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35-535: The Classic of Mountains and Seas gives alternative genealogies for Zhurong, including descent from both the Yan Emperor and Yellow Emperor . However, it is recorded in the suspicious part of Dahuangjing (大荒經) and Haineijing (海內經) that were written last. Some sources associate Zhurong with some of the principal early and ancient myths of China, such as those of Nüwa ( Nüwa Mends the Heavens ), Gonggong , and

70-466: A connection between the characters in Zhurong's name and the culture and ceramic technology in ancient China. The Classic of Mountains and Seas represents Zhurong as the son of a father whose name translates as "Play-with-Pots", who in turn is represented as the son of a father whose name translates as "Skillful Pot" (and is described as having a square top upon his head). In "General Introduction" to

105-635: A disciple of Mozi , named Sui Chaozi, during the Warring States period . The book is not a narrative, as the "plot" involves detailed descriptions of locations in the cardinal directions of the Mountains , Regions Beyond Seas , Regions Within Seas , and Wilderness . The descriptions are usually of medicines , animals, and geological features. Many descriptions are very mundane, and an equal number are fanciful or strange. Each chapter follows roughly

140-571: A grandchild of Yellow Emperor . In the Bamboo Annals , one of the earliest sources, it is mentioned that when Emperor Zhuanxu died, a descendant of Shennong named Shuqi(術器) organized a rebellion, but was destroyed by a descendant of Huangdi, Ku (of the Gaoxin lineage) the Prince of Xin; Ku then ascended to the throne. It also states that Ku "was born with double rows of teeth, and had

175-466: A ritual cauldron or tripodal vessel with three hollow legs, which is well known from archeological reports as a characteristic Chalcolithic (Late Neolithic/Early Bronze) Age feature encountered in archaeological sites in northern China. This character is combined with another character, 虫 ; which, in the case of certain other complex characters is used productively to represent words with meanings related to worms, snakes, or insects. David Hawkes makes

210-566: A son ( Houji , Xie , Zhi , and Yao , respectively) Ku had a diviner foretell for him which of the sons was destined to rule the empire, and he received the answer that all four would. Another source mentions a lady with whom he had eight sons, each one born after she had dreamed of swallowing the sun ; although her name is uncertain, she was said to be from Zoutu. Shiji also recorded the lineage names of Zhi's mother as Juzi ( 娵訾氏 ) and Yao's mother as Chenfeng ( 陳鋒氏 ). According to some traditions, each of these four sons inherited Ku's empire or

245-520: A son, Gun , who fathered Yu the Great . The imperial clan of the Qin dynasty also claimed descent through Gaoyang (but not Zhurong). Zhurong was also claimed to be an ancestor to the eight lineages of the royal families of the state of Chu . One aspect of the traditional Chinese characters used in the case of Zhurong's name is that the character 融 is composed by combining the character 鬲 which refers to

280-489: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a deity is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Classic of Mountains and Seas The Classic of Mountains and Seas , also known as Shanhai jing ( Chinese : 山海经 ), formerly romanized as the Shan-hai Ching , is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of

315-472: Is a book written during the classical era, but it is not written by Yu the Great and Boyi . Many people also believe that the book was written by the descendants according to a map, which is the text description of the map named "Mountains and Seas". Zhu Xi from the Southern Song dynasty and the scholar from Ming dynasty Hu Yinglin believed that the book was written by a curious person during

350-485: Is also true in the case of Zhurong. In Sima Qian 's Records of the Grand Historian , Zhurong is portrayed as a historical person, who held the governmental office of Minister of Fire. Zhurong was said to be the son of Gaoyang (also known as Zhuanxu ), a sky god. (Again, the more historicised versions of the mythology portray Zhuanxu as a historical person; in this case an "Emperor of China"). Gaoyang also had

385-519: The Chu Ci anthology, Hawkes uses these observations to bolster his speculation of a significant relationship between the archeological evidence regarding ceramic technology and the cultural background of the Chu Ci material. The Wu Liang Shrine inscriptions describe Zhurong as: However, in one myth, Zhurong was interested in physical power and fought against Gonggong for days in a contest to see who

