legendary Chinese ruler and culture hero
Yellow Emperor (Huangdi)
The Yellow Emperor, or Huangdi, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is regarded as one of the initiators of Chinese civilisation and was later worshipped as a deity.
The myth
According to tradition, his mother conceived him after being struck by a thunderbolt from the night sky, and he was born after a twenty-year pregnancy, speaking from the moment of his birth. Stories credit him with many feats: he struggled with his brother Shennong and with a flood caused by a monster, and he owns a drum made from the hide of a kui, a creature able to bring rain, wind or drought.
His greatest legend is the Battle of Zhuolu against Chi You, the eastern emperor. Chi You covered the sky with thick fog, and Huangdi answered with a chariot that always pointed south, which let him lead his army out of the mist. He called on the drought demon Nüba to dispel the storm, then defeated Chi You. He later beat the Yan Emperor at the Battle of Banquan and took his place as the chief ruler. He is said to have reigned for a century and died after meeting a phoenix and a qilin.
Tradition credits him with inventions including the calendar, wooden houses, boats, carts, the compass, writing and cuju, an early ball game. His historian Cang Jie is said to have created the Chinese characters, and his wife Leizu is said to have taught people to raise silkworms and weave silk.
Worship and religion
His cult is first attested in the Warring States period and became prominent late in that period and in the early Han dynasty, when he was portrayed as the founder of the centralised state and a patron of esoteric arts. Today he is still venerated as a deity, either individually or as part of the Five Regions Highest Deities in Chinese folk religion.
Legacy
Texts such as the Huangdi Neijing, a classic of traditional Chinese medicine, and the Huangdi Sijing, a set of political treatises, were attributed to him. In the early twentieth century he became a rallying figure against the Qing dynasty and remains a powerful symbol of Chinese nationalism. Han Chinese call themselves the descendants of Yan and Huang.
Ancient sources: His name appears in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, written in the first century BC.
In art
Literature and theatre
- Liexian Zhuan · Liu Xiang
- Chou ren zhuan · Ruan Yuan, 1799