The farther back we peer into the recesses of Chinese history, the hazier the picture gets. The Yellow Emperor has been recognized as the founder of Chinese culture, and countless inventions and texts have been attributed to him. Even today, he is a powerful symbol of a unified China and his name is still called upon to generate feelings of unity. So who was the legendary founder king, and why is he so important?
References
ABOUT THE LIFE OF HUANGDI
Haw, Stephen G. (2007), Beijing: A Concise History, London and New York: Routledge
Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE), Bielu 别录:"It is said that cuju was invented by Huangdi; others claim that it arose during the Warring States period" (蹴鞠者,传言黄帝所作,或曰起戰國之時); cited in Book of the Later Han (5th century), chapter 34, p. 1178 of the standard Zhonghua shuju edition. (in Chinese)
Wang, Hengwei 王恒伟 (2005), Zhongguo lishi jiangtang 中国历史讲堂 [Lectures on Chinese history] (in Chinese), Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 中华书局
Wang, Zhongfu 王仲孚 (1997), Zhongguo wenhua shi 中國文化史 [Chinese cultural history] (in Chinese), 五南圖書出版股份有限公司
EARLY REFERENCES TO HUANGDI
Chang, Chun-shu (2007), The Rise of the Chinese Empire, 1. Nation, State, and Imperialism in Early China, ca. 1600 BC – AD 157, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
LeBlanc, Charles (1985–1986), "A Re-examination of the Myth of Huang-ti", Journal of Chinese Religions, 13–14: 45–63,
Jan, Yün-hua (1981), "The Change of Images: The Yellow Emperor in Ancient Chinese Literature", Journal of Oriental Studies, 19 (2): 117–37
Puett, Michael (2001), The Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early China, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
Seidel, Anna K (1969), La divinisation de Lao Tseu dans le taoisme des Han [The divinization of Laozi in Han-dynasty Taoism] (in French), Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient
von Glahn, Richard (2004), The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press
Yates, Robin D.S. (1997), Five Lost Classics: Tao, Huang-Lao, and Yin-Yang in Han China, New York: Ballantine
MODERN MENTIONS OF “CHILDREN OF YAN AND HUANG”
Dikötter, Frank (ed.), The Construction of Racial Identities in China and Japan: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, pp. 75–95
Schoenhals, Michael (2008), "Abandoned or Merely Lost in Translation?", Inner Asia, 10 (1): 113–30, doi:10.1163/000000008793066777, JSTOR 23615059.
NOTES
The actual location of the Battle of Banquan is disputed, but one suggestion is that it took place in Beijing, which at that time would have been in Huangdi’s territory and near the border of the Nine Li tribes.
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