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29-579: The Rongcheng Shi bamboo slips from the Chu state has the earliest interpretation of the Nine Provinces, but these early descriptions differ widely from the currently recognized Nine Provinces. The Nine Provinces, according to the Rongcheng Shi , are Tu (涂), Jia (夾), Zhang (竞), Ju (莒), Ou (藕), Jing (荊), Yang (陽), Xu (敘) and Cuo (虘). The most prevalent account of the Nine Provinces comes from

58-495: 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

87-418: 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,

116-592: 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

145-616: Is an ancient bamboo manuscript from the Chinese Warring States period (ca. 453–221 BCE) that was discovered and purchased on Hong Kong 's antiquity market in 1994. It is now kept at the Shanghai Museum . It was published in the second volume of the Shanghai Bowuguan can Zhanguo Chu jian shu 上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書. Like the entire collection, it is dated to the mid through late 4th century BCE. To date, it

174-608: Is between the He River and Ji River , and is Wei . Qing Province, ie. Qi is in the east. Lu is at Xu Province, on the Si River . Yang Province, or Yue , is to the southwest. Jin Province is in the south and forms Chu . Yong Province, that is Qin , is to the west. Yan occupies You Province in the north. The words "Nine Provinces" do not appear in any ancient oracle bone inscriptions, such that many scholars do not think Yu

203-442: 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

232-627: 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

261-488: Is the only historical narrative from that runs from ancient times to the beginning of the Zhou dynasty . It addresses abdication as an ideal way of ruling, and describes history as devolutionary. This article related to the history of China is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Shennong Shennong ( 神農 ), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian ( 姜石年 ),

290-660: The Genealogical Descent of the Emperors (帝王世紀), rulers before Shennong had influence over the Greater Nine Provinces, but those from the Yellow Emperor onwards did not extend their virtue that far. The Greater Nine Provinces theory was based on the knowledge in the states of Yan and Qi on the Yellow Sea coast that China comprised only 1/81 of the entire world, markedly different from

319-665: The Yu Gong or Tribute of Yu section of the Book of Xia (夏書), collected in the Book of Documents . It was therein recorded that Yu the Great divided the world into the nine provinces of Ji (冀), Yan (兗), Qing (青), Xu (徐), Yang (揚), Jing (荊), Yu (豫), Liang (梁) and Yong (雍). The geography section (釋地) of the ancient Erya encyclopedia also cites nine provinces, but with You and Ying (營) listed instead of Qing and Liang. In

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348-663: 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

377-655: The Sinocentric point of view that was prevalent at the time. Geographic knowledge from increasing contact between the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) and its neighbours proved the theory false and it lost popularity. By the time of the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE) the Nine Provinces had expanded into thirteen provinces together with a central administrative region. Rongcheng Shi The Rong Cheng Shi ( Chinese : 容成氏 ; pinyin : Róng Chéng shì )

406-675: The "Clan Responsibilities" (職方氏) section of Rituals of Zhou , the provinces include You and Bing but not Xu and Liang. The Lüshi Chunqiu "Initial Survey" (有始覽) section mentions You but not Liang. Traditionally, the Book of Documents is thought to depict the divisions during the Xia dynasty, the Erya those of the Shang dynasty; the Rituals of Zhou the Zhou dynasty and the Lüshi Chunqiu

435-420: The "Red County / Divine Province" (赤縣神州), i.e. China (cf. Shenzhou ). Nine such provinces then form another "medium" nine provinces surrounded by a sea. There are nine such medium provinces, which were surrounded by a Great Ocean, forming the Greater Nine Provinces. The Nine Provinces' names in the "Geographical Instruction" section (地形訓) of Huainanzi , annotations to Zhang Heng 's biography (張衡傳注) in Book of

464-602: 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

493-569: The Great created the Nine Provinces as was traditionally thought. Some suggest the name "Jiuzhou", which came to mean "Nine Provinces", was actually a place, or the divisions were within Shandong . Later on, Zou Yan , an adherent of the Taoist Yin and Yang School (陰陽家), proposed a new theory of the "Greater Nine Provinces" (大九州). According to him, the nine provinces in the Book of Documents were only "minor" provinces, which combined to form

522-703: The Later Han and volume eight of the Chuxue Annals (初學記), are different from the traditional ones listed above. They all include Shenzhou, which led some scholars to suggest they are the names of the Greater Nine Provinces. According to the "Forms of Earth" (墜形訓) section of the Huainanzi , outside the Greater Nine Provinces are the Eight Yin (八殥), the Eight Hong (八紘) and the Eight Ji (八極). According to

551-418: 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 ,

580-646: 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

609-578: The concept and actual territorial distribution of the Nine Provinces during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The Lüshi Chunqiu contains the following passage on the location of the nine provinces and their general correspondence with the states of the time: Yu province, i.e., Zhou, lies between the He River and Han River . Jin in Ji Province is between the two rivers. Yan Province

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638-707: 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

667-463: 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

696-513: 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

725-563: 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

754-694: 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

783-461: 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

812-408: 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

841-585: 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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