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Human Sovereign
The Human Sovereign (), otherwise called the Sovereign of Man, was the third legendary Chinese king after Pangu's era. According to '' Yiwen Leiju'', he was the third and last of the Three Sovereigns. Biography According to the "Basic Annals of the Three Sovereigns" (三皇本紀) in Sima Zhen’s supplement to the ''Records of the Grand Historian'': Sima Zhen. 補史記 (Supplement to the ''Records'') (second-to-last paragraph) The legends says that he subdivided the land of China into nine provinces, which were united during a 45,600-year dynasty. See also *Chinese mythology *Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors () were a series of sage Chinese emperors, and the first Emperors of China. Today, they are considered culture heroes, but they wer ... References , - {{end Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Chinese monarchs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pangu
Pangu or Pan Gu (also sometimes spelled Peng Gu and P’an-ku) ( zh, t=盤古, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend, Pangu separated heaven and earth, and his body later became geographic features such as mountains and flowing water. Legend The first writer to record the myth of Pangu is thought to be Xu Zheng during the Three Kingdoms period. However, his name was found in a tomb predating the Three Kingdoms period. In the beginning, there was nothing and the universe was in a featureless, formless primordial state. This primordial state coalesced into a cosmic egg over the course of about 18,000 years. Within it, the perfectly opposed principles of yin and yang became balanced and Pangu emerged (or woke up) from the egg. Pangu inside the cosmic egg symbolizes Taiji. Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive, hairy giant with horns on his head. Pangu began creating the world: he separated yin from yang with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yiwen Leiju
The ''Yiwen Leiju'', or translated as ''Encyclopedia of Literary Collections'', is a Chinese '' leishu'' encyclopedia completed by Ouyang Xun in 624 under the Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed .... Other contributors include Linghu Defen and Chen Shuda. ''Yiwen Leiju'' is divided into 47 sections and many subsections, covering a vast number of subjects and including many quotations from older works, which are well cited. Wilkinson, '' Chinese history: a manual'', p. 603. File:ZHSY000250 藝文類聚一百卷 (唐)歐陽詢 輯 宋刻本.pdf, page=301, Pages from a Southern Song dynasty Shaoxing period edition of the ''Yiwen Leiju'', from the Shanghai Library File:Harvard drs 54163990 藝文類聚 v.20.pdf, page=51, Pages from a Ming dynasty Jiajing pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Sovereigns And Five Emperors
According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors () were a series of sage Chinese emperors, and the first Emperors of China. Today, they are considered culture heroes, but they were widely worshipped as divine "ancestral spirits" in ancient times. According to received history, the period they existed in preceded the Xia dynasty, although they were thought to exist in later periods to an extent in incorporeal forms that aided the Chinese people, especially with the stories of Nüwa existing as a spirit in the Shang dynasty and Shennong being identified as the godly form of Hou Ji and a founder of the Zhou dynasty. In myth, the Three Sovereigns were demigods who used their abilities to help create mankind and impart to them essential skills and knowledge. The Five Emperors were exemplary sages who possessed great moral character, and were from a golden age when "communications between the human order and the divine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sima Zhen
Sima Zhen (; 679–732), courtesy name Zizheng (Tzu-cheng; 子正), was a Tang dynasty Chinese historian born in what is now Jiaozuo, Henan. Sima Zhen was one of the most important commentators on the ''Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st cen ...''. His commentary is known as the ''Shiji Suoyin'' (), which means "Seeking the Obscure in the ''Records of the Grand Historian''". References Further reading * Schwaab-Hanke, Dorothee, ''Why did Sima Zhen want to correct the Shiji's account of High Antiquity?'' Paper submitted to the IJSCS Conference 'Thought, Body, Culture. New Approaches to Chinese Historical Studies', to be held at the National Ts'ing-hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Nov. 12-14, 2004. Clicherefor her ''preliminary draft''. External links— China ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Records Of The Grand Historian
The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st centuries BC by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, building upon work begun by his father Sima Tan. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty. The ''Shiji'' has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization". After Confucius and Qin Shi Huang, "Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, he virtually created the two earlier figures." The ''Shiji'' set the model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historiographical conventions, the ''Shiji'' does no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xian (Taoism)
