Xihe is a solar goddess in the Shan Hai Jing: the wife of Di Jun and mother of ten suns. This is one Chinese solar tradition, rather than a single universal male Sun God.
The Story Behind Xihe and the ten suns
The Dahuang nan jing describes Xihe bathing the suns at Gan Yuan.
A separate Haiwai dong jing passage places ten suns at the Fusang tree by Tang Valley, nine on lower branches and one above.
The ten-sun disaster and Yi
Another tradition concerns the catastrophe of ten suns appearing together, scorching crops and threatening people.
The Huainanzi, Benjing xun, connects this disaster with Yao and the archer Yi.
Yi shoots the suns to relieve the crisis. Familiar retellings often say nine were shot down, leaving one; the brief cited Huainanzi wording should not be treated as a full account of every later detail.
The bathing-suns, Fusang and archery passages are related solar traditions, but they are not one uninterrupted story in the same source.
Related reading: Chinese Mythology Kitchen God · Chinese Mythology God Of Wealth Caishen · Chinese Mythology Celestial Beings · Wikipedia
The contrast between the sun’s life-giving warmth and the destructive heat of the ten-sun disaster offers a way to read the story as a lesson in balance. This is an interpretation of the solar story.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Xihe?
In the Shan Hai Jing, Xihe is the wife of Di Jun and mother of ten suns.
What does Xihe do in the cited passage?
She bathes the suns at Gan Yuan.
Is the archery episode the same source passage?
No. The Huainanzi disaster and Yi’s response are distinguished here from the Shan Hai Jing bathing-suns and Fusang passages.
Enjoyed this story? Share it!
🐦 Share on Twitter📚 Related Books
Explore more Chinese mythology stories in our curated collection