Fengbo (Chinese: 風伯), also known as Fengshi, is the

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

deity of the

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

. In ancient times, he was depicted as a grotesque

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

with the body of a

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

, the head of a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

, horns, the tail of a

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

, and patterns of a

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

. Eventually, Fengbo was replaced by Feng Po Po. According to the

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 ce ...

, he was an object of state ritual from early times, with temples and festivals held in honor of him.

Mythology of the Ming dynasty

In the mythology of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

, Fengbo was also known as the Count of the Wind ( Chinese: 風伯方天君,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''Fēng bó fāng tiān jūn''). He is depicted as an old man holding a fan, with a yellow cloak, a blue and red cap, and a white beard. He holds a goatskin bag of winds and directs them as he pleases. He is considered a stellar divinity, under the control of the star Ch’i of the Sagittarius constellation. In some myths, Fengbo lives in this constellation, where he looks after the solar breezes; when the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

passes too close to his star, he gets a little flustered, allowing too much wind to escape from his sack.

Fei Lian

Fei Lian is considered the dragon form of Fengbo. There are two origin stories of Fei Lian. Legends say that Fei Lian was originally one of the supporters of the rebel Chi You, who was defeated by Huang Di. He was transformed into a spiritual monster and stirred up tremendous winds in the southern regions. Emperor Yao sent Shen Yi and three hundred soldiers to quiet the storms and appease Chi You relatives, who were wreaking their vengeance on the people. Shên I ordered the people to spread a long cloth in front of their house and secure it to the ground with stones; this caused the wind to blow against it and change direction. Shen Yi then flew through the wind to the top of a high mountain and they saw a monster, white and yellow in color breathing deeply. Shen Yi understood that the monster was the cause of all these storms and decided to shoot an arrow and try to kill it. The monster ran and hid in a deep cave. Shen Yi followed the monster which drew its sword and dared him to attack the Mother of Winds. Shen Yi bravely decided to face the monster and shot another arrow, this time hitting it in the knee. The monster was finally defeated. It immediately dropped its sword and begged for its life. Another legend says that Fei Lian appears as a dragon. He was initially one of the tyrant Chou's wicked ministers and could walk with unheard-of swiftness. Both he and his son E Lai, who was so strong that he could tear a tiger and rhinoceros to pieces with his bare hands, were killed while in service of Chou Wang. The legend says that Fei Lien had the body of a stag, about the size of a leopard, with a bird's head, horns, and a snake's tail, and was able to make the wind blow whenever he wished.

Relationships

Some myths say that Fengbo is a subordinate of

Chiyou Chiyou () is a mythological being that appears in Chinese mythology. He was a tribal leader of the Nine Li tribe () in ancient China. He is best known as a king who lost against the future Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Empero ...

and assists him in his struggle against the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...

in the

Battle of Zhuolu The Battle of Zhuolu () was the second battle in the history of China as recorded in the '' Records of the Grand Historian'', fought between the Yanhuang tribes led by the legendary Yellow Emperor and the Jiuli tribes led by Chiyou. The battl ...

. He has been known to be friendly with the rain deity

Yu Shi Yu Shi () is a Chinese spirit or god of rain, also known as or conflated with Red Pine (Chisong, , or Chisongzi – Master Red Pine), among other names. Translations of ''Yu Shi'' into English include "Lord of Rain" and "Leader of Rain". As Yu Sh ...

. Fengbo is considered a neutral god and does not belong to any faction. Fengbo, in his dragon form, is considered a troublemaker who needs to be watched by Shen Yi. In the ''

Han Feizi The ''Han Feizi'' () is an ancient Chinese text attributed to the Chinese Legalism, Legalist political philosopher Han Fei. It comprises a selection of essays in the Legalist tradition, elucidating theories of state power, and synthesizing the m ...

'' (韓非子) or book of master Han Fei, when Huangdi the

gathers all the demons at

Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the ''Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being t ...

Fengbo sweeps the path.Handbook of Chinese mythology by Lihui Yang OUP

References

{{reflist Chinese gods Wind gods

Mythology of the Ming dynasty

Fei Lian

Relationships

See also

References