Legendary Characters.
Pangu
China
has a history longer than that of any other present day nation. We have
plenty of myths and legends. The first figure in our history is Pangu, regarded
as the Chinese Adam by westerners.
According to legend, in the beginning there was only darkness and chaos.
Then an extremely large egg appeared. This vast egg was subjected to two
opposing forces or principles. The interaction of the two forces-yin, the
passive or negative female principle, and yang , the active or positive
male principle-caused the egg to produce Pangu, and the shell to separate.
The upper half of the shell formed the heaven, and the lower half the earth.
Pangu has been depicted in many ways. He sometimes appears as a dwarf with
two horns on his head, clothed in skin or leaves. He may be holding a hammer
in one hand and a chisel in the other, or perhaps the symbol of yin and
yang. He may also be shown holding the sun in one hand and the moon in the
other. He is often depicted with his companions the four supernatural animals
- the phoenix, the dragon, the unicorn and the tortoise. In any case, Pangu
grew rapidly and increased his height by six to ten feet daily. He hammered
and chiseled a massive piece of granite floating aimlessly in space, and
as he worked, the heavens and the earth became progressively wider. He labored
ceaselessly for eighteen thousand years and finally he separated heaven
from earth. His body dissolved when his work was done.
Following his death, his head became the mountains, his breath the wind
and clouds, his voice the thunder; his left eye became the sun and his right
eye the moon. His beard became the stars, his four limbs the four quadrants
of the globe, his blood the rivers and his veins and muscles the layers
of the earth. His flesh became the soil , his skin and hair became the trees
and plants , his seminal fluid became pearls and his marrow precious stones.
His sweat turned into rain, and the parasites on his body, impregnated by
the wind, began the human race.
Through his great labor , Pangu divided chaos into yin , represented by
the Royal Mother of the West, and yang , represented by the Duke of the
East. These two principles gave birth to the Heavenly Emperors who were
followed by the Earthly Emperors, the ancestors of the Chinese rulers. The
important ones were three Sovereigns and five emperors. The three Sovereigns
were Fu Xi ,Shen Nong ,Huang Di.
Fu
Xi
Fu Xi, was born in the Shaanxi
Province and, according to legend, was carried in his mother's womb for
twelve years before birth. He taught people how to hunt, fish, domesticate
animals and tend their flocks. He instituted marriage and taught people
how to devise tools to split wood , kindle fire and cook food. He devised
the mysterious Trigrams, which e-volved from markings on tortoise shells.
These trigrams served as the basis for mathematics , medicine , divination
and geoman-cy, and as clues to the secrets of creation such as the evolution
of nature and its cyclic changes. He was considered as the first real ruler.
Fu Xi was succeeded by a person named Nv Wa , who was his own sister according
to the legends. She did not add much work based on Fu Xi's in the new way
of civilization. But it was she who achieved in heaven patching. When Fu
Xi's evil spirit, his minister Gong Gong, had smashed the vault of heaven,
Nv Wa patched it up by melting stone.
Shen
Nong
Shen Nong, the Divine Farmer,
followed Fu Xi and reigned after him. According to legend, Shen Nong was
conceived through the influence of the Heavenly Dragon. He is credited with
inventing the wooden plow and teaching people the art of a-griculture. By
experimenting with various plants, he discovered which plants were useful
and which plants were harmful or poisonous. He was absorbed deeply in the
study of herbs in order to find remedies for the diseases among his people.
He was very successful in his investigations. He was regarded as "The
Prince of Cereals" by the farmers and his The Classic of Shen Nong's
Botany (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing ) is still in use at present. He also expanded
the system of eight trigrams into sixty-four hexagrams.
Huang Di
Huang Di was the most famous tribe chieftain in
ancient China and was considered as the ancestor of the Chinese nation.
He is said to have had full command of the language while still an infant.
Huang Di invented the wheel and discovered the art of making pottery. He
improved communication by building roads, bridges and ships. He divided
time into sixty-year cycles.
He led an army to fight Chiyou, the leader of barbarian tribes, in Zhuolu
in modern Hebei Province. He captured and slew him. With the overthrow of
Chiyou, he was elected to the powerful chieftain. He had wise ministers
to help him in the reforms. He instructed them to build houses for his people,
to compose a calendar for farming and to make musical and astronomical instruments.
He invented carts drawn by oxen. The rivers and lakes in his time were soon
covered with barges. His army soldiers used bow, arrows and swords provided
by him. Under his administration, precious stones, gold and copper were
introduced to serve as money.
His consort, Lady Xi Ling, is credited with developing the art of sericulture-the
raising of silkworms and the methods of silk production. She also taught
people the art of weaving.
Huang Di governed for about one hundred years. He died after a glorious
reign.
The five Perfect Earthly Emperors in Chinese legendary period were Shaohao,
Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Yao and Shun.
Shaohao
Shaohao was the renowned leader among the Yi people in East China. It was
said that their origins were birds after which the tribe officials were
named. Birds were highly respected and taken as totem. They had officials
responsible for both industry and agriculture. They were active in southern
Shandong and later expanded to eastern Henan.
Zhuangxu
Zhuanxu, also Gao Yangshi, was active in the present-day
Henan. He was said to be extremely wise and intelligent. He respected gods
and taught his people. He appointed a special official as "Nanzheng"
responsible for offering sacrifices to gods in the heaven, and another official
as "Huozheng" in charge of the civil affairs.
Gaoxin
Gaoxin, also Ku, was said to be a descendant of
Huangdi. He was different from common people by birth. He could tell his
name when he was born. He possessed both a macro knowledge of things and
micro knowledge as well. People benefited from him and they were obedient
to his administration. He enjoyed a high prestige among his tribal people.
Yao
Yao, who was born with eyebrows of eight different
colors, is said to have reigned beginning in 2356 BC. Under his direction,
his court astronomers determined the dates of the solstice and equinox,
added days and months to adjust the lunar calendar and fixed the four seasons
so that farmers might know when to plant and harvest crops.
After ruling for seventy years, he relinquished his throne and selected
Shun, instead of his own son, to be the next emperor. He also gave his two
daughters, Nu Ying and OHuang in marriage to Shun.
Shun
Shun, a native of Henan Province, was unusually
gifted physically and mentally. He is described as having two pupils in
each eye.
Shun was disliked intensely by his father, stepmother and stepbrother, who
tried to kill him on two occasions. Once, while Shun was working on a roof,
they removed the ladder and set the house on fire. Later, when he was working
in a well, they attempted to bury him alive. Both times he managed to escape
unharmed. Despite their attempts on his life, Shun always demonstrated extreme
devotion and filial piety toward his father and stepmother. It was because
of this virtue, as well as others, that Yao selected Shun as his successor.
Shun's reign extended to 2255 BC.