures.
Battles
The Yellow Emperor and the
Yan Emperor were both leaders of a tribe or a combination of two tribes near the
Yellow River. The Yan Emperor hailed from a different area around the
Jiang River
The Jiang River (, p ''Jiāng Shuǐ'') is the ancient name of a river in China.
According to Sima Qian's '' Records of the Grand Historian'', the river gave its name to Shennong's family.
According to the '' Guoyu'', it was the birthplace of th ...
, which a geographical work called the ''
Shuijingzhu'' identified as a stream near
Qishan in what was the Zhou homeland before they defeated the Shang. Both emperors lived in a time of warfare.
[.] The Yan Emperor proving unable to control the disorder within his realm, the Yellow Emperor took up arms to establish his domination over various warring factions.
According to traditional accounts, the Yan Emperor meets the force of the "
Nine Li" () under their bronze-headed leader,
Chi You, and his 81 horned and four-eyed brothers
[.] and suffers a decisive defeat. He flees to Zhuolu and begs the Yellow Emperor for help. During the ensuing
Battle of Zhuolu the Yellow Emperor employs his tamed animals and Chi You darkens the sky by breathing out a thick fog. This leads the emperor to develop the
south-pointing chariot, which he uses to lead his army out of the miasma.
He next calls upon the drought demon
Nüba to dispel Chi You's storm.
He then destroys the Nine Li and defeats Chi You. Later he engages in battle with the Yan Emperor,
defeating him at Banquan and replacing him as the primary ruler.
Death
The Yellow Emperor was said to have lived for over a hundred years before meeting a
phoenix and a
qilin and then dying. Two tombs were built in
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...
within the
Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor
The Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor () is the alleged burial site of the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) of China. It is located in Huangling County, Yan'an City, Shaanxi Province, China. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor attained immor ...
, in addition to others in
Henan
Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is a ...
, Hebei and
Gansu
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...
.
Modern-day Chinese people sometimes refer to themselves as the "
Descendants of Yan and Yellow Emperor
Yan Huang Zisun () is a term that represents the Chinese people and refers to an ethnocultural identity based on a common ancestry associated with a mythological origin.
This term is connected to Yandi (炎帝) and Huangdi (黃帝), in which ...
", although non-Han minority groups in China may have their own myths or not count as descendants of the emperor.
Meaning as a deity
Symbol of the centre of the universe
As the Yellow Deity with Four Faces ( Huángdì Sìmiàn) he represents the centre of the universe and vision of the unity which controls the four directions. It is explained in the ''
Huangdi Sijing'' ("Four Scriptures of the Yellow Emperor") that regulating "heart within brings order outside". In order to reign one must "reduce himself" abandoning emotions, "drying up like a corpse", never allowing oneself to be carried away, as according to the myth the Yellow Emperor himself did during his three years of refuge on Mount Bowang in order to find himself. This practice creates an internal void where all the vital forces of creation gather, and the more indeterminate they remain and the more powerful they will be.
It is from this centre that equilibrium and harmony emanate, equilibrium of the vital organs which becomes harmony between the person and the environment. As sovereign of the centre, the Yellow Emperor is the very image of the concentration or re-centering of the self. By self-control, taking charge of his own body one becomes powerful outside. The centre is also the vital point in the microcosm by means of which the internal universe viewed as an altar is created. The body is a universe, and by going into himself and by incorporating the fundamental structures of the universe, the sage will gain access to the gates of Heaven, the unique point where communication between Heaven, Earth and Man can occur. The centre is the convergence of within and outside, the contraction of chaos on the point which is equidistant from all directions. It is the place which is no place, where all creation is born and dies.
The Great Deity of the Central Peak ( ''Zhōngyuèdàdì'') is another epithet representing Huangdi as the hub of creation, the ''
axis mundi'' (which in Chinese mythology is
Kunlun) that is the manifestation of the divine order in physical reality, that opens to immortality.
As ancestor
Throughout history, several sovereigns and dynasties claimed (or were claimed) to descend from the Yellow Emperor. Sima Qian's ''
Shiji'' presented Huangdi as ancestor of the two legendary rulers
Yao and
Shun
Shun may refer to one of the following:
*To shun, which means avoiding association with an individual or group
* Shun (given name), a masculine Japanese given name
*Seasonality in Japanese cuisine (''shun'', 旬)
Emperor Shun
* Emperor Shun (舜 ...
