Zhuanxu
顓頊
Emperor Zhuanxu. Rubbing of mural bas-relief from the Wu Liang shrines, Han Dynasty.
PredecessorShaohao
SuccessorKu
IssueQiongchan
FatherChangyi
MotherChangpu

Zhuanxu (Chinese: trad. 顓頊, simp. 颛顼, pinyin Zhuānxū), also known as Gaoyang (t 高陽, s 高阳, p Gāoyáng), was a mythological emperor of ancient China.

In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, Zhuanxu was a grandson of the Yellow Emperor.[1]

Association with Four Barbarians

At the age of ten with Shaohao, he was said to have led the Shi clan in an eastward migration to present-day Shandong, where intermarriages with the Dongyi clan enlarged and augmented their tribal influences.

He also was associated with a religious reform of the Jiuli(九黎) people, banishing witchcraft practised by the people.[2][3]

Family

Zhuanxu was the grandson of the Yellow Emperor and his wife Leizu by way of his father Changyi (昌意). His mother was named Changpu (昌僕) from the Shushan clan (蜀山氏), according to Sima Qian, and Niuqu (女樞) according to the Bamboo Annals. Zhuanxu is also alternatively said to be the son of Hanliu (韓流) in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.[4] However, it is recorded in suspicious part Haineijing (海內經) that was written last.

Zhuanxu was claimed as an ancestor by many of the dynasties of Chinese history, including the Mi of Chu and Yue, the Yíng of Qin, and the Cao of Wei.[7]

Reign

As depicted in the album Portraits of Famous Men c. 1900, housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Zhuanxu is held by many sources to be one of the Five Emperors.

Some sources say that at age twenty, he became their sovereign, going on to rule for seventy-eight years until his death.

According to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), upon the death of the Yellow Emperor, Zhuanxu's uncle Shaohao never reigned as king, as he was purported to do in other documents. Rather, Gaoyang was chosen as the tribe's new leader, with the regnal name Zhuanxu, in preference to his father and all his uncles.[8] Zhuanxu defeated Gonggong, a descendant of the Emperor Yan.

However, the account in the Bamboo Annals states that Zhuanxu became an assistant to his uncle, Emperor Shaohao, at the age of ten, and became king in his own right at the age of 20.[9]

Zhuanxu was credited with introducing the practice of sacrifice to soil and grain, which was essential to Chinese government until the fall of the Qing.[10] He made contributions to a unified calendar, astrology, religion reforms to oppose shamanism, upheld the patriarchal (as opposed to the previous matriarchal) system, and forbade marriages between close kin. The Bamboo Annals also credit him with composing one of the earliest pieces of music, known as "The Answer to the Clouds (承雲)".[11]

Zhuanxu was succeeded by his cousin, Shaohao's grandson, Ku. According to Shiji, Zhuanxu or Zhuanxu's lineage, had an incompetent son (不才子) derided as Taowu (梼杌; literally: "block-stump; blockhead"). Two other descendants of Zhuanxu were also named: one is Zhuanxu's son Qiongchan (窮蟬), from whom descended Emperor Shun; the other is Gun, father of Yu the Great. Emperor Yao had also criticised Gun for being incompetent and ruinous. Qiongchan was a commoner, though there is no account of his fall from grace. Eight of Zhuanxu's other descendants, unnamed yet of good repute, later worked for Shun.

Calendar

The Bamboo Annals record that in the thirteenth year of his reign, Zhuanxu "invented calendric calculations and delineations of the heavenly bodies (歷象)".[12]

Since Zhuanxu was claimed as a founder of the Qin dynasty, the new calendar system "zhuanxuli"(顓頊曆) was named after Zhuanxu by Shi Huangdi.

Mythology

Zhuanxu is also mentioned as a god of the Polaris along with god Taiyi (太一), the original god of the Polaris.Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were said to be sent by the Taiyi from the east to the land of the humans, and thus considered to return to their original roles as gods of the Polaris when their role in the land of the humans was done.[13][14]

Potential connection with Longshan culture

Zhuanxu is commonly associated with the mythical "separation of the Heaven from Earth (絶地天通)". According to the Lu Xing (呂刑) chapter of Shang Shu:

We are told that the Miao (苗)… created oppressive punishments which pushed the people into disorder. Shang Di, the Lord on High… surveyed the people and found them lacking in virtue. Out of pity for those who were innocent, the August Lord (皇帝)… had the Miao exterminated. "Then he charged Chong (重) and Li (黎) to cut the communication between Heaven and Earth so that there would be no descending and ascending." After this had been done, order was restored and the people returned to virtue.[15]

