Ying Shao
Eastern Han official and author of the Fengsu Tongyi
- Lived
- c. 144–204 CE
- Dynasty
- Eastern Han
- Office
- Administrator of Taishan Commandery, 189–194
- Work
- Fengsu Tongyi (Comprehensive Meaning of Customs)
- Also wrote
- Hanguan yi, on Han court protocol
The Han official whose book on customs, the Fengsu Tongyi (c. 195 CE), preserves the myth of Nüwa making the first people from yellow earth.
What is Ying Shao known for?
Ying Shao was an official and scholar of the late Eastern Han dynasty. He served as administrator of Taishan Commandery from 189 to 194, where he fought off remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels, then fled to the warlord Yuan Shao when Cao Cao invaded the region. He died at Ye in about 204.
His best-known work is the Fengsu Tongyi, a treatise on popular customs, beliefs and legends, written around 195 CE. It survives in ten chapters plus fragments quoted in later collections. He also wrote on Han court institutions.
A fragment of the Fengsu Tongyi preserves the best-known version of the creation of humans by the goddess Nüwa: she shapes people from yellow earth by hand, then, tiring, drags a cord through mud and flicks off drops that become people. The text explains social rank by this difference, with nobles from the handmade figures and commoners from the mud drops.
His Fengsu Tongyi is the site's source for Nüwa creating humans from yellow earth.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeNüwa
- PassageNüwa shapes people from yellow earth (Fengsu Tongyi)
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Ying Shao'Reference
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Nu Gua'Reference
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