Chiyou () is a mythological being that appears in

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 ...

. 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 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 ...

during the

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 ...

era in

. According to the Song dynasty history book '' Lushi'', Chiyou's surname was Jiang (), and he was a descendant of the

Flame Emperor The Yan Emperor () or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese emperor in pre-dynastic times. Some modern Chinese scholars have identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (''Yángtóu Shān'') Weibin District, Baoji as his homeland and terri ...

. Chiyou is often associated with chaos and war, earning him the status of a demon god in later mythological interpretations, especially in

northern China Northern China () and Southern China () are two approximate regions that display certain differences in terms of their geography, demographics, economy, and culture. Extent The Qinling, Qinling–Daba Mountains serve as the transition zone ...

. In some

Daoist 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', ' ...

traditions, he is considered a demon or evil god representing war and violence. His image has also been used as a protective figure, especially by soldiers, who see him as a war deity capable of offering protection in battle. Conversely, for some

Hmong people The Hmong people ( RPA: , CHV: ''Hmôngz'', Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh Hmong: , , zh, c=苗族蒙人) are an indigenous group in East Asia and Southeast Asia. In China, the Hmong people are classified as a sub-group of the Miao people. Th ...

, Chiyou or Txiv Yawg was a sagacious mythical king. He has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under

Dongyi The Dongyi or Eastern Yi () was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages, but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China, then later, the Korean peninsula and Jap ...

Miao Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...

or even

Man A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

, depending on the source and view. According to legend, Chiyou had a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

head with a distinct metal

forehead In human anatomy, the forehead is an area of the head bounded by three features, two of the skull and one of the scalp. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp grows. The bottom of the fo ...

. He had four eyes and six arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand, similar to a description of ''

fangxiangshi The ''fangxiangshi'' ( zh, c= ) or just Fangxiang was a Chinese ritual exorcist. His primary duties were orchestrating the seasonal Nuo rituals, Nuo ritual to chase out disease-causing demonic possession, demons from houses and buildings, and l ...

''. (2005) (2006) . p 11-13. In some sources, Chiyou had certain features associated with various mythological bovines: his head was that of a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

with two

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

, although the body was human, and his hindquarters were those of a bear. He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers and many followers. Historical sources often described him as 'bold leader', as well as 'brave'. Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom. Chiyou knows the constellations and the ancients spells for calling upon the weather. For example, he called upon a fog to surround Huangdi and his soldiers during 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 ...

Tribe

Chiyou is regarded as a leader of the Nine Li tribe (, RPA ) by nearly all sources. However, his exact ethnic affiliations are quite complex, with multiple sources reporting him as belonging to various tribes, in addition to a number of diverse peoples supposed to have directly descended from him. Some sources from later dynasties, such as the '' Guoyu book'', considered Chiyou's Li tribe to be related to the ancient San miao tribe (). In the ancient

Zhuolu Town Zhuolu () is a town and the county seat of Zhuolu County, northwestern Hebei province, Northern China. It has an area of and a population of 72,538 as of 2010, and is made up of 6 communities and 30 villages. It is located southeast of Zhangjiak ...

is a statue of Chiyou commemorating him as the original ancestor of the

Miao people Miao is a word that the Chinese use to designate some ethnic minority groups living in southern China and Mainland Southeast Asia. Miao is thus officially recognized by the Chinese government as one of the largest ethnic minority groups that h ...

.De la Cadena, Marisol. Starn, Orin. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

(2007). Indigenous experience today. Berg Publishers, 2007. . pg 239. The place is regarded as the birthplace of the San miao / Miao people, the Hmong being a subgroup of the Miao. In various sources, the "nine Li" tribe is called the "Jiuli" kingdom, Jiuli meaning "nine Li". Modern

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

scholar Weng Dujian considers Jiuli and San Miao to be

southerners. Chiyou has also been counted as part of the

Allusions and legends

Legend has it that in ancient times, the

lived on the edge of the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

, with a total of "eighty-one" villages. Their leader was called Chi You. Chi You got rid of the "lop-eared witch" who harmed the Miao people, so that the people could live and work in peace and contentment. Later, The three demon children of the witch invited Red Dragon and Huang Long (i.e.

