During the Spring and Autumn period of ancient times, there was a man named Ye Gong from the state of Chen. He had a great love for dragons. The beams, pillars, doors, windows, and daily decorations in his home were all carved with dragons, and even his clothes and bedding were embroidered with dragons. The walls of his house were also painted with dragons, making his home almost a world of dragons. The real dragon in the sky heard of this and was deeply moved, so it came to visit Ye Gong. The dragon's head extended through the window, and its tail stretched into the hall. However, when Ye Gong saw the real dragon, he was terrified and screamed, fleeing in panic.
It turned out that Ye Gong did not really love the real dragon, but rather a fake dragon that looked like one. "Ye Gong's love for dragons" is now a common idiom, used to describe someone who appears to have a strong interest in something, but actually does not truly like it.
Shennong was a legendary figure regarded as the founder of agriculture and medicine. In ancient times, people lived by gathering and hunting. Shennong invented tools such as wooden plows and hoes, and taught the people agricultural production. This reflects the transition of ancient China from gathering and hunting to farming. It is also said that he tasted hundreds of herbs, discovered medicinal plants, and taught people how to treat illnesses.
After Fuxi, Shennong was another legendary figure who made great contributions to the Chinese nation. In addition to inventing agricultural techniques, he also invented medical practices, established a calendar, and pioneered irrigation techniques with nine interconnected wells. Because he invented agricultural techniques, he was known as Shennong, and because he ruled with the virtue of fire, he was called Yan Di (Emperor Yan), Chi Di (Red Emperor), or Lie Shan Shi (Mount Li), becoming a leader who competed with the Yellow Emperor for supremacy.
According to legend, Shennong was born with a "crystal stomach," almost completely transparent, allowing people to see his internal organs and even the food he ate. At that time, people often fell ill or even died from eating things indiscriminately. To solve this problem, Shennong decided to taste all kinds of herbs. Edible ones were placed in a bag on his left side for others to eat, while inedible ones were put in a bag on his right side for medicinal use. Things that were not edible were used to warn people.
The three Xiangs and four waters were once the territory of the founder of the Chinese nation—Emperor Yan Shennong. Here, he first cultivated five grains to provide food for the people; he made plows and hoes to facilitate farming; he tasted hundreds of herbs to cure people's diseases; he processed hemp into cloth to protect people from cold; he made pottery for daily use; he carved a zither from a桐 tree to comfort people's emotions; he established the first market to benefit the people's lives; and he shaped wooden arrows to ensure people's safety. He completed the historical transformation from nomadic life to settled living, from hunting and fishing to farming, and realized the transition from ignorance to civilization, and from the Old Stone Age to the New Stone Age.
Emperor Yan led the ancestors to overcome famine and disease, freeing the Chinese nation from a life of hunger, cold, illness without medicine, and wandering. People began to live with food to eat, clothes to wear, houses to live in, and medicine to treat illness, and they could go to markets, listen to music, and sing about bountiful harvests. Today, millions of people around the world refer to themselves as descendants of Yan and Huang.
