Jiang Yuan () is an important figure in Chinese mythology and history. She is recorded as having lived during ancient Chinese history. Jiang Yuan was the mother of
Houji, who is a
culture hero and revered as the god of millet and, by extension, agriculture.
Clan name and title
Jiang Yuan's personal name was not recorded. During the Spring and Autumn period, women were not called by personal names (名
míng) and even seemingly did not have such names, which could be considered
naming taboo (諱
huì) to those of inferior status.
Instead, Jiang is her clan name. Yuan does not seem to be a lineage name: instead, it seems to be a
title signifying "origin" or "source", in reference to her role as the mother of Houji, whom is claimed as an ancestor of the royal Ji family of the Zhou dynasty.
Mythological biography
Jiang Yuan was the mother of
Houji (also known as Houji), credited in Chinese mythology with founding the Ji clan who went on to establish the Zhou dynasty. She was said historically to have been a consort of
Emperor Ku. In mythology, she gave virgin birth to a miracle child. In some versions such as that found in the Zhou hymn "" credit Qi with a
miraculous birth after Jiang Yuan stepped into a footprint or toeprint left by the supreme deity
Shangdi. The hymn records her as attempting to abandon him three times (his name Qi means "the Abandoned One"). According to mythology, the baby Houji was guarded in the street by livestock and fed by birds. Houji then (still little grown) introduced the cultivation of millet (
ji) and other agricultural improvements and as the Lord of Millet set up the founding of the
Zhou dynasty. Thus, the woman who gave birth to a child not sired by a husband 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 (Ferguson 1928, 6).
History
In
Sima Qian's rationalistic account in the
Records of the Grand Historian, Jiang Yuan is simply the first consort of
Emperor Ku and Qi is one of his children. He also records her lineage name as
Yóu Tái 有邰, also the name of the fief granted to her son Houji by
Emperor Shun.
[ Records of the Grand Historian, "Annals of Zhou"] In his account, he credits the success of Zhou as being due primarily to the two women: Jiang Yuan and Tai Ren (大任).
[ Records of the Grand Historian "Hereditary Houses of the In-Laws" quote: "周之興也以姜原及大任"] It is possible he meant this to credit the virtue and success of their children, but it is also possible that they represented important marriage alliances. The Jiang were closely involved with the Ji before and after their rise to empire:
Jiang Yuan was mother of Zhou dynasty's founder
Hou Ji,
[ Classic of Poetry, "Major Court Hymns - Decade of the Birth of the People - Sheng Min". Translated by James Legge] Tai Jiang (or Jiang Nü) was wife of Gugong Danfu and mother of his son Jili,
[ Classic of Poetry, "Major Court Hymns - Decade of King Wen - Da Ming". Translated by James Legge] Tai Ren - born in Zhi (摯) and connected to the
Shang dynasty - was wife of Jili and mother of King Wen.
Religion
In Chinese popular religion, Jiang Yuan is worshiped as a
goddess.
[Yang, 152]
Sources
External links