Emperor Yan The Yan Emperor () or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese emperor in pre-dynastic times. Some modern Chinese scholars have identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (''Yángtóu Shān'') Weibin District, Baoji as his homeland and terri ...

and Huang Emperor) to take revenge. Chi You led the Miao people to fight bravely and defeated Red Dragon and Huang Long many times. The story of

Guan Gong Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him o ...

being invited by Taoist Zhang Tianshi to kill Chi You. Legend has it that during the reign of Zhenzong of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

, the Jiezhou Salt Pond did not produce salt. Zhang Tianshi from Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi Province was summoned to the court to tell the emperor that the lack of salt produced Chi You, and that he could be killed by Guan Gong. After Zhang Tianshi followed the emperor's order, he burned a talisman to summon Guan Gong. Guan Gong showed his power, Chi You was beheaded, the salt pond was restored, and all the people rejoiced.

Epic battles

When the

Yan emperor The Yan Emperor () or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese emperor in pre-dynastic times. Some modern Chinese scholars have identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (''Yángtóu Shān'') Weibin District, Baoji as his homeland and terri ...

was leading his tribe and conflicts with Nine Li tribes led by Chiyou, the Yan emperor stood no chance and lost the fight. He escaped, and later ended up in Zhuolu begging for help from the

. At this point the epic battle between Chiyou and the Yellow Emperor's forces began. The battle lasted for 10 years with Chiyou having the upper hand. During the Battle of Zhuolu, Chiyou breathed out a thick fog and obscured the sunlight.Big5.china.com.cn.
Big5.china.com.cn
" Retrieved on 2010-08-22. The battle dragged on for days while the emperor's side was in danger. Only after the Yellow Emperor invented the

south-pointing chariot The south-pointing chariot (or carriage) was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretch ...

, did he find his way out of the battlefield. Chiyou then conjured up a heavy storm. The Yellow Emperor then called upon the drought demon

Nüba Nüba (), also known as Ba (魃) and as Hanba (旱魃), is a Chinese drought deity. "Ba" is her proper name, with the ''nü'' being an added indication of being feminine and ''han'' meaning "drought". Legend Ba is the daughter of the Yellow Emper ...

(), who blew away the storm clouds and cleared the battlefield. Chiyou and his army could not hold up, and were later killed by the Yellow Emperor. After this defeat, the Yellow Emperor is said to become the ancestor of all

Huaxia ''Huaxia'' is a historical concept representing the Chinese nation, and came from the self-awareness of a common cultural ancestry by ancestral populations of the Han people. Etymology The earliest extant authentic attestation of the ''H ...

. His followers were forced to live in the mountains and leave their Li kingdom. After Chiyou's death, it is said that it rained blood for some time.

Legacy

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 ...

'',

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...

worshipped Chiyou as the God of War, and

Liu Bang Emperor Gaozu of Han (2561 June 195 BC), also known by his given name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 to 195 BC. He is considered by traditional Chinese historiography to be one o ...

worshipped at Chiyou's shrine before his decisive battle against

Xiang Yu Xiang Yu (), born Xiang Ji, was a Chinese warlord who founded and led the short-lived ancient Chinese states, kingdom-state of Western Chu during the interregnum period between the Qin dynasty, Qin and Han dynasty, Han dynasties of China, d ...

. The mythical title God of War was given to Chiyou because the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor could not defeat Chiyou alone. Altogether, Chiyou won nine major battles including 80 minor confrontations. On the 10th and final war, both emperors combined their forces and conquered Chiyou. Chiyou remains as a figure of worship today. In one mythical episode, after Chiyou had claimed he could not be conquered, the goddess Nuwa dropped a stone tablet on him from

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 ...

