Zhurong
Chinese · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
God of fire and the south who defeated Gonggong in elemental war.
Domains
- fire
- south
- summer
Powers
- Govern and wield fire
Epithets
- 祝融 Name of the fire god and god of the southShanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas); Lüshi Chunqiu (primary)
- 赤帝 'Red Emperor' — Zhurong as the fiery directional sovereign of the southFive-Emperors directional cosmology (Han apocrypha) (secondary)
Relations
- enemy: GonggongReciprocal of chinese_gonggong.enemy — Gonggong is defeated by the fire-god Zhurong and in his rage breaks the pillar Mount Buzhou, tilting the heavens.Huainanzi, Tianwen xun (Gonggong battles Zhurong and strikes Mount Buzhou) (primary); Birrell, Chinese Mythology (1993), pp. 96-98 (secondary)
- descendant of: ZhuanxuShanhaijing genealogy descends the fire-god from the high-god Zhuanxu through Laotong; recorded as descent (cross-stratum) rather than parentage.Shanhaijing, Dahuang Xijing / Hainei Jing (Zhuanxu -> Laotong -> Zhurong) (primary)
Sources
- existence: Shanhaijing, c. 4th c. BCE–2nd c. CE (primary); Huainanzi, 2nd c. BCE (primary)