Shennong

Shennong
神農
Yan Emperor
Shennong as depicted in a 1503 painting
by Guo Xu
SuccessorLinkui
BornJiang Shinian (姜石年)
IssueLinkui
FatherShaodian
MotherNüdeng
Shennong
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese神農
Simplified Chinese神农
Literal meaning"Divine Farmer/Husbandman"
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetThần Nông
Chữ Hán神農
Korean name
Hangul신농
Hanja神農
Japanese name
Kanji神農
Shennong Yan Emperor (炎帝) is well known as the first Emperor of Ancient China, who not only invented the farming tools for his people, but also herbs for treating his people's illnesses. Depicted in a mural painting from the Han dynasty.

Shennong (神農), variously translated as "Divine Farmer"[1] or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (姜石年), was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. He is venerated as a culture hero in China and Vietnam. In Vietnamese, he is referred to as Thần Nông.

Shennong has at times been counted amongst the Three Sovereigns (also known as "Three Kings" or "Three Patrons"), a group of ancient deities or deified kings of prehistoric China. Shennong has been thought to have taught the ancient Chinese not only their practices of agriculture,[1] but also the use of herbal medicine.[2] Shennong was credited with various inventions: these include the hoe,[1] plow[1] (both leisi (耒耜) style and the plowshare), axe, digging wells, agricultural irrigation, preserving stored seeds by using boiled horse urine, trade,[1] commerce,[1] money, the weekly farmers market, the Chinese calendar (especially the division into the 24 jieqi or solar terms), and to have refined the therapeutic understanding of taking pulse measurements, acupuncture, and moxibustion, and to have instituted the harvest thanksgiving ceremony (zhaji(蜡祭) sacrificial rite, later known as the laji(腊祭) rite).[3]

"Shennong" can also be taken to refer to his people, the Shennong-shi (Chinese: 神農; pinyin: Shénnóngshì; lit. 'Shennong Clan').

  1. ^ a b c d e f Ivanhoe, Philip J.; Van Norden, Bryan W. (2005). Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (2nd ed.). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. p. 381. ISBN 0-87220-781-1. OCLC 60826646.
  2. ^ Christie 1975, p. 87.
  3. ^ Yang, An & Turner 2005, pp. 190–199.

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