Listed in mythology as one of the Four Emperors/Six Emperors, Hou Tu is the god who rules the earth, as opposed to the Jade Emperor ruling the heavens. She was a goddess who was known as the Earth Mother, and the Jade Emperor was called the Heavenly Prince.

In the temple built for her, she was portrayed as a dignified woman, and the general population called her Houtu Niangniang. It is believed that the deity is the protector of agriculture for a good harvest, the god of fertility, and the god of the earth.

Because China has been a country based on agriculture since ancient times, and human beings have long been bound by the idea of "born from heaven and raised by earth", that is, the ritual law of worshipping heaven and earth has been formed.

The primitive worship of heaven and earth is the worship of the natural nature and function of heaven and earth.

As far as the worship of the land is concerned, the ancients at that time were not the entities that worshiped the land itself, but the main reason for worship was that they felt that the land was vast and boundless, infinitely powerful, giving birth to all things, carrying all things, and was the root of survival, and clothing, food, shelter and transportation were inseparable.

Therefore, from the emperor to the common people, they all worshiped the god very much. Throughout China's history, large ceremonies were held every year to worship the deity, many times presided over by the emperor himself.

"Imperial Century" Emperor Yu "takes Jumang as Muzheng, Zhurong as Huozheng, Harvest as Jinzheng, Xuanming as Shuizheng, and Houtu as Tuzheng." It is the official of the five elements who divide their duties and rule the princes...... "When there are "Nan Zhengzhong" and "Huo Zhengli", the emperor set up "the official of the five elements" is credible.

"Zuo Chuan: The Twenty-ninth Year of Zhao Gong" Sheji Five Rituals: "The five rituals mentioned are the origin of the officials of the five elements. The four uncles of the Shaohui clan are heavy, the, repair, and Xi Shineng gold, wood and water", so the emphasis is on the sentence, it should be the harvest, and the cultivation and Xi are the Xuanming, which is the name of Muzheng, Jinzheng, and Shuizheng.

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas" is the god of the four directions, the eastern jumang, the southern Zhurong, the western harvest, and the northern Yujiang.

Houtu originated from the ancient Chinese worship of the land. "The Book of Rites: Suburban Special Sacrifice" contains: "The earth carries all things, the sky hangs down like an image, the material is taken from the earth, the law is taken from the sky, and it is to respect the sky and kiss the earth." Therefore, the people of the church are repaid with beauty. In ancient times, people were born on the ground, so they were "close to the ground", and carried out "good retribution and sacrifice", so there was a "Hou Tu" worship, which began in the Spring and Autumn Period.

The land is an important material basis for people's survival, and people call it "the mother of mankind". Therefore, Houtu is worshipped as a shrine god. In ancient times, the god of the center was listed with the Yellow Emperor, and the Han Dynasty built the "Houtu Temple", which was said to be "the emperor of the heavens, the emperor and the queen of the earth". The sky is yang, the earth is yin, and the emperor is opposite to the queen, so the earth becomes a goddess. Today, it is called "Mother Earth".

According to the article "Hou Tu Huang Di Di" in the first volume of the "Three Sects Source Stream Sou Shen Daquan": "Heaven and earth are not divided, but they are mixed into one; Eryi's initial judgment, yin and yang positioning, so the clear air rises and becomes the yang sky, and the turbid gas descends and becomes the yin land. For the yang sky, the five Tai are passed down from generation to generation, the five days are positioned, the sun and the moon are applied, and the mystical images are uneven. For the yin land, the five yellows are multiplied, the five gases are condensed, and the rivers, seas, mountains, forests and houses are loaded. Therefore, it is said that the sky is yang and the earth is yin, and the heaven and the earth are also the mother. ”

There are many records about Houtu, and there are various legends:

"The Twenty-ninth Year of the Emperor Zhao Gong" cloud: "The soil is said to be the soil." "Du pre-note" makes the Lord back the earth, in order to make a hundred things. ”

"Zuo Biography" said: The monarch is behind the soil and wears the emperor. Kong Shu: "The earth god is the earth's words." After the indigenous, the name of the land is also. ”

"The Twenty-ninth Year of Zhao Gong": "Therefore, there are officials of the five elements, which are called the five senses, Mu Zheng said Jumang, Huo Zheng said Zhu Rong, Jin Zheng said Zhu Rong, Shui Zheng said Xuan Ming, and Tu Zheng said Hou Tu. The Zhuan clan has a son called Li, for Zhu Rong. The Gonggong clan has a son called Julong, which is the soil of the future. Houtu is the society. ”

