Chi You : 'A Hmong Emperor'

swt_anjo559

sarNie Egg
I'm currently working on my essay about Hmong & their connection with China. I thought it was pretty interesting that Chi You is one of the founder of China. He is the one that is consider 'Hmong Emperor' in China, as he was the leader that led us back in 27th century BC. I believe it is in Zhuolu where the chinese government actually build a status with the 3 founders of China & Chi You is one of them. Anyways, I just finish watching a video called, <The First of 5,000 Years Founder> & according to the video, Chi You was undefeated. In order to kill him, his body was pull apart by 5 bulls, Huang Di [ The Yellow Emperor that Chi You & his people (us) rebelled against] buried Chi You in three different locations. His head was buried 25 km east & his legs were buried 30 km south from his body. Today in China, the area where his tomb was at actually rose into a hill, along with the body of his horse.

LOL, I thought it was pretty interesting! Anyone else got anymore information since I'm kind of blank now. :lol:
 

mai92

sarNie Adult
i dOn'T dO rEsEarCh....
bUt i dO a lOt Of wHatChInG tHe pAst Of hMonG's lIves On mOVIEs i bOuGht aT nEw yEar...
:):):)
 

neena

sarNie Adult
i heard about this story...saw a documentary on it a while back...its interesting. korean people also looked up to him and called him chi woo..he was a emperor...i find that very...interesting too...makes me wondering if koreans and hmong ppl have a connection...

i always love watching things about hmong history because there is so much we don't know about.
 

SonYukView4ever

♥OFFICIAL MARK PRIN STALKER♥
wow,
its cool taht we have such a great and superior leader
but the chinese people are insane.
they buried his body in three different parts
thats crazy.
 

ryuuseius

sarNie Egg
In Chinese mythology, Chi You (蚩尤) is a war deity who fought the Yellow Emperor.[1] For Hmongs, Chi You is a sagacious mythical king. Chi You, "txiv yawg" in Hmong, means grandfather. Chi You is also the god of rain, and a descendant of Shennong[2], the inventor of agriculture. His appearance is half giant, half bull, with the front of his head covered with (or made of) iron.

Contents [hide]
1 Mythology
2 Historical records
3 Figure in Hwandan Gogi
4 References


[edit] Mythology
Along with Yan Di and Huang Di, Chi You is a deity in Hmong mythology, Chi You was the mythical leader of the Hmong, king of Jiuli, and once a follower of Yan Di. When Huang Di subdued Yan Di, Chi You was weary of the suppression and conspired with Yan Liang, another deity. Soon, Huang Di and Chi You clashed in the Battle of Zhuolu.

According to Chinese legends, Chi You and his people rebelled against Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) at Zhuolu plains. Both sides used magical powers, but Chi You had the advantage because his troops were armed with forged swords and halberds. Using his power (perhaps a mythological explanation of meteorology used in warfare), Chi You covered the battle field in thick fog. Only with the help of a magical compass chariot (South Pointing Chariot) could Huang Di's troops could find their way through the mist. He also used his daughter Nü Ba, the Goddess of Drought, to harm Chi You's troops. Later on, Chi You suffered more defeats and was captured. Only Yinglong, the winged dragon, being a brave servant of Huang Di, dared to slay him. Chi You's chains were transformed into acorn trees, while Yinglong was cursed to remain on earth forever.

According to Chinese legend, the people under Chiyou (蚩尤 Chīyoú) were defeated at Zhuolu (涿鹿 Zhuōlù, a defunct prefecture on the border of today provinces of Hebei and Liaoning) by the military unification of Huang Di (黃帝 Huángdì) and Yandi, leaders of the Huaxia (華夏 Huáxià) tribe as they struggled for supremacy of the Yellow River valley. The compass was believed to be the crucial reason of Huaxia's victory. The battle, believed to be taken place in the 27th century BC, was fought under heavy fog as Huaxia was able to match against Miao with the compass. After the loss, the original tribe split into two smaller splinter tribes, the Miao (Hmong) and the Li (黎 lí). Miao continuously moving southwest and Li southeast as the Huaxia race, now known as Han Chinese race, expanding southwards. During the course of Chinese history, they were regarded as "barbarians" by the increasingly technologically and culturally advanced Han Chinese. Some fragments of the races were assimilated into the Chinese during Zhou Dynasty.

Yet, in other versions, the people of Jiuli fragmented in 3 different directions. It is said Chiyou had 3 sons, and after the fall of Jiuli, his oldest son led some people south, his middle son led some people north, and his youngest son remained in Zhuolu and assimilated into the Huaxia culture. Those who were led to the south established the San-Miao nation. Perhaps due to this splitting into multiple groups, many Far Eastern people regard Chiyou as their ancestors, and by the same token, many question the ethnicity of Chiyou as exclusively Hmong or otherwise. In some circles of thought, the Koreans also regard Chiyou as an ethnic ancestor. Chiyou is also regarded as one of China's forefathers alongside the ethnic Han ancestors, Huangdi and Yandi.

