Author: Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
Date: 03-05-04 21:33
Chinese History - Huang Di (黃帝 the Yellow Emperor)
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Legendary Period (傳說時代)
You Chao Shi (有巢氏)---------------Unknown
Sui Ren Shi (燧人氏)------------------Unknown
Fu Xi Shi (伏羲氏)----------------------Unknown
Shen Nong Shi (神農氏)--------------Unknown
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Huang Di (黃帝)------------------------c2697BC to c2598BC
Shao Hao (少昊)-----------------------c2597BC to c2514BC
Zhuan Xu (顓頊)------------------------c2513BC to c2436BC
Di Ku (嚳帝)-----------------------------c2435BC to c2366BC
Di Zhi (摯帝)-----------------------------c2365BC to c2358BC
Tang Yao (唐堯)------------------------c2357BC to c2256BC
Shun Shun (舜舜)--------------------------c2255BC to c2206BC
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The legendary Huang Di or the Yellow Emperor
The Chinese are always proudly said that:
"We are the descendants of Huang Di".
According to Shi Ji (史記) by Si-Ma Qian (司馬遷 145BC to 86BC) Huang Di (黃帝) or the Yellow Emperor was born in Shou Qiu (壽丘 a place in the present day area about six kilometers northeast of Qu Fu county 東北曲阜縣 in Shandong province 山東省). Huang Di's father was called Shao Dian (少典) and his mother Jiao Shi (蟜氏).
Shao Dian and Jiao Shi were members of a clan called Xia (夏族). Huang Di grew up near a river called Ji (姬). So Huang Di changed his surname from Gong-Sun (公-孫) to JI (姬). Huang Di lived in a place called Xuan Yuan (軒轅) and he called himself Xuan Yuan. Huang Di's full name was Ji Xuan Yuan (姬軒轅).
The place where Huang Di lived was the northern plain along Huang He (黃河) or the Yellow River and it was believed that this was the region of the cradle of Chinese civilization. This place was particularly suited to agriculture because of the light rainfall and there was no forest cover to be removed before crops could be planted.
Legend has it that in about 4700 years ago there were four clan-like societies living in this region. They were the Xia (夏), Jiang (姜), Li (黎) and the Yi (夷). The leader of the Xia clan was Ji Xuan Yuan who defeated the Jiang clan and later formed an alliance with the clans of Jiang and Yi. Their main enemies were the Li which was a clan consisting of nine tribes headed by a paramount leader, the belligerent Chi You. The leader of each tribe had many brothers. Together they formed a very powerful group. The weapons used in wars during the ancient time were merely by throwing stones.
Ji Xuan Yuan had twenty five sons. His fifth son called Ji Hui (姬揮) invented a weapon by tying a vine to the two ends of a bamboo stick. Hui called it Gong (bow). Later he invented the arrows made of bamboo stips. According to the legend Hui was the first man in China to use bow and arrows to shoot and kill animals. Ji Xuan Yuan invented spears made of wood.
It was believed that in about 2700BC Ji Xuan Yuan, with the helps from the clans of Jiang and Yi, fought a decisive battle with the united forces of Li at Zhuo Lu (涿鹿 present day Huai Lai county 懷來縣 in Hebei province 河北省). During the battle the weapons used by the Li were just merely by throwing stones. Whereas Ji Xuan Yuan's troops were using wooden spears and bows and arrows. The battle waged on for three days and three nights. With better weapons the troops under the command ofJi Xuan Yuan defeated the Li even though the Li were stronger and more numerous. Chi You, the leader of the Li alliance, was killed in the battle.
After the victory over the Li clan, the people elected Ji Xuan Yuan the leader of the united clans. People gave Ji Xuan Yuan a title called Huang Di (or Yellow Emperor) named after the yellow colour of the earth. Ji Xuan Yuan encouraged exogamy as he wanted to create a melting pot of mixed blood people in his domain. This vision made him highly respected throughout the course of Chinese history. The Yellow Emperor was and still is regarded as the founder of the Chinese people. He established his capital in You Xiong (有熊 present day Xin Zheng 新鄭 in Henan province 河南省) and was the leader of the united clans for many years.
The importance of the Yellow Emperor throughout the history of China extended beyond nation-making. He was credited with numerous inventions, from social reform and formation of a government to such minor things as cooking utensils, tea, chopsticks and many other articles. The most important inventions of all were the compass, clothing, weapons (ancient time weapons were throwing stones), using mud bricks to build houses, wooden dingy and music. His wife Lei Zu (嫘祖) developed sericulture.
There was an occasion when Hui went hunting with his father, the Yellow Emperor and his entourage. After the hunt at the end of the day they were tired and were resting under a tree. Some of the attendants were boiling water for him to drink.
Along flew a big bird and it perched on the tree top. Hui used his bow and arrow and shot it down. At the same time he shot down some leaves from the tree. Coincidentally the leaves fell into the boiling hot water. Immediately the boiling hot water turned into brownish colour. The attendants wanted to throw away the brownished boiled water. But one of them took a sip of it. He screamed out in excitement,
"It tastes very good".
The attendant went and informed Yellow Emperor who had a sip of the brownished boiled water. Yellow Emperor liked the taste too. He ordered his followers to pluck a large quantity of the leaves from that particular tree and took them back to the palace. The tree was a tea tree. The leaves were the tea leaves.
From then on every day Yellow Emperor ordered hot water with the leaves to be served as his drink instead of wine. Later the officials in his palace followed him drinking hot water with leaves. It was called drinking tea.
This habit of drinking tea soon after spread far and wide in China and later to the whole world.
Legend has it that, Chinese surnames were originated from the twenty five sons of Huang Di who established fourteen settlements in different regions of the land he ruled. He appointed 14 of his capable sons to rule the 14 settlements. The 14 new feudal lords took on twelve new surnames after the geographical locations which were delegated by their father to rule on his behalf. The two sons named, You Yang (有陽) and Cang Lin (蒼林) used their father's surname Ji (姬) as their surname. Another two sons called Qing Yang (青陽) and Yi Gu (夷鼓) adopted Ji (己) as their surname. The twelve surnames of Yellow Emperor's fourteen sons were Ji (姬), You (酉), Qi (祁), Ji (己), Teng (滕), Zhen (箴), Ren (任), Xun (荀), Xi (僖), Ji (姞), Huan (嬛) and (依). Generations later it became a tradition to adopt the names of locations as surnames. It is estimated that 60 per cent of the Chinese surnames were named after some geographical localities.
It was believed that in 2600BC Huang Di left his capital and went on a tour-cum-inspection of his empire. He arrived at the foot of a mountain called Qiao (橋山 present day Huang Ling county 黃陵縣 in Shaanxi province 陜西省). Huang Di ordered to make a huge tripod cauldron to cook food as he had invited the leaders of all the tribes for a great feast.
The ancient Chinese believed that a yellow dragon came down from the sky and took Huang Di and his entourage, seventy people in all, to heaven. Legend has it that Huang Di did not die but ascended to heaven. Those who missed the heavenly chariot gathered the yellow robes previously wore by Huang Di and buried them in the spot where he had ascended to heaven. That is the present day graveyard of Huang Di in Huang Ling city (黃陵市) in Huang Ling county in Shaanxi province.
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An excerpt from:
The Origin of (550) Chinese Surnames
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
ISBN 1 876763 66 3
Price $AUD 60.00 including postage
All rights reserved 06032004
Please do not plagiarize
Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
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