According to legend, his mother's name is Hua Xushi, and she is a very beautiful woman. One day, she went to Leize for an outing and found a big footprint on the road. Out of curiosity, she put her foot on the big footprint, and now she feels entangled in a snake, so she is pregnant. Surprisingly, this pregnancy has been 12 years. Then I gave birth to a baby with a head and a snake body. This is Fuxi. To commemorate the birth of Fuxi, the local people changed the place name to Ji Cheng, because in ancient times, people regarded twelve years as a century. According to historians, ancient Ji Cheng is today's Tianshui. Hanshu said: "Ji Cheng belongs to Hanyang County, and Hanyang County also belongs to Tianshui County. The place where the ancient emperor Fu was born. Therefore, Tianshui has always been called "the hometown of Huang Xi".
According to legends and historical records, as the ancestor of human civilization, Fuxi's main achievements are as follows: First, he taught people to make nets for fishing and hunting, which greatly improved human productivity at that time. At the same time, teaching people to domesticate wild animals is the origin of domestic animals. Second, change the marriage custom, advocate the marriage custom etiquette that men hire women to marry, and change the consanguineous marriage to the marriage outside the family, ending the primitive group marriage state that children only know their father for a long time. Third, the original book contract is used to take notes, replacing the backward form of knotting notes in the past. Invent pottery, harp and other musical instruments, create music and ballads, bring music into people's lives, and help people "cultivate self-cultivation and rationality, and be innocent". Fifth, divide and rule its ruling areas, appoint officials to manage the society, and provide reference for future generations to manage the society. Sixth, create an ancient calendar.
However, Fuxi's greatest achievement is to create gossip.
In the west of Weinan Township, Maiji District of Tianshui (formerly known as Beidao District), there is a Guatai Mountain, which is said to be the place where Fuxi painted gossip. Legend has it that in the ancient times when Fuxi lived, people knew nothing about nature. When it rains, it is windy, lightning and thunder, and people are both afraid and confused. Fu, who is naturally intelligent, wants to make all this clear, so he often stands on Guatai Mountain, looking up at the sun, moon and stars in the sky, overlooking the surrounding terrain, and sometimes studying the footprints and patterns of birds and animals.
One day, he came to Guatai Mountain again, thinking hard about the phenomenon he had observed for a long time. Suddenly, he heard a strange cry and saw a dragon horse jump out of the cave opposite Guatai Mountain. It is called a dragon horse because this animal has a dragon head with a strange pattern on it. The dragon horse jumped onto a big stone in the Weishui River at the foot of Guatai Mountain. This Tai Chi-like stone, combined with the design of the dragon horse, suddenly made Fuxi realize something, so he drew gossip.
Later, the cave that jumped out of Longma was called Longma Cave, and the big stone in Weishui River was called distraction stone. Now go to Guatai Mountain, and you can still see these places. In addition, there are remains of stone troughs and stone beds in Malone Cave.
As for the desirability of gossip, it lies in its profound cultural connotation. Fuxi culture characterized by it still attracts countless scholars at home and abroad to explore and study. Moreover, many contemporary disciplines are also deeply influenced by it and get inspiration from it. It is said that Leibniz, a great German mathematician, invented binary system, which was also inspired by gossip.
It is possible that Mi, Dong, Bao, Fu, that is, the emperor, Huang and Tai Hao are all tribal leaders from Fu. They live in different times, but they have the same status, and they can all be called "Fuxi" (because they all come from Fu tribes). [Edit this paragraph] Views on Fuxi Legend
First, Fuxi in ancient books and records
There are many ways to write Fuxi's name in ancient books. In addition to Fuxi (Zhuangzi's human life), there are Fuxi (Zhuangzi's great master), Fuxi (Fa Yan Wen), Baoxi (once) and Fuxi. A noteworthy problem is that compared with the ancestors of the Chinese nation such as the Yellow Emperor, Fu appeared later in ancient books. Among the ancient books before the mid-Warring States period, The Analects of Confucius, Mozi, Zuo Zhuan, Guoyu and Mencius made no mention of Fuxi. Even in Shan Hai Jing, which records many mythical figures and ancient emperors, there is still no place for Fuxi.
