Jiang Yuan

Background

Jiang Yuan is described variously as a daughter of Tai Shi (clan head of the Tai, who lived in present-day Shaanxi Province), a daughter of the Marquis of Tai (Tai Hou), and a daughter of the Youlu clan. There is no exact information about the date and the place of her birth.

Career

Jiang Yuan was said historically to have been a consort of Emperor Ku. However, there is a legend connected with her son Hou Ji. According to the legend Jiang Yuan's pregnancy occurred after she stepped on a giant footprint left by the supreme deity Shangdi.

As the woman who gave birth to a child not sired by a husband, Jiang Yuan mythologically became the ultimate human ancestor of the series of emperors known as the Zhou dynasty, the era when Chinese history as it is known truly commenced.

Achievements

• Jiang Yuan was known as one of the most outstanding characters of Chinese mythology. In Chinese popular religion, Jiang Yuan is worshiped as a goddess.

Personality

Jiang Yuan is invariably described as being of a mild and tranquil disposition, a docile woman who taught her son well. The ode "Giving Birth to the People" (Sheng min), which preserved in The Book of Songs, has a description of Jiang Yuan's initial attempts to abandon her son Hou Ji.

Connections

Jiang Yuan was the primary wife of god-king Di Ku and mother of Hou Ji (Qi), who is a culture hero and revered as the God of Millet.

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:

Hou Ji

Hou Ji was a legendary Chinese culture hero credited with introducing millet to humanity during the time of the Xia dynasty.

References

• The Position of Woman in Early China According to the Lieh Nu Chuan, The Biographies of Chinese Women.
  1971
• The Book of Songs
  1937
• 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