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31-553: A long debate has existed over whether or not the Yan Emperor was the same person as the legendary Shennong . An academic conference held in China in 2004 achieved general consensus that the Yan Emperor and Shennong were the same person. Another possibility is that the term "Yan Emperor" or "Flame Emperor" was a title, held by dynastic succession of tribal lords, with Shennong being known as Yandi perhaps posthumously. Accordingly,

62-592: A recent invasion from the forces of Chiyou , came into territorial conflict with its neighbouring Youxiong tribes, led by the Yellow Emperor . The Yan Emperor was defeated after three successive battles and surrendered to the Yellow Emperor, who assumed the title of overlord ( 共主 ) and agreed to merge the two tribes into a new confederation — the Yanhuang tribe. Under the Yellow Emperor's leadership,

93-495: A specimen of every single plant that existed in the time of the Hundred Schools to find which ones were edible by humans. In the third century BCE, during times of political crisis and expansionism and wars among Chinese kingdoms, Shennong received new myths about his status as an ideal prehistoric ruler who valued laborers and farmers and "ruled without ministers, laws or punishments." Sima Qian ( 司馬遷 ) mentioned that

124-418: Is a book on agriculture and medicinal plants, attributed to Shennong. Research suggests that it is a compilation of oral traditions, written between about 200 and 250 AD. Reliable information on the history of China before the 13th century BC can come only from archaeological evidence because China's first established written system on a durable medium, the oracle bone script , did not exist until then. Thus,

155-529: Is also thought to be the father of the Huang Emperor ( 黃帝 ) who carried on the secrets of medicine, immortality, and making gold. According to the eighth century AD historian Sima Zhen 's commentary to the second century BC Shiji (or, Records of the Grand Historian ), Shennong is a kinsman of the Yellow Emperor and is said to be an ancestor , or a patriarch , of the ancient forebears of

186-902: Is associated with certain geographic localities including Shennongjia , in Hubei, where the Calamoideae ladder which he used to climb the local mountain range is supposed to have transformed into a vast forest. The Shennong Stream flows from here into the Yangtze River . Three Exalted Ones: Suiren · Fuxi · Taihao · Nüwa · Zhurong · Shennong · Yandi · Gonggong · Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) Four Perils: Gonggong · Huandou · Gun · Sanmiao · Hundun · Qiongqi · Taowu · Taotie Five Primal Emperors: Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) · Shaohao · Zhuanxu · Ku · Zhi · Yao · Shun Huangfu Mi Huangfu Mi (215 – 282 ), courtesy name Shi'an ( Chinese : 士安 ),

217-442: Is never at all appropriate; instead pigs and sheep are acceptable. Fireworks and incense may also be used, especially at the appearance of his statue on his birthday, lunar April 26, according to popular tradition. Under his various names, Shennong is the patron deity of farmers, rice traders, and practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. Many temples and other places dedicated to his commemoration exist. As noted above, Shennong

248-627: Is said in the Huainanzi to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medical value. The most well-known work attributed to Shennong is The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic ( simplified Chinese : 神农本草经 ; traditional Chinese : 神農本草經 ; pinyin : Shénnóng Běncǎo Jīng ; Wade–Giles : Shen -nung Pen -ts'ao Ching ), first compiled some time during the end of the Western Han Dynasty — several thousand years after Shennong might have existed. This work lists

279-663: The Chinese calendar (especially the division into the 24 jieqi or solar terms), and to have refined the therapeutic understanding of taking pulse measurements, acupuncture , and moxibustion , and to have instituted the harvest thanksgiving ceremony ( zhaji (蜡祭) sacrificial rite, later known as the laji (腊祭) rite). "Shennong" can also be taken to refer to his people, the Shennong-shi ( Chinese : 神農 氏 ; pinyin : Shénnóngshì ; lit. 'Shennong Clan'). In Chinese mythology , Shennong taught humans

310-652: The Chinese. After the Zhou dynasty , Shennong was thought to have existed within it by some "ancient Chinese historians" and religious practitioners as the "deified" form of "mythical wise king" Hou Ji who founded the Zhou. As an alternative to this view, Shennong was also thought of in the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought as a culture hero rather than a god, but one with a supernatural digestive system who ate

