4 Yan Di & Huang Di (di meant king)

Founders of a Unified Nation of China

Chinese people always paid a warm tribute to Yan Di and Huang Di, and called themselves as “the descendants of Yan & Huang”. The two kings were actually the leaders of two primitive tribes.

Yan Di was also named Shen Nong Shi, meaning God of Agriculture. His tribe lived in the area of Henan Province, Central China. He initiated to instruct people to grow crops and use herbs to cure diseases. There was a traditional saying “Shen Nong tasted hundred species of plants to discover herb medicine”. Yan Di wasn’t one person, but a leader’s title. Yan Di had passed down 8 generations and the tribe was later conquered by Huang Di. The two tribes then merged into a bigger community.

Huang Di was also named Xuan Yuan Shi, meaning God House & Wheel. He instructed people to built house and carriage. His tribe formerly stayed in Shaanxi Province, and his historical achievement was that he had for the first time made China a bigger united nation. After he merged Yan Di’s tribe, another powerful tribe with its leader named Chi You rose up in Shandong Province. The decisive war between Huang Di and Chi You was an important event in Chinese primitive history. The legendary battle was described all fiercely and mythically. Both sides had their special troops consisted of tigers, leopards, bears, as well as supported by Gods of Thunder, Wind and Fire. Huang Di’s troops had once been encircled in a large and deep forest and lost their way out. But he had his unique weapon “compass”, with which his troops broke out enemy’s encirclement and launched a surprising counterattack. The war ended up with Chi You’s defeat.

China boasted to have an earliest medicine book Huang Di Nei Jing or Yellow Emperor Inner Canon. Its original version was believed to have been burned out by Qin Shi Huang (see piece 23), and some Taoists in Han Dynasty had rewrote it. The new book had succeeded Huang Di’s most important concepts, such as “interaction between human and universe”, “Balance of Yin and Yang”, etc.