Leizu
Principal consort of Huangdi; first sericulturist; inventor of silk per the canonical Shiji tradition. The silkworm-cocoon-in-tea discovery narrative is one of the most-widely-known origin-stories in Chinese cultural-historical tradition. Daughter of the Xi Ling clan (西陵氏, "Western Mound clan"); mother of Changyi (whose son Zhuanxu became one of the Five Emperors) and Xuanxiao / Shaohao (whose descendants included Diku and Yao). The Leizu-cult was institutionalized as the patron-deity of sericulture by the Tang imperial state; sericultural shrines were established at the spring sericulture-rite location. The silk-production technology she is credited with founding became one of the foundational Chinese-civilizational technologies, anchoring the millennia-long Silk Road trade and the cultural-economic dominance of Chinese silk in the pre-modern world.
Children
Domains
- sericulture
- silk
Powers
- Discover the rearing of silkworms and the reeling of silk
Relations
Sources
- Sima Qian, Shiji Ch. 1
- Shi Ben (Genealogical Annals; Han-period compilation)