Fuxi

Fuxi is the first mythical ruler of China in many traditional lists. Britannica describes him as a divine being with a serpent's body, said to have lived around the 29th century BCE by traditional reckoning. He is credited with discovering the eight trigrams (bagua) used in divination and in the Yijing, and with teaching people to fish with nets, hunt and cook, and with establishing marriage.

He is closely paired with the goddess Nüwa, who is described as his wife or sister. In Han dynasty tomb carvings and Tang dynasty silk paintings from Turfan, the two are shown with human upper bodies and entwined serpent tails, Fuxi holding a carpenter's square and Nüwa a compass. A later folk story, recorded among several peoples of southern China, makes them the brother and sister who survive a flood and repopulate the world.

Fuxi is a mythological figure. The stories about him come from texts and art of the Han dynasty and later, long after the dates tradition assigns him.