Gaoping () is a
county-level city in the southeast of
Shanxi Province, China, under the administration of the
prefecture-level city of
Jincheng. It has a history stretching back to the
Warring States period (403–221 BCE). Part of the city was formerly known as Changping where
a noted battle took place in 260 BCE between forces from the rival States of
Qin Qin may refer to:
Dynasties and states
* Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China
* Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC
* Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...
and
Zhao.
Gaoping is also famed as the birthplace of
Lord Yan, a legendary figure who was an early leader (or series of leaders) among the ancient
Han Chinese.
Gaoping (along with several other locations in China) was traditionally identified as Yan's hometown. Not until the late 20th and early 21st century was Gaoping widely accepted as Yan's birthplace by the global scholarly community.
The hilly area around Gaoping is known as the Sheep's Head Mountains (), and it is this area that preserves the most concrete evidences of Yan's habitation there. A local temple to a female river spirit has been identified as portraying Yan's daughter Nüwa () - not to be confused with the goddess
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 Huainanzi ...
() - since the
Ming Dynasty. Ancient sources, such as the
Guo Yu, record that Yan and his posterity flourished in the area around a river called the "Giang
iangWater". The river is believed by scholars to be the Giang River of old is now called the Jiang River () or the Jiang Water (), and is located in
Tunliu County, whence it flows east into the
Zhang River.
[''Yan Di Wen Hua'', 4.]
Climate
References
*''Yan Di Wen Hua'' 炎帝文化, edited by Wang Shuxin 王树新 and Meng Shikai 孟世凯. Zhonghua Bookstore (Beijing): 2005.
Cities in Shanxi
County-level divisions of Shanxi
{{Shanxi-geo-stub