Di Jun () also known as Emperor Jun is one of the ancient supreme deities of China, now known primarily through five chapters of the ''

Shanhaijing The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shanhai jing'' (), formerly Wade-Giles, 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 hav ...

'' (Yang 2005, 97). Di Jun had two wives, or consorts: Xihe and Changxi, and Di Jun figures in several stories from

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 tradit ...

. One of the famous myths in which Di Jun appears is that of the archer Houyi, to whom he gave a bow and arrows (Birrell 1993, 314). Di Jun is also associated with the agricultural arts, either directly or as the progenitor of other innovators of farming practice, including especially his son,

Houji Hou Ji (or Houji; ) was a legendary Chinese culture hero credited with introducing millet to humanity during the time of the Xia dynasty.. Millet was the original staple grain of northern China, prior to the introduction of wheat. His name trans ...

, the Zhou ancestor (Yang 2005, 98). Some scholars identify Di Jun and Di Ku as variations from a shared original source (Yang 2005, 100).

References

* Birrell, Anne (1993). ''Chinese Mythology''. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins). *Yang, Lihui, ''et al.'' (2005). ''Handbook of Chinese Mythology''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN, 978-0-19-533263-6 Chinese gods Agriculture in China

See also

References