. The stone failed to crush Chiyou, who managed to escape. From then on, the 5-finger-shaped stone tablet, inscribed "Mount Tai ''

shigandang ''Shigandang'' (; ) is an ornamental stone tablet with writing, which is used to exorcise evil spirits in east Asia. are often associated with Mount Tai, and are often placed on street intersections or three-way junctions, especially in the c ...

''" () became a spiritual weapon to ward off evil and disasters.Lee, James.

006 Alec Trevelyan is a fictional character who is the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye,'' portrayed by actor Sean Bean. Bean's likeness was also used as the model for Alec Trevelyan in the 1997 video game '' GoldenEye 007' ...

(2006). James Lee Astrology guide 2006 Chinese edition. World publishing co. . p 208-209. Chiyou is also identified with the Taotie motif present on

ritual bronze vessels From , elaborately decorated bronze vessels were deposited as grave goods in the tombs of royalty and nobility during the Chinese Bronze Age. Documented excavations have found over 200 pieces in a single royal tomb. They were produced for an ind ...

. The historian , in his work the ''Lushi'', writes of Chiyou that the Yellow Emperor "cut his head off; and for this reason sages later cast his portrait on bronzes to warn the greedy." Luo Bi's son, , then expanded on this, writing that: In Chinese honghuang novels and online literature, Chiyou ranks first among the "Ten Great Demon Gods of Ancient Times", including Xingtian,

Kuafu Kuafu () is a giant in Chinese mythology who wished to capture the Sun. He was a grandson of Houtu. Story One day, Kuafu decided to chase and catch the Sun. He followed the Sun from the East to the West, draining the Yellow River and the Wei ...

Gonggong Gonggong () is a Chinese water god who is depicted in Chinese mythology and folktales as having a copper human head with an iron forehead, red hair, and the body of a serpent, or sometimes the head and torso are human, with the tail of a serpen ...

Feilian Feilian ( zh, t=飛廉, s=飞廉, first=t, p=fēilián) or () is a Chinese wind spirit from a southern tradition, later identified with and subsumed under the primary wind deity Fengbo. Feilian has also been identified with a late Shang dynasty ...

, Pingyi, Shentu and Yulei, Houqing, Hanba, and Yinlingzi. The

Tale of Heike is an epic poetry, epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). It has been translated into English at least ...

mentions a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

"of the type called Chiyou's Banner or Red Breath."

In popular culture

* Ch'ih-yu (conceptualized as a dragon) is one of the characters in the background story in ''

The Settlers III ''The Settlers III'' () is a 1998 real-time strategy video game with city-building elements for Windows. Developed and published by Blue Byte, it was released worldwide in November 1998. It is the third game in ''The Settlers'' series. In 1 ...

''. * Chi You is a name for an Aragami creature in the PlayStation Portable game, ''

God Eater is a series of sci-fi action role-playing video games published by Bandai Namco Entertainment, starting with the titular game released on February 4, 2010 for the PlayStation Portable. The series depicts the desperate battle between humanity ...

''. * The

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

'' Heavenly Executioner Chiwoo'' is partly based on the legends about Chiyou. * The main antagonist of the ''

Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. ''Shenmue II'' was released in 2002 in Western m ...

'' saga, Lan Di is one of the leaders of a group called the Chi You Men, who seek to awake the power of the god Chi You. * A series of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

bullion coin A bullion coin (also known as a specie) is a coin struck from highly refined precious metal (bullion) and kept as a store of value or an investment rather than used in day-to-day commerce, or collectable, with numismatic value beyond that of its ...

s minted by

KOMSCO The Korea Minting, Security Printing and ID Card Operating Corporation (KOMSCO; ) is a state-owned corporation which is responsible to print and mint (coin), mint the banknotes and coins and other government documents. Its headquarters are loca ...

feature Chiyou, referred to as the Chiwoo Cheonwang series. * Chi You appears as an antagonist in the ''TMNT/Ghostbusters'' miniseries of the ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

'' IDW comics continuity. Herein he is a godling or immortal creature who is engaged with others of his kind—including the

