Editing Fuxi

{{Short description|Culture hero in Chinese legend}}
{{about|the figure in Chinese mythology|the Chinese Buddhist layman sometimes known as Fuxi|Fu Dashi}}
{{infobox Chinese
| pic = Anonymous-Fuxi and Nüwa.jpg
| piccap = Fuxi and Nüwa. Hanging scroll. Color on silk. Located at the Chinese History Museum.
| c = {{linktext|伏羲}}
| p = Fúxī
| w = Fu<sup>2</sup>-hsi<sup>1</sup>
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|f|u|2|.|x|i|1}}
| j = Fuk6-hei1
| y = Fuhk-hēi
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|f|uk|6|.|h|ei|1}}
}}
{{Chinese folk religion}}
'''Fuxi''' or '''Fu Hsi''' ({{lang-zh|c=伏羲}})<!--Chinese characters in infobox; see [[WP:MOS-ZH]]-->{{efn|also known as '''Pao Xi''' ({{lang|zh|包犧, 包羲, 炮犧}} or {{lang|zh|庖犧}}), '''Xi Huang''' {{lang|zh|犧皇}} or '''Huang Xi''' {{lang|zh|皇羲}} "August Shepherd". {{zhp|p='''Taihao''' |t=太皞 |s=太昊 |tr=Great Brightness}}; his tribal surname {{zhi|p='''Huang Xiong'''|c=黄熊氏 |tr=Yellow Bear}}}}<ref>Theobald, Ulrich. [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Myth/personsfuxi.html Fu Xi 伏羲] ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art</ref> is a [[culture hero]] in [[Chinese mythology]], credited along with his sister and wife [[Nüwa]] with [[List of protoplasts|creating humanity]] and the invention of music,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fernald |first=Helen E. |date=December 1926 |title=Ancient Chinese Musical Instruments: As Depicted on Some of the Early Monuments in the Museum |journal=The Museum Journal |volume=XVII |issue=4 |pages=325–371 |url=https://www.penn.museum/sites/journal/1401/ }}</ref> hunting, fishing, domestication,<ref name=":122">{{Cite book |last1=Ivanhoe |first1=Philip J. |title=Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy |last2=Van Norden |first2=Bryan W. |publisher=[[Hackett Publishing Company]] |year=2005 |isbn=0-87220-781-1 |edition=2nd |location=Indianapolis |page=379 |oclc=60826646 |author-link=Philip J. Ivanhoe |author-link2=Bryan W. Van Norden}}</ref> and cooking, as well as the [[Cangjie#Legend of character creation|Cangjie]] system of writing [[Chinese characters]] around 2900 BC<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Canton |first1=James |title=The Literature Book |last2=Cleary |first2=Helen |last3=Kramer |first3=Ann |last4=Laxby |first4=Robin |last5=Loxley |first5=Diana |last6=Ripley |first6=Esther |last7=Todd |first7=Megan |last8=Shaghar |first8=Hila |last9=Valente |first9=Alex |publisher=[[DK (publisher)|DK]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-4654-2988-9 |editor-last=Canton |editor-first=James |location=New York |page=21}}</ref> or 2000{{nbsp}}BC. He is also said to be the be the originator of [[bagua]] (the eight trigrams) after observing that there were eight fundamental building blocks in nature: heaven, earth, water, fire, thunder, wind, mountain, and lake. These eight are all made of different combinations of yin and yang, which are what came to be called bagua.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wong |first=Eva |title=Tales of the dancing dragon: stories of the Tao |date=2007 |publisher=Shambhala |isbn=978-1-59030-523-2 |edition=1st Shambhala |location=Boston London |pages=15}}</ref>

Fuxi was counted as the first mythical emperor of China, "a [[Chinese gods and immortals|divine being]] with a serpent's body" who was miraculously born,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Pletcher |first=Kenneth |title=Fu Xi |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fu-Xi |access-date=2023-05-30 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref> a [[Taoism|Taoist]] deity, and/or a member of the [[Three August Ones and Five Emperors|Three Sovereigns]] at the beginning of the [[list of Chinese dynasties|Chinese dynastic period]]. Some representations show him as a human with snake-like characteristics, "a leaf-wreathed head growing out of a mountain", "or as a man clothed with animal skins."<ref name=":0" />

== Names ==
He is also known as Bao Xi ({{lang|zh|包牺}}) and Mi Xi ({{lang|zh|宓羲}}).<ref name=":0" />

==Origin==
[[Pangu]] was said to be the creation god in [[Chinese mythology]]. He was a giant sleeping within an [[World egg|egg of chaos]]. As he awoke, he stood up and divided the sky and the earth. Pangu then died after standing up, and his body turned into rivers, mountains, plants, animals, and everything else in the world, among which is a powerful being known as [[Huaxu]] ({{lang|zh|華胥}}). Huaxu gave birth to a twin brother and sister, Fuxi and Nüwa. Fuxi and Nüwa are said to be creatures that have faces of human and bodies of snakes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Millidge |first1=Judith |title=Chinese Gods and Myths |date=1999 |publisher=Chartwell Books |isbn=0-7858-1078-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WbWAAAAMAAJ&q=hua+hsu+mythology |language=en}}</ref>