"Zhou Li, Chunguan, Dazongbo" said: "Wang Dafeng, then sue first and then the soil." Original note: "Houtu, the earth god also." ”

"Chu Ci Summoning the Soul" cloud: "The soul returns, and you have no place in this secluded capital." Wang Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty noted: "The secluded capital, the underground and the soil are also governed." The underground netherworld, so it is called the hidden capital. ”

"Chu Ci: Nine Arguments" cloud: "The emperor is overflowing with obscenity and autumn is shining, when will the earth be rich?" "Luo, that is, dry.

"The Book of Rites: Tan Gong" said: "The monarch raised and cried in the back soil." Zheng Note: "Houtu, Sheye." ”

"The Book of Rites and Sacrifices": "The hegemony of the Gonggong clan in Kyushu is also, and his son is called Houtu, which can level Kyushu, so he worships as a society." ”

"The Book of Rites: The Order of the Month": "The central soil, its emperor Yellow Emperor, and its god queen soil." "Zheng Note: This Huang Jing Jun, the god of the local official, and the son of the Hou Tu Yi Xuan clan, said Li, is also a local official.

"Chinese Lu Yu" cloud: "The tyrant of the Gonggong clan is also Jiuyou, and his son is called Houtu, and can level Jiutu." It seems that it is the historicization of the myth of "co-labor and birth after the earth" in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas".

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Classic of the Sea": "After working together, the soil is born after the soil, and the choking is born two out of ten." Guo Pu's note: Twelve sons were born, all of whom were named after the year, so Yunran. Yuan Ke's "Complete Translation of the Classic of Mountains and Seas": The ancient myth is that Cho Ming was born at the age of 12 or 12 years old in December.

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Great Wilderness of the West": "Li (Houtu) is choked on the ground, located at the west pole, and travels to the sun, moon and stars. "This choking sounds, covering the god of time.

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Great Wilderness North Classic": "In the great wilderness, there is a mountain named Chengdu Zaittian. Someone called the two yellow snakes, and called them Kuafu. After the native gave birth to the letter, the letter gave birth to the father and praised the father. Hao Yixing's note: Houtu, the son of the Gonggong clan, Goulong, see "Zuo Chuan" in the nineteenth year of Zhao, and see "The Classic of Mountains and Seas".

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas, the Classic of the Sea": "Co-labor gives birth to the soil." "Yuan Ke's "Complete Translation of the Classic of Mountains and Seas" case: "Chinese Lu Yu" cloud: "The tyrant of the Gonggong clan is also Jiuyouye, and his son is called Houtu, and can level nine soils." That is, the history of "co-working and giving birth to the soil".

"Huainanzi Tianwenxun": "The central soil is also, its emperor Yellow Emperor, and its Zuohou soil." ”

"Historical Records: Five Emperors" cloud: "Shun lifts the eight Kai, makes the lord the back of the earth, and uses a hundred things to make a hundred things, all in order." Du pre-note: "After the soil, the land also." ”

"Historical Records: Five Emperors": "As for Yao, Yao failed to raise it. Shun lifts the eight Kai, so that the Lord is behind the soil, in order to take a hundred things, all in order. ”

"Historical Records: Filial Piety and Wu Benji": "And five years of repair, the first and fifth emperors of the ancestral hall sat on the Ming Hall, so that the Gao Emperor Ancestral Hall sat on it. The soil behind the shrine is in the lower room, and it is twenty prisons. ”

Volume 78 of the "General Examination of Literature" says: "The founding of the state first sues the land." "Another cloud:" Houtu, that is, the earth god, also known as the shrine god, is the two also, the book says, dare to announce to the emperor Tianhou soil. ”

Some of the above records about Houtu appeared as immortals, some appeared as ordinary people, and some recorded official names, all of which were male. However, in the ancient Chinese tradition, in the oracle bone inscription and the gold inscription, the character "hou" is in the shape of a woman. As for "soil", "Shi Ming • Shi Tian" said: "Soil, spitting also, can spit out all things."

The key lies in this sentence: "Soil, spit, can spit out all things." ”

Here is the secret of immortality discovered by Liu Fugui!