They are all myths and legends, and there is no precise historical basis.
A statement passed down from generation to generation
Fuxi, also known as Fuxi, Xihuang, and Liu. Xi and others are one of the most widely influential objects of worship in folk beliefs. According to records in ancient books, it was he who taught the early people how to make nets for fishing, farming and planting, and pioneered cultural and scientific knowledge such as observing celestial phenomena, deducing mathematics, writing, and playing music. From then on, he led the early people who drank raw materials into the civilized era; and in According to folklore, he and Nuwa turned from brother and sister into husband and wife. They were the ancestors who multiplied and raised the Chinese people, so they were called "Human Zu" or "Human Zuye". According to incomplete statistics, there are dozens of ethnic groups in my country such as Han, Miao, Yao, Zhuang, Yi, Dai, Wa, Dong, Shui, Hani, Lahu, Buyi and so on. It is said that Fuxi and Nuwa brother and sister protected the gourd from floods, got married and reproduced. The story of mankind, and in the Huaiyang area of ??Henan Province today, where it is said that Fuxi's burial place is located, the annual "Renzu Temple Fair" is passed down from generation to generation and is an important folk cultural festival.
The history of worshiping Fuxi is long and colorful, but what is the true face of Fuxi, and whether there is such a Fuxi in history, or is he a personified god or a deified man? All of this, Since the name "Fuxi" first appeared in works of the Warring States Period such as "Zhuangzi" and "Book of Changes", it has been shrouded in thick fog for a long time.
Some people believe that Fuxi is a god from ancient times, and there is no such person in history. The legend about his marriage to Nuwa's brother and sister is the ancestors' recollection and record of the marriage customs of blood relatives in distant primitive societies. Some people also point out that Fuxi is an imperial god in the mythology of emperors in a patriarchal society, while Nuwa should be a deity in a matrilineal society. They represent two gods at different stages of social development. The legend about the marriage of their brother and sister should be based on comparison. It evolved from the more ancient Pangu Nuwa myth.
There are also debates about Fuxi's role in the worship of ancient gods. For example, when describing Fuxi's origins, ancient books such as "Poetry Containing Shenwu", "Shui Jing Zhu·Huzi River", "Historical Records·Supplementary Records of the Three Emperors" cited in Volume 78 of "Taiping Yulan" say that Hua Xu, the daughter of the Emperor of Heaven, stepped on Lei Ze There were traces of snakes (footprints), so she became pregnant and gave birth to Fuxi. But Lu Sixian deciphered that "Huaxu" means the seeds of crops, "Luji" means sowing the seeds in the ridges of the ground, "Fuxi" means the seeds sprout and grow in the soil, and "Leize" means the arrival of spring. , everything begins to grow. It is known that "Hua Xu's footsteps gave birth to Fuxi" is a myth about agricultural phenomena, and Fuxi is the god of spring ("About the "New Myth" in "Mythology and Archeology"", "Folklore Research" Issue 3, 1998). Some people also believe that Fuxi is a snake god based on the record of "the emperor's daughter wandered into the abyss of Huaxu and became pregnant after being touched by a snake" (Luo Ping's Annotation of "Bao Ting Ji" quoted in "Bao Cang Ji"). The circumstantial evidence includes the Wuliang Temple of the Eastern Han Dynasty. There are two stone carvings of Fuxi and Fuxi and Nuwa in the stone chamber, both of which are images of the snake god with a human head. Other books such as "Emperor's Genealogy" describe Fuxi's appearance as "human head and snake body", "dragon body", "lin god", etc. Therefore Fuxi is also the Dragon God. Some people interpret "Leize" as the God of Thunder, and Fuxi becomes the son of the God of Thunder. There is also a story circulating in the Huaiyang area: a long time ago, the God of Thunder was often angry and thunderstorms occurred, causing rivers to overflow and causing disaster to people and animals. In order to save the people, a beautiful girl from Huaxu volunteered to accompany the God of Thunder, and everything went smoothly from then on. Later Hua Xu gave birth to a boy, Fuxi. Some people think that Fuxi is the sun god. He Xin pointed out that Fuxi's real name should be Puxi, which is the great "xi" god-the sun god ("The Origin of the Gods", Sanlian Bookstore, 1986). However, some people say that the folklore information preserved in the Huaiyang area shows that Fuxi has nothing to do with the sun god, but he is one of the ancestral gods.
The view that Fuxi is indeed a person in history has been around since ancient times. The "Century of Emperors" even pointed out Fuxi's birthplace, capital, and years of reign, saying that he was born in "Cheng Ji", "Du Chen", "died after 110 years of reign". Later generations researched that Cheng Ji was in Tianshui, Gansu Province, and Chen was in Huaiyang, Henan Province. Today, there are still architectural complexes such as Fuxi Temple in Shui City, and there are historical sites such as Fuxi Mausoleum in Huaiyang. After comprehensively studying ancient records and folklore materials, Song Zhaolin concluded that Fuxi was an outstanding figure in ancient times, a clan leader, inventor and wizard. Because Fuxi lived before the invention of agriculture, he may have made significant contributions to the improvement of fishing and hunting tools and technology. Judging from the image of Fuxi on the stone portraits of the Han Dynasty, Fuxi has the head of a human and the body of a snake. This image shows that it has entered the totem era and was in the early stage of matrilineal clan society. Under the conditions of extremely low productivity at that time, people relied on the strength of the group to survive. The leaders of the clan and tribes were the embodiment of blood ties and group strength. After their death, they became the ancestral gods and mythological figures of the clan and tribe ("Chinese Fertility Beliefs"). ", Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1999).
In comparison, among modern scholars, the view that denies that Fu Xi actually existed is more dominant. Some scholars point out that the main reason for the misunderstanding that there is indeed Fuxi is that some ancient scholars mistook myths for history. However, they also believe that by sorting out and studying these myths, they can deepen their understanding of the general characteristics of prehistoric society. know.
For example, Lu Zhenyu believes that "Fuxi" is a reflection of the economy and society of Yutian in time ("Research on Chinese Society in Prehistoric Period", Sanlian Bookstore, 1961); Xu Xusheng believes that Fuxi is a name of a Miaoman tribe group in ancient times ("Ancient China" "The Legendary Era of History", Science Press, 1960); Wen Yiduo wrote "Fuxi Research" and believed that Fuxi was the snake totem of the Miao people in the south in ancient times; Liu Yaohan believed that Fuxi was the totem of the Qiang Ronghu clan tribe in the northwest and southwest mountainous areas in ancient times. The name or the name of its leader ("New Exploration on the Source of Chinese Civilization - Taoism and the Yi Tiger Cosmology", Yunnan People's Publishing House, 1985); Zhu Bingxiang believes that "Fuxi is an all-encompassing cultural symbol" ("Fuxi and Chinese Culture", Hubei Education Press, 1997), etc.