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Shennong and the Bantus in the Far East

In this article, I would like to introduce you to a god and ancient ruler of Chinese legend—Shennong.

Shennong is a very important person in Chinese history and also to Hebrew Israelite history. I will attempt to demonstrate the relationship between the ancient Chinese and the Hebrew Israelites through the presentation of correlations in historical and biblical facts. For both those who are familiar and yet to become acquainted with the legendary Shennong, you are sure to learn something new and interesting things in this blog. I will first provide some background about Shennong and then demonstrate his connections to the Bantu peoples of Africa, who have already been identified as bloodline descendants of displaced Hebrew Israelites HERE (West Africa) in a separate article, as well as HERE (East Africa).

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WHO IS SHENNONG?

In order to familiarize ourselves with who Shennong is, let’s read and examine a few quotes from different sources. After reading these excerpts, it will be clear to see how important the man Shennong was in establishing Chinese culture, diet and traditional medicine. He is also credited with establishing the original Chinese monetary system as well as the introduction of different tools to the Chinese. The first source’s quote comes from an article by Dr. Subhuti Dharmananda of the Institue for Traditional Medicine. According to Dr. Subhuti,

“Shennong (the Divine Farmer) is the legendary originator of Chinese herbal medicine. It is believed that he was first known as Yan Di (Emperor of Fire), which is why he eventually became known by the full title Yandi Shennongshi.” – Subhuti Dharmananda

His depictions are numerous, mostly appearing as a leaf-draped recluse.

The water buffalo was used in virtually all farming activities, especially to pull plows through marshy rice fields…

“Shennong is said to have helped people transition from a diet of meat, clams, and wild fruits, to one based on grains and vegetables, and for developing herbal medicine…“

In addition to promoting agriculture (Shennong is translated as divine farmer), he is recognized for tasting hundreds of herbs-on one day, more than 70 herbs that had medicinal value-selecting those that were suitable as remedies, and describing their properties…

As a result of his efforts, numerous herbs became routinely used for health care, and the knowledge was handed down by oral tradition for centuries…

When these herbs were described in a formal manner, the book was named after Shennong, known today as the Shennong Bencao Jing (Herbal Classic of Shennong)…

The earliest mention of a text called Shennong Jing (Classic of Shennong) is by authors who lived during the period immediately following the fall of the Han Dynasty (220 A.D.), suggesting that it might have been compiled during the latter part of the Han Dynasty. Further, the text that comes down to us mentions governmental regulations that applied during the latter Han Dynasty, indicating that this is when it was compiled. It is thought that Shennong lived from 2737 B.C. to 2697 B.C., nearly 5,000 years ago; this is why it is common to hear that Chinese medicine has a history of 5,000 years.” – Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon

“The Divine Farmer was one of the mythological bearers of culture at the beginning of civilization. Han historians and myth makers describe his most fundamental task as having led humanity out of a state of hunting and savagery, away from eating raw flesh, drinking blood and wearing skins, towards an agrarian utopia. Here is the Huainanzi account from the 2^nd century BCE:

In ancient times the people ate grasses and drank from rivers; they picked fruit from trees and ate the flesh of mollusks and beetles. At that time there was much suffering from illness and poisoning. So the Divine Farmer taught the people for the first time how to sow and cultivate the five grains and to examine the suitability of the earth, to differentiate dry or waterlogged