| Yan Emperor ofAncient China | |
|---|---|
| 炎帝 | |
| Details | |
| First monarch | Shennong |
| Last monarch | Yuwang |
| Formation | Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors |
| Abolition | Battle of Banquan |
| Yan Emperor | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The first Yan Emperor Shennong tastes herbs to discover their qualities. 1913 depiction | |||||||||||||
| Chinese | 炎帝 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Flame Emperor | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
TheYan Emperor (Chinese:炎帝;pinyin:Yán Dì) or theFlame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese emperor in pre-dynastic times. Some modern Chinese scholars have identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (Yángtóu Shān) inWeibin District, Baoji as his homeland and territory.[1]
A long debate has existed over whether or not the Yan Emperor was the same person as the legendaryShennong. An academic conference held in China in 2004 achieved general consensus that the Yan Emperor and Shennong were the same person.[2] Another possibility is that the term "Yan Emperor" or "Flame Emperor" was a title, held by dynastic succession of tribal lords, with Shennong being known asYandi perhaps posthumously. Accordingly, the term "Yan Emperors" or "Flame Emperors" would be generally more correct. The succession of these Yan or Flame emperors, from Shennong, the first Yan Emperor, until the time of the last Yan Emperor's defeat by theYellow Emperor, may have been some 500 years.[3]
No written records are known to exist from the era of Yan Emperor's reign. However, he and Shennong are mentioned in many of the classic works of ancient China.Yan literally means "flame", implying that Yan Emperor's people possibly uphold a symbol of fire as their tribaltotems.K. C. Wu speculates that this appellation may be connected with the use of fire to clear the fields inslash and burn agriculture.[4] In any case, it appears that agricultural innovations by Shennong and his descendants contributed to some sort of socioeconomic success that led them to style themselves asdi (帝; 'emperors'), rather thanhou (侯; 'lord'), as in the case of lesser tribal leaders. At this time it appears that there were only the bare beginnings of written language, and that for record keeping a system of knotting strings (perhaps similar toquipu) was in use.[5] TheZuo Zhuan states that in 525 BC, the descendants of Yan were recognized as long having been masters of fire and having used fire in their names.[6] Yan Emperor was known as "Emperor of the South"[7]
The last Yan Emperor,Yuwang, met the end of his reign in the third of a series of three battles, known as theBattle of Banquan. The exact location of this battle is disputed among modern historians, due to multiple locations adopting the same name at various points through history. Possible candidates includeZhuolu County andHuailai County inZhangjiakou, Hebei,Yanqing District inBeijing,Fugou County inZhoukou, Henan, andYanhu District inYuncheng, Shanxi.
The Yan Emperor, retreating from a recent invasion from the forces ofChiyou, came into territorial conflict with its neighbouring Youxiong tribes, led by theYellow Emperor. The Yan Emperor was defeated after three successive battles and surrendered to the Yellow Emperor, who assumed the title of overlord (共主) and agreed to merge the two tribes into a new confederation — theYanhuang tribe. Under the Yellow Emperor's leadership, the newly combined tribes then went to war and defeated Chiyou in theBattle of Zhuolu, and established their cultural and political dominance in Central Plains China.
Since theBattle of Banquan is treated as a historical fact bySima Qian in hisRecords of the Grand Historian, it would appear that this is a pivotal transition point between mythology and history. Ironically, the Yan Emperor enters history only with his submission to the will of the Yellow Emperor. In any case, the title offlame emperor apparently lapsed after this time. His tribe's descendants were said to be perpetuated through intermarriage with that of the Yellow Emperor, andHan Chinese throughout history have referred themselves as the "Descendants of Yan and Huang".
BothHuangdi and Yandi are considered in some sense ancestral to Chinese culture and people. Also, the tradition of associating a certain color with a particular dynasty may have begun with the Flame Emperors. According to the Five Elements, orWu Xing model, red, fire, should be succeeded by yellow, earth—or Yandi by Huangdi.[8]
According to the records of ancient history books by the Vietnamese such asĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư, the earliest monarch of Vietnam,Hồng Bàng, was allegedly a descendant of Emperor Yan. Because of this, all the ancient Vietnamese dynasties claim Emperor Yan as their common ancestor.
This is the most common list given byHuangfu Mi,Xu Zheng, andSima Zhen:
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
| Shennong神農 | Born Jiang Shinian姜石年 |
| Linkui臨魁 | |
| Cheng承 | |
| Ming明 | Considered father of Zhi andLoc Tuc in Vietnamese mythography. |
| Zhi直 | Father of Li (Lai). |
| Li釐 or Ke克 or Lai (來) | Sima Zhen puts him between Ai and Yuwang. Emperor Li (Lai) Considered father ofAu Co in Vietnamese mythography, as Li and Lai are variant spellings.[9] |
| Ai哀 | |
| Yuwang榆罔 | Defeated by Yellow Emperor at Banquan |
List provided at the end of theShan Hai Jing:
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
| Yandi炎帝 | |
| Yanju炎居 | Also possibly known as Zhu柱 |
| Jiebing節並 | |
| Xiqi戲器 | |
| Zhurong祝融 | |
| Gonggong共工 | |
| Shuqi術器 | |
| Houtu后土 | Brother of Shuqi |
| Yeming噎鳴 |
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chinese sovereign | Succeeded by |
