Fu Hsi

Fu Xi (Or Fu Hsi)

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An ancient painting of Nuwa and Fuxi unearthed in Xinjiang.

In Chinese mythology, Fu Xi or Fu Hsi (Chinese: 伏羲; pinyin: fúxī; aka Paoxi (simplified Chinese: 庖牺; traditional Chinese: 庖犧; pinyin: páoxī)), mid 2800s BC, was the first of the mythical Three Sovereigns (三皇 sānhuáng) of ancient China. He is a culture hero reputed to be the inventor of writing, fishing, and trapping.

Biography

Fu Xi was born on the lower-middle reaches of the Yellow River in a place called Chengji (possibly modern Lantian, Shaanxi or Tianshui, Gansu).[1]

According to legend the land was swept by a great flood and only Fuxi and his sister Nüwa survived. They retired to Kunlun Mountain where they prayed for a sign from the Emperor of Heaven. The divine being approved their union and the siblings set about procreating the human race.[1] Fu Xi then came to rule over his decedents although reports of his long reign vary between sources from 115 years (BC 2852-2737) to 116 years (BC 2952-2836).

He lived for 197 years altogether and died at a place called Chen (modern Huaiyang, Henan) where his mausoleum can still be found.[1]


Social importance

Among the three primogenitors of Hua-Xia civilization, Fu Xi in Huaiyang Country ranks first.

– Couplet engraved on column of Fu Xi Temple, Huaiyang Country, Henan Province[1]

During the time of his predecessor Nüwa (who according to some sources was also his wife and/or sister), society was matriarchal and primitive. Childbirth was seen to be miraculous not requiring the participation of the male and children only knew their mothers. As the reproductive process became better understood ancient Chinese society moved towards a patriarchal system and Fu Xi assumed primary importance.[1]

In the beginning there was as yet no moral or social order. Men knew their mothers only, not their fathers. 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 Hsi 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 trigrams, in order to gain mastery over the world.

– Ban Gu, Baihu tongyi[2]

Fu Hsi taught his subjects to cook, to fish with nets, and to hunt with weapons made of iron. He instituted marriage and offered the first open air sacrifices to heaven. A stone tablet, dated 160 AD shows Fu Hsi with Nüwa, who was both his wife and his sister.

Traditionally, Fu Hsi is considered the originator of the I Ching (also known as the Yi Jing or Zhou Yi), which work is attributed to his reading of the He Map (or the Yellow River Map). By this tradition, Fu Hsi had the arrangement of the trigrams (八卦 bāgùa) of the I Ching revealed to him supernaturally. This arrangement precedes the compilation of the I Ching during the Zhou dynasty. Fu Hsi is said to have discovered the arrangement in markings on the back of a mythical dragon-horse (sometimes said to be a turtle) that emerged from the river Luo. This discovery is also said to have been the origin of calligraphy.

Fu Hsi is also credited with the invention of the Guqin, together with Shennong and Huang Di.


Contemporary references to Fu Hsi

Fu Xi made an appearance in the second part of Hong Kong television series My Date with a Vampire 3. In it, he is also called Ren Wang, or the King of Humanity, with a magical bow and arrow as his weapons. He was sent down from heaven and it is on him whom Nüwa based her creation, humanity. Within the show Nüwa and Fuxi are not married.

Fu Xi and his wife/sister Nüwa appear as unlockable characters in the video game Dynasty Warriors 3.

The ultimate weapon for the broadsword skill set in Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends is called "Fu Xi's Sword".

Fu Xi is featured in the "Conversation on Information Technology over 5000 Years" sculptural panels at the Norwalk Community College Center for Information Technology, near New Haven, Connecticut. They were sculpted by the facility's architect, Barry Svigals.


Sources, references, external links, quotations

^ a b c d e (2007) Worshiping the Three Sage Kings and Five Virtuous Emperors - The Imperial Temple of Emperors of Successive Dynasties in Beijing. Beijing: Foreign Language Press. ISBN 978-7-119-04635-8.

^ Wilhelm, Richard; Baines, Cary F. (1967). I Ching.

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