The Heavenly Sovereign () was the first legendary Chinese king after

Pangu Pangu or Pan Gu (also sometimes spelled Peng Gu and P’an-ku) ( zh, t=盤古, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend, Pangu separated heaven and earth, and his body later became ge ...

's era. According to ''

Yiwen Leiju The ''Yiwen Leiju'', or translated as ''Encyclopedia of Literary Collections'', is a Chinese '' leishu'' encyclopedia completed by Ouyang Xun in 624 under the Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was ...

'', he was the first 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 ...

Name

The book '' Lushi'' from 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 ...

records that his family name was ''Wang'' (望, meaning "to observe" or "day or night of the full moon"), his

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

''Huo'' (獲, meaning "to hunt or catch"), and his

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

''Zirun'' (子潤, ''run'' means "wet" or "wealthy", so "prosperous descendants").

Biography

According to the "Basic Annals of the Three Sovereigns" (三皇本紀) in

Sima Zhen Sima Zhen (; 679–732), courtesy name Zizheng (Tzu-cheng; 子正), was a Tang dynasty Chinese historian born in what is now Jiaozuo, Henan. Sima Zhen was one of the most important commentators on the ''Shiji The ''Shiji'', also known as ' ...

's supplement 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 ...

'':

. 補史記 (Supplement to the ''Records'') (second-to-last paragraph) *After Heaven and Earth were formed, there was Tiānhuáng, who had twelve heads. *The king was said to have an unselfish personality(or in a calm state or living in retirement) that even if he did not try to help the people, people's customs changed for the better.(澹泊無所施為，而民俗自化) *And, Tiānhuáng was a king of many achievements, and was the king ruling under the influence ( de) of the wood element (木德王). He lived to 18,000 years old. His twelve children supported him in reigning the

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

. *His greatest achievement was suppressing all the chaos, dividing the world for the many tribes, and choosing the best people to rule the tribes. His successor was the

Earthly Sovereign The Earthly Sovereign () was the second legendary Chinese king after Pangu's era. According to '' Yiwen Leiju'', he was the second of the Three Sovereigns. Biography According to the "Basic Annals of the Three Sovereigns" (三皇本紀) in Sim ...

. According to the ''

'', *Based on ''Shixue'' (始學) by Xiang Jun, after the heaven and earth were formed, there was the Heavenly Sovereign, with 13 heads(or 13 leaders). He was called Tianling (天靈, 'heavenly spirit') and ruled the world for 18,000 years. *Based on ''Dongming Ji'' ( 洞冥記, title means "Records of everything about the ghosts"), there were 13 people with the same family name. *Based on the records in the ''Three Five Historic Records'' (三五歷紀) by Xu Zheng, when history began, life started to exist, and there was a divine spirit that had 13 heads called Tianhuang. *Based on ''Chunqiu Wei'' (春秋緯), there were Heavenly, Earthly and Heavenly Sovereigns, they had 9 brothers and divided the world into the

Nine Provinces The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions (), is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia dynasty, Xia and Shang dynasty, Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Pro ...

, which spanned the world. *Based on ''Dunjiakaishan Tu'' (遁甲開山圖), the emperor's remains are said to be under the

Kunlun The Kunlun Mountains constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the broadest sense, the chain forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin. Located in Western China, the Kunlu ...

in Zhuzhou (柱州).

References

, - {{end Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Chinese monarchs

Name

Biography

See also

References