Xihe (), was a

solar deity A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Th ...

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 ...

. One of the two wives of Di Jun (along with

Changxi Changxi () or Changyi () is a Chinese lunar goddess worshiped in the traditional Chinese mythology, Chinese pantheon. Known from ancient times, the earliest historical information on Changxi can be traced back to the ''Classic of Mountains and Sea ...

), she was the mother of ten

sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

s in the form of

three-legged crow The three-legged (or tripedalism, tripedal) crow is a Legendary creature, mythological creature in various mythology, mythologies and arts of East Asia. It is believed to inhabit and represent the Sun. Evidence of the earliest bird-Sun motif or to ...

s residing in a

mulberry tree ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 ide ...

, the

Fusang Fusang () refers to various entities, most frequently a mythical tree or location east of China, described in ancient Chinese literature. In the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'' and several contemporary texts, the term refers to a mythological ...

, in the East Sea. Each day, one of the sun birds would be rostered to travel around the world on a

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

driven by Xihe. Folklore also held that once, all ten sun birds came out on the same day, causing the world to burn;

Houyi Hou Yi () is a mythological Chinese archer. He was also known as Shen Yi and simply as Yi (). He is also typically given the title of "Lord Archer". He is sometimes portrayed as a god of archery descended from heaven to aid mankind. Other times ...

saved the day by shooting down all but one of the sun birds.

Literature

In the poem ''Suffering from the Shortness of Days(苦晝短)'', Li He of the Tang dynasty is hostile and even deviant towards the legendary dragons that drew the sun chariot as a vehicle for the passage of time. The following is the relevant excerpt of that poem: :"I will cut off the dragon's feet, chew the dragon's flesh, :so that they can't turn back in the morning or lie down at night. :Left to themselves the old won't die; the young won't cry." Wu liang shrine relief depicting xihe, yi, and fusang tree

Wu liang shrine relief depicting xihe, yi, and fusang tree

In the ''

Huainanzi The ''Huainanzi'' is an ancient Chinese text that consists of a collection of essays that resulted from a series of scholarly debates held at the court of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, sometime before 139. The ''Huainanzi'' blends Daoist, Confuci ...

'', the journey of the sun and the attendant of the sun chariot is described: :"The sun rises up from the Bright Valley, bathes in the Pool of Xian(咸), and rests in the Fusang Tree. This is called Dawn Light. :Ascending the Fusang Tree, it thereupon commences its journey. This is called Emergent Brightness. : hen the sunreaches the Bent Slope, this is called Dawn Brilliance. : hen the sunreaches the Steaming Spring, this is called the Morning Meal. : hen the sunreaches the Mulberry Field, this is called the Late-Morning Meal. : hen the sunreaches the Balance Beam of Yang, this is called within the Angle. : hen the sunreaches Kun Wu, this is called the Exact Center. : hen the sunreaches the Bird Roost, this is called the Lesser Return. : hen the sunreaches the Valley of Grief, this is called the Dinner Hour. : hen the sunreaches Woman’s Sequence, this is called the Great Return. : hen the sunreaches the Angle of the Abyss, this is called the Raised Pestle. : hen the sunreaches Carriage Stone, this is called the Descending Pestle. : hen the sunreaches the Fountain of Grief, it halts; its female attendant rests her horses. This is called the Suspended Chariot. : hen the sunreaches the Abyss of Anxiety, this is called Yellow Dusk. : hen the sunreaches the Vale of Obscurity, this is called Definite Dusk. :The sun enters the floodwaters of the Abyss of Anxiety; sunrise emerges from the drainage stream of the Vale of Obscurity. :

he sun He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

travels over the nine continents, assing throughseven resting places, overing a distance of507,309 li. :The divisions f its journeymake dawn, daylight, dusk, and night."

References

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Literature

See also

References

Further reading