Huángdì(黄帝) and Yándì (炎帝) — Ancestors of the Chinese Nation

Nearly 5,000 years ago, on the central plain of China（catchment areas of Huánghé 黄河，the Yellow River）, two tribes became stronger and stronger. These tribes were led by Huángdì 黄帝( the Yellow Emperor ) living mainly in Shǎnběi 陕北 Altiplano, north of Shǎnxī Province（陕西省 ), and Yándì 炎帝( the Fire Emperor) mainly in the Guānzhōng（关中）area south of Shānxī Province（山西省 ). The tribes had such good relations that the two leaders were regarded as half-brothers.
At that time there was another tribal group ( called Jiǔlí 九黎) headed by Chīyóu （蚩尤）, which contested Yándì for control of the populated and fertilized areas of Zhōngyuán 中原 ( the lower reaches of the Yellow River ) . When Yándì asked for recourse to Huángdì, the two sides fought fiercely against each other at the battlefield of Zhuōlù (涿鹿) in Héběi Province . During the campaign Huángdì designed many ingenious tactics for his troops in battle. He arrayed his army into phalanxes with totem flags of bears, tigers, and leopards, which motivated the soldiers to fight courageously. With the help of his counselors Fēnghòu（风后） and Lìmǔ（力母）, Huángdì won the war and killed Chīyóu. The tribal groups of Jiǔlí reorganized — with one faction merging into the Huángdì’s and Yándì’s tribes and the other fleeing to the south.. Besides leading his troops to occupy Jiǔlí’s area extending to the east, Huángdì began to unite all the tribes into one nation.
But the two brothers , Huángdì and Yándì clashed over the right of domination and there ensued a life and death war in Bǎnquán (阪泉)，southeast Zhuōlù. There Huángdì defeated Yándì and forced him to submit and pledge his allegiance. Thus, Huángdì and Yándì reunited and Huángdì established his absolute power. Huángdì continued to exploit his victories and conquer the whole area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, where the cradle of the Chinese nation was shaped.
Though Huángdì built his capital in Zhuōlù, he traveled throughout the nation, improving people’s lives by instructing them in farming and weaving. He taught people how to use fire to cook their food and to eat cooked food — which was surely beneficial to the health of the population. He educated people in farming methods and urged them to plant according to the natural agriculture cycle. His wife Léizǔ ( 嫘祖) was regarded as the goddess of silkworm weaving. She taught people to feed silkworms and use the silk fibers to weave clothes.
Yándì ( also called Shénnóngshì 神农氏 ) was the foremost expert of agriculture. He taught people to plant the five grains (rice , two kinds of millet, wheat, and beans) and how to use plowing tools to furrow the fields . He tasted hundreds of herbs in order to discover their curative power for treating various diseases. He taught people to weave their clothes by using hemp fibers, to make pottery and porcelain ware, and to cut wood to build shelters.
Although their stories have been transmitted generation after generation, Huángdì and Yándì were both imaginary figures in ancient Chinese legend — representatives of the ancestors of the Chinese who started the nation. Even today, all Chinese people regard themselves as “the descendants of Yándì and Huángdì ”( Yán Huáng zǐsūn炎黄子孙) .

revised by Magdalena