Chi You
Encyclopedia
Chi You was a tribal leader of the ancient nine Li
tribe (九黎). He is best known as the tyrant who fought against the then-future Yellow Emperor
during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology
. For the Hmong people
, Chi You (RPA
/cʰi jaɨ/) was a sagacious mythical king. Chi You has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi
, Miao
or even Man
depending on the source and view.
(姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi.
According to legend, Chi You had a bronze
head with metal forehead
s. He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand. His head was that of a bull
with two horns
, but the body was that of a human. He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers. Historical sources often described him as 'cruel and greedy', as well as 'tyrannical'. Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom.
Some sources from later dynasties, such as the Guoyu book
, considered Chi You's Li tribe to be related to the ancient San miao tribe
(三苗).
In the ancient Zhuolu Town is a statue of Chi You claiming him to be the original ancestor of the Hmong people
. The place is regarded as the birthplace of the San miao / Miao people, the Hmong being a subgroup of the Miao. In sources following the Hmong view, the "nine Li" tribe is called the "Jiuli" kingdom, Jiuli meaning "nine Li". Modern Han Chinese
scholar Weng Dujian identifies Chi You as belonging to the Man
ethnic group. Chi You has also been counted as part of the Dongyi
.
was leading his tribe, he met Chi You leading his Nine Li tribes. The Yan emperor stood no chance and lost the fight. He escaped, and later ended up in Zhuolu
begging for help from the Yellow Emperor
. At this point the epic Battle of Zhuolu
between Chi You and the Yellow Emperor's forces began. According to legend, Chi You breathed out a thick fog and obscured the sunlight. The battle dragged on for days while the emperor's side was in danger. Only after the Yellow Emperor invented the South Pointing Chariot
, did he find his way out of the battlefield. Chi You then conjured up a heavy storm. The Yellow Emperor then called upon the drought demon Nuba
, who blew away the storm clouds and cleared the battlefield. Chi You and his army could not hold up, and were later killed by the Yellow Emperor. After this defeat, the Yellow Emperor is said to become the ancestor of all Huaxia
Chinese. The Hmong were forced to live in the mountains and leave their Li kingdom.
, Qin Shi Huang
worshiped Chiyou as the God of War, and Liu Bang
worshiped at Chi You's shrine before his decisive battle against Xiang Yu
.
In one mythical episode, after Chi You had claimed he could not be conquered, the goddess Nuwa
dropped a stone tablet on him from Mount Tai
. Chi You failed to crush the stone, but still managed to escape. From then on, the 5 finger-shaped, inscribed "Tai mountain stone tablets" (泰山石敢當) became a spiritual weapon to ward off evil and disasters.
According to notes by the Qing Dynasty
painter Luo Ping: "Yellow Emperor ordered his men to have Chi You beheaded... seeing that Chi You's head was separated from his body, later sages had his image engraved on sacrificial vessels
as a warning to those that would covet power and wealth."
In the People's Republic of China
, the Hall of the Three Grand Ancestors built in Xinzheng
is dedicated to Yellow Emperor, Yandi, and Chi You, who are collectively revered as the founding ancestors of the Chinese nation. Construction of the Hall was funded mostly by Hmong communities overseas and the Chinese Government.
According to the controversial Korean history book Hwandan Gogi
, complied by Uncho Gye Yeon-su in 1911, and later published in 1979, Chi You was also an ancestor of the Koreans.
novel was released in recent years called "Chi You King of Heaven" (蚩尤天皇) (치우천왕기 in Korean). Controversially, this book claimed Chi You was of Korean ancestry in the old ancient country (Joo Shin, 주신 in Korean), and that he defeated the Yellow Emperor at the tak rok (탁록 in Korean). Chongqing University
professor (黃中模) said this recent historical novel could not be taken seriously. Southwest University
historians (趙振宇) have also denied the claims in the novel.
Li people
The Li or Hlai are a minority ethnic group, the vast majority of whom live off the southern coast of mainland China on Hainan Island, where they are the largest minority ethnic group...
tribe (九黎). He is best known as the tyrant who fought against the then-future Yellow Emperor
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era in Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
. For the Hmong people
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
, Chi You (RPA
Romanized Popular Alphabet
The Romanized Popular Alphabet or Hmong RPA , is a system of romanization for the various dialects of the Hmong language. Created in Laos between 1951 and 1953 by a group of missionaries and Hmong advisers, it has gone on to become the most widespread system for writing the Hmong language in the...
/cʰi jaɨ/) was a sagacious mythical king. Chi You has a particularly complex and controversial ancestry, as he may fall under Dongyi
Dongyi
Dongyi was a collective term for people in eastern China and in lands located to the east of ancient China. People referred to as Dongyi vary across the ages.The early Dongyi culture was one of earliest neolithic cultures in China....
