Hòutǔ () or Hòutǔshén (), also Hòutǔ Niángniáng (in Chinese either or ), otherwise called Dimǔ () or Dimǔ Niángniáng (), is the deity of deep earth and soil in Chinese religion and

mythology 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 narra ...

. Houtu is the overlord of all the

Tu Di Gong Tudigong ( "Lord of the Soil and the Ground") or Tudishen ( "God of the Soil and the Ground"), also known simply as Tudi ( "Soil-Ground") is a tutelary deity of a locality and the human communities who inhabit it in Chinese folk religion and Tao ...

("Lord of Local Land") world wide.

Han Emperors

Houtu was first worshipped by

Emperor Wen of Han Emperor Wen of Han (; 203/202 – 6 July 157 BCE), born Liu Heng (), was the fifth emperor of the Western Han dynasty in China from 180 to his death in 157 BCE. The son of Emperor Gao and Consort Bo, his reign provided a much needed stability ...

(in Fenyin County, modern-day

Wanrong County Wanrong County () is a county under the administration of Yuncheng City, in the southwest of Shanxi Province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west. __NOTOC__ The county's Gushan was credited by the ''Records of Yicheng County'' compiled du ...

, Shanxi). Houtu was worshiped by Emperor Wu of Han in 113 BC.

Yellow River Map

Houtu is featured in some versions of the myth of the Great Flood of China: Yu did not do such a great job of channeling the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

into the sea, dredging the wrong way. Sacred Mother Houtu then made the

Yellow River Map The Yellow River Map, Scheme, or Diagram, also known by its Chinese name as the Hetu, is an ancient Chinese diagram that appears in myths concerning the invention of writing by Cangjie and other culture heroes. It is usually paired with the ...

and sent one of her divine messenger birds to tell Yu what to do; specifically, that he should open a channel to the east, to allow the right drainage.Yang, 137

Gallery

Notes

Works cited

*Yang, Lihui, ''et al.'' (2005). ''Handbook of Chinese Mythology''. New York: Oxford University Press.

Han Emperors

Yellow River Map

Gallery

Notes

Works cited

Further reading

See also