The earliest record of Fuxi was Zhuangzi in the middle and late Warring States period, but Zhuangzi, which wrote more than 10,000 words, generally told fables. What Fuxi said is also empty and real, and god is also human. Most of them use names to set up a metaphor, which is not a history of faith in terms of image. There are five records about Fuxi in Zhuangzi, two of which are from Neipian and three from Waipian. In Inner Chapter and Outer Chapter, Fuxi's ranking among ancient emperors is different. Zhuangzi Human Life, which belongs to the Inner Chapter, said: "It is the change of all things. Yu and Shun should be in the new place of all things, and they will end up doing what they did, but the situation has dispersed!" Zhuangzi listed Fuxi after Yu Shun here. Master Zhuangzi: "The way of husband, love and faith, inaction and invisibility ... Wei wins the world;" Fu's family used it to attack Mother Earth. If you fight for it, you will not die; The sun and the moon will last forever; As bad as attacking Kunlun; Feng Yi got it to travel to Dachuan; I carry it on my shoulders, I am in the mountains; The Yellow Emperor ascended to heaven; Zhuan Xu got it from the Xuan Palace. " What is said here is intangible and has unlimited functions. Webster rectified heaven and earth with Tao, and Fu reconciled his vitality with Tao. This period is very chaotic, and the stars and the moon are mixed. Many annotators of Zhuangzi are suspected by later generations. I don't think it is necessary to call it a supplement for later generations, but at least it shows that Fuxi has not changed from myth to ancestor here.
The academic circle of Zhuangzi has always believed that it was the harvest of Zhuangzi's post-school study at the end of the Warring States Period or during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and it was not written by Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi: "I don't know the world of supreme virtue? In the past, there were Rong, Da, Bo Huangshi, Zhong, Shi, Xu Lishi, Xuanyuanshi, Xushi He, Zunlu Stone, Zhu Rong Stone, Fu and Shennong. When the time came, the people tied the rope and used it. They enjoy their food, exquisite service, their customs, live in peace and face to face in neighboring countries. Fuxi ranks behind Xuanyuan Huangdi and before Shennong. " "Zhuangzi Xing Shan": "Grasping the decline of morality is the first thing in the world, so it is different; Moral decline, Shennong Huangdi began to be the world, so it was not smooth. "Zhuangzi Tian Zifang": "The real person in ancient times, the knower can't say, the beauty can't abuse, the thief can't steal, and the drama can't be friends with the Yellow Emperor. "In these two paragraphs, Fuxi's ranking among ancient emperors is quite close to that listed by later generations.
In Zhuangzi, there are three ways to write Fuxi's name, either Fuxi, Fu Yao or Fuxi, which are not consistent. Identity confusion, or people or gods; In ancient emperors, the order was uncertain, or after Yu, Shun and Huangdi, or before them, their status gradually rose. This shows that in the period of Zhuangzi, Fuxi was still in the legendary period and in the process of creation, and he was an uncertain and unformed figure.
The ancient books after Zhuangzi, such as Guanzi, Xunzi and Shangjunshu, recorded Fuxi, either imported from Zhuangzi or mixed in Qin and Han Dynasties. The Book of Changes was written by Confucius, but most of it was written by people in Qin and Han Dynasties. "Under Cohesion" recorded Fuxi's greatest achievement: "The ancients were the kings of xi family, looking up at the sky and looking down at the ground. Observing the suitability of bird and beast culture and land, and adopting the attitude of being close to all flesh and away from all things, I started gossip to communicate the virtue of the gods and the feelings of all things. Tie a knot and a net, use tenancy to fish and cover up the separation. Bao's family didn't do it, Shen Nong's family did it, ... Shen Nong's family didn't do it, Huang Di Yao Shun's family did it, the people were tired of it, and God was suitable for the people. " This passage has a great influence, but the narrative of Fuxi's achievements is so comprehensive and systematic that it will not be earlier than Zhuangzi from the Qin and Han Dynasties.
Historical Records began in Huangdi, not for Fuxi. There are two places in Fuxi, both of which were quoted by predecessors. Taishi Gongxu: "The ancients said:' Fuxi is pure and honest, which is easy to gossip'." Guan Zhongyan was quoted in Hechan: "In the past, there was no Huai family to seal Mount Tai, so Zen did;" About Xi Feng Taishan, Zen Yun Yun; Shennongfeng Taishan, Zen Yun Yun; The Yellow Emperor sealed the Mount Tai Zen Cloud. " Sima Qian's history is rigorous, because there were many mistakes in Fuxi's legend at that time, which was difficult to identify. Although he didn't deny it, he remembered it suspiciously.
