Shennong

Who is Shennong?

Shennong, also known as the Emperor of the Five Grains, was a legendary ruler of China and culture hero. Shennong is considered to have been one of the Three Sovereigns who lived some 5,000 years ago. Shennong has been thought to have taught the ancient Chinese not only their practices of agriculture, but also the use of herbal drugs. Shennong is among the group of variously named heroic persons and deities who have been traditionally given credit for various inventions: these include the hoe, plow, axe, digging wells, agricultural irrigation, preserving stored seeds by using boiled horse urine, the weekly farmers market, the Chinese calendar, and to have refined the therapeutic understanding of taking pulse measurements, acupuncture, and moxibustion, and to have instituted the harvest thanksgiving ceremony.

"Shennong" can also be taken to refer to his people, the Shennong-shi or "Clan of Shinong". Since shì can mean both "clan" and "maiden name" and serve as a masculine honorific like "mister" or "sir", it is sometimes used in reference to his people, sometimes in reference to the individual.