However, in some myths, Fuxi was held to be the creator, not Pangu, who worked alone and not with Nüwa.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forty |first=Jo |title=Mythology: A Visual Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Barnes & Noble Books]] |year=2004 |isbn=0-7607-5518-3 |location=London |pages=196, 210}}</ref>

Fuxi was known as the "original god", and he was said to have been born in the lower-middle reaches of the [[Yellow River]] in a place called Chengji ({{lang|zh|成紀}}) (possibly modern [[Lantian County|Lantian]], [[Shaanxi]] province, or [[Tianshui]], [[Gansu]] province).<ref name="flp1">{{cite book |title=Worshiping the Three Sage Kings and Five Virtuous Emperors - The Imperial Temple of Emperors of Successive Dynasties in Beijing |year=2007 |publisher=Foreign Language Press |location=Beijing |isbn=978-7-119-04635-8}}</ref>

A possible historical interpretation of the myth is that Huaxu (Fuxi's mother) was a leader during the matriarchal society ({{c.|2600}}{{nbsp}}BC) as early Chinese developed language skill while Fuxi and Nüwa were leaders in the early patriarchal society ({{c.|2600}}{{nbsp}}BC) while Chinese began the marriage rituals.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cotterell |first1=Arthur |title=A Dictionary of World Mythology |date=1979 |publisher=Book Club Associates |isbn=0-19-217747-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ExuhmHX4dUEC&q=hua+hsu+mythology&pg=PA114 |language=en}}</ref>

A divinity Taihao ({{lang|zh|太皞}}, "The Great Bright One") appears, vaguely, in sources before the [[Han dynasty]], independent from Fuxi. Later, Fuxi is identified with Taihao, the latter being his [[Courtesy name|courtesy]] or formal<ref name=":0" /> name.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Birrell |first1=Anne |title=Chinese Mythology: An Introduction |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |year=1993 |isbn=0-8018-4595-5 |location=Baltimore |page=44}}</ref>

According to legend, the goddess of the [[Luo River (Henan)|Luo River]], [[Luoshen|Mifei]], was the daughter of Fuxi. Additionally, some versions of the legend state that she is Fuxi's consort. She drowned in the Luo River while crossing it and became the spirit of the Luo River.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhuo |first=Xinping |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8qZEDwAAQBAJ&dq=the+goddess+of+luo+river&pg=PA39 |title=Religious Faith of the Chinese |date=2017-12-26 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-981-10-6379-4 |language=en}}</ref>

==Creation legend==
According to the ''[[Classic of Mountains and Seas]]'', Fuxi and Nüwa were the original humans who lived on the mythological [[Kunlun Mountain (mythology)|Kunlun Mountain]] (today's Huashan). One day they set up two separated piles of fire, and the fire eventually became one. Under the fire, they decided to become husband and wife. Fuxi and Nüwa used clay to create offspring, and with the divine power they made the clay figures come alive.<ref name="flp1"/> These clay figures were the earliest human beings. Fuxi and Nüwa are commonly recognized by Chinese as two of the [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors|Three Sovereigns]] (along with [[Shennong]]) in the early patriarchal society in China ({{c.|2600}}{{nbsp}}BC), based on the myth about Fuxi establishing marriage ritual in his tribe. The creation of human beings was a symbolic story of having a larger family structure that included the figure of a father.

==Social importance==
On one of the columns of the Fuxi Temple in Gansu Province, the following couplet describes Fuxi's importance: "Among the three primogenitors of [[Huaxia]] civilization, Fu Xi in Huaiyang Country ranks first."<ref name="flp1"/> During the time of his predecessor [[Nüwa]], society was matriarchal.

{{Blockquote|{{lang|zh|古之時未有三綱、六紀，民人但知其母，不知其父，能覆前而不能覆後，臥之言去言去，起之吁吁，饑即求食，飽即棄余，茹毛飲血而衣皮葦。於是伏羲仰觀象於天，俯察法於地，因夫婦正五行，始定人道，畫八卦以治下。}}

In the beginning there was as yet no moral ([[Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues|Sangang]]) or social order.  Men knew their mothers only, not their fathers.

[Missing translation of the following three sentences:
{{lang|zh|能覆前而不能覆後}} They could only know/trace their offsprings but not their progenitors (promiscuous without family concept),
{{lang|zh|臥之言去言去}} They slept whenever they wanted (non-circadian without concept of time), 
{{lang|zh|起之吁吁}} When awoke, they started yue-ing (repeating/using a single sound to express emotions or communicate without language).]

When hungry, they searched for food; when satisfied, they threw away the remnants.  They devoured their food hide and hair, drank the blood, and clad themselves in skins and rushes.  Then came Fu Xi and looked upward and contemplated the images in the heavens, and looked downward and contemplated the occurrences on earth.  He united man and wife, regulated the five stages of change, and laid down the laws of humanity.  He devised the eight [[Bagua (concept)|trigrams]], in order to gain mastery over the world.
}}

Fuxi taught his subjects to cook and various methods of hunting and fishing,<ref name=":122" /> including fishing with nets and hunting with weapons made of bone, wood, or bamboo. He instituted the basic family structure,<ref name=":122" /> as well as marriage, and offered the first open-air sacrifices to heaven. A stone tablet, dated AD 160, shows Fuxi with Nüwa.

