Fu Xi

In Chinese mythology, Fu Xi or Fu Hsi (; aka Paoxi , mid 2800s BCE, was the first of the mythical of ancient China. He is a culture hero reputed to be the inventor of writing, fishing, and .

Biography

Fu Xi was born on the lower-middle reaches of the Yellow River in a place called Chengji .

According to legend the land was swept by a great flood and only Fuxi and his sister Nüwa survived. They retired to Kunlun Mountain where they prayed for a sign from the Emperor of Heaven. The divine being approved their union and the siblings set about procreating the human race. It was said that in order to speed up the procreation of humans, Fu Xi and Nüwa find an additional way by using clay to create human figures, and with the power divine being entrusted to them, they made the clay figures to come alive. Fu Xi then came to rule over his descendents although reports of his long reign vary between sources from 115 years to 116 years .

He lived for 197 years altogether and died at a place called where his mausoleum can still be found.

Social importance

During the time of his predecessor Nüwa , society was matriarchal and primitive. Childbirth was seen to be miraculous not requiring the participation of the male and children only knew their mothers. As the reproductive process became better understood ancient Chinese society moved towards a patriarchal system and Fu Xi assumed primary importance.



Fu Hsi taught his subjects to cook, to fish with nets, and to hunt with weapons made of iron. He instituted marriage and offered the first open air sacrifices to heaven. A stone tablet, dated 160 AD shows Fu Hsi with Nüwa.

Traditionally, Fu Hsi is considered the originator of the ''I Ching'' , which work is attributed to his reading of the ''He Map'' . According to this tradition, Fu Hsi had the arrangement of the of the ''I Ching'' revealed to him supernaturally. This arrangement precedes the compilation of the ''I Ching'' during the . Fu Hsi is said to have discovered the arrangement in markings on the back of a mythical dragon-horse that emerged from the river Luo. This discovery is also said to have been the origin of calligraphy.

Fu Hsi is also credited with the invention of the Guqin, together with Shennong and Huang Di.

Contemporary references to Fu Xi

*Fu Xi made an appearance in the second part of Hong Kong television series My Date with a Vampire 3. In it, he is also called Ren Wang, or the King of Humanity, with a magical bow and arrow as his weapons. He was sent down from heaven and it is on him whom Nüwa based her creation, humanity. Within the show Nüwa and Fuxi are not married.

*Fu Xi and his wife/sister Nüwa appear as unlockable characters in the video game Dynasty Warriors 3. Both were portrayed to be disguising as simple humans, but they later return in the sequel of , where they received a design closer to deities.

*Fu Xi is featured in the "Conversation on Information Technology over 5000 Years" sculptural panels at the Norwalk Community College Center for Information Technology, near New Haven, Connecticut. They were sculpted by the facility's architect, Barry Svigals.

*He appears on a rather strange mural on a wall in Peterborough.

*In manga Hoshin Engi, he is referenced as Fukki, one of the important characters to appear near the end of the storyline.

Sources, references, external links, quotations

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