Other mythology states that Chi You had 81 brothers, and was a grotesque looking creature: he had six arms, four eyes, the head and hooves resembled an ox and his head was made of metal (copper and iron, mentioned 銅頭鐵額). He only ate stones and pebbles; therefore his teeth were almost unbreakable. One of his achievements was the first use of metal weapons in warfare. He is said to have forged the first swords from bronze or copper. He was violent and no one could defeat him.


[edit] Historical records
Across the Eastern Asia, many people had worshipped Chi You as the war guardian deity. According to Chinese history record Records of the Grand Historian, Liu Bang worshipped at Chi You's shrine before the last battle against Xiang Yu and won. Joseon Navy Admiral Yi Sun-sin also worshipped Chi Woo, and he has never lost a battle, and thus deemed a hero in the war against Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army during the Seven Years' War during 1592-1598.


[edit] Figure in Hwandan Gogi
According to the controversial Korean mythology book Hwandan Gogi which was first published in 1979 and which says it was compiled and edited by Gye Yeonsoo in 1911 , 'Chiwoo' was 14th Emperor, named Jaoji-Hwanwoong, of the Empire of Baedal, which was to be succeeded by Go-Joseon, as the book says. He ruled the Empire during 109 years. According to these accounts, Emperor Chi-Woo succeeded Emperor Sawara of Baedalguk, the 13th ruler of Baedalguk, at around 41 years of age and is seen today as a great hero who expanded the territory of his empire tremendously, which was said to have reached the Shandong Peninsula area at its greatest extent. During his reign, he was said to have highly advanced the technology of his empire as well. Baedal was said to have possessed catapults, flaming arrows, and bronze swords starting from the reign of Emperor Chi-Woo, while its neighbors were still in the stone age. Chi-Woo was said to have reigned for 109 years, and died at the age of 151. He was good at making weapons such as bows and arrows, along with armor and helmets, and he also could deal with copper and iron. In addition, he united 12 feudal states, and was not defeated for about 70 wars. The book claims that Chiwoo's grave is in the present-day Shandong province of China, and that in every July, a red flag, the symbol of Chi You's army appeared on top of his grave.

According to the same accounts, when Chiwoo became an emperor of Baedalguk, Yoomang (楡罔), who was a descendant of Shennong, was a king in the nation under Shennong. At that time, the nation of Shennong became powerful because the population had had a major increase. Emperor Chiwoo felt threatened and decided to attack the nation of Shennong, and is said to have prepared weapons of many kinds. Emperor Chiwoo assembled his army of nine grand generals and 81 lesser generals at Zhuolu/Takrok, and conquered the troops of Yoomang at Kuhon. Thereafter, Emperor Huangdi heard that Emperor Chiwoo was governing the land previously under Shennong. Huangdi assembled his troops, and waged war on Emperor Chiwoo and Baedal more than 70 times during ten years. It is said that Emperor Chiwoo defeated Emperor Huangdi in all of the battles except one. (It should be noted that this account is the direct opposite of Chinese accounts.)

Chiwoo, also called "Chiwoo Cheonwang" (치우천왕, Hanja 蚩尤天王, meaning 'Chiwoo, King of Heaven') in Korea, is the mascot of the Red Devils, the supporters' group of the South Korean national football team. The manhwa Heavenly Executioner Chi Woo is partly based on the legends about Emperor Chi Woo.



[edit] References
^ Lee, James. [2006] (2006). James Lee Astrology guide 2006 English edition. World publishing co. ISBN 962-432-503-0.
^ 《路史·后纪四》「蚩尤传」中载:「蚩尤姜姓,炎帝之裔也」
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_You"
 

SonYukView4ever

♥OFFICIAL MARK PRIN STALKER♥
wow!
that is so COOL!
such an incredible story.
wow!

anyways, chi you ask txhiv yawg! WOW! :eek:

Glad to know Hmong is gaining their history back and slowlY!
 

starryXing*

sarNie Adult
I'm currently working on my essay about Hmong & their connection with China. I thought it was pretty interesting that Chi You is one of the founder of China. He is the one that is consider 'Hmong Emperor' in China, as he was the leader that led us back in 27th century BC. I believe it is in Zhuolu where the chinese government actually build a status with the 3 founders of China & Chi You is one of them. Anyways, I just finish watching a video called, <The First of 5,000 Years Founder> & according to the video, Chi You was undefeated. In order to kill him, his body was pull apart by 5 bulls, Huang Di [ The Yellow Emperor that Chi You & his people (us) rebelled against] buried Chi You in three different locations. His head was buried 25 km east & his legs were buried 30 km south from his body. Today in China, the area where his tomb was at actually rose into a hill, along with the body of his horse.

LOL, I thought it was pretty interesting! Anyone else got anymore information since I'm kind of blank now. :lol:
Currently, it's debated that the real tomb is in Tasi village in Zhuolu, Hebei. I actually went and visited that location & Chi you's temple last month when I went to China. It was a long drive and the roads were perilous, but very fascinating because of the history and knowing that "you've been there." Across the way is also a temple devoted to Chiyou. Gosh, the climb up the snowy, slippery mountain to the temple was horribly cold in the middle of winter, but totally worth it too.
From the tomb, you can also see the mountain where Huang Di, Yan Di and Chi You had their final battle too.

