Chi-you – China’s Ancient Overlord

At http://www.imperialchina.org/ImperialChina/?p=12 this webmaster inferred that Yandi was likely an admixture of the O3-haplogroup and O2/O1-haplogroup people, who originally dwelled in the heartland of ancient China. As to Chi-you, the ancient scholars, in commenting on the extant works, repeatedly stated that Chi-you was either a descendant of Yandi or a minister serving Yandi. Chi-you, who was revered by today’s southwestern minority Chinese as ancestor, was taken to be an ancestor of the Hmong-Mien and the Sinitic Chinese than the ancient Nine Yi people. This could be wrong.

The concept of Chiyou was relatively new. And when it was new, you have to look at it as either a Warring States sophistry product or a Han dynasty forgery product. The Qi3-shi1 (Xia King Qi’s divination) section of Gui-cang Yi, a divinatory book mentioned by Liu Xin to be one of three divinatory books in Zhou Guan, described Chi-you to be a monster with eight limbs and eight toes per se. Lv-shi Chun-qiu, which was commented by Liang Qichao to have the least purported tampering by the later people, talked about some comets that were called by Chi-you’s flags, something mentioned in the astrology chapter Tian-guan Shu (book of asterism) of Shi-ji. Feng-shan Shu of Shi-ji claimed that the emperor made sacrifice to ‘ba-shen’ (eight gods), and sought blessings with fairy person Xian-men-Gao. The eight gods, i.e., the non-Sinitic ‘pagan’ gods of the Eastern Yi barbarians, were Tian-zhu (heaven lord, with sacrifice at the Tian-qi [heaven equating] temple near Linzi), Di-zhu (earth lord, with sacrifice at the round-shape Liangqiu hill), Bing-zhu (war lord, i.e., Chi-you temple at Dongping), Yin-zhu (female lord at Mt. Shenshan), Yang-zhu (male lord at Chefoo), Yue-zhu (moon lord at Mt. Laishan), Ri-zhu (sun lord at Mt. Chengshan), and Sizhi-zhu (four seasons’ lord at Mt. Langya, where the ‘tai-shui’ iplanet started its journey).

In the Han dynasty, there was wide citation of a figure called Shen-nong-shi, who was equated to Yandi the Fiery Lord, with a claim of some seniority over Huangdi the Yellow Lord. After what Sima Qian called by the Shen-nong-shi dynasty failed to reign in the vassals, Huangdi (the Yellow Overlord) came to assert his power.

GUO YU used the term Jiu-li, not Chi-you, for some group of rebels who caused disturbance [in the area of making no distinction between the mundane people and the gods/ghosts] during the late Shao-hao-shi’s reign but were put under control by Lord Zhuan-xu, with the Jiu-li’s descendants being the [Jiang-surnamed] San-miao people during Lord Yao’s reign. Chi-you was seen in SHI JI, LV-SHI CHUN-QIU, YI ZHOU SHU, GUAN ZI, SHAN HAI JING, and YUE JUE SHU etc. Sima Qian could have expanded on Chi-you on basis of the record in LV-XING of SHANG SHU. YI ZHOU SHU made a sensational story about Chi-you attacking west, Yan-di failing to stop Chi-you, and Huang-di appearing on the stage to defeat both.

ZUO ZHUAN, i.e., more ancient records, merely talked about the progenitor of both the Yandi and Huangdi as someone called Shao-dian, without any reference to a mystic figure called Shen-nong or the divine farmer –a figure that could have mutated from the record on the ancient Lie-shan-shi clan which produced a son called by Zhu, i.e., the first recorded agricultural guardian of prehistoric China.

What could be inferred was that the original Nine Yi people, being not homogeneous, could have lived in the interface ground among the three main Mongoloid groups of O1, O2-, and O3-haplogroup people [plus possibly C-haplogroup Tungunsic people] . We could further deduce that as a result of the mixing-up of the Hmong-Mien people and the Tungunsic people in today’s Hebei Province and on the Shandong Peninsula, we then have the phenomenon of the later people in Manchuria, Korea and Japan sharing the same archaic traditions as recorded among the ancient Nine Yi people of the 3rd millennium B.C.E., but lacking the hallmark  ”phoenix” adoration as still exists among today’s minority people in Southwestern China –the true descendants of the Hmong-mien people.