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420-644: The Ba snake , the Bi Fang bird , the qiongqi ("thoroughly odd", one of the Four Perils ), the tiangou (heavenly dog), the zouyu , etc. Emperor Ku Kù ( traditional Chinese : 嚳 ; simplified Chinese : 喾 , variant graph Chinese : 俈 ), usually referred to as Dì Kù ( traditional Chinese : 帝 嚳 ; simplified Chinese : 帝 喾 ), also known as Gaoxin or Gāoxīn Shì ( Chinese : 高 辛 氏 ) or Qūn ( Chinese : 夋 ),

455-487: The Great Flood . Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of history. Thus, in the study of historical Chinese culture, many of the stories that have been told regarding characters and events which have been written or told of the distant past have a double tradition: one tradition which presents a more historicised and one which presents a more mythological version. This

490-631: The King of Qin , upon conquering his neighboring kingdoms and forging them into the first historically known empire of China . It is said in the book of rites that he ruled winter and was in charge of things with large shells and water was the foremost element of the season kidneys were the foremost sacrifice his attending spirit was hsuan ming and other changes during the three months of winter. Ku had several wives . The best-known of his consorts are four ladies: Jiang Yuan , Jiandi , Changyi (常宜), and Qingdu (庆都). Once each of these ladies had given birth to

525-649: The Warring States period . Hu Yinglin recorded in his Shaoshi Mountain Room Pen Cluster that the book was by "a curious man in the Warring States period", based on the books Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven and Tian Wen . On the basis of summarizing the research achievements of the previous dynasties scholars, Bi Yuan of the Qing dynasty further proposed that different sections of the book were written separately by different authors. He claimed that

560-457: The "Mountains Classic" was written by Yu the Great and Boyi , the "Overseas Classic" and "Inside Seas Classic" were written by people from the Qin dynasty , and the "Great Farmland Classic" was produced when Liu Xiu revised it. Moving to the 20th century, some scholars put forward that the author of the book was Zou Yan in the Warring States period . This theory originated from Liu Shipei, who in his research on "A Study of Zou Yan's Theory on

595-776: The Plurality of Literature in the Western Han Dynasty" inferred that, according to records in Mozi , the book Biographic of the Great Yu was a combined version of Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Dawan and the Classic of Mountains and Seas , which supports the idea that the book was written by Zou Yan. In addition, some scholars also believe that the author of the book is written by

630-495: The book different orientations according to various research directions and theories. Due to the introduction of Western anthropology, folklore/ etc., many scholars regarded the book as a synthesis of various disciplines, using it as a reference for analysis and summarizations. The mythological creatures first described in Shanhaijing appear in many historical and modern stories and art based on Chinese mythology; for examples,

665-600: The book has been going on for more than two thousand years. The earliest records of the Classic of Mountains and Seas can be found in Sima Qian 's "Records of the Grand Historian - Biography of Dawan". The author of the book was first clearly identified in "The table of the Classic Mountains and Seas" written by Liu Xiu in the Western Han dynasty . Liu Xiu believed that the Classic of Mountains and Seas

700-460: The depiction of him in the Classic of History . Earlier Chinese scholars referred to it as a bestiary , but apparently assumed it was accurate. In fact, the information in the book is mythological. It is not known why it was written or how it came to be viewed as an accurate geography book. Ancient Chinese scholars also called it an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge and a strange work with

735-513: The footprint of a god , became a predynastic founder of the lineage of the Zhou dynasty . According to Samguk Sagi , the kings of Goguryeo regarded themselves as a descendant of Chinese heroes because he called his surname "Go" ( Hanja : 高 ) as they were the descendant of Gao Yang ( Hanja : 高陽 ) who was a grandchild of the Yellow Emperor and Gaoxin ( Hanja : 高辛 ) who was also

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770-458: The idea that the book's authors are Yu the Great and Boyi . However, scholars after the Tang dynasty raised doubts about the authenticity of assigning the book's authors as Yu the Great and Boyi . Chen Zhensun's Zhizhai Bibliography , Zhu Xi 's Annotations on Chu Ci: Dialectical Differentiation of Chu Ci , Hu Yinglin's Shaoshi Mountain Room Pen Cluster and others have acknowledged that it

805-404: The line of Shaohao (as opposed to the line through Changyi , which led to Zhuanxu ). He was the son of Jiaoji ( 蟜極/蟜极 ), and thus grandson to Shaohao, and great-grandson to Yellow Emperor. According to speculative dates calculated after 100 BC by Liu Xin , he is supposed to have ruled from c. 2436 BC to c. 2366 BC, though other dates are also mentioned. When he became emperor, Ku added

