Kù (, variant graph ), usually referred to as Dì Kù (), also known as Gaoxin or Gāoxīn Shì () or Qūn (), was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. He went by the name Gaoxin until receiving imperial authority, when he took the name Ku and the title Di, thus being known as Di Ku. He is considered the ancestor of the ruling families of certain subsequent dynasties. Some sources treat Ku as a semi-historical figure, while others make fantastic

mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

or religious claims about him. Besides varying in their degree of historicizing Ku, the various sources also differ in what specific stories about him they focus on, so that putting together the various elements of what is known regarding Ku results in a multifaceted story. Di Ku was (according to many versions of the list) one of the Five Emperors of the

Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were two groups of mythological rulers in ancient north China. The Three Sovereigns supposedly lived long before The Five Emperors, who have been assigned dates in a period from 3162 BC to 2070 BC. Today ...

of Chinese mythology. Ku, or Gaoxin, is also known as the "White Emperor".

Birth

Ku's lineage is derived from descent from the legendary Yellow Emperor, then through the line of Shaohao (as opposed to the line through Changyi, which led to Zhuanxu). He was the son of

Jiaoji Jiaoji (? – ?) was an ancient Chinese figure and the son of Shaohao. History According to the ''Records of the Grand Historian: Annals of the Five Emperors'' by Sima Qian, Jiaoji was the grandson of the Yellow Emperor and a son of Shaohao. Neith ...

(), and thus grandson to Shaohao, and great-grandson to Yellow Emperor. According to speculative dates calculated after 100 BC by Liu Xin, he is supposed to have ruled from c. 2436 BC to c. 2366 BC, though other dates are also mentioned.

As emperor

When he became emperor, Ku added the title ''Di'', meaning "Thearch" (commonly translated as "Emperor"), in front of his name. After achieving the imperial title, Ku was said to travel seasonally by riding a

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

in spring and

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

, and a horse in

autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

and winter. Among other things, Ku was said to be an inventor of musical instruments and composer of songs. According to the '' Lüshi Chunqiu'', drums, bells, chimes, pipes, ocarinas, and flutes were all invented, on the orders of Ku, by his subordinate Youchui(有倕); Ku's lyrics had musical scores(titles were 九招,六列,六英) composed by his assistant Xianhei(咸黑); and by a further imperial command, a dance accompaniment was provided by a phoenix. Although Ku held the title ''Di'', it is unclear what territory, if any, his empire might have consisted of. The same title ''Di'' was later assumed by the King of Qin, upon conquering his neighboring kingdoms and forging them into the first historically-known empire of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Wives and Descendants

Ku had several wives. The best-known of his consorts are four ladies: Jiang Yuan, Jiandi, Changyi(常宜), and Qingdu(庆都). Once each of these ladies had given birth to a son ( Houji, Xie,

Zhi There are many Chinese characters transcribed in Hanyu Pinyin as ''zhi'' ( Wade-Giles ''chih''): * 志 zhì, aspiration, will. The "will" is a fundamental concept in the philosophy of Mencius, leading authorities such as David Nivison to c ...

, and Yao, respectively) Ku had a diviner foretell for him which of the sons was destined to rule the empire, and he received the answer that all four would. Another source mentions a lady with whom he had eight sons, each one born after she had dreamed of swallowing the sun; although her name is uncertain, she was said to be from Zoutu. Shiji also recorded the lineage names of Zhi's mother as Juzi () and Yao's mother as Chenfeng (). According to some traditions, each of these four sons inherited Ku's empire or was ancestral founder of a Chinese dynasty. The first of Ku's sons to rule the kingdom was Emperor Zhi, who was the son of Changyi. Another of his sons later became the Emperor Yao. Ku's son Xie, born miraculously to Jiandi after she swallowed the

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

of a black bird, became the predynastic founder of the ruling family of the Shang dynasty. Ku's son Houji, born miraculously to Jiang Yuan after she stepped in the footprint of a god, became a predynastic founder of the lineage of the Zhou dynasty. According to ''

Samguk Sagi ''Samguk Sagi'' (, ''History of the Three Kingdoms'') is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The ''Samguk Sagi'' is written in Classical Chinese, the written language of the literati of ancient Korea, ...

'', the kings of Goguryeo regarded themselves as a descendant of Chinese heroes because he called his surname "Go" ( Hanja: ) as they were the descendant of Gao Yang ( Hanja: ) who was a grandchild of the Yellow Emperor and Gaoxin ( Hanja: ) who was a great-grandchild of Yellow Emperor.

Bamboo Annals

In the ''

Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history ...

'', one of the earliest sources, it is mentioned that when Emperor Zhuanxu died, a descendant of Shennong named Shuqi(術器) organized a rebellion, but was destroyed by a descendant of Huangdi, Ku (of the Gaoxin lineage) the Prince of Xin; Ku then ascended to the throne. It also states that Ku "was born with double rows of teeth, and had the wisdom of a sage", and that he "made blind men beat drums, and strike bells and sounding stones, at which phoenixes flapped their wings and gambolled". The ''Annals'' further record that in the 16th year of his reign, he sent his general Chong(重) to defeat the state of Yukwai(有鄶). In the 45th year, Ku designated the prince of Tang (his son Yao) as his successor, however upon his death in the 63rd year, his elder son Zhi then took the throne instead, ruling 9 years before being deposed and replaced by Yao.Bamboo Annals in English using 今本竹書紀年
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Notes

References