Traditionally, Fuxi is considered the originator of the methods of divination that were passed down through the ages before the ''[[I Ching]].<ref name=":3" />'' In other versions of the story, he is credited to the writing of some of the ''I Ching'' itself. His divination powers are attributed to his reading of the ''He Map'' (or the [[Yellow River Map]]). According to this tradition, Fuxi had the arrangement of the [[Bagua (concept)|trigrams]] of the ''I Ching'' revealed to him in the markings on the back of a mythical [[Longma|dragon horse]] (sometimes said to be a [[tortoise]]) that emerged from the [[Luo River (Henan)|Luo River]]. This arrangement precedes the compilation of the ''I Ching'' during the [[Zhou dynasty]]. This discovery is said to have been the origin of calligraphy. Fuxi is also credited with the invention of the [[Guqin]] musical instrument, though credit for this is also given to [[Shennong]] and [[Yellow Emperor]].

The [[Figurism|Figurist]]s viewed Fuxi as [[Enoch (ancestor of Noah)|Enoch]], the Biblical patriarch.<ref name="Mungello Enoch">{{Harvcolnb|Mungello|1989|p=321}}</ref> [[Alexander Catcott]], a [[Hutchinsonian]], identified Fuxi with the Biblical [[Noah]] (''A Treatise on the [[Genesis flood narrative|Deluge]]'').

Fuxi and Nüwa were also thought to be gods of silk.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=Frances |title=The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=0-520-23786-2 |location=Berkeley, California |page=29 |author-link=Frances Wood}}</ref>

==Death==
[[File:Fuxi temple.JPG|thumb|Fuxi temple in [[Hebei]]]]
Fuxi is said to have lived for 197 years altogether and died at a place called [[Chen (state)|Chen]] (modern [[Huaiyang County|Huaiyang]], [[Henan]]), where a monument to him can still be found and visited as a tourist attraction.<ref name="flp1"/>

==Gallery==

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Anonymous-Fuxi and Nüwa.jpg|[[Tang dynasty]] painting of Fuxi (right) and [[Nüwa]] (left) unearthed in the [[Astana Cemetery]], [[Xinjiang]]. 
File:Ma-Lin-Fuxi-and-turtle.jpg|Seated portrait depicting Fuxi, painted by [[Ma Lin (painter)|Ma Lin]] of the [[Song dynasty]]
File:Guo Xu album dated 1503 (1).jpg|Painting of Fuxi looking at a [[Bagua|trigram]] sketch, painted by [[:zh:郭诩|Guo Xu]]({{lang|zh|郭詡}}) of the [[Ming dynasty]]
File:Chinese woodcut, Famous medical figures; Emperor Fuxi Wellcome L0039312.jpg|Emperor Fuxi, [[Woodcut|woodcut print]] by Gan Bozong of the [[Tang dynasty]]
File:Fuxi, Qiu Ying (painting).jpeg|Fuxi, painted by [[Qiu Ying]] of the Ming dynasty, as depicted in ''Orthodoxy of Rule Through the Ages''
File:Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi, wearing traditional costume, Wellcome V0018487.jpg|Chinese emperor Fuxi, wearing a traditional costume, holding the [[yin yang]] symbol, 19th century
File:Fu Xi at Peterborough.jpg|Picture along with various scientists at Peterborough, UK
File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Education and Conduct - pic134 - 伏羲太極圖.svg|alt=|Fuxi's [[Taijitu]] diagram (from the [[Gujin Tushu Jicheng]] by [[Chen Menglei]])
</gallery>

==See also==
{{portal|China}}
*[[Snakes in Chinese mythology]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{citation |last=Mungello |first=David Emil |author-link=David Emil Mungello |title =Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology |publisher =University of Hawaii Press |date=1989 |location=Honolulu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wb4yPw4ZgZQC |isbn=0-8248-1219-0}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite thesis|last=Hsiao|first=Bea-hui|url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk:443/28925/1/10673131.pdf|title=Two Images of Maitreya — Fu Hsi and Pu-tai Ho-shang|publisher=[[School of Oriental and African Studies]]|year=1995}} - PhD thesis

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline|I Ching}}

{{Clear}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors]]||||}}
{{s-reg}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Suiren]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Table of Chinese monarchs|Mythological Sovereign of China]]|years=}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Nüwa]] or [[Shennong]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors footer}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Religious Confucianism}}

[[Category:Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors]]
[[Category:Chinese gods]]
[[Category:Mythological human hybrids]]
[[Category:Snake gods]]
[[Category:Creator gods]]
[[Category:Hunting gods]]
[[Category:Deities in Chinese folk religion]]
[[Category:Supernatural beings identified with Christian saints]]
[[Category:Heroes in mythology and legend]]
[[Category:Enoch (ancestor of Noah)]]