Han Shu by Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty broke through the boundaries of historical records and pushed the ancient emperors from Huangdi to Fuxi. At this point, Fuxi began to be an official. "Han Shu" quoted Liu Xin's "World Classic" and said: "Sacrificing heaven is king, and it is the first of a hundred kings. The first virtue began with wood, so the emperor was Tai Hao. " (See the analysis below for details. ) In the history of Han Dynasty, Fuxi was the first narrative and Yanhuang was the second narrative. Taking Fuxi as the historical source, Fu is considered as the "queen of heaven", so he is the first of the hundred kings, and Yanhuang is the king after Fuxi. "White Tiger Yi Tong" said: "What is Huang San? Fuxi, Nuwa, Shennong also. " Pushed Fuxi to the position of being the first in Huang San and the head of a hundred kings.
The Imperial Century written by Huangfu Mi in Jin Dynasty is a historical book of the imperial lineage, times and deeds, which began in Huang San and ended in Han and Wei Dynasties. The first person to list Fuxi was Huang San, who said that Fuxi's achievements were "being king with the sky", "writing eight diagrams", "writing a book contract", "thirty-six strings on the harp", "making a wedding" and "offering sacrifices to the stove". We have noticed that Huangfu Mi said, "Nu Wa's ... sacrificial system. Nu Wa's, followed by Da Ding, Huang Bai, Zhong You, Lu Li, Leo Lee, Xushi He, Zunlu, Hunhun, Hao Ying, Youchao, Zhu Xiang, Ge, Kang Yin and Wu Huai, all of whom attacked Dong Xi's name in the15th century. On the one hand, he regarded Fuxi as an ancient emperor, and on the other hand, he included all the names mentioned in Zhuangzi in Fuxi's name. "They are all sacrificial names", in fact, he regarded Fuxi as an era. In this way, Fuxi's brilliant achievements may not be created by one person. (Note: Because hieroglyphics appeared in the Bronze Stone Age, the creator was Cang Xie, the assistant of Emperor Xuanyuan, so Fuxi's statement of "writing a book" in the early Neolithic period was not established. )
Later, Tang Gaozu's Imperial edict on the History of the Six Dynasties and Emperor Taizong's Imperial edict on the Book of Jin regarded Fuxi as the pioneer of Chinese culture. The so-called "Fuxi came down to earth, because of Qin Si, the two Han dynasties succeeded to the throne, and the three countries were born together, ending in the Jin and Song Dynasties." During the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, Sima Zhen supplemented the Historical Records with Biography of Huang San, which summarized and supplemented the previous literature about Fuxi and became a relatively complete historical biography. At this point, Fuxi's historical process in ancient historical books has been completed.
Generally speaking, in the handed down literature, the records about Fuxi began to appear in Zhuangzi after the middle and late Warring States period, and gradually entered the official history. Fuxi was not seen in ancient books before the Spring and Autumn Period. From the Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties, the later the times, the more detailed the records about Fuxi, the more outstanding his achievements and the higher his position in the lineage of ancient emperors. This shows that in the ancient books handed down from ancient times, Fuxi experienced an evolutionary process from scratch, from god to emperor, from disorder to system.
Second, Fuxi, the creator of primitive myth.
Tracing back to the source of Fuxi legend, there are two paths, besides looking for its trace from the ancient handed down literature mentioned above, there is also a path, that is, myth and folklore.
The most authoritative textual research on Fuxi by neighbors is Fuxi Kao written by Wen Yiduo, a senior scholar [1]. In the first half of this paper, Wen Yiduo collected a large number of dragon and snake records from handed down documents, and together with the bricks and stones of Han Dynasty portraits found at that time, it proved that Fuxi was a dragon totem; In the second half, the ethnic minorities in southwest China collected nearly 50 stories and folk information about the marriage of Fuxi Nuwa's brother and sister after the flood, and made phonetic exegesis on them, which proved that Fuxi was the ancestor of Miao and Manchu in the south. This article was widely quoted in the next half century and became a difficult theory. However, some people have been skeptical recently. Lin Sheng believes that the legend of Fuxi was not introduced by the descendants of the ancient Miao nationality. The legend of brother and sister getting married after the flood of southern minorities originated from Pangu recorded in Ying Shao's Custom Yi Tong in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Fuxi and Nu Wa were not related to each other, and they became a family after Tang Kaiyuan [2]. Chang Jincang believes that Wen Yiduo started his argument from the political purpose of "uniting the Chinese nation to defend against the enemy" during the Anti-Japanese War, replacing academics with politics and attaching folklore to western totem theory and anthropological theory. There is no good basis for the creation of Fuxi Nuwa [3]. Both of them questioned Fuxi's identity as the creator and ancestor of the southern nationalities.
