The Beginning of Chinese Culture
There are two very important legendary figures in the Chinese history. They are Yan Di, or the Flame Emperor, and Huang Di, or the Yellow Emperor. In China, people think that all the Chinese people are descendants of the Flame Emperor and the Yellow Emperor. They are highly respected, even worshipped. Why so? They may be the ancestors of Chinese people, but apparently they must have had their own ancestors, too. Why are they so different? What do people choose them among so many ancestors?
That is because it was they that led China into civilization. It was they that set Chinese people apart from the barbarians around them. They are not the only ancestors physiologically, but they are the ancestors culturally.
It is especially true for the Yellow Emperor. Before the Yellow Emperor era, Chinese people were nomadic. They knew hardly any civilization and lived nearly like animals. In the Yellow Emperor era, people learned to cultivate the land, grow crops, build houses, weave silk clothes, use wheels and ships to carry things, use characters to write down the language, make wine, record and calculate time, make musical instruments, use medicine to cure diseases, organize an army, melt and mould metals, weigh and calculate things, make bows and arrows… The list can go on for ever. Almost everything fundamental in the human society was invented in that era. It was an era of glory. It was also an era of hard work.
Being called the Yellow Emperor, he did not “live like a king”. He worked harder than probably anyone and he did not have the luxury and extravagance that kings and emperors in other times have. He lived in a thatched cottage, ate coarse food and worked till sweating all over just like everyone else. He did not have much privilege, but had great responsibility. This was natural as the productive forces were not so strong and goods were not so abundant at that time. So he was such a great leader out of pure greatness in capability and nobleness in mind.
The Yellow Emperor did not invent all these things by himself. Many of the achievements were done by the people around him. They are all pride of China.