, and traced various lines of descent from Huangdi to the founders of the
Xia,
Shang
The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...
, and
Zhou dynasties. He claimed that
Liu Bang, the first emperor of the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
, was a descendant of Huangdi. He believed that the ruling house of the
Qin dynasty
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...
was originated also from the Yellow Emperor, but by stating that
Qin Shihuang was in fact the child of Qin chancellor
Lü Buwei
Lü Buwei (291–235 BCE) was a Chinese merchant and politician of the Qin state during the Warring States period. Originally an influential merchant from the Wei () state, Lü Buwei met and befriended King Zhuangxiang of Qin, who was then a ...
, he perhaps meant to leave the First Emperor out of Huangdi's descent.
Claiming descent from illustrious ancestors remained a common tool of political legitimacy in the following ages.
Wang Mang
Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later seized the th ...
(c. 45 BC – 23 AD), of the short-lived
Xin dynasty
The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped the throne of the Emperor Pin ...
, claimed to descend from the Yellow Emperor in order to justify his overthrow of the Han. As he announced in January of 9 AD: "I possess no virtue,
utI rely upon the fact that] I am a descendant of my august original ancestor, the Yellow Emperor..." About two hundred years later a ritual specialist named Dong Ba , who worked for at the court of the
Cao Wei
Wei ( Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' < : *''ŋjweiC'' < Zhuanxu
Zhuanxu (Chinese: trad. , simp. , pinyin ''Zhuānxū''), also known as Gaoyang ( t , s , p ''Gāoyáng''), was a mythological emperor of ancient China.
In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, Z ...
.
During the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, non-Han rulers also claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor, for individual and national prestige, as well as to connect themselves to the Tang. Most Chinese noble families also claimed descent from Huangdi. This practice was well established in Tang and Song times, when hundreds of clans claimed such descent. The main support for this theory – as recorded in the ''
Tongdian'' (801 AD) and the ''
Tongzhi'' (mid 12th century) – was the ''Shiji''s statement that Huangdi's 25 sons were given 12 different surnames, and that these surnames had diversified into all Chinese surnames. After
Emperor Zhenzong (r. 997–1022) of the Song dynasty dreamed of a figure he was told was the Yellow Emperor, the
Song imperial family started to claim Huangdi as its first ancestor.
A number of
overseas Chinese clans that keep a genealogy also trace their family ultimately to Huangdi, explaining their different surnames as name changes claimed to have derived from the fourteen surnames of Huangdi's descendants. Many Chinese clans, both overseas and in China, claim Huangdi as their ancestor to reinforce their sense of being Chinese.
Gun, Yu, Zhuanxu, Zhong, Li, Shujun, and
Yuqiang Yuqiang (, alternatively Yujiang 禺疆 or Yujing 禺京), in Chinese mythology is one of the descendants of Huang Di, the "Yellow Emperor". Yuqiang was also the god of the north sea and a wind god. His father was Yuhao, another sea god. Some accou ...
are various emperors, gods, and heroes whose ancestor was also supposed to be Huangdi. The Huantou, Miaomin, and
Quanrong The Quanrong () or Dog Rong were an ethnic group, classified by the ancient Chinese as " Qiang", active in the northwestern part of China during and after the Zhou dynasty (1046–221 BCE). Their language or languages are considered to have been me ...
peoples were said to be descended from Huangdi.
Traditional dates
Although the traditional
Chinese calendar
The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...
did not mark years continuously, some
Han-dynasty astronomers tried to determine the years of the life and reign of the Yellow Emperor. In 78 BC, under the reign of
Emperor Zhao of Han, an official called Zhang Shouwang () calculated that 6,000 years had passed since the time of Huangdi; the court refused his proposal for reform, countering that only 3,629 years had elapsed. In the
proleptic Julian calendar, the court's calculations would have placed the Yellow Emperor in the late 38th century BC rather than in the 27th century BC that is conventional nowadays.
During their
Jesuit missions in China in the seventeenth century, the
Jesuits
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders = ...
tried to determine what year should be considered the
epoch
In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured.
