Overview
Xihe () was a solar deity in Chinese mythology. One of the two wives of Di Jun (along with Changxi), she was the mother of ten suns in the form of three-legged crows residing in a mulberry tree, the Fusang, in the East Sea. Each day, one of the sun birds would be rostered to travel around the world on a carriage driven by Xihe. Folklore also held that once, all ten sun birds came out on the same day, causing the world to burn; Houyi saved the day by shooting down all but one of the sun birds.
Literature
, in Hangzhou In the poem Suffering from the Shortness of Days (), Li He of the Tang dynasty is hostile towards the legendary dragons that drew the sun chariot as a vehicle for the passage of time. . Rubbing from the Wu Family Shrines reliefs, mid-2nd century In the Huainanzi, the journey of the sun and the attendant of the sun chariot is described: :"The sun rises up from the Bright Valley, bathes in the Pool of Xian, and rests in the Fusang Tree. This is called Dawn Light. :Ascending the Fusang Tree, it thereupon commences its journey.
This is called Emergent Brightness. : reaches the Bent Slope, this is called Dawn Brilliance. : reaches the Steaming Spring, this is called the Morning Meal. : reaches the Mulberry Field, this is called the Late-Morning Meal. : reaches the Balance Beam of Yang, this is called within the Angle. : reaches Kun Wu, this is called the Exact Center. : reaches the Bird Roost, this is called the Lesser Return. : reaches the Valley of Grief, this is called the Dinner Hour. : reaches Woman’s Sequence, this is called the Great Return. : reaches the Angle of the Abyss, this is called the Raised Pestle. : reaches Carriage Stone, this is called the Descending Pestle. : reaches the Fountain of Grief, it halts; its female attendant rests her horses.
This is called the Suspended Chariot. : reaches the Abyss of Anxiety, this is called Yellow Dusk. : reaches the Vale of Obscurity, this is called Definite Dusk. :The sun enters the floodwaters of the Abyss of Anxiety; sunrise emerges from the drainage stream of the Vale of Obscurity. : travels over the nine continents, seven resting places, 507,309 li. :The divisions make dawn, daylight, dusk, and night."
See also
*Mid-Autumn Festival *Shujun *Chinese H-alpha Solar Explorer, named after Xihe *List of solar deities