For years, the villagers called it the tomb of the White Dragon (Bai Long) as they didn't want the tomb's location exposed and didn't want it know that it was Chi You. If you are at the tomb, you'll also see the pagoda in the distance, and the location where a temple used to be (as noted in clips below). The temple is no longer there, but it was supposedly built as a ruse so that Chi You's followers could honor Chi You and not look suspicious. There's two trees that used to be on either side of the temple and even to this day, the villagers do not dare to cut the trees because they believe it has spiritual power.
- We had a chance to speak with the village leader who did a bit of the history and the above actually info actually came from the village leader. The villagers all claim to be descendants of Chi You's followers.

I never heard or knew anything about Chi You until I went to China, but have found myself quite fascinated with it since I came back.

Have you seen these clips? It has clips showing the same village and tomb that visited and has a bit of history.

Ancestor of Han and Miao People

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3dnKFy6jaI
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVtome-rxM
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbnvjNgbaB0

Chi-You's Final Resting Place Belived to be Found

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORcm56pMKY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF7eASRQbsA
Part 3: not sure where it is
 

swt_anjo559

sarNie Egg
^^ OMG, thanks for the clips! Wow, I would love to visit China someday. I really want to meet the Hmong in China, they probably know more about the Hmong than many of us.
 

mysuper_girlfriend

sarNie Juvenile
I'm currently working on my essay about Hmong & their connection with China. I thought it was pretty interesting that Chi You is one of the founder of China. He is the one that is consider 'Hmong Emperor' in China, as he was the leader that led us back in 27th century BC. I believe it is in Zhuolu where the chinese government actually build a status with the 3 founders of China & Chi You is one of them. Anyways, I just finish watching a video called, <The First of 5,000 Years Founder> & according to the video, Chi You was undefeated. In order to kill him, his body was pull apart by 5 bulls, Huang Di [ The Yellow Emperor that Chi You & his people (us) rebelled against] buried Chi You in three different locations. His head was buried 25 km east & his legs were buried 30 km south from his body. Today in China, the area where his tomb was at actually rose into a hill, along with the body of his horse.

LOL, I thought it was pretty interesting! Anyone else got anymore information since I'm kind of blank now. :lol:
pretty interested...
 

Vamkim

sarNie Juvenile
When I think about it, are we hmong these days speaking original legend and legacy traditionally Hmong languages? And what about the one in china? Are they nowadays speaking the very very original hmong languages?
 

starryXing*

sarNie Adult
When I think about it, are we hmong these days speaking original legend and legacy traditionally Hmong languages? And what about the one in china? Are they nowadays speaking the very very original hmong languages?
Okay, these comments are off memory from my trip, so if anyone's a Hmong scholar and thinks my comments could be wrong, feel free to correct me. We didn't actually read/study books on this subject so I am in no way an expert. In addition to touring China, we did alot of side trips to Miao related places in China, so most of this is stuff I remember hearing long the way.

The hmong peeps in America actually speak a dialect of the Miao in China---> That was a HUGE surprise for me. I thought there was only one hmong language, but it turns out I'm speaking a dialect. ^_^ In a way, it's pretty neat to go all the way to China and hear your own language (or bits and pieces of it spoken). It definitely opened my eyes.
I can't remember enough historical data from the trip to remember if the language we speak in the US originated from what region of China (central or western/eastern...??). But our professor told us green hmong was first and is more closer to the some of the Miao languages and then later evolved into white hmong.
The majority of the Miao villages we visited spoke dialects much closer to the green hmong language. There was this one older Miao guy whose lived his whole life in China, and he spoke very clear green-- he was the easiest to understand. But sometimes there's so many Miao dialects that you can't even understand them at all. At a Miao gathering one day in Guizhou, our guests provided us with a Miao "translator" because they thought we spoke her dialect and I only picked up like two or three words the translator was saying only. They thought they were helping us with the translator, but I couldn't even understand the translator. LOL

But then we went to Yunnan province and alot of the Miao people there spoke much clearer hmong. It's much easier as US hmong folks to communicate with the dialect in Yunnan (vs. Guizhou). It was definitely green hmong though, and I'm white hmong, so I didn't pick it up too well. But other's on my trip were green and they could pick it up and speak back easier.

We also met a couple Hmong students from Laos studying abroad in China too-- it was very fascinating to meet Hmong peeps from all over in China.

I think I'll post some pics up later of the different kinds of Miao people I met/visited on my trip.
 

kulyia

RUK
i heard about this story...saw a documentary on it a while back...its interesting. korean people also looked up to him and called him chi woo..he was a emperor...i find that very...interesting too...makes me wondering if koreans and hmong ppl have a connection...

i always love watching things about hmong history because there is so much we don't know about.


iwill read tomorrow. But.... i LOVE ur pic.. haha :dude:
 
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