Fengbo (Chinese: 風伯), also known as Fengshi, is the

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

deity of the

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

. In ancient times, he was depicted as a grotesque

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

with the body of a

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

, the head of a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

, horns, the tail of a

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

, and patterns of a

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

. Eventually, Fengbo was replaced by

Feng Po Po Feng Po Po (), also called Feng Popo or Feng Pho Pho, is the goddess of the wind in Chinese mythology who rules over storms and moisture. She is referred to as "Madame Wind", and is usually depicted as a crone, old and wrinkled. Feng Po Po can be s ...

. According to the

Records of the Grand Historian ''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...

, he was an object of state ritual from early times, with temples and festivals held in honor of him.

Mythology of the Ming dynasty

In the mythology of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, Fengbo was also known as the Count of the Wind (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: 風伯方天君,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: ''Fēng bó fāng tiān jūn''). He is depicted as an old man holding a fan, with a yellow cloak, a blue and red cap, and a white beard. He holds a goatskin bag of winds and directs them as he pleases. He is considered a stellar divinity, under the control of the star Ch’i of the Sagittarius constellation. In some myths, Fengbo lives in this constellation, where he looks after the solar breezes; when the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

passes too close to his star, he gets a little flustered, allowing too much wind to escape from his sack.

Fei Lien

Fei Lien is considered the dragon form of Fengbo. There are two origin stories of Fe Lien. Legends say that Fei Lien was originally one of the supporters of the rebel Ch’ih Yu, who was defeated by Huang Ti. He was transformed into a spiritual monster and stirred up tremendous winds in the southern regions. Emperor Yao sent Shên I and three hundred soldiers to quiet the storms and appease Ch’ih Yu's relatives, who were wreaking their vengeance on the people. Shên I ordered the people to spread a long cloth in front of their house and secure it to the ground with stones; this caused the wind to blow against it and change direction. Shên I then flew through the wind to the top of a high mountain and they saw a monster, white and yellow in color breathing deeply. Shên I understood that the monster was the cause of all these storms and decided to shoot an arrow and try to kill it. The monster ran and hid in a deep cave. Shên I followed the monster which drew its sword and dared him to attack the Mother of Winds. Shên I bravely decided to face the monster and shot another arrow, this time hitting it in the knee. The monster was finally defeated. It immediately dropped its sword and begged for its life. Another legend says that Fei Lien appears as a dragon. He was initially one of the tyrant Chou's wicked ministers and could walk with unheard-of swiftness. Both he and his son Ô Lai, who was so strong that he could tear a tiger and rhinoceros to pieces with his bare hands, were killed while in service of Chou Wang. The legend says that Fei Lien had the body of a stag, about the size of a leopard, with a bird's head, horns, and a snake's tail, and was able to make the wind blow whenever he wished.

Relationships

Some myths say that Fengbo is a subordinate of

Chiyou Chiyou (蚩尤, ) is a mythological being that appears in East Asian mythology. Individual According to the Song dynasty history book ''Lushi (book), Lushi'', Chiyou's surname was Jiang (surname 姜), Jiang (), and he was a descendant of Flame E ...

and assists him in his struggle against the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

in the

Battle of Zhuolu The Battle of Zhuolu () was the second battle in the history of China as recorded in the '' Records of the Grand Historian'', fought between the Yanhuang tribes led by the legendary Yellow Emperor and the Jiuli tribes led by Chiyou. The battle ...

. He has been known to be friendly with the rain deity

Yu Shi Yu Shi () is a Chinese spirit or god of rain, also known as or conflated with Red Pine (Chisong, 赤松, or Chisongzi – Master Red Pine), among other names. Translations of ''Yu Shi'' into English include "Lord of Rain" and "Leader of Rain". As ...

. Fengbo is considered a neutral god and does not belong to any faction. Fengbo, in his dragon form, is considered a troublemaker who needs to be watched by Shen Yi. In the ''

Han Feizi The ''Han Feizi'' or ''Hanfeizi'' (" ritings ofMaster Han Fei") is an ancient Chinese text named for its attribution to the political philosopher Han Fei. It comprises a selection of essays in the Legalist tradition on theories of state power, ...

'' (韓非子) or book of master Han Fei, when Huangdi the

gathers all the demons at

Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the '' Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being t ...

Fengbo sweeps the path.Handbook of Chinese mythology by Lihui Yang OUP

References

{{reflist Chinese gods Wind gods

Mythology of the Ming dynasty

Fei Lien

Relationships

See also

References