Chi-you was a descendant of Yandi, carrying the Jiang name.

《山海经·海外西经》注《玉函山房辑佚书》:“蚩尤者,炎帝之后。”
南宋·罗泌.《路史·后纪四》:“蚩尤姜姓,炎帝后裔也。” (南宋·罗泌《路史·蚩尤传》:“蚩尤姜姓,炎帝之裔也”。)

《世本》宋衷注:“蚩尤,神农臣也。”

《黄氏逸书考》辑《遁甲开山图》:“蚩尤者,炎帝之后,与少昊治西方之金。”

裴骃《史记集解》引应劭:“蚩尤,古天子”;引《汉书音义》臣瓒引《孔子三朝记》:“蚩尤,庶人之贪者”。

Chi-you as equivalent to farming

《吕氏春秋·勿躬》:“管子复于桓公曰:垦田大邑,辟土艺粟,尽地力之利,臣不若宁遬,请置以为大田”。注:“大由,大农也”。

《韩诗外传》:“东西耕曰横,南北耕曰由”。
《管子·省官》说:“相高下,视肥墝,观地宜,明詔期,前后农夫,以时均修焉;使五谷桑麻,皆安其处,由田之事也”。(由田即农田)

杨慎《丹铅录》:“由与农通”。

Chiyou – Jiuli’s overlord

《国语·楚语》注:“九黎,蚩尤之徒。”

《左传· 定公四年》: “命以伯禽而封于少昊之墟”。 [杜预注:“少昊墟,曲阜也,在鲁城内”。]

《史記·卷001·五帝本紀》“正义”引孔安国:“九黎君号蚩尤是也。”
《战国策·秦策一》高诱注:“蚩尤,九黎民之君子也。”
《逸周書·嘗麥》:“命蚩尤於宇少昊,以臨四方。” 《逸周书·尝麦解》:“命蚩尤于宇少昊”。(《逸周书》was a forgery, just like parts of Guan-zi 《管子》 that was edited by Liu Xiang [刘向],  i.e., 16 chapters of 《管子轻重》.)

孔颖达《尚书正义》:“昔炎帝之末,有九黎之国君号蚩尤者,惟造始作乱”“九黎之君号曰蚩尤,当有旧说云然。不知出何书也。”

{郑玄云:“学蚩尤为此者,九黎之君在少昊之代也。其意以蚩尤当炎帝之末,九黎当少昊之末。九黎学蚩尤,九黎非蚩尤也。”}

Chiyou: Sanmiao being the descendants of Jiuli

《国语·楚语下》:“及少昊氏之衰也,九黎乱德。家为巫史,民神同坐,祸灾荐臻。颛顼受之,乃命南正重司天以属神,命火正黎司地以属民。使复旧常,无相侵渎,是谓绝地天通。其后三苖复九黎之德,尧复育重黎之后,不忘旧者。使复典之。”韦注:“少皡,黄帝之子金天氏也。九黎,黎氏九人,蚩尤之徒也。”“其后,高辛氏之季年。三苗,九黎之后。”

《史记·五帝本纪》郑玄注:“有苗,九黎之后,颛顼代少昊诛九黎,分流其子孙为三苗国。高辛之衰又复九黎之德,尧兴又诛之,尧未在朝,舜臣又窜之。后禹嗣位,又在洞庭逆合,禹又诛之。”

郭璞《山海经·海外南经》:“昔尧以天下让舜,三苗之君非之,帝杀之。有苗之民,叛入南海,为三苗国。”

《史记卷一•五帝本纪第一》“欢兜进言共工,尧曰不可而试之公师,共工果淫辟。四岳举鲧治鸿水,尧以为不可,岳强请试之,试之而无功,故百姓不便。三苗在江淮、荆州数为乱,于是舜归而言于帝,请流共工于幽陵,以变北狄;放欢兜于崇山,以变南蛮;迁三苗于三危,以变西戎;殛鲧于羽山,四罪而天下咸服。”

