Nine-headed Birds, a Totem of Chu

By Chen Long

In Chinese mythology there is a magical bird with nine heads; its wings span more than three meters and its feathers have the colors of flames and blood.This creature is called the Flaming Phoenix.

The nine-headed bird is a symbol of the people born in Central China’s Hubei Province.Their ancestors from Hubei (called Chu in ancient times) worshiped the sun; they believed that in the middle of the sun there was a golden bird, and it was the soul of their ancestor.

This belief originated from an ancient official named Zhong Li, who served as Zhurong (an official title), or the “rectifier of fire,” under Emperor Di Ku, successor of the Yellow Emperor.It was hard to make fire in ancient times.The Zhurong was responsible for offering sacrifices to the sun and keeping fires burning.After the death of Zhurong Zhong Li, he was worshiped as the “God of Fire.”

Since Zhong Li, each Zhurong’s enfeoffed share of land now forms the area of Hubei.People in this area consider themselves descendants of the God of Fire.

In ancient times, Hubei was carpeted with thistles and thorns in the fields and mountains, often scratching people’s clothes and skin.These thorny plants are respectively called “Jing” and “Chu.” The ancestors of the Hubei people settled down after difficult reclamation, and therefore their country was called “Jing” or “Chu.”

The Chu people, who grew stronger from the thistles and thorns, thought that they were the bird in the sun that bathed its feathers with fire every day, so they regarded the Flaming Phoenix as their totem.

Why did the Flaming Phoenix have nine heads? The Chu people worshiped the number “nine,” thinking that “nine” is the largest among all single digit numbers.Song Yu, a poet of the State of Chu, once wrote an article entitled “Nine Debates,” which held that there were nine bright stars in the sky, nine rich lands on earth, and nine wise organs in the human body.The people of Chu painted nine heads for the Phoenix they worshiped in order to express their highest respect for it and display its holiness and beauty.

The Chu people dominated the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River for more than 800 years, defying the rule of the Zhou Dynasty to the north of their country.When the Chu people were strong in force, they sent people to inquire the Emperor of Zhou Kingdom about the weight of Jiuding (Nine Tripod Pots), which were the symbol of Emperors’ power in that era, and the “Winning of the Central Plains” expressed the Chu people’s aspiration to unite China through the Northern Expedition.

By 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin had gradually eliminated the Zhou Dynasty and other great powers of the Warring States including the State of Chu, and eventually unified China.

After the Chu lost power, the Phoenix totem worshiped in this state was gradually replaced by the Dragon totem worshiped by the people in the far reaches of the Yellow River.From the Qin Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, the patterns of people’s clothes and articles gradually depicted more Dragons and fewer Phoenixes, and people worshiped Dragons instead of Phoenixes in their lives.

But the totem of Phoenix did not disappear completely.The emperor of China claimed himself as a Dragon and the queen as a Phoenix.In the Chinese view, the Dragon occupies the dominant position while the Phoenix is in the position of subordination and obedience.

Because the culture and beliefs created by the ancestors of Hubei people have become an important part of the Chinese spirit, the proverb of “Nine-headed Birds in the Sky and Hubei Fellows on Earth” has been widespread since then.It indicates that peoples in Hubei Province are full of wisdom.

(Translation: Qing Run)

长江之水，清澈秀美；黄河之水，浑浊雄壮。3000多年来，在战争或者人口迁徙的推动下，中国南北方的思想家、诗人、政治家、商人、平民，不断地进行文化的交流。这种交流汇集成绵延数千年的中华文化，楚国图腾九头鸟便是其中之一……

天上九头鸟

文/陈龙

中国神话里有一只神奇的鸟，它长着九个头，翅膀张开有一丈多长，羽毛的颜色像火焰，也像血液。

九头鸟是湖北人的代名词。因为湖北人的祖先楚国人崇拜太阳，他们认为太阳中间有一只金色的鸟，那是他们祖先的灵魂。

这种信仰来源于远古一个叫作重黎的官员，他在黄帝的继承者帝喾的手下担任一个名为“祝融”的官职，因为在远古取火是一件困难的事情，祝融的工作就是负责祭祀太阳，保管火种。“祝融”死后，被人敬奉为“火神”。

从重黎开始，每一任“祝融”分得的土地就是现在的湖北一带。因此这一带的人认为自己是火神的后代。

在远古的时候，湖北漫山遍野布满荆棘，经常划破人的衣服和皮肤。这些带刺的植物分别叫作“荆”和“楚”。湖北人的祖先经过艰苦的开垦，才定居下来，因此他们的国家被称为“荆州”，也叫“楚国”。

在荆棘丛中强大起来的楚国人认为自己是太阳中的一只鸟，每天用烈火沐浴自己的羽毛，于是将火凤凰作为自己的图腾。

为什么火凤凰会有九个头呢？这是楚国人对数字“九”的崇拜，他们认为“九”是个位数里最大的一个数字。楚国诗人宋玉写过一篇文章《九辩》，认为天上有九颗最亮的星星，地上有九块最富裕的土地，人有九个智慧的器官。楚国人将自己崇拜的凤凰画上九个头，是为了表达对它最高的崇敬，更显出它的神圣和美丽。

楚国人在长江中下游地区称霸了八百多年，他们不服从北方周朝人的统治，在楚国人兵力强大的时候，曾经派人询问周天子的九鼎的重量。九鼎是周朝天子的权力象征，“问鼎中原”表达了楚国人有志于北伐统一中国。

直到公元前221年，秦始皇逐步消灭了周朝、也消灭了包括楚国在内的其他强国，统一了中国。

楚国失去政权后，这个国家所崇拜的凤图腾逐渐被黄河流域的人民所崇拜的龙图腾取代。从秦朝到汉朝，人们的衣服和物品上的图案逐渐多龙而少凤，生活中人们崇龙而抑凤。

但是凤的图腾并没有完全消失，中国皇帝自喻为龙，皇后则自喻为凤。在中国人的观念中，龙占据了主导和支配地位，凤则处于附属和服从地位。

因为湖北人的祖先创造的文化和信仰，已经成了中国人精神的一个重要部分，“天上九头鸟，地上湖北佬”的谚语从此流传开来。