Jilian () was the first recorded ruler of the ancient Chinese state that was later known as

Chu Chu or CHU may refer to: Chinese history * Chu (state) (c. 1030 BC–223 BC), a state during the Zhou dynasty * Western Chu (206 BC–202 BC), a state founded and ruled by Xiang Yu * Chu Kingdom (Han dynasty) (201 BC–70 AD), a kingdom of the H ...

. He adopted the clan name Mi () and was the founder of the House of Mi that ruled Chu for over eight centuries.

Ancestry

According to legends recorded in 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 ...

'' by

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

, Jilian descended from the mythical

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 ...

and his grandson and successor

Zhuanxu Zhuanxu (), also known as Gaoyang (), was a mythological emperor of ancient China. In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, Zhuanxu was a grandson of the Yellow Emperor. Association with Four Barbarians At the age of ten with Shao ...

. Zhuanxu's great-grandson Wuhui(吳回) was put in charge of fire by

Emperor Ku Kù (, variant graph ), usually referred to as Dì Kù (), also known as Gaoxin or Gāoxīn Shì () or Qūn (), was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. He went by the name Gaoxin until receiving imperial authority, when he took the name Ku and t ...

and given the title

Zhurong Zhurong (), also known as Chongli (), is an important personage in Chinese mythology and Chinese folk religion. According to the ''Huainanzi'' and the philosophical texts of Mozi and his followers, Zhurong is a god of fire and of the south. The ...

. Wuhui's son Luzhong () had six sons, all born by

Caesarian section Caesarean section, also known as C-section, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen. It is often performed because vaginal delivery would ...

. Jilian was the youngest of the six.

Family

According to the

Tsinghua Bamboo Slips The Tsinghua Bamboo Strips () are a collection of Chinese texts dating to the Warring States period and written in ink on strips of bamboo, that were acquired in 2008 by Tsinghua University, China. The texts were obtained by illegal excavation, ...

, Jilian married Bi Zhui (), a granddaughter of the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

king

Pan Geng Pán Gēng (), personal name Zi Xun, was a Shang dynasty King of China. He is best known for having moved the capital of the Shang dynasty to its final location at Yinxu, Yīn. Records In the ''Records of the Grand Historian'' he was listed by ...

. They had two sons:

Yingbo Yingbo () was an early ruler of the ancient Chinese state that would later be known as Chu. His father was Jilian and his mother was Bi Zhui (), a granddaughter of the Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty () ...

and Yuanzhong (). However, the ''

'' recorded the name of Jilian's son as Fuju ().

References

Monarchs of Chu (state) Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 12th-century BC Chinese monarchs Founding monarchs in Asia {{China-royal-stub