On the balance of heaven: "The proponent of Yi said:' The vitality is not divided, and chaos is one. Shuowen explains "one" and says: "It begins with Tai Chi and the Tao stands in one. Create a world and turn it into everything. " Liezi Tian Rui: "If the husband is tangible and he is born invisible, then the world will be safe." ? So, it's too easy, too early, too early, and Tai Su. Too easy, no gas; Too early, the beginning of qi is also; The beginning is the beginning of form; Tai Su is the beginning of quality. The air quality is not divided, so it is called turbidity. Muddy people say that everything is muddy and there is no separation. If you can't see, hear or keep up, it will be easy. "Without gas, it is too easy. The gas starts too early, the shape starts too early, and the quality begins with Tai Su. The state in which qi, shape and quality are integrated without separation is called chaos. This chaotic thing is vitality, and the inseparable state of vitality is Taiji.
The so-called "Taiyi" of Taiyi holy water, the so-called "Tao" of Laozi and the so-called "Taiji" of Zhouyi are all chaotic and invisible vitality at the beginning of the universe. Huainanzi Astronomy: "The universe is full of vitality." Huainanzi Yan Quan: "The point is the same as heaven and earth, chaotic and simple. Anyone who does not build it is called Taiyi. " Henkel seduced: "Taiyi, Yuan God is the master of all things." The "Yuan God" of all things should be Fuxi.
According to textual research and exegesis, Fuxi is "vitality" and its original meaning is "four qi". Shuo Wen Jie Zi interprets "Fu" as: "Fu, Ye Si, from man to dog. Minister Xuan and others said, "I will wait for you today." Paragraph note: "Those in charge are also in charge of foreign affairs. This is what the secretary said. All departments should be dedicated to it, and waiting means service, extending to collapse. "Xi" and "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" are both interpreted as: "Zhe, Qi Ye. From Xi, the voice of justice. The meaning of "Xi" can be found in the word "Xi". Shuowen Jiezi explains: "Xi is also recorded in writing. Starting from 8, the more elephants lose. " He also interpreted "loss" as: "loss is also like venting gas, from beginning to end. "One of them is flat, too." The original meaning of the word "Xi" is that the breath is slowly prolonged and weak (so it is often used as a modal particle to express the tone at the end of the language). Therefore, the origin of the word "Xi" is "Qi", and the pronunciation of the word "Xi" is also like the sound of blowing, so Duan Yucai noted "Xi" as "boasting" from the sound training. As for Fuxi, it is also written as "Fuxi" and "Fuxi", which are the evolution of the word "xi".
"Taiyi" and "Taiji" are forms of "chaos", and the universe originated from chaos. Similarly, Fuxi also originated from "chaos", and its prototype was also the initial chaotic qi.
In the creation myth recorded in the above-mentioned Chu silk book, Fuxi was born in chaos. Moreover, the creation process of the universe described in Huai Nan Zi Spirit is quite similar to that described in Chu Silk Book: "In ancient times, there was no heaven and earth, only invisible, intangible, boundless and indifferent, and HarmonyOS was flooded with holes, without knowing its door. I'm a fool, and I've been camping every day, and I don't know the end of the hole, and I don't know the end of it. Therefore, it is different from yin and yang, divided into eight poles, rigid and soft, and everything is shaped. " The world begins with a mass of chaotic qi, then divides into yin and yang, and everything changes. Compared with the Jia piece of Chu bamboo slips, the "Er Shen" here refers to Fuxi and Nuwa. Fuxi and Nuwa are Er Shen of Yin and Yang. From a philosophical point of view, it is both yin and yang; From a mythical point of view, it is Fuxi and Nu Wa Er Shen. In the murals and portraits of Han tombs, Fuxi holds the sun or sundial to represent Yang. Nu Wa holds the moon or the moon moment, representing Yin. Fuxi married Nu Wa and gave birth to four children before she had everything, which was the beginning of the transformation of Yin and Yang into everything.
