Shennong (), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (), was a mythological
Chinese ruler known as the first
Yan Emperor who has become a deity in
Chinese and
Vietnamese folk religion. He is venerated as a
culture hero in China and Vietnam. In Vietnamese he is referred to as
Thần Nông.
Shennong has at times been counted amongst the
Three Sovereigns
The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were two groups of 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 ...
(also known as "Three Kings" or "Three Patrons"), a group of ancient deities or deified kings of prehistoric China. Shennong has been thought to have taught the ancient Chinese not only their practices of
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...
, but also the use of herbal drugs. Shennong was credited with various inventions: these include the
hoe
Hoe or HOE may refer to:
* Hoe (food), a Korean dish of raw fish
* Hoe (letter), a Georgian letter
* Hoe (tool), a hand tool used in gardening and farming
** Hoe-farming, a term for primitive forms of agriculture
* Backhoe, a piece of excavati ...
,
plow (both ''leisi'' () style and the
plowshare),
axe, digging
wells
Wells most commonly refers to:
* Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England
* Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground
* Wells (name)
Wells may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Wells, British Columbia
England
* Wel ...
, agricultural irrigation, preserving stored seeds by using boiled horse urine, the weekly
farmers market, the
Chinese calendar (especially the division into the 24 ''
jieqi
A solar term is any of twenty-four periods in traditional Chinese lunisolar calendars that matches a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon. The points are spaced 15° apart along the ecliptic and are used by lunisolar ...
'' or solar terms), and to have refined the therapeutic understanding of taking pulse measurements,
acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scient ...
, and
moxibustion, and to have instituted the
harvest thanksgiving
A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. H ...
ceremony (''zhaji'' sacrificial rite, later known as the ''laji'' rite).
"Shennong" can also be taken to refer to his people, the ''Shennong-shi'' ().
Mythology
In
Chinese mythology, Shennong taught humans the use of the plow, aspects of basic agriculture, and the use of medicinal plants. Possibly influenced by the
Yan Emperor mythos or the use of
slash-and-burn agriculture, Shennong was a god of burning wind. He was also sometimes said to be a progenitor to, or to have had as one of his ministers,
Chiyou (and like him, was
ox-headed, sharp-horned, bronze-foreheaded, and iron-skulled).
Shennong is also thought to be the father of the
Huang Emperor () who carried on the secrets of medicine, immortality, and making gold. According to the eighth century AD historian
Sima Zhen's commentary to the second century BC
Shiji (or, ''Records of the Grand Historian''), Shennong is a kinsman of 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 ...
and is said to be an
ancestor, or a
patriarch
The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in ce ...
, of the ancient forebears of the Chinese.
In literature
Sima Qian () mentioned that the rulers directly preceding 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 ...
were of the house (or societal group) of Shennong.
Sima Zhen, who added a prologue for the ''
Records of the Grand Historian'' (), said his surname was
Jiang
Jiang may refer to:
* ''Jiang'' (rank), rank held by general officers in the military of China
*Jiang (surname), several Chinese surnames
**Jiang Zemin (1926–2022), as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
*Jiang River, an ancient riv ...
(), and proceeded to list his successors. An older and more famous reference is in the ''
Huainanzi''; it tells how, prior to Shennong, people were sickly, wanting, starved and diseased; but he then taught them agriculture, which he himself had researched, eating hundreds of plants — and even consuming seventy poisons in one day. Shennong also features in the book popularly known in English as ''
I Ching''. Here, he is referenced as coming to power after the end of the house (or reign) of
Paoxi (
Fu Xi), also inventing a bent-wood plow, a cut-wood rake, teaching these skills to others, and establishing a noonday market. Another reference is in the ''
Lüshi Chunqiu'', mentioning some violence with regard to the rise of the Shennong house, and that their power lasted seventeen generations.
The ''
Shénnóng Běn Cǎo Jīng
''Shennong Bencaojing'' (also ''Classic of the Materia Medica'' or ''Shen-nong's Herbal Classics'' and ''Shen-nung Pen-tsao Ching''; ) is a Chinese book on agriculture and medicinal plants, traditionally attributed to Shennong. Researchers beli ...
'' is a book on agriculture and medicinal plants, attributed to Shennong. Research suggests that it is a compilation of oral traditions, written between about 200 and 250 AD.
Historicity
Reliable information on the history of China before the 13th century BC can come only from archaeological evidence because China's first established written system on a durable medium, the
oracle bone script, did not exist until then. Thus, the concrete existence of even 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 ...
, said to be the successor to Shennong, is yet to be proven, despite efforts by Chinese archaeologists to link that dynasty with Bronze Age
Erlitou archaeological sites.
