FU HSI

Fu Hsi, painting on silk; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei Pinyin Fu Xi, formally (Wade-Giles romanization) T'ai Hao (Chinese: The Great Bright One), also called Pao Hsi, or Mi Hsi first of China's mythical emperors. His miraculous birth, as a divine being with a serpent's body, is said to have occurred in the 29th century BC. Some representations show him as a leaf-wreathed head growing out of a mountain or as a man clothed with animal skins. Fu Hsi is said to have discovered the famous Chinese trigrams used in divination and thus to have contributed, in some uncertain way, to the development of writing. He domesticated animals, taught his people to cook, to fish with nets, and to hunt with weapons made of iron. He likewise instituted marriage and offered the first open-air sacrifice to heaven. A stone tablet dated AD 160 depicts him with N Kua, a frequent companion, who was either his wife or sister.