Yan Emperor

Who is Yan Emperor?

The Yan Emperor was a legendary Han Chinese ruler who lived in pre-dynastic China. Modern scholarship has identified the Sheep's Head Mountains just north of Gaoping in Shanxi Province as his homeland and territory.

A long debate has existed over whether or not the Yan Emperor was the same person as the legendary Shennong. An academic conference held in China in 2004 achieved general consensus that the Yan Emperor and Shennong were the same person. Another possibility is that the term Flame Emperor was a title, held by dynastic succession, with Shennong being known as Yandi, perhaps posthumously. Accordingly, the term Flame Emperors would be generally more correct. The succession of Flame Emperors, from Shennong, the first Yandi, until the time of the last Yan Emperor's defeat by Huangdi, may have been some 500 years.