Fu Xi

Fu Xi—also known as Mi Xi or Pao Xi—is venerated as the foremost of the Three Sovereigns and the universally acknowledged forefather of Chinese civilization. Legend holds he was born in Chengji and possessed a human head and serpentine body. By observing the heavens above and surveying the earth below, drawing analogies from his own body and distant phenomena, he invented the Eight Trigrams, using yin-yang symbols to encapsulate the fundamental principles governing heaven, earth, and all things—thereby inaugurating the origins of Chinese philosophy and writing. He taught the people to weave nets for fishing and hunting, domesticated livestock, instituted marriage rites stipulating the presentation of matched animal hides as betrothal gifts, invented the qin and se zithers, and standardized surnames—his achievements benefiting countless generations. According to legend, the goddess Huaxu conceived Fu Xi after treading upon the footprint of a giant; later, he married his sister Nüwa and together they propagated humanity, earning him the title of Deity of Marriage. Successive dynastic rulers dispatched imperial envoys to offer sacrifices to Taihao Fu Xi, and the ancestral rites held at Tianshui and Huaiyang continue unbroken to this day.