Shennong, (神農) is a Chinese deity credited with the development of agriculture and widely considered to be the father of traditional Chinese medicine. His name is made up of the characters for “god” or “deity,” shén (神), and nóng (農), which means “peasant” or “farmer” (Shinno in Japan; Sinnong in Korean, and Thần Nông in Vietnam.) His name literally means "Divine Farmer" (or "Divine Husbandman"). Today, he is considered to be the patron deity of farmers, rice traders, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM.) Shennong’s birthday is celebrated on the 26th day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar with sacrifices of farm animals like sheep, oxen and pigs.
Shennong, also known as the "Emperor of the Five Grains," was the second of the legendary three emperors referred to as the "Three Sovereigns" or "Three Emperors, " - Fuxi, Shennong, and Huangdi, each of which were medically-oriented and renowned for teaching mankind essential survival tips and how to make a living. Shennong is considered to be an ancestor of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, perhaps even his father. In some interpretations, he would later become known as Yan Di, or the “Emperor of Fire” (since fire was an important symbol to the people of his home village).
Shennong had the head of a bull and the body of a man (In some artistic representations, he merely has horns or subtle bumps on his head), a forehead as hard as bronze, a skull as hard as iron, and a transparent stomach, which he used to observe how the herbs he ingested affected his body. He usually dressed in a simple robe made from leaves and foliage, sporting long hair and an overgrown beard, and is often depicted in his signature pose—sitting while munching on a branch.
Shennong was born around 28 BCE in what is modern-day Shaanxi province on the banks of the Jiang River, southwest of the Qi Mountains, to a beautiful princess and a heavenly dragon. As a child, it is said that he spoke after three days of his birth and walked within a week. He started plowing the field when he was three years old.
Shennong realized that most of the people in his village were subsisting on a poor, scavenged diet of clams, fruit, and the occasional bit of meat. Deciding to help them, he put his transparent stomach to use and began eating all the different types of plants around him to experiment with their effects on his body. He categorized the plants into three different categories: superior (non-toxic and edible/rejuvenating), medium (plants with mild ill-effects, but with medicinal use/tonic effects), and inferior (poisonous but able quickly to reduce fever and cure indigestion). After taking a year to try hundreds of different kinds of plants, he shared his findings with his neighbors and taught them how to farm, so they would have a steady source of nutritious food. After learning to cultivate plants and medicinal herbs, the health of the villagers improved and they shared their newfound knowledge with neighboring towns.
Shennong is also considered to be the author of the Shénnóng Běncǎo Jīng (神農本草經), or The Divine Farmer’s Herb-Root Classic, the most well-known work attributed to Shennong and one of the first ever almanacs detailing the herbs used in Chinese medicine. It was first compiled some time during the end of the Western Han Dynasty, several thousand years after Shennong and is said to have catalogued, graded, and rated 365 species of medicinal plants that later became the basis of herbological studies in China.
Shennong, known as "The Emperor of Five Grains", reportedly discovered modern crops like wheat, rice, millet, bean, and sorghum. He is also attributed to the having invented the plow, hoe, plow, axe, digging wells, agricultural irrigation, clearing the land with fire, preserving stored seeds by using boiled horse urine, taming the ox, yoking the horse, the weekly farmers market, the Chinese calendar, and tea. He is also believed to have to have introduced the technique of acupuncture in China, refined the therapeutic understanding of pulse measurements, the practice of moxibustion (the medicinal practice of burning mugwort on particular parts of the body), and to have instituted the harvest thanksgiving ceremony (Zhaji Sacrificial Rite or Laji Rite ). Shennong also plays a significant role in the Yì Jīng (易經), or The Book of Changes.
Shennong is said to have died from a toxic herb overdose as a result of an experiment for which he was unable to get an appropriate antidote in time. It is believed that he died in what is now known as “Shennong Cave.” As a reward for his selfless and heroic deeds, Shennong was awarded a place in the Jade Emperor’s heavenly court.
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