《左传·文十八年》:“缙云氏有不才子,贪于饮食,冒于贷贿,侵欲崇侈,不可盈厌,聚敛积实,不知纪报,不分孤寡,不恤贫匮。天下之民以此三凶,谓之‘饕餮’。舜臣尧,宾于四门,流四凶族浑敦、穷奇、檮机、饕餮、投谐四裔,以[]魑魅”。

Chi-you’s confrontation against Huangdi

《庄子·盗跖篇》:“且吾聞之,古者禽獸多而人少,於是民皆巢居以避之,晝拾橡栗,暮棲木上,故命之曰有巢氏之民。古者民不知衣服,夏多積薪,冬則煬之,故命之曰知生之民。神農之世,臥則居居,起則於於。民知其母,不知其父,與麋鹿共處,耕而食,織而衣,無有相害之心,此至德之隆也。然而黃帝不能致德,與蚩尤戰於涿鹿之野,流血百里。堯舜作,立羣臣,湯放其主,武王殺紂。自是之後,以強陵弱,以衆暴寡。湯武以來,皆亂人之徒也。”

《史记•五帝本纪》:“轩轩辕之时,神农氏世衰。诸侯相侵伐,暴虐百姓,而冲农氏弗能征。于是轩猿乃习用干戈,以征不享,诸侯咸来宾从。而蚩尤最为暴,莫能伐。”“蚩尤作乱,不用帝命。于是黄帝乃征师诸侯,与蚩尤战于涿鹿之野,遂擒杀蚩尤。”

桓宽《鹽鐵論·結和》:“軒轅戰涿鹿,殺兩皞、蚩尤而為帝,湯、武伐夏、商,誅桀、紂而為王。黃帝以戰成功,湯、武以伐成孝。”

南宋 罗泌《路史。蚩尤传》载:“蚩尤好兵而喜乱,逐帝而居于浊鹿。”

《通典》:“三年九战而城不下。”

张守节《史记正义》,引《龙鱼图》:“黄帝摄政,有蚩尤兄弟八十一人,并兽身人语,铜头铁额,食沙石子,造立兵仗刀戟大弩,威振天下,诛杀无道,不慈仁。万民欲令黄帝行天子事。黄帝以仁义不能禁止蚩尤,乃仰天而叹。天遣玄女下授黄帝兵信神符,制伏蚩尤。帝因使之主兵,以制八方。蚩尤没后,天下复优乱。黄帝遂画蚩尤形象以威天下。天下威谓蚩尤不死,八方万邦皆为弭服”。

《逸周书》注“蚩尤徒居于浊鹿,诸侯叛之,阪泉以亡”。(Part of《逸周书》was a forgery, just like parts of Guan-zi 《管子》 that was edited by Liu Xiang [刘向],  i.e., 16 chapters of 《管子轻重》.)

Alternative claims in regards to the Huangdi-Chiyou conflict, which gave a picture of a lenient victor hiring the defeated as a minister. (Note Han-fei-zi, Guan-zi etc were mostly likely forged books or books modified by the 1st century A.D. scholars)

《越绝书》:“炎帝有天下以传黄帝,黄帝于是上事天;下治地,故少昊治西方,蚩尤佐之,使主金。” – Yue-jue-shu, a book written in early Latter Han Dynasty by possibly someone called Wu Ping or Wu Jungao (会稽吴君高:君高之《越纽录》in 王充《论衡·按书篇》)

《管子·五行篇》:“昔者黄帝得蚩尤而明于天道,得大常而察于地利,得奢龙而辩于东方,得祝融而辩于南方,得大封而辩于西方,得后土而辩于北方。黄帝得六相而天地治、神明至。蚩尤明乎天道,故为使当时,大常察于地利,故使为禀者……” (Parts of Guan-zi 《管子》, which was edited by Liu Xiang [刘向], could be forgeries. Historian Ma Feibai rebutted the 16 chapters of 《管子轻重》 as forgeries made in Xin Dynasty.  Similarly,《 逸周书》, part of 《韩非子》 [??-233 B.C.E.] could be forgeries as well. Hence, 《韩非子·十过篇》shared the same topics as 《管子·五行篇》.  Sima Qian had the comment on the following chapters: 《史记》 “读管氏《牧民》、《山高》、《乘马》、《轻重》、《九府》,……其书世多有之”。Could someone after Sima Qian had modified the originals ?  Or could someone had inserted the said statements into Sima Qian’s 《史记》? )

《韩非子·十过篇》:“昔者黄帝使鬼于西泰山之上,驾象车而六蛟龙,毕方并辖,蚩尤居前,风伯进扫,雨师洒道,虎狼在前,鬼神在后,腾蛇伏地,凤皇覆上,大合鬼神,作为《清角》。” (See above for my claim that 《韩非子·十过篇》and 《管子·五行篇》shared the same topics.)

