Emperor Yuwang (帝榆罔), surname Jiang (姜), was the eighth and the last legendary

Yan Emperor The Yan Emperor () or the Flame Emperor was a legendary ancient Chinese ruler in pre-dynastic times. Modern scholarship has identified the Sheep's Head Mountains (''Yángtóu Shān'') just north of Baoji in Shaanxi Province as his homeland and ...

during the era 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 ...

History

According to the ''Records of Emperors and Kings'' by

Huangfu Mi Huangfu Mi (215–282), courtesy name Shi'an (), was a Chinese physician, essayist, historian, poet, and writer who lived through the late Eastern Han dynasty, Three Kingdoms period and early Western Jin dynasty. He was born in a poor farming fam ...

, he was the last

of the

Shennong 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 venerat ...

clan. Born in Chengliu (承留) (present day southeast of

Kaifeng County Xiangfu District (), formerly Kaifeng County, is a district of the city of Kaifeng, Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan o ...

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...

Henan Province Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

) as the son of Jiang Ke (姜克), the sixth or seventh Yan Emperor. Their capital was at Yichuan (present day south of

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River (Henan), Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

). 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 ...

'' by

Sima Zhen Sima Zhen (; 679–732), courtesy name Zizheng (Tzu-cheng; 子正), was a Tang dynasty Chinese historian born in what is now Jiaozuo, Henan. Sima Zhen was one of the most important commentators on the ''Shiji ''Records of the Grand Histo ...

, Di Yuwang, the last Yan Emperor and his tribe engaged in the battle with the invading

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 ...

's Jiuli tribe and were defeated. They retreated from that recent invasion and came into territorial conflict with its neighbouring Youxiong tribes led by 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 ...

. The Youxiong tribe engaged the Shennong tribe in a large-scale

Battle of Banquan The Battle of Banquan () is a battle in ancient Chinese history as recorded by Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian''. It was fought by ''Huangdi'', the Yellow Emperor, and ''Yandi'', the Flame Emperor. Background The "Battle of Banquan ...

in Chinese history. After three major engagements, the Yan Emperor lost the battle and surrendered to the Yellow Emperor. He agreed to merge his tribe with the Yellow Emperor's to form a new confederation, the

Yanhuang Yanhuang or Yan Huang (Chinese language: t , s , p ''Yán Huáng'') was the name of an ethnic group of ancient China who inhabited the Yellow River basin area. They claimed their descent from the two tribes led by the Flame Emperor (''Yandi'') a ...

tribe. The Yellow Emperor and Yuwang the former Yan Emperor then led the newly merged Yanhuang tribe to war with Chiyou and his tribe 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 ...

and defeated them, thus establishing their cultural and political dominance in

China proper China proper, Inner China, or the Eighteen Provinces is a term used by some Western writers in reference to the "core" regions of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty of China. This term is used to express a distinction between the "core" regions popu ...

. Therefore, the Yan Emperor, together with the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou, are collectively known as the "Three Patriarchs of China".

References

{{reflist Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Yan Emperor