Changyi (? – ?) was the second son of the legendary

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 ...

and the father of

Zhuanxu Zhuanxu ( Chinese: trad. , simp. , pinyin ''Zhuānxū''), also known as Gaoyang ( t , s , p ''Gāoyáng''), was a mythological emperor of ancient China. In the traditional account recorded by Sima Qian, ...

History

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 his ...

'' by

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

, the

had twenty-five sons, two of the known ones who were born to

Leizu Leizu (), also known as Xi Ling-shi (, Wade–Giles Hsi Ling-shih), was a legendary Chinese empress and wife of the Yellow Emperor. According to tradition, she discovered sericulture, and invented the silk loom, in the 27th century BC. Myths A ...

, the eldest son

Shaohao Shaohao or Shao Hao ( "Lesser Brightness"), also known Jin Tian (金天), was a legendary Chinese sovereign. Shaohao is usually identified as a son of the Yellow Emperor. According to some traditions (for example the '' Book of Documents''), he i ...

, and the second son Changyi. In the 29th year of the Yellow Emperor, Leizu gave birth to Changyi near Ruoshui (若水). In the 77th year of the Yellow Emperor, Changyi came to live at

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

by the Ruoshui. Later, Changyi married Jingpu (景僕), also named as Changpu (昌僕), of the Shushan clan. Jingpu gave birth to a son, Gaoyang. Later, Changyi moved north to the Central Plains, and found the Changyi City (昌意城) (on the present day Leshanbei,

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 ...

). Upon the passing of his father the Yellow Emperor, his brother

was said to be never actually reigned as a king, as according to the ''Records of the Grand Historian''. So Changyi's son Gaoyang was chosen as the tribe's new leader, with the regnal name of Zhuanxu.

References

{{reflist Chinese folklore Legendary Chinese people Characters in Chinese mythology