Comment: In Ma Feibai’s opinion, Guan-zi stole the copious contents from the “Discourse on Salt and Iron” (《鹽鐵論》) as well as stole the concise statement from Sima Qian’s Shi-ji (《史记). I will add that Guan-zi (《管子》), part of Haanfei-zi (《韩非子·十过篇》) and Yue-jue-shu (《越绝书》) had the footprint of the same person(s) .

Chi-you’s frontier speculated to be in Zhuolu, Hebei

《水经注·卷十三》:“涿水出涿鹿山,世谓之张公泉,东北流经涿鹿县故城南……〈魏土地记〉: 涿鹿城东南六里有蚩尤城。泉水渊而不流,霖雨并侧流注阪泉”。

《水經注》:“涿水出涿鹿山,东北流经涿鹿县故城南……黄帝与蚩尤战于涿鹿之野,留其民于涿鹿之阿,即于是也。其水又东北与阪泉合。……魏土地记曰:下洛泉东南六十里有涿鹿城,城东一里有阪泉……晋太康地理记曰:阪泉,亦地名也,泉水东北流与蚩尤泉会,水出蚩尤城,城无东面,魏土地记称涿鹿城东南六里有蚩尤城,泉水渊而不流,霖雨则流注阪泉……”
《晋太康地理记》:“阪泉亦地名也。泉水东北流,与蚩尤泉会,水出蚩尤城,城无东面”。

There is a chance that the Zhuolu [涿鹿] locality in Hebei coiuld be a later appropriation. The actual Zhuolu [涿鹿] could be situated in the very heartland of Sinitic China, namely, today’s Juci-shan Mountain near Yuzhou [Yuxian], Henan Province.

Chi-you as inventor of metallurgy in today’s Shanxi

《梦溪笔谈》卷三:“解州盐泽,方面二十里。久雨,四山之水,悉注其中,未尝溢;大旱未尝涸。氵卤色正赤,在版泉之下,俚俗谓之蚩尤血”。(解州:今山西运城市解州镇)

《梦溪笔谈》卷三:“解州盐泽,卤色正赤,俚俗谓之‘蚩尤血’。”

《世本·作篇》“蚩尤以金作兵。”或云:“蚩尤作五兵:戈、矛、戟、酋矛、夷予。”
《太平寰宇记·卷四六》:“蚩尤天在县南一十八里”。

《太平寰宇记·河东道七》:“蚩尤城在县南一十八里……其城今摧毁”。[故安邑 今山西运城市安邑镇]
《管子·地数篇》:“葛庐之山发而出水,金从之,蚩尤受而制之,以为剑铠矛戟,是岁相兼者诸侯九。雍狐之山发而出水,金从之,蚩尤受而制之,以为雍狐之戟芮戈,是岁相兼者诸侯二十”。

《归藏》:“蚩尤出自羊水,八肱八趾疏首。”

任昉《述异记》:“有蚩尤神,俗云:人自牛蹄,四目六手。今冀州人提掘地得髑髅如铜铁者,即蚩尤之骨也。今有蚩尤齿,长二寸,坚不可碎。秦汉间说蚩尤氏耳鬓如剑戟,头有角,与轩辕斗,以角觝人,人不能向……”

Chi-you’s tombs in Shandong

张澍 辑《十三州志》:“蚩尤肩髀冢重聚,大小与阚冢等。传言黄帝与蚩尤战,克之于涿鹿之野,身体异处,故别葬焉。”