In primitive myths and folklore, this pre-creation chaotic body is vividly represented as a gourd. The creation process from chaos to the world is vividly described as a gourd cut from the center. The so-called division between heaven and earth, the separation of yin and yang. There is a record of "people's livelihood" in the Book of Songs, which is the earliest example in ancient literature to trace the origin of people to gourd melons. Then, in folk mythology, a lot of stories about flood ark are derived from the motif of gourd anatomy. As a container, the gourd became a symbol of human regeneration, and then it was personified as Pangu and Fuxi.
The earliest written record of Pangu myth is the Journal of March 5th written by Xú Zhēng, a native of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. This book has been lost, and the second volume of "Taiping Yulan" quoted one sentence: "The world is like a chicken, and Pangu was born in it. Eight thousand years old, heaven and earth open, sunny for the sky, cloudy for the ground. Pangu is among them, changing nine times a day. God is in heaven and saint is on earth. The sky is ten feet high, the earth is ten feet thick and Pangu is ten feet long. So eight thousand years old, the number of days is extremely high, the number of places is extremely deep, and Pangu is extremely long. Then there is Huang San. " Legend has it that Pangu created the world and was a great creator. Regarding the relationship between Pangu and Fuxi, many scholars have concluded that Pangu is Fuxi, and both of them come from gourd (chaos). 194 1 year, Chang said in the article "Study on the Portrait of the sarcophagus Unearthed in Shapingba": "Fuxi was a famous man, and there was no written book in ancient times, or he could pretend to be a play, a sacrifice, a sacrifice. Fuxi and Pan Hu are disyllabic. Fuxi, Xixi, Pangu, Xian, and Yin Xun can pass, almost in one word. " He also combined the theory of "Wu Chu said that Pangu couple is the beginning of Yin and Yang" in Yi Shu Ji, and came to the conclusion that Pangu couple is the Fu couple whose brothers and sisters married and gave birth to human beings. Fuxi Nuwa in Han Dynasty stone relief is a snake, similar to Pangu's snake, which further proves that Pangu is Fuxi Xishi. [6] Wen Duo pointed out in "Fuxi and Hulu", the fifth part of Fuxi Kao, that Pan Hu and Fuxi are homonyms, Fuxi and Pangu are both born of Hulu, or Fuxi and Pangu are anthropomorphic Hulu. Fuxi thus became the ancestor of mankind.
From the phonological point of view, "chaos" is related to "gourd", which is also called "chaos" and changed into "gourd" in slang. In the fourth episode of A Dream of Red Mansions, the Hulu monk sentenced the Hulu case, meaning "confused monk" to "confused case". Wen Yiduo verified that Hulu means Pangu (Zan), and Pangu and Fuxi are combined into one, so Pangu is also Fuxi. In this way, the transformation and evolution path of "Chaos-Hulu-Pan Hu-Pangu-Fuxi" is very clear.
As can be seen from the above, Fuxi's prototype is the original image and concept of the universe. With the evolution of civilization, people are thinking and exploring history more and more deeply, which is the fundamental explanation of the facts of civilization. The exploration of the origin of the world was only an idea at first, and it first existed in the form of myth. Mythical thinking is an inevitable initial stage in the development of human thinking, which disappears in philosophy and history with the development of human thinking. First ask how the universe originated, then imagine a God of Creation, and then imagine this God of Creation as his own ancestor. The appearance of Fuxi's image is such a process of philosophizing and conceptualizing myths and legends and historizing this legend and concept.
Third, Taihao Fuxi also said
-and its position in the ancient imperial system.
I said that Fuxi was the creator of ancient times, and he may not really exist in history. So how did he enter history, be included in the lineage of ancient emperors, and be promoted to be "the first in Huang San" and "the first among hundreds of kings"? This will start with the identity theory of Fu, Tai Hao and Tai Hao.
In the reliable pre-Qin ancient books, Tai Hao said nothing about Fuxi, and Fuxi said nothing about Tai Hao. Tai Hao has nothing to do with Fuxi. Xunzi was born at the end of the Warring States Period. He mentioned "Tai Hao" in Zheng Lun and "Fuxi" in Xiangcheng. Two * * * read a book, but they are not one.