Rat King A rat king is a collection of rats or mice whose tails are intertwined and bound together in some way. This could be a result of an entangling material like hair, a sticky substance such as sap or gum, or the tails being tied together. A sim ...

and Kitsune—in a "game" for dominion over mankind. * There is a mechanical mod used in the

vaping An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), or vape, is a device that simulates smoking. It consists of an Construction of electronic cigarettes#Atomizer and tank, atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or ...

community known as the Chi You. * He is reoccurring demon in the ''

Megami Tensei ''Megami Tensei'', marketed internationally as ''Shin Megami Tensei'' (formerly ''Revelations''), is a Japanese media franchise created by Aya Nishitani, Kouji Okada, Kouji "Cozy" Okada, Ginichiro Suzuki, and Kazunari Suzuki. Primarily developed ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

series. * Chi You appears as sub-

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

enemy in the

La-Mulana ''La-Mulana'' (stylized as ''La•Mʊlana'') is a Platform game#Platform-adventure game, platform-adventure video game, designed to imitate the look and feel of MSX games. Released on June 27, 2006, in Japan for Microsoft Windows, the game was on ...

''. * Chi You's clan became a group of priestess/assassin combo in '' Kingdom'', where Qiang Lei was once part of. * In the 1997 South Korean cartoon '' Mythology of Heaven'' by Lee Hyun-se, Chiyou appears as the protagonist in book two. * The descendants of Chi You formed a warrior order named Saulabi in the novel of ''

The God of High School is a South Korean manhwa released as a webtoon written and illustrated by Yongje Park. It has been serialized in Naver Corporation's webtoon platform Naver Webtoon from April 2011 to December 2022, with the individual chapters collected and pub ...

''. * He is one of the kings represented by the members of the K-pop boy group Kingdom, as one of them is named "Chiwoo". His story is told in the album ''History of Kingdom: Part II. Chiwoo''. * He appears as a man-eating evil deity in the manga ''

Record of Ragnarok is a Japanese manga series written by Shinya Umemura and Takumi Fukui and illustrated by Azychika about a fighting tournament featuring prominent historical figures against gods from various mythologies, with the fate of mankind in the ba ...

''. * Chiyou appears in

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

as the archenemy of the Chinese superhero Sword Master. In the comics, Chiyou is depicted as an evil monstrous god who was defeated and sealed away along with his demonic army by the

and the descendants of the

Three Sovereigns According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors () were a series of sage Chinese emperors, and the first Emperor of China, Emperors of China. Today, they are considered culture heroe ...

. In the present day, Chiyou's seals have weakened, allowing his demonic minions to escape and to find a way revive their master, prompting

Fu Xi Fuxi or Fu Hsi ( zh, c=伏羲) is a culture hero in Chinese mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking, as well as the Cangjie system ...

's descendant Lin Lie to take of the fabled Sword of Fu Xi to stop Chiyou's release. * In the mobile game ''Arknights'', Superintendent Ch'en of the Lungmen Guard Department wields a "dragon-slaying" sword named Chi You. * Appears as the primary antagonist of ''Assassin's Creed: Jade''. * In the video game ''

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and are 2022 role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. They are the first installments in the ninth generation of the ''Pokémon'' video game series. They ...

'', the legendary fire/dark type

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

Chi-Yu is named after Chiyou, with its fire typing alluding to Chiyu's lineage from the

, and its

dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

typing reflecting Chiyu's role as an adversary to the Yellow Emperor, in line with his antagonistic depiction in modern media. * Appears as the primary antagonist of ''Age of Mythology Retold: The Immortal Pillars'' campaign. * In the chinese cultivation manhua ''Apotheosis'', Chi You appears as the grandfather of the main character, Luo Zheng.

References

Bibliography

* Michael J. Puett, ''The Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early China''. 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chi You Pre-Xia Chinese people Chinese gods War gods Hmong culture Mythological kings Classic of Mountains and Seas Evil gods