, Miao
Miao people
The Miao or ม้ง ; ) is an ethnic group recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component nations of people, which include Hmong, Hmu, A Hmao, and Kho Xiong...
or even Man
Southern Man (ethnic group)
The Southern Man were an ethnic tribal group in ancient China. According to the sinocentric ”All Under Heaven” viewpoint, along with the Xirong, Dongyi and Beidi, the Southern Man formed one of the four “barbarian” peoples of ancient China...
depending on the source and view.
Individual
According to the Song dynasty history book Lushi (路史), Chi You's surname was JiangJiang (surname)
Jiang can be a pinyin transliteration of one of several Chinese surnames:#蔣 or 蒋 , Jiǎng #姜, Jiāng , Kang...
(姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi.
According to legend, Chi You had a bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
head with metal forehead
Forehead
For the Arsenal striker see GervinhoIn human anatomy, the forehead is the fore part of the head. It is, formally, an area of the head bounded by three features, two of the skull and one of the scalp. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp...
s. He had 4 eyes and 6 arms, wielding terrible sharp weapons in every hand. His head was that of a bull
Bull
Bull usually refers to an uncastrated adult male bovine.Bull may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Bull , an original show on the TNT Network* "Bull" , an episode of television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...
with two horns
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
, but the body was that of a human. He is said to have been unbelievably fierce, and to have had 81 brothers. Historical sources often described him as 'cruel and greedy', as well as 'tyrannical'. Some sources have asserted that the figure 81 should rather be associated with 81 clans in his kingdom.
Tribe
Chi You is regarded as a leader of the nine Li tribe (九黎) by nearly all sources. However, his exact ethnic affiliations are quite complex, with multiple sources reporting him as belonging to various tribes, in addition to a number of diverse peoples supposed to have directly descended from him.Some sources from later dynasties, such as the Guoyu book
Guoyu (book)
The Discourses of the States or Guoyu is a classical Chinese history book that collected the historical records of numerous states from Western Zhou to 453 BC. Its author is unknown, but it is sometimes attributed to Zuo Qiuming, a contemporary of Confucius...
, considered Chi You's Li tribe to be related to the ancient San miao tribe
Miao people
The Miao or ม้ง ; ) is an ethnic group recognized by the government of the People's Republic of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component nations of people, which include Hmong, Hmu, A Hmao, and Kho Xiong...
(三苗).
In the ancient Zhuolu Town is a statue of Chi You claiming him to be the original ancestor of the Hmong people
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
. The place is regarded as the birthplace of the San miao / Miao people, the Hmong being a subgroup of the Miao. In sources following the Hmong view, the "nine Li" tribe is called the "Jiuli" kingdom, Jiuli meaning "nine Li". Modern Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
scholar Weng Dujian identifies Chi You as belonging to the Man
Nanman
Nanman were aboriginal tribes who lived in southwestern China. They may have been related to the Sanmiao, dated to around the 3rd century BC. The Nanman were multiple ethnic groups including the Miao, the Kinh, the Thai, and some Tibeto-Burman groups such as the Bai. There was never a single...
ethnic group. Chi You has also been counted as part of the Dongyi
Dongyi
Dongyi was a collective term for people in eastern China and in lands located to the east of ancient China. People referred to as Dongyi vary across the ages.The early Dongyi culture was one of earliest neolithic cultures in China....
.
Epic battles
When the Yan emperorYan Emperor
The Yan Emperor, or Yandi was a legendary Han Chinese ruler who lived in pre-dynastic China. Modern scholarship has identified the Sheep's Head Mountains just north of Gaoping in Shanxi Province as his homeland and territory....
was leading his tribe, he met Chi You leading his Nine Li tribes. The Yan emperor stood no chance and lost the fight. He escaped, and later ended up in Zhuolu
Zhuolu
Zhuolu is a town and the county seat of Zhuolu County, northwestern Hebei province, Northern China. It has an area of and a population of 57,400 as of 2002, 6 communities and 30 villages. It is located southeast of Zhangjiakou...
begging for help from the Yellow Emperor
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
. At this point the epic Battle of Zhuolu
Battle of Zhuolu
The Battle of Zhuolu was the second battle in Chinese history as recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian, fought between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You. The battle was fought in Zhuolu, near the present-day border of Hebei and Liaoning...
between Chi You and the Yellow Emperor's forces began. According to legend, Chi You breathed out a thick fog and obscured the sunlight. The battle dragged on for days while the emperor's side was in danger. Only after the Yellow Emperor invented the South Pointing Chariot
South Pointing Chariot
The south-pointing chariot was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretched arm...
, did he find his way out of the battlefield. Chi You then conjured up a heavy storm. The Yellow Emperor then called upon the drought demon Nuba
Nuba (Chinese mythology)
Nǚba , was an ancient Chinese mythical drought demon. She is reputed to have come to the aid of the Yellow Emperor during his struggle with Chi You at the Battle of Zhuolu. Some sources also refer to her as being the Yellow Emperor's daughter....