840-443: The most myths that records ancient China's "history, philosophy, mythology, religion, medicine, folklore, and ethnicity", reflecting a wide range of cultural phenomena and also involving "geography, astronomy, meteorology, medicine, animals, plants, minerals ..." Contemporary academia has three main different arguments for the nature of the book: During this period, the contents of the book were considered authentic and reliable. All

875-549: The mountains, rivers, strange objects and creatures recorded in the book are credible. Through this period, the book was regarded as a fictional work. Due to people's increasing cognition of the world and the prevalence of novels in the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty, the credibility of the Classic of Mountains and Seas gradually decreased. More people started to believe in the Novel Theory. During this period, researchers gave

910-418: The orders of Ku, by his subordinate Youchui(有倕); Ku's lyrics had musical scores(titles were 九招(jiuzhao),六列(liule),六英(liuying, meaning snowflake)) composed by his assistant Xianhei(咸黑); and by a further imperial command, a dance accompaniment was provided by a phoenix. Although Ku held the title Di , it is unclear what territory, if any, his empire might have consisted of. The same title Di was later assumed by

945-408: The same formula, and the whole book is repetitious in this way. It contains many short myths, and most rarely exceed a paragraph. A famous ancient Chinese myth from this book is that of Yu the Great , who spent years trying to control the deluge . The account of him is in the last chapter, chapter 18, in the 2nd to last paragraph (roughly verse 40). This account is a much more fanciful account than

980-456: The text may have existed since the 4th century BCE, but the present form was not reached until the early Han dynasty . It is largely a fabulous geographical and cultural account of pre- Qin China as well as a collection of Chinese mythology . The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 channels . Since Sima Qian , the debate about the author(s) of

1015-507: The title Di , meaning "Thearch" (commonly translated as "Emperor"), in front of his name. After achieving the imperial title, Ku was said to travel seasonally by riding a dragon in spring and summer , and a horse in autumn and winter. Among other things, Ku was said to be an inventor of musical instruments and composer of songs. According to the Lüshi Chunqiu , drums, bells, chimes, pipes, ocarinas, and flutes were all invented, on

1050-552: The various sources also differ in what specific stories about him they focus on, so that putting together the various elements of what is known regarding Ku results in a multifaceted story. Di Ku was (according to many versions of the list) one of the Five Emperors of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of Chinese mythology . Ku's lineage is derived from descent from the legendary Yellow Emperor , then through

1085-435: The wisdom of a sage", and that he "made blind men beat drums, and strike bells and sounding stones, at which phoenixes flapped their wings and gambolled". The Annals further record that in the 16th year of his reign, he sent his general Chong(重) to defeat the state of Yukwai(有鄶). In the 45th year, Ku designated the prince of Tang (his son Yao) as his successor, however upon his death in the 63rd year, his elder son Zhi then took

Zhurong - Misplaced Pages Continue

1120-439: Was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor . He went by the name Gaoxin until receiving imperial authority, when he took the name Ku and the title Di, thus being known as Di Ku. He is considered the ancestor of the ruling families of certain subsequent dynasties. Some sources treat Ku as a semi-historical figure, while others make fantastic mythological or religious claims about him. Besides varying in their degree of historicizing Ku,

1155-538: Was ancestral founder of a Chinese dynasty . The first of Ku's sons to rule the kingdom was Emperor Zhi , who was the son of Changyi. Another of his sons later became the Emperor Yao . Ku's son Xie, born miraculously to Jiandi after she swallowed the egg of a black bird, became the predynastic founder of the ruling family of the Shang dynasty . Ku's son Houji , born miraculously to Jiang Yuan after she stepped in

1190-735: Was stronger. According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas , Gonggong is a descendant of Zhurong. This raises suspicions that Haineijing(海內經)'s record was distorted in the Han dynasty for Chinese political purposes. 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 This article related to religion in China

1225-510: Was written by Yu the Great and Boyi , during the classical era around Xia dynasty . Wang Chong and Zhao Ye in the Eastern Han dynasty also identified the author as Boyi in their works, and was modified by later generations in the process of spreading. In Zhao Ye's Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue , Guo Pu 's Preface of Classic Mountains and Seas , and Yan Zhitui's The Yan Family's instructions ,' all of them supported

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