341-867: The South" The last Yan Emperor, Yuwang , met the end of his reign in the third of a series of three battles, known as the Battle of Banquan . The exact location of this battle is disputed among modern historians, due to multiple locations adopting the same name at various points through history. Possible candidates include Zhuolu County and Huailai County in Zhangjiakou, Hebei , Yanqing District in Beijing , Fugou County in Zhoukou, Henan , and Yanhu District in Yuncheng, Shanxi . The Yan Emperor, retreating from

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372-418: The ancient Chinese not only their practices of agriculture , but also the use of herbal medicine. Shennong was credited with various inventions: these include the hoe , plow (both leisi ( 耒耜 ) style and the plowshare ), axe , digging wells , agricultural irrigation, preserving stored seeds by using boiled horse urine (to ward off the borers), trade , commerce, money , the weekly farmers market ,

403-765: The ancient Vietnamese dynasties claim Emperor Yan as their common ancestor. This is the most common list given by Huangfu Mi , Xu Zheng , and Sima Zhen : List provided at the end of the Shan Hai Jing : Three Exalted Ones: Suiren · Fuxi · Taihao · Nüwa · Zhurong · Shennong · Yandi · Gonggong · Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) Four Perils: Gonggong · Huandou · Gun · Sanmiao · Hundun · Qiongqi · Taowu · Taotie Five Primal Emperors: Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) · Shaohao · Zhuanxu · Ku · Zhi · Yao · Shun Shennong Shennong ( 神農 ), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian ( 姜石年 ),

434-646: The book popularly known in English as I Ching . Here, he is referenced as coming to power after the end of the house (or reign) of Paoxi ( Fu Xi ), also inventing a bent-wood plow, a cut-wood rake, teaching these skills to others, and establishing a noonday market. Another reference is in the Lüshi Chunqiu , mentioning some violence with regard to the rise of the Shennong house, and that their power lasted seventeen generations. The Shénnóng Běn Cǎo Jīng

465-409: The case of lesser tribal leaders. At this time it appears that there were only the bare beginnings of written language, and that for record keeping a system of knotting strings (perhaps similar to quipu ) was in use. The Zuo Zhuan states that in 525 BC, the descendants of Yan were recognized as long having been masters of fire and having used fire in their names. Yan Emperor was known as "Emperor of

496-550: The classic works of ancient China. Yan literally means "flame", implying that Yan Emperor's people possibly uphold a symbol of fire as their tribal totems . K. C. Wu speculates that this appellation may be connected with the use of fire to clear the fields in slash and burn agriculture. In any case, it appears that agricultural innovations by Shennong and his descendants contributed to some sort of socioeconomic success that led them to style themselves as di ( 帝 ; 'emperors'), rather than hou ( 侯 ; 'lord'), as in

527-707: The concrete existence of even the Xia dynasty , said to be the successor to Shennong, is yet to be proven, despite efforts by Chinese archaeologists to link that dynasty with Bronze Age Erlitou archaeological sites. However, Shennong, both the individual and the clan, are very important in Chinese cultural history , especially in regards to mythology and popular culture . Indeed, Shennong figures extensively in historical literature . Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: According to some versions of

558-463: The development of traditional Chinese medicine . Legend holds that Shennong had a transparent body, and thus could see the effects of different plants and herbs on himself. He is also said to have discovered tea , which he found it to be acting as an antidote against the poisonous effects of some seventy herbs he tested on his body. Shennong first tasted it, traditionally in ca. 2437 BC, from tea leaves on burning tea twigs, after they were carried up from

589-513: The fire by the hot air, landing in his cauldron of boiling water. Shennong is venerated as the Father of Chinese medicine. He is also believed to have introduced the technique of acupuncture . Shennong is said to have played a part in the creation of the guqin , together with Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor . Scholarly works mention that the paternal family of famous Song dynasty General Yue Fei traced their origins back to Shennong. Shennong

620-434: The most influential. Huangfu Mi also compiled ten books in a series called Records of Emperors and Kings ( Chinese : 帝王世紀 ; pinyin : Dìwáng shìjì ). He was also the coauthor of Biographies of Exemplary Women ( Chinese : 列女傳; pinyin : Liènǚ Zhuàn ) and the author of Biographies of Exemplary Gentlemen ( Chinese :高士傳; pinyin : Gāoshì Zhuàn ). This Chinese academic-related biographical article