, who blew away the storm clouds and cleared the battlefield. Chi You and his army could not hold up, and were later killed by the Yellow Emperor. After this defeat, the Yellow Emperor is said to become the ancestor of all Huaxia
Huaxia
Huaxia is a name often used to represent China or Chinese civilization.-Etymology:According to the historical record, Zuo Zhuan, the ancient Xia Dynasty of central China was a state that held propriety and justice in high esteem...
Chinese. The Hmong were forced to live in the mountains and leave their Li kingdom.
Societal influence
According to the Records of the Grand HistorianRecords of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name Shiji , written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the Magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time...
, Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
worshiped Chiyou as the God of War, and Liu Bang
Gaozu of Han
Emperor Gao , commonly known within China by his temple name Gaozu , personal name Liu Bang, was the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, ruling over China from 202 BC to 195 BC...
worshiped at Chi You's shrine before his decisive battle against Xiang Yu
Xiang Yu
Xiang Yu was a prominent military leader and political figure during the late Qin Dynasty. His given name was Ji while his style name was Yu ....
.
In one mythical episode, after Chi You had claimed he could not be conquered, the goddess Nuwa
Nuwa
Nuwa or NUWA may refer to:*Nüwa, a Chinese creator goddess.*150 Nuwa, an asteroid.*National Workers' Union of Afghanistan.*Nuwa , Marvel Comics character....
dropped a stone tablet on him from Mount Tai
Mount Tai
Mount Tai is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The tallest peak is the Jade Emperor Peak , which is commonly reported as tall, but is described by the PRC government as .Mount Tai is one of the...
. Chi You failed to crush the stone, but still managed to escape. From then on, the 5 finger-shaped, inscribed "Tai mountain stone tablets" (泰山石敢當) became a spiritual weapon to ward off evil and disasters.
According to notes by the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
painter Luo Ping: "Yellow Emperor ordered his men to have Chi You beheaded... seeing that Chi You's head was separated from his body, later sages had his image engraved on sacrificial vessels
Zun
The zun or yi is an ancient type of Chinese bronze or ceramic wine vessel with a round or square vase-like form, and sometimes in the shape of an animal, dating from the Shang Dynasty. Used in religious ceremonies to hold wine, the zun has a wide lip to facilitate pouring. Vessels have been...
as a warning to those that would covet power and wealth."
In the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, the Hall of the Three Grand Ancestors built in Xinzheng
Xinzheng
Xinzheng is a small county-level city of Zhengzhou in the south of Henan province of Central China. The city has a population of 600,000 people and covers an area of .-History:...
is dedicated to Yellow Emperor, Yandi, and Chi You, who are collectively revered as the founding ancestors of the Chinese nation. Construction of the Hall was funded mostly by Hmong communities overseas and the Chinese Government.
According to the controversial Korean history book Hwandan Gogi
Hwandan Gogi
Hwandan Gogi , also called Handan Gogi, is a compilation of texts on ancient Korean history. It is a bound volume of four historical records: Samseonggi, Dangun Segi, Bukbuyeogi and Taebaek Ilsa....
, complied by Uncho Gye Yeon-su in 1911, and later published in 1979, Chi You was also an ancestor of the Koreans.
Controversy
A KoreanKorean language
Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
novel was released in recent years called "Chi You King of Heaven" (蚩尤天皇) (치우천왕기 in Korean). Controversially, this book claimed Chi You was of Korean ancestry in the old ancient country (Joo Shin, 주신 in Korean), and that he defeated the Yellow Emperor at the tak rok (탁록 in Korean). Chongqing University
Chongqing University
Chongqing University is a comprehensive national university in the Shapingba District of Chongqing municipality, China. It is a member of the Project 211 and Project 985 which aims to transform Chinese universities into better research institutions.-History:...
professor (黃中模) said this recent historical novel could not be taken seriously. Southwest University
Southwest University
Southwest University is a key comprehensive university, subordinate to Ministry of Education of China, based in Chongqing, China.-The University:...
historians (趙振宇) have also denied the claims in the novel.
In popular culture
- Chi You is a name for an Aragami creature in the Playstation Portable game, God EaterGod EaterGods Eater Burst is a 2011 action-adventure video game exclusively for the PlayStation Portable developed and published by Namco Bandai Games in Japan and published by D3Publisher, a sister company of Namco Bandai Games, in North America. The game was originally released in Japan as on February...
. - Chiwoo, also called "Chiwoo Cheonwang" (치우천왕, Hanja 蚩尤天王, meaning 'Chiwoo, King of Heaven') in KoreaKoreaKorea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, is the mascot of the Red Devils, the supporters' group of the South Korean national football team. - The manhwaManhwaManhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons . Outside of Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese manhua...
Heavenly Executioner ChiwooHeavenly Executioner ChiwooHeavenly Executioner Chiwoo is a manhwa created by Park KangHo and Lee HaNa.In the United States iceKunion originally licensed the series; Yen Press later took the license. In the U.S. Volume 1 was released in November 2005, Volume 2 in February 2006, Volume 3 in May 2006, Volume 4 in May 2008, and...
is partly based on the legends about Chi Woo.