A ''xian'' ( zh, s=仙, t=僊, p=xiān, w=hsien) is any manner of immortal or mythical being within the Taoist Pantheon (religion), pantheon or Chinese folklore. has often been translated into English as "immortal" or "wizard". Traditionally, ''xian'' refers to entities who have attained immortality and supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical abilities later in life, with a connection to the heavenly realms inaccessible to mortals. This is often achieved through spiritual Self-cultivation#Taoism and the authentic self, self-cultivation, Chinese alchemy, alchemy, or worship by others. This is different from the Deity, gods (Deity, deities) in Chinese mythology and Taoism. ''Xian'' is also used as a descriptor to refer to often benevolent figures of great historical, spiritual and cultural significance. The Quanzhen School of Taoism, Daoism had a variety of definitions for during its history, including a metaphorical meaning where the term simply means a good, principl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nine Provinces
The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions (), is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia dynasty, Xia and Shang dynasty, Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to translate ''Zhou (country subdivision), zhou'' (州) – since before the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), it was the largest Chinese territorial division. Although the current definition of the Nine Provinces can be dated to the Spring and Autumn period, Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, Warring States periods, it was not until the Eastern Han dynasty that the Nine Provinces were treated as actual History of the administrative divisions of China before 1912, administrative regions. Different interpretations of the Nine Provinces The ''Rongcheng Shi'' bamboo slips from the Chu (state), Chu state has the earliest interpretation of the Nine Provinces, but these early descriptions differ widely from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiuzhou
The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions (), is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia and Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to translate '' zhou'' (州) – since before the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), it was the largest Chinese territorial division. Although the current definition of the Nine Provinces can be dated to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was not until the Eastern Han dynasty that the Nine Provinces were treated as actual administrative regions. Different interpretations of the Nine Provinces The '' Rongcheng Shi'' bamboo slips from the Chu state has the earliest interpretation of the Nine Provinces, but these early descriptions differ widely from the currently recognized Nine Provinces. The Nine Provinces, according to the ''Rongcheng Shi'', are Tu (涂), Jia (夾), Zhang (竞), Ju (莒), Ou (藕), Jing (荊), Yang (� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural traditions. Populated with engaging narratives featuring extraordinary individuals and beings endowed with magical powers, these stories often unfold in fantastical mythological realms or historical epochs. Similar to numerous other mythologies, Chinese mythology has historically been regarded, at least partially, as a factual record of the past. Along with Chinese folklore, Chinese mythology forms an important part of Chinese folk religion and Taoism, especially older popular forms of it. Many narratives recounting characters and events from ancient times exhibit a dual tradition: one that presents a more historicized or euhemerized interpretation, and another that offers a more mythological perspective. Numerous myths delve into the creation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earthly Sovereign
The Earthly Sovereign () was the second legendary Chinese king after Pangu's era. According to '' Yiwen Leiju'', he was the second of the Three Sovereigns. Biography According to the "Basic Annals of the Three Sovereigns" (三皇本紀) in Sima Zhen’s supplement to the ''Records of the Grand Historian'': *Dìhuáng had eleven heads, was the king ruling under the influence ( de) of the fire element (火德王). *And, Dìhuáng was a king of many achievements, had eleven brothers, died aged eighteen thousand years old. After he was born, the world was filled in chaos. That year, the sun and the moon born from two eyes of Pangu, the stars from Pangu’s hairs couldn't move smoothly and correctly, which caused many days without sun, or many days with the sun shined throughout the whole day, or many dangerous fallen star accidents. With his power, Dìhuáng corrected the false. He made the sun and the moon move correctly, and stipulated the days of a month and the months of a ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
