Taifeng
Mythological Narrative
Mount He, last peak of the third central sequence, bends five times, and nine streams rise on it, joining to flow north into the Yellow River; the text calls it 'the ninefold gathering-place of the River.' Its warden is the auspicious god Taifeng, human in form with a tiger's tail, who favors the sunny south side of Mount Fu and moves in an aura of light. The classic closes the notice with a single line of power: Taifeng stirs the qi of heaven and earth.
Guo Pu's commentary glosses that line with a story from the Lüshi Chunqiu. King Kongjia of the Xia was hunting on Mount Fu when a great wind rose and the day turned dark as night; the bewildered king blundered into a commoner's house. That storm, the commentators held, was Taifeng's doing — an auspicious god who could still black out the sky.
The sequence ends with his cult: Taifeng, Xunchi and Wuluo are served alike, a ram cleft in sacrifice and fine jade presented to the gods, three wardens sharing the hills along the south bank of the Yellow River.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Taifeng.
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