Zhuanxu (
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...
:
trad. ,
simp. ,
pinyin ''Zhuānxū''), also known as Gaoyang (
t ,
s ,
p ''Gāoyáng''), was a
mythological 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 (emp ...
of
ancient China
The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...
.
In the traditional account recorded by
Sima Qian, Zhuanxu was a grandson of the
Yellow Emperor who led the
Shi Clan in an eastward migration to present-day
Shandong, where intermarriages with the
Dongyi clan enlarged and augmented their tribal influences. At age of twenty, he became their sovereign, going on to rule for seventy-eight years until his death.
Family
Zhuanxu was the grandson of the
Yellow Emperor and his wife
Leizu
Leizu (), also known as Xi Ling-shi (, Wade–Giles Hsi Ling-shih), was a legendary Chinese empress and wife of the Yellow Emperor. According to tradition, she discovered sericulture, and invented the silk loom, in the 27th century BC.
Myths
A ...
by way of his father
Changyi (昌意). His mother was named Changpu (昌僕), according to
Sima Qian, and Niuqu (女樞) according to the ''
Bamboo Annals
The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China.
It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history o ...
''.
Zhuanxu was claimed as an ancestor by many of the dynasties of Chinese history, including the
Mi of
Chu and
Yue, the
Yíng of
Qin, and the
Cao Cao or CAO may refer to:
Mythology
*Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
Companies or organizations
* Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO
* CA Oradea, Romanian football club
*CA Osasuna, Spanish football club
* Canadian Ass ...
of
Wei.
Reign
Zhuanxu is held by many sources to be one of the
Five Emperors.
According to
Sima Qian's ''
Records of the Grand Historian'' (''
Shiji''), upon the passing of the
Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu's uncle
Shaohao never reigned as king, as he was purported to do in other documents. Rather, Gaoyang was chosen as the tribe's new leader, with the
regnal name Zhuanxu, in preference to his father and all his uncles. Zhuanxu defeated Gonggong, a descendant of the
Emperor Yan.
However, the account in the ''
Bamboo Annals
The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China.
It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history o ...
'' states that Zhuanxu became an assistant to his uncle, Emperor Shaohao, at the age of ten, and became king in his own right at the of age 20.
He made contributions to a unified
calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...
,
astrology
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
,
religion reforms to oppose
shamanism, upheld the
patriarchal (as opposed to the previous
matriarchal
Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property.
While those definitions apply in general ...
) system, and forbade
marriages between close kin. The ''Bamboo Annals'' also credit him with composing one of the earliest pieces of music, known as "The Answer to the Clouds".
Zhuanxu was succeeded by his cousin, Shaohao's grandson,
Ku. According to ''Shiji'', Zhuanxu himself, or Zhuanxu's lineage, had an incompetent son (不才子) derided as Taowu (梼杌; literally: "
block
Block or blocked may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting
* Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting
* W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...
-
stump; blockhead"). Two other descendants of Zhuanxu were also named: one is Zhuanxu's son Qiongchan (窮蟬), from whom descended
Emperor Shun; the other is
Gun
A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...
, father of
Yu the Great. Emperor
Yao had also criticized Gun for being incompetent and ruinous. Qiongchan was a commoner, though there is no account of his fall from grace. Eight of Zhuanxu's other descendants, unnamed yet of good repute, later worked for Shun.
Calendar
The ''Bamboo Annals'' record that in the thirteenth year of his reign, Zhuanxu "invented
calendric calculations and delineations of the heavenly bodies (歷象)".
Since Zhuanxu was claimed as a founder of the
Qin dynasty, the new calendar system "zhuanxuli"(
顓頊曆) was named after Zhuanxu by
Shi Huangdi
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 ...
.
Mythology
Zhuanxu is also mentioned as a god of the
Polaris along with god
Taiyi (太一, the original god of the Polaris.
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were said to be sent by the Taiyi from the east to the land of the humans, and thus considered to return to their original jobs as gods of the Polaris when their job on the land was done.)
Potential connection with Longshan culture
Zhuanxu is commonly associated with the mythical separation of the Heaven from Earth. According to the Lu Xing (呂刑) chapter of
Shang Shu
The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorica ...
:
We are told that the Miao (苗)… created oppressive punishments which the people into disorder. Shang Di
Shangdi (), also written simply, "Emperor" (), is the Chinese term for "Supreme Deity" or "Highest Deity" in the theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the later '' Tian'' ("Heav ...
, the Lord on High… surveyed the people and found them lacking in virtue. Out of pity for those who were innocent, the August Lord (皇帝)… had the Miao exterminated. "Then he charged Chong (重) and Li (黎) to cut the communication between Heaven and Earth so that there would be no descending and ascending." After this had been done, order was restored and the people returned to virtue.
Several Chinese
mythologists interpreted this
myth as a representation or symbolization of increasing
social stratification
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). A ...
. Before the "separation of Earth and Heaven", in
Yangshao culture, every household could have or hire a
shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...
. However, during
Longshan culture
The Longshan (or Lung-shan) culture, also sometimes referred to as the Black Pottery Culture, was a late Neolithic culture in the middle and lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China from about 3000 to 1900 BC. The first archaeological fi ...
, shamans could only be hired by a few people, suggesting a
monopoly of the ability to ascend to and descend from Heaven. In this sense, this myth may indicate the start of social stratification in
ancient Chinese culture.
''Samguk Sagi''
According to ''
Samguk Sagi'', the
kings of Goguryeo regarded themselves as a descendant of Chinese heroes because he called his surname "Go" (
Hanja: 高) as they were the descendant of Gaoyang (
Hanja: 高陽) who was a grandchild of the
Yellow Emperor and
Gaoxin (
Hanja: 高辛) who was a great-grandchild of
Yellow Emperor.
[
]
References
{{Authority control
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors