The story of Humankind Takes the Stage

The old myths say Nüwa took yellow earth from the ground and shaped it into human figures after her own likeness. The clay figures could walk and speak the moment they touched the ground, and spread from her into the woods and valleys.

As their numbers grew, Nüwa dipped a length of vine in the mud and flicked it, and the drops that fell became people too. The Honghuang account places the making of humankind before the final Wu–Yao battle, with the new race still weak and living between the two clans.

Early humankind moved along the water and lived by gathering, fishing and hunting. They nested in trees, picked up fire left by lightning, and when beasts, wildfire or flood came they took their young and old to a new place to live.

After the final Wu–Yao battle, the Yao Heavenly Court came apart and the Wu peoples withdrew into the depths of the earth. Many human tribes survived beyond the old battlefields and began to gather into larger federations along the rivers and plains.

Fuxi lived at Chengji, looked up at the signs of the sky and down at the lie of the land, first drew the eight trigrams to record the turning of the seasons, and taught people to keep records by knotted cords and to weave nets for fishing, so that the tribes came to know the order of cold and heat.

Shennong followed, tasted the hundred herbs and told the edible from the sickening, made the plough and the share, and taught people to turn the soil and sow the five grains, so that the tribes moved from wandering towards settlement.

In Xuanyuan’s time Chi You rose in arms, and the two hosts fought on the field of Zhuolu, where thick mist hid the sun and neither side could decide it for a long while, until Xuanyuan at last broke Chi You in the country of Jizhou.

Xuanyuan afterwards settled at Zhuolu, and the federation of tribes reached out in every direction. Zhuanxu, Diku, Yao and Shun appear in turn in the account of the Five Emperors, and the calendars, sacrifices and orders of the tribes gradually came under one order.

In Yao’s reign the flood rose until fields and houses were drowned, and Gun was set to control the waters. Gun tried to block the flood with dykes and had not quelled it after years; Shun, on taking power, dealt with Gun and set his son Yu to go on with the work.

Yu changed blocking for channelling, cut open the Dragon Gate, cleared the nine rivers, and led the work for thirteen years, passing his own door three times without going in. The flood was quelled at last, and he divided the realm into nine regions.

Having ordered the waters, Yu received the throne from Shun by abdication, and the tribal lords honoured him as their common ruler. After Yu’s death his son Qi took the throne, and the dynasty of the Xiahou house began from there.

The Xia passed down to Lü Gui, and Tang of Shang raised an army; the two hosts fought at Mingtiao, Xia fell, and Shang was established. The Shang dynasty moved its capital several times and settled at last at Yin, and its royal house and vassal states built their walled towns along the rivers.

Shang passed down several generations to King Zhou, and its capital Chaoge became the seat of the common ruler of the realm; with that, the history of humankind entered the age of the struggle between Shang and Zhou.