Several Chinese mythologists interpreted this myth as a representation or symbolisation of increasing social stratification. Before the "separation of Earth and Heaven", in Yangshao culture, every household could have or hire a shaman. However, during Longshan culture, shamans could only be hired by a few people, suggesting a monopoly of the ability to ascend to and descend from Heaven. In this sense, this myth may indicate the start of social stratification in ancient Chinese culture.[16]

Samguk Sagi

According to Samguk Sagi, the kings of Goguryeo regarded themselves as a descendant of Chinese heroes because he gave as his surname "Go" (Hanja: 高) as they were the descendant of Gaoyang (Hanja: 高陽) who was a grandchild of the Yellow Emperor and Gaoxin (Hanja: 高辛) who was a great-grandchild of the Yellow Emperor.[17][18][19][20][21][22]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 史記,五帝本記,"帝顓頊高陽者，黃帝之孫而昌意之子也"。
  2. ↑ 李志敏 中國通史
  3. ↑ Taichiming Cha,Mong China History and Heritage Preservation,p.78
  4. ↑ 山海經,海內經,"流沙之東，黑水之西，有朝雲之國、司彘之國。黄帝妻嫘祖，生昌意。昌意降處若水，生韓流。韓流擢首、謹耳、人面、豕喙、麟身、渠股、豚止，取淖子曰阿女，生帝顓頊"
  5. ↑ Howard L. Goodman (1998). Ts'ao P'i Transcendent: the Political Culture of Dynasty-Founding in China at the End of the Han (illustrated ed.). Psychology Press. p. 70. ISBN 0966630009. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  6. ↑ House of Chinn. "History".
  7. ↑ This last claim was made by the Wei Shu and Tung Pa but attacked by Chiang Chi, who claimed the Tian (田) were descended from Zhuanxu instead.[5][6]
  8. ↑ Asiapac Editorial (2006). Great Chinese emperors: tales of wise and benevolent rule (revised ed.). Asiapac Books Pte Ltd. p. 9. ISBN 9812294511. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  9. ↑ 今本竹書紀年,五帝紀, "母曰女樞，見瑤光之星，貫月如虹，感己於幽房之宮，生顓頊於若水。首戴干戈，有聖德。生十年而佐少昊氏，二十而登帝位"
  10. ↑ Theobald, Ulrich (1 May 2018), "Sheji 社稷, the State Altars of Soil and Grain", ChinaKnowledge, Tübingen.
  11. ↑ 今本竹書紀年,五帝紀, "二十一年，作《承雲》之樂"
  12. ↑ 今本竹書紀年,五帝紀,"十三年，初作歷象。"
  13. ↑ Book of Rites, Proceedings of Government in the different months (月令),"仲冬之月，日在斗，昏東壁中，旦軫中。其日壬癸。其帝顓頊，其神玄冥。其蟲介。其音羽，律中黃鍾。其數六。其味鹹，其臭朽。其祀行，祭先腎。"
  14. ↑ Lushi Chunqiu,book 2,"仲冬之月：日在斗，昏東壁中，旦軫中。其日壬癸。其帝顓頊。其神玄冥"
  15. ↑ Myths of Ancient China. (1985). Singapore: Asiapac.
  16. ↑ Loewe, M. and Shaughnessy, E.L. (1999). The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC. Cambridge histories online. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521470308. LCCN 97033203.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ National Institute of Korean History. 三國史記 卷第二十八 百濟本紀 第六. National Institute of Korean HistoryDatabase.
  18. ↑ National Institute of Korean History. 三國史記 卷第十八 髙句麗本紀 第六. National Institute of Korean HistoryDatabase.
  19. ↑ 한국인문고전연구소 원문과 함께 읽는 삼국사기 의자왕 義慈王. 한국인문고전연구소.
  20. ↑ 한국인문고전연구소 원문과 함께 읽는 삼국사기 광개토왕 廣開土王. 한국인문고전연구소.
  21. ↑ Guanglin, Jin (2014). "A Comparison of the Korean and Japanese Approaches to Foreign Family Names" (PDF). Journal of Cultural Interactions in East Asia. 5: 15–43. doi:10.1515/jciea-2014-050103. S2CID 235233576.
  22. ↑
    Samguk Sagi volume 28 Classical Chinese
    髙句麗亦以髙辛氏之後, 姓髙氏 見晉書載記。
    — 三國史記 卷二十八 百濟本紀 第六 Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article: 三國史記/卷28
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