Tai Hao, or "Teti" in ancient books, is the ancestor and leader of the ancient Dongyi tribe. Dongyi is a tribe that can compete with China in the Central Plains in ancient times. Frequent contacts with China created a splendid culture of Yin and Shang. In this regard, the academic community has no doubt. The birthplace of Dongyi tribe is in the eastern part of Henan, Shandong and Anhui. "Seventeen Years of Zuo Zhuan Gong" contains: "Chen, the sky is too far away." Chen is now in Huaiyang, Henan, and Huaiyang is now in Tai Hao's tomb. After the Zhou Dynasty, his descendants gradually moved eastward, and Zuo Zhuan Xi Gong Twenty-one Years: "Ren, Su, Xu, Zhuan Xu, Feng also. It is necessary to offer the sacrifice of Yitai, supplemented by summer. " It was not until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period that the branch of Dongyi was gradually annexed by Lu, Qi, Yue and other countries and merged into China. "Biography of the Eastern Han Dynasty": "Qin merged with six countries, and its Huai and scattered into civilian households." In other words, the Dongyi branch no longer exists as an independent entity at this time, but has become the "editor" of the Chinese nation, integrated with China and became the main part of the Chinese nation. With the blending of China and Yi, the ancestors and leaders of Dongyi, such as Tai Hao, were also included in the sequence of ancient emperors in China.
In reliable historical records, the earliest combination of Tai Hao and Fuxi was Liu Xin's Classic of the World at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Xin and his father, Liu Xiang, were both scholars in the Western Han Dynasty, and they were both pioneers of the School of Classical Chinese Classics. The book of the world is contained in Hanshu Law and Discipline. In the Classic of the World, Liu Xin, starting from the political needs in the late Western Han Dynasty, broke through the traditional system in which the Yellow Emperor was the head of emperors in all previous dynasties, and placed Fuxi and Tai Hao on an equal footing, and Emperor Yan and Shennong on an equal footing, and established a new pedigree of ancient emperors.
The establishment of ancient imperial lineage began in the Warring States period. During the Warring States Period, Zou Yan, a Yin-Yang family, explained the regime change according to the Five Elements Theory, and the five elements of earth, wood, gold, fire and water prevailed. This is the so-called "the theory of the end of five virtues". "Historical Records Almanac": "Zou Yan was unique at that time. It was clearly stated in the biography of Wude, but the news was distributed to the princes." Since then, people have taken this theory as the legal basis for establishing a dynasty. According to Zou Yan's theory that "the five virtues begin with the end", both Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals and Historical Records of Guan Chan infer the change of dynasties in this way: Huangdi got the virtue of soil, wood, gold, fire and water. However, there are some problems in this deduction sequence in Han Dynasty: First, from the perspective of the ancient imperial lineage constructed by Zou Yan, only the four generations of Huangdi, Yu Xia, Shang Tang and Zhou Dynasty are described. Later, until the Western Han Dynasty, people's concept of ancient history had changed greatly. They think that there are ancient emperors above the Yellow Emperor, such as Fu, Shen Nong and He. Three generations ago, "Huang San" and "Five Emperors" were established in turn. Lv Chunqiu Yingtong and Shi Ji Feng Chan Shu only describe the four generations since the Yellow Emperor, but fail to cover all of them, so they need to be deduced upwards and rearranged. Second, Zou Yan explained the regime change, and arranged the royal lineage in the order of earth, wood, gold, fire and water, and the five elements were in favor of revolution in the regime change. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty where Liu Xin lived, Liu Han's royal regime was in crisis, and his consort Wang Mang was powerful. So there was a dispute between "being ordered by a different surname" and "being more deadly" with the same surname, and the theory of abdication prevailed for a while. Liu Xin has a close relationship with Wang Mang. He once served as a "national teacher" and was the main supporter of the theory of abdication. In order to provide a legal basis for Wang Mang to take the place of Han Dynasty, Liu Xin put forward a new theory of five virtues based on the five behaviors of wood, fire, earth, gold and water. According to the World Classic, the royal lineage arranged by Liu Xin is as follows: Taihao Fuxi is Mude, Yan Di Shennong is Huode, Huangdi Xuanyuan is Tude, Shao Hao Jintian is Jinde, and Zhuan Xu Levin is Shuide; Di Ku Gaoxin is Mude, Yao Taotang is Hod, Shun Di Youyu is Tude, Apollo Xia Houshi is Jinde, and Tang Cheng is Shuide. Zhou Wuwang is the virtue of wood, and the Han Dynasty is the virtue of fire. When sorting out this lineage order, Liu Xin first denied the statement that Korea was regarded as an earth virtue according to the theory that the five elements prevailed in the early Han Dynasty, and decided that Bill Han was a fire virtue, so its replacement should be earth virtue, while Wang Mang claimed to be Yu Shunmiao and Emperor Shun Earth virtue, so Wang Mang should be earth virtue, so it became inevitable that Wang Mang represented Korea.