However, Shennong, both the individual and the clan, are very important in Chinese
cultural history, especially in regards to
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...
and
popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in ...
. Indeed, Shennong figures extensively in
historical literature
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
.
Popular religion
According to some versions of the myths about Shennong, he eventually died as a result of his researches into the properties of plants by experimenting upon his own body, after, in one of his tests, he ate the yellow flower of a weed that caused his intestines to rupture before he had time to swallow his antidotal tea: having thus given his life for humanity, he has since received special honor through his worship as the Medicine King ( ''Yàowáng''). The sacrifice of cows or oxen to Shennong in his various manifestations is never at all appropriate; instead pigs and sheep are acceptable. Fireworks and incense may also be used, especially at the appearance of his statue on his birthday, lunar April 26, according to popular tradition. Under his various names, Shennong is the patron deity of farmers, rice traders, and practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. Many temples and other places dedicated to his commemoration exist.
Popular culture
As noted above, Shennong is said in the ''Huainanzi'' to have tasted hundreds of
herbs to test their medical value. The most well-known work attributed to Shennong is ''
The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic'' (), first compiled some time during the end of the
Western Han Dynasty — several thousand years after Shennong might have existed. This work lists the various medicinal herbs, such as ''
lingzhi'', that were discovered by Shennong and given grade and rarity ratings. It is considered to be the earliest Chinese
pharmacopoeia, and includes 365 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals. Shennong is credited with identifying hundreds of medical (and poisonous)
herbs by personally testing their properties, which was crucial to the development of
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logica ...
. Legend holds that Shennong had a transparent body, and thus could see the effects of different plants and herbs on himself. He is also said to have discovered
tea, which he found it to be acting as an antidote against the poisonous effects of some seventy herbs he tested on his body. Shennong first tasted it, traditionally in ca. 2437 BC, from tea leaves on burning tea twigs, after they were carried up from the fire by the hot air, landing in his cauldron of boiling water. Shennong is venerated as the Father of Chinese medicine. He is also believed to have introduced the technique of
acupuncture
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scient ...
.
Shennong is said to have played a part in the creation of the
guqin, together with
Fuxi and 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 ...
. Scholarly works mention that the
paternal family of famous
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...
General
Yue Fei traced their origins back to Shennong.
Places
Shennong is associated with certain geographic localities including
Shennongjia, in Hubei, where the rattan ladder which he used to climb the local mountain range is supposed to have transformed into a vast forest. The
Shennong Stream
Shennong Stream () is a left tributary of the Yangtze River, located in the Hubei Province of central China. Fed by tributaries some of which come from the Shennongjia Forestry District, the stream flows south, falling into the Yangtze opposite ...
flows from here into the
Yangtze River.
Gallery
File:Chinese god Shen Nun, Painting by Nobukata.jpg, ''Shennong'' holding tea leaves, by Hasegawa Nobukata, early 17th century, Japan.
File:Shennongding.jpg, Shennongding: "Shennong's peak", associated with the story that Shennong had a ladder which he used to climb up and down the mountain, and which later turned into the local forest.
File:Shennong3.jpg, Shennong tasting plants to test their qualities on himself.
File:20100316-18 Yangtze River Cruise-Shennongxi Bridge.JPG, The Shennongxi Bridge near its confluence with the Yangtze River.
File:臺南藥王廟正面.JPG, Shennong Temple in Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
— where he is worshiped under the names King Yan, God of Five Grains, Shennong the Great Emperor, the Ancestor of Farming, Great Emperor of Medicine, God of Earth, and God of Fields.
File:Shinno (Shennong) derivative.jpg, Shennong (''Shinnō'' in Japanese) tasting herbs to discover their qualities; a distinctive, iconic pose often used in depictions of Shennong; in this case from a 19th-century Japanese painting.
File:Chinese woodcut, Famous medical figures; Shen Nong Wellcome L0039313.jpg, Shennong as depicted by Gan Bozong, woodcut print, Tang dynasty (618-907)
See also
*
Yan Huang Zisun
*
Phou Ningthou
*
Shennong Stream
Shennong Stream () is a left tributary of the Yangtze River, located in the Hubei Province of central China. Fed by tributaries some of which come from the Shennongjia Forestry District, the stream flows south, falling into the Yangtze opposite ...
*
Shilin Shennong Temple, Taiwan
*
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
*
Yan Emperor
*
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 ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Statue of Shennong in ZhuZhou"Shen Nong and Tea" article from The Tea Site.
{{Authority control
Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors
Agriculturalism
Chinese gods
Guqin players
History of ancient China
Health gods
Fire gods
Deities in Chinese folk religion
Vietnamese folk religion
Deified Chinese people