651-563: The myths about Shennong, he eventually died as a result of his researches into the properties of plants by experimenting upon his own body, after, in one of his tests, he ate the yellow flower of a weed that caused his intestines to rupture before he had time to swallow his antidotal tea: having thus given his life for humanity, he has since received special honor through his worship as the Medicine King ( 藥王 Yàowáng ). The sacrifice of cows or oxen to Shennong in his various manifestations

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682-522: The newly combined tribes then went to war and defeated Chiyou in the Battle of Zhuolu , and established their cultural and political dominance in Central Plains China. Since the Battle of Banquan is treated as a historical fact by Sima Qian in his Records of the Grand Historian , it would appear that this is a pivotal transition point between mythology and history. Ironically, the Yan Emperor enters history only with his submission to

713-694: The rulers directly preceding the Yellow Emperor were of the house (or societal group) of Shennong. Sima Zhen , who added a prologue for the Records of the Grand Historian ( 史記 ), said his surname was Jiang ( 姜 ), and proceeded to list his successors. An older and more famous reference is in the Huainanzi ; it tells how, prior to Shennong, people were sickly, wanting, starved and diseased; but he then taught them agriculture, which he himself had researched, eating hundreds of plants — and even consuming seventy poisons in one day. Shennong also features in

744-526: The state of Cao Wei , he compiled the Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion ( simplified Chinese : 针灸甲乙经 ; traditional Chinese : 針灸甲乙經 ; pinyin : Zhēnjiǔ jiǎyǐ jīng ; Wade–Giles : Chen -chiu chia -i ching ), a collection of various texts on acupuncture written in earlier periods. This book in 12 volumes further divided into 128 chapters was one of the earliest systematic works on acupuncture and moxibustion , and it proved to be one of

775-401: The term "Yan Emperor s " or "Flame Emperor s " would be generally more correct. The succession of these Yan or Flame emperors, from Shennong, the first Yan Emperor, until the time of the last Yan Emperor's defeat by the Yellow Emperor , may have been some 500 years. No written records are known to exist from the era of Yan Emperor's reign. However, he and Shennong are mentioned in many of

806-634: The tradition of associating a certain color with a particular dynasty may have begun with the Flame Emperors. According to the Five Elements, or Wu Xing model, red, fire, should be succeeded by yellow, earth—or Yandi by Huangdi. According to the records of ancient history books by the Vietnamese such as Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư , the earliest monarch of Vietnam, Hồng Bàng , was allegedly a descendant of Emperor Yan. Because of this, all

837-461: The use of the plow, aspects of basic agriculture, and the use of cannabis . Possibly influenced by the Yan Emperor mythos or the use of slash-and-burn agriculture, Shennong was a god of burning wind. He was also sometimes said to be a progenitor to, or to have had as one of his ministers, Chiyou (and like him, was ox -headed, sharp-horned, bronze-foreheaded, and iron-skulled). Shennong

868-408: The various medicinal herbs, such as lingzhi ,and marijuana that were discovered by Shennong and given grade and rarity ratings. It is considered to be the earliest Chinese pharmacopoeia , and includes 365 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals. Shennong is credited with identifying hundreds of medical (and poisonous) herbs by personally testing their properties, which was crucial to

899-422: The will of the Yellow Emperor. In any case, the title of flame emperor apparently lapsed after this time. His tribe's descendants were said to be perpetuated through intermarriage with that of the Yellow Emperor, and Han Chinese throughout history have referred themselves as the " Descendants of Yan and Huang ". Both Huangdi and Yandi are considered in some sense ancestral to Chinese culture and people. Also,

930-403: Was a Chinese physician, essayist, historian, poet, and writer who lived through the late Eastern Han dynasty , Three Kingdoms period and early Western Jin dynasty . He was born in a poor farming family in present-day Sanli village, Chaona , Pingliang , despite being a great-grandson of the famous general Huangfu Song , via Song's son Huangfu Shuxian. Between 256 and 260, toward the end of

961-533: Was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion . He is venerated as a culture hero in China and Vietnam. In Vietnamese, he is referred to as Thần Nông . Shennong has at times been counted amongst the Three Sovereigns (also known as "Three Kings" or "Three Patrons"), a group of ancient deities or deified kings of prehistoric China. Shennong has been thought to have taught

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