The moment of epoch is usually decided ...
of the Chinese calendar. In his ''Sinicae historiae decas prima'' (first published in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
in 1658),
Martino Martini (1614–1661) dated the royal ascension of Huangdi to 2697 BC, but started the Chinese calendar with the reign of
Fuxi
Fuxi or Fu Hsi (伏羲 ~ 伏犧 ~ 伏戲) is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking as well ...
, which he claimed started in 2952 BCE.
Philippe Couplet's (1623–1693) "Chronological table of Chinese monarchs" (''Tabula chronologica monarchiae sinicae''; 1686) also gave the same date for the Yellow Emperor. The Jesuits' dates provoked great interest in Europe, where they were used for comparisons with
Biblical chronology. Modern Chinese chronology has generally accepted Martini's dates, except that it usually places the reign of Huangdi in 2698 BC (see next paragraph) and omits Huangdi's predecessors Fuxi and
Shennong, who are considered "too legendary to include."
Helmer Aslaksen, a mathematician who teaches at the
National University of Singapore and specializes in the Chinese calendar, explains that those who use 2698 BC as a first year probably do so because they want to have "a year 0 as the starting point", or because "they assume that the Yellow Emperor started his year with the Winter solstice of 2698 BC", hence the difference with the year 2697 BC calculated by the Jesuits.
Starting in 1903, radical publications started using the projected date of birth of the Yellow Emperor as the first year of the
Chinese calendar
The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...
. Different newspapers and magazines proposed different dates. ''Jiangsu'', for example counted 1905 as year 4396 (making 2491 BC the first year of the Chinese calendar), whereas the ''Minbao'' (the organ of the
Tongmenghui) reckoned 1905 as 4603 (first year: 2698 BC).
Liu Shipei (1884–1919) created the Yellow Emperor Calendar to show the unbroken continuity of the Han race and Han culture from earliest times. There is no evidence that this calendar was used before the 20th century. Liu's calendar started with the birth of the Yellow Emperor, which was reckoned to be 2711 BC. When
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...
declared the foundation of the
Republic of China on January 2, 1912, he decreed that this was the 12th day of the 11th month of year 4609 (epoch: 2698 BCE), but that the state would now be using the solar calendar and count 1912 as the first year of the Republic. Chronological tables published in the 1938 edition of the ''
Cihai'' () dictionary followed Sun Yat-sen in using 2698 as the year of Huangdi's accession; this chronology is now "widely reproduced, with little variation."
Cultural references
* The emperor appears as an ''ancestor hero'' in the
strategy game ''
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom'' made by
Sierra Entertainment. In the game, he is a patron of acupuncturist and silk weaver, and has the skills needed for leading men into battle, especially the Chariot-Fort soldiers.
* The emperor serves as the hero in
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...
's story, "The Fauna of the Mirror". British fantasy writer
China Miéville used this story as the basis for his novella ''
The Tain'', which describes a post-apocalyptic London. "The Tain" was included in Miéville's short-story collection "Looking For Jake" (2005).
*The popular Chinese
role-playing video game series for the
PC, ''
Xuanyuan Jian'', revolves around the legendary sword used by the emperor.
* The emperor is an important
NPC in the
action RPG
An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Definition
The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
''
Titan Quest'', The player must reach the emperor to learn the truth about
Typhon's imprisonment. He also reveals a bit of information about the war between the gods and the titans, while also revealing that he has been following the players actions since the beginning of the
Silk Road
The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and rel ...
.
* A 2016 Chinese drama film about the story of the Yellow Emperor is titled "Xuan Yuan: The Great Emperor" ().
(2016)
/ref>
* In the Shin Megami Tensei games, Huang Di is a summonable ally. He's created in various means depending on which game he is in.
See also
* Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...
* Chinese theology
* Emperors Yan and Huang (monument)
* Jiutian Xuannü, goddess of war, sex, and longevity as well as teacher of the Yellow Emperor
* Simianshen
* Tianxia
* Xuanyuanism
Xuanyuandao (軒轅道 "Way of Xuanyuan"), also known as Xuanyuanism (軒轅教) or Huangdiism (黄帝教), is a Confucian folk religion of China which was founded in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1952.Goossaert, Palmer. 2011. p. 295 The founder was Wang Ha ...
* Jade Emperor
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
; Works cited
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*, 0-8018-6183-7.
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Further reading
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{{Authority control
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
Guqin players
People from Qufu
Health gods
Saturnian deities
Legendary progenitors
Founding monarchs
Wufang Shangdi