Jiandi

Background

Jiandi was the elder of two daughters of a chieftain of the Yousong tribe, located in the region of present-day Shanxi Province. There is no exact information about the date of her birth.

Career

Jiandi was is an important figure in Chinese history and in Chinese mythology who was the wife of Emperor Ku. Jiandi passed on to her young son Xie her knowledge of managing affairs and maintaining order. Thanks to that Xie became great Chinese nobleman who was consequently appointed as situ, a post described in later dynasties as Minister of Education, by Shun, the legendary sage monarch of ancient China.

Achievements

• Jiandi was known as one of the most outstanding characters of Chinese history and mythology.
  
  Jiandi is also credited with having founded the ancient Chinese school of music, the oldest of the four schools: the Northern, the Southern, the Eastern, and the Western.

Personality

Jiandi is said to have been skilled at managing human affairs, to have taken pleasure in being kind to others, and to have had an understanding of astronomy. Jiandi enjoyed playing musical instruments at mealtimes.

Connections

Jiandi was the wife of Emperor Ku and had a son Xie.

According to a legend Jiandi went to the river with two other young women to bathe and they saw a dark bird or a swallow drop two eggs. Jiandi swallowed one of the eggs, became pregnant, and gave birth to Xie. Thus Xie’s was considered to have been a divine conception. This legend of the origin of the Shang dynasty is also referred to in a poem preserved in The Book of Songs (Shi jing).

husband:

Dì Kù

Emperor Ku was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. He is considered the ancestor of the ruling families of certain subsequent dynasties.

Son:

Xie of Shang

Xie was an ancient Chinese nobleman, an ancestor of the kings of the Shang dynasty. He is the first known Shang ancestor.

References

• The Position of Woman in Early China According to the Lieh Nu Chuan, The Biographies of Chinese Women.
  1971
• Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. - 618 C.E This new volume of the "Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women" spans more than 2,000 years from antiquity to the early seventh century. It recovers the stories of more than 200 women, nearly all of them unknown in the West.
  1998
• The Chinese Classics Volume V: The Ch'un Ts'ew with the Tso Chuen
  1970