Shennong

Shennong , also known as the Yan Emperor or the Emperor of the Five Grains , is a legendary and culture hero of Chinese mythology who is believed to have lived some 5,000 years ago, and taught ancient China the practices of agriculture. Appropriately, his name means "''the Divine Farmer''". Considered to be the father of Chinese agriculture, this legendary emperor taught his people how to cultivate grains as food, so as to avoid killing animals.

He is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medical value. The most well-known work attributed to Shennong is the ''The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic'' – first compiled some time during the end of the Western Han Dynasty, several thousand years after Shennong existed – which lists the various medical herbs such as reishi which were discovered by Shennong and given grade and rarity ratings. This work is considered to be the earliest Chinese pharmacopoeia. It includes 365 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals. Shennong is credited with identifying hundreds of medical herbs by personally testing their properties, which was crucial to the development of Traditional Chinese medicine. Legend has it that Shennong had a transparent body and thus could see the effects of different plants and herbs on himself. Tea, which acts as an antidote against the poisonous effects of some seventy herbs, is also said to be his discovery. Chinese legend places this discovery in 2737 B.C., according to which Shennong first tasted tea from tea leaves on burning tea twigs, which were carried up from the fire by the hot air, and landed in his cauldron of boiling water. Shennong is venerated as the Father of Chinese medicine. He is also believed to have introduced the technique of acupuncture.

A close kinsman of the Yellow Emperor, he is said to be a patriarch of the Chinese. The Han Chinese regarded them both as their joint ancestors. He is also considered one of the ancestors of the Vietnamese people. He was deified as one of the for his contributions to mankind.

Shennong is said to have played a part in the creation of the Guqin, together with Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor.

Scholarly works mention that the paternal family of famous Song Dynasty General Yue Fei traced their origins back to Shennong.