Chapter 1 Annotations

1. The Chinese name 黃帝 can be translated several ways. 皇 the character means yellow, however it is a homophone with 皇 , which means august, and 皇帝 is an alternative (and more popular) name for the Yellow Emperor. The reason is because in the late Warring States period (c. 471-221 BC), the Yellow Emperor was integrated into the Five Phases (Wood, Fire, Gold, Earth and Water) representing the colour of yellow, which was the colour of the phase of Earth(土) as the Earthly ruler. Many choose to translate Huangdi as the Yellow Thearch when referring to the god, and August Thearch when referring to the supposed real person.
2. More information about Shaodian is available in other earlier books. For example, he is mentioned in the Discourses of the States, a collection of speeches of rulers written around the late 300s BC, which stated that Shaodian had married Fùbǎo(附寶) and gave birth to the Yellow Emperor by the Ji(濟) river, which while did exist, disappeared after the 1852 A.D floods.
3. Huangfu Mi (皇甫謐), a 200s BC scholar, mentions that the name Xuanyuan is named after the hill where he lived and later took the name, though Qing dynasty scholar Liang Yusheng (梁玉繩) believes the hill was named after Xuanyuan.
4. The Shennong mentioned here refers not to a family name, but the descendants of (or societal group of) Shennong, one of the Three Sovereigns that ruled before the Five Emperors, and also accredited with the invention of farming in mythology.
5. Chiyou is known today as the god of war. Most sources, this book being no different, mention him as part of the Nine Li (九黎) tribe. The exact ethnic identity is disputed among sources, however he has been proclaimed as ancestor of the Miao people, and some Hmong (a subset of Miao) regard him as a good and wise king.
6. The author refers to many things here. The original text said: ‘治五气，艺五种，抚万民，度四方’
   — ‘治五气 refers to the five phases. The five phases in ancient times were matched with the four seasons, wood in spring, fire in summer, earth in the summer (third month of summer/sixth month of the lunar calendar), gold in autumn and water in winter. To master the five influences means to study the changes of the seasons
   — 五种 refers to the grains of: Millet(黍), Jik(稷), Rice(稻), Wheat(麦), and Beans(菽). To plant the five seeds refers to the cultivation of these grains.
   — 抚万民 (to check)
   — 度四方 (to check)
7. What he actually teaches are Xióng(熊), Pí(羆), Píxiū(貔貅), Chū(貙) and Hǔ(虎).
   

   - Xióng(熊) is just the Chinese word for Bear
   

   - Pí(羆) is an archaic way to say “Brown Bear”
   - Píxiū(貔貅) are legendary animals in Chinese mythology that have an appetite of gold, silvers and jewels.
   - Chū(貙) are beasts that resemble raccoon dogs
   - Hǔ(虎) is just the Chinese word for Tiger

   8. It is not known where exactly the Battle of Banquan took place, however there are three locations that would be possible: Somewhere southeast of Zhuolu, Hebei; Banquan village of Yanqing district, Beijing; and in Xienzhou county, Yuncheng, Shangxi. Since it is mentioned here that it was fought between three battles, it might be possible that it was all three.
   9. Zhuolu is actually a place, in Zhuolu county, Hebei. It is uncertain whether this was (or was meant to) be the location of the legendary battle, however it is heavily promoted for tourism for this.
   10. The idea of a ‘Son of Heaven’ is told here to originate since the beginning of China.
       However this idea is widely believed to have been originated to legitimise the rule of the Zhou dynasty, who overthrew the Shang dynasty in 1046 BC, who invented the concept of the Mandate of Heaven, where heaven chooses a just ruler to rule China, a Son of Heaven, and when a ruler is overthrown it means they have lost that mandate.
       This was used to legitimise rule up to the Qing, the last dynasty of China, who claimed that they did not overthrow the Ming in 1644 A.D but instead claimed the mandate by defeating the rebels the Ming failed to control.
   11. The Feng and Shan sacrifices were often performed at Mount Tai to bring respects to heaven from earth, this allowed to recieve the mandate of heaven. Worship had been done in prehistoric times in Mount Tai and continued up to Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty, however the Qing performed similar rites. The Feng sacrifice involved building altars out of soil at the peak of Mount Tai and proclaiming the legitimacy of the emperor to the god of heaven, the Shan consisted of clearing away land at the foot of the mountain to show respect.
   12. The Dǐng(鼎) is an ancient large, three-legged bronze cauldron used for cooking and sacrificial rites. However it is also used figuratively to mean the throne, which is probably what was meant.
   13. Fenghou is one of the most famous ministers of the Yellow Emperor, and there is more information about him in other texts. For example, in the Song dynasty text Book of Ancient and Modern surnames(古今姓氏書辨證), Fenghou’s surname is listed as Fúxī(伏羲), and there are multiple other legends surrounding him.
   14. According to The Centuries of the Emperors(帝王世紀), the Yellow Emperor once had a dream of a man holding a crossbow with a thousand arrows, shepherding over a flock of ten thousand sheep. When he woke up, he interpreted it to mean that only a man who shepherds ten thousand sheep can govern the people, is there a man whose name is Li and his surname Mu? And so he found Limu at the edge of the sea and proclaimed him minister.
   15. According to tradition, Leizu is the inventor of sericulture, the farming of silk. There are many different versions of the story, some saying that she first collected the silkworm cocoons and others where the cocoon just happened to be above her, but the common element is that the cocoon accidentally fell into her tea and started unravelling, and Leizu was very enchanted with it. She is worshipped as Cán năinai(蠶奶奶).
   16. Ku is known to have had children with four ladies. In order of appearance in the text, the woman mentioned here are named Qìngdōu(庆都) and Chángyí(常宜), however he is also known to have married Jiāngyuán(姜嫄), mother of Hòujì(后稷) who is god of millet, and Jiǎndí(簡狄), mother of Xiè(偰) who’s the ancestor of the kings of the Shang dynasty.
   17. The Bamboo Annals (竹書紀年) written in 299 BC tell that Zhi ruled for nine years before he was deposed and the throne moved to Emperor Yao.
   18. In the Bamboo Annals, Danzhu was not in any way dishonest, however was bad mouthed by Shun in a conspiracy to usurp the throne. Sima Qian probably thought the text was not accurate, as he reflects in “Taishigong’s opinion”. 
   19. In this text, Gonggong is merely just a subject of Emperor Yao, as was depicted in early texts, however he later morphed into the water god of Chinese mythology, described as having the tail of a serpent and red hair.
   20. In the Classic of Mountain and Sea (山海經), a fabulous account of the geography of pre-Qin dynasty China and some mythology that finished compiling around Sima Qian’s time, tells that he was grandson of the Yellow Emperor, in contrast with this text which states that he was a great-grandson. He is also renowned for having stopped the Great Flood, a flood which lasted for two generations, on orders of Yao by stealing Xírǎng(息壤), self growing soil, from the gods. However, when the soils reached nine rèn(仞) (a unit of measurement between 1-3 metres), it collapsed and killed many people, which got him executed by Emperor Shun.