Hou Ji (or Houji; ) was a legendary Chinese culture hero credited with introducing

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets ...

to humanity during the time of the

Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In tradi ...

.. Millet was the original

staple grain A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs an ...

of northern China, prior to the introduction of wheat. His name translates as Lord of Millet and was a title granted to him by

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition al ...

, according to

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 his ...

. Houji was credited with developing the philosophy of Agriculturalism and with service during the Great Flood in the reign of Yao; he was also claimed as an ancestor of the Ji clan that became the ruling family of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

History

Hou Ji's original name was Qi (), meaning "abandoned". Two separate versions of his origin were common. In one version of

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of ...

, he was said to have been supernaturally conceived when his mother Jiang Yuan, a previously barren wife of the

Emperor Ku 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 th ...

, stepped into a footprint left by

Shangdi Shangdi (), also written simply, "Emperor" (), is the Chinese term for "Supreme Deity" or "Highest Deity" in the theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the later ''Tian'' ("Heaven ...

, the supreme sky god of the early

Chinese pantheon Chinese folk religion, Chinese traditional religion is polytheism, polytheistic; many deities are worshipped in a pantheism, pantheistic view where divinity is inherent in the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating and p ...

.''

Encyclopædia Britannica The ( Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various ...

''. "Hou Ji".''

Shijing The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, c ...

''
"Sheng Min (Birth of (Our) People)"
/ref> Another account simply make him one of Ku's four sons, each prophesied to father a family of emperors over China. This origin allowed his descendants to claim a lineage from 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 Sovereig ...

as well. He was held to have been repeatedly abandoned by his mother, but saved each time in the street, by draft animals; in the forest, by woodcutters; on the ice, by a great bird. He later became famous for his luxuriant crops of beans, rice, hemp, gourds, and several kinds of millet and was credited with the introduction of the spring ritual sacrifice of fermented millet beer, roasted sheep, and the herb

southernwood ''Artemisia abrotanum'', the southernwood, lad's love, or southern wormwood, is a species of flowering plant in the sunflower family. It is native to Eurasia and Africa but naturalized in scattered locations in North America. Other common name ...

Legacy

Houji was also claimed as an ancestor of the Zhou royal family and honored in their '' Book of Songs'': the ''Sheng Min'' ("Birth of Our People") is counted as one of the work's Great Hymns. The Zhou ministers of agriculture were also titled "Houji" in his honor. His son Buzhu inherited his position at the Xia court. However, in Buzhu's old age, the

, descending from

Yu the Great Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures promine ...

(a colleague of Hou Ji under Shun), declined politically; so Buzhu abandoned both his position and millet agriculture to live among the Rong and Di. Although historians such as Sima Qian took a more rationalist approach to his life, making him a natural son of Emperor Ku and a regular official of the Xia court, Houji was honored not just as a culture hero but also as a patron god of abundant harvests.Roberts. ''Chinese Mythology A to Z'', 2nd Ed, p.70. 2009.

References

Bibliography

* * * Wu, K. C. (1982). ''The Chinese Heritage''. New York: Crown Publishers. . *Yang, Lihui, ''et al.'' (2005). ''Handbook of Chinese Mythology''. New York: Oxford University Press.

External links

*{{Commonscatinline
''Shijing'' III.2.1.
– "Birth of Our People". Agriculturalism Chinese gods Chinese poetry allusions Food deities Harvest gods History of ancient China

History

Legacy

See also

References

Bibliography

External links