So why did Liu Xin equate Fuxi with Tai Hao?
According to people's concept of ancient history at that time, Liu Xin pushed up the generation order of ancient emperors from the Yellow Emperor, and thought that the oldest emperor should be Fuxi. At the same time, according to his theory of five elements, the emperor should start with Mu De. So he found the basis from two aspects. One is "The Seventeen Years of Zuo Zhuan Zhao Gong", in which the jar came to the DPRK. Zhao Zi asked Shao Luo's bird officer why. Tan Zi said, "I know my ancestors. In the past, Huangdi's family was named a cloud master because of cloud rules. Yan Di's family adopted fire control discipline, so he became a famous fire master. * * * Gong was named after the navy because of the water age. The Dayu family was named after the dragon, so it was called Teacher Long. My great-grandfather is young and honest, and the phoenix bird is suitable. I will learn from the bird and name it Birdman. " According to this, Liu Xintui said: "According to Shao Hao, Yan Zi was influenced by the Yellow Emperor, the Yellow Emperor was influenced by Yan Di, Yan Di was influenced by * * *, and * * * was influenced by Tai Hao, so let's talk about the Yellow Emperor first and then go to Tai Hao." Take Tai Hao as the head of the ancient emperor. The second is to find the basis from the Book of Changes, which says: "The earthquake of the emperor", the earthquake is the divination of the East, and the five elements belong to the wood. According to the order of the five elements, the first is wood, Tai Hao is the emperor of the East, and "the East is called Yi", so Tai Hao matches Mu De. There is another sentence in the Book of Changes: "The ancients were the kings of the world", so Liu Xin went on to say: "The Bao family was the queen of heaven and the head of a hundred kings. The first virtue begins with wood, so it is the emperor Tai Hao. " Fuxi is Tai Hao. "According to the Book of Changes, Baoyu, Shennong and Huangdi lived in the world successively." Taihao Fuxi's family stood behind the sky, and Shennong and Huangdi Capital stood behind Taihao Fuxi.
Han Shu written by Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty and Han Shu Gao Ji Zuji written by Xun Yue both describe the process of Liu Xin's creation of a new theory on the end of the Five Elements. Xun Yueyan: "As for Liu Xiang and his son, it is the luck of pushing the five elements, and the son inherited the mother business and began in Fuxi; In order to reach the Han dynasty, it is appropriate to be a fire virtue. In the preface, I thought that Yi said that the emperor was surprised, so Tai Hao began to be surprised. It was Mulder and posthumous title Fu. "
Starting from its political purpose, Liu Xin ranked Fuxi and Tai Hao as the first in the genealogy of ancient emperors. Later, Ban Gu quoted them in Hanshu, and later history books also adopted this theory one after another. However, Liu Xin's statement is not completely groundless. Today, we should have the following understanding of Liu Xin's statement: First of all, it is the expression of people's historical consciousness at that time. With the enrichment of people's historical consciousness, Sima Qian's sorting out the imperial lineage from the Yellow Emperor is not enough to reflect the ancient emperors known at that time, so it is necessary to go back and rearrange the ancient imperial lineage. Secondly, as mentioned above, the legend of Fuxi originated from the southern State of Chu, and Tai Hao was the ancestor of the Yi people in the East. With the great exchange and integration of national blood cultures in the Warring States, Qin and Han Dynasties, the legend of Fuxi Tai Hao became possible. Sima Qian was the only ancestor of the Chinese nation, the Yellow Emperor, which could not fully reflect the actual situation of national harmony and cultural integration at that time, but Taihao Fuxi was the ancestor of the hundred kings, indicating that the national unity and the main cultural vein had been formed at that time. Thirdly, the lineage of ancient emperors scheduled by Liu Xin preached the idea of "the sage kings share the same ancestor", and the ancient emperors of the former kings were included in Fuxi series, which was beneficial to national cohesion and cultural unity.