《皇览·冢墓记》:“蚩尤冢,在东平郡寿张县阚乡城中,高七丈,民常十月祀之”。

《皇览·墓冢记》:“蚩尤冢,在东平寿张县阚乡城中,高七丈,民常十月祀之。有赤气出如匹绛帛,民名为蚩尤旗。肩髀冢在山阳郡钜野县重聚,大小与阚冢等”。[三国时之东平寿张 今山东阳谷县寿张镇。山阳钜野 今山东巨野县。 ]

《巨野县志》:“蚩尤墓,在巨野县城东北八里。”

Chiyou worshipped as a god


《史记·封禅书》: “三曰兵主,祠蚩尤。蚩尤在东平陆监乡,齐之西境也”。

《史記·卷028·封禪書》:“于是始皇遂东游海上,行礼祠名山大川及八神,求仙人羨门之属。八神将自古而有之,或曰太公以来作之。齐所以为齐,以天齐也。其祀绝莫知起时。八神:一曰天主,祠天齐。天齐渊水,居临菑南郊山下者。二曰地主,祠泰山梁父。盖天好阴,祠之必于高山之下,小山之上,命曰“畤”;地贵阳,祭之必于泽中圜丘云。三曰兵主,祠蚩尤。蚩尤在东平陆监乡,齐之西境也。……”
《史记》: 刘邦“祠黄帝,祭蚩尤于沛庭”。 (秦时沛县,今江苏徐州市沛县。)

《史記·卷028·封禪書》:“高祖初起,祷丰枌榆社。徇沛,为沛公,则祠蚩尤,衅鼓旗。遂以十月至灞上,与诸侯平咸阳,立为汉王。因以十月为年首,而色上赤。”

《汉书·地理志》东郡寿良:“蚩尤祠在西北(涑)上,有朐城”。

《後漢書·馬延傳》:“延將兵衛護南單于,敕延過武庫,祭蚩尤,帝親御阿閣,觀其士眾。”

《宋史·禮制》:“軍前大旗曰牙,師出必祭,謂之禡。後魏出師,又建纛頭旗上。太宗徵河東,出京前一日,遣右贊善大夫潘慎修出郊,用少牢一祭蚩尤,禡祭。”

梁·任昉《述异志》:“蚩尤能作云雾。涿鹿今在冀州,有蚩尤神……秦汉间说:蚩尤氏耳鬓如剑戟,头有角,与轩辕氏斗,以角抵人,人不能向。今冀州有乐名《蚩尤戏》,其民两两三三,头戴牛角而相抵。”“太原村落间,祭蚩尤神。”“汉武时,太原有蚩尤神昼见……逐为立祠。”

《述异记·卷上》云:“太原村落间祭蚩尤神,不用牛头”。“汉武时,太原有蚩尤神昼见……其俗遂为立祠”。“今冀州有乐名蚩尤戏,其民两两三三,头载牛角而相。汉造角戏,盖其遗制也”。[秦汉置太原郡,属并州,首县晋阳,今山西太原市。]

Chi-you’s direct descendants


《史记·本周纪》周武王“追思先圣王,乃褒封神农之后于焦”。
裴骃《史记集解》:“《地理志》弘农陕县有焦城,故焦国也”。(《汉书·地理志》弘农郡,今河南灵宝。
《地理志》弘农郡“有铁官,在黾池” (池今渑池县)

邓名世《古今姓氏辩证》(卷十九):“谨按《壬子年拾遗记》曰:‘帝喾妃邹屠氏之地’。轩辕去蚩尤之凶,迁其民善者于邹屠之地,恶者于有北之乡。其先以地命族,后分邹氏、屠氏。”

郑樵《通志略》卷二《氏族二》:“黎氏,字亦作犁,子姓侯爵,商时诸侯。《风俗通》云:‘九黎之后’。《尚书》:‘西伯戡黎’。亦见《毛诗》。今潞州黎城县有黎侯故城,是其地……今岭南多此姓。”

《古今姓氏辩证》引《元和姓篡》:“蚩”姓,“蚩尤之后,以国为氏”。

罗泌《路史·蚩尤传》:中原地区“后有蚩尤”。

王嘉《拾遗记》:“轩辕去蚩尤之凶,迁其民善者于邹屠之地,迁恶者于有北之乡。其先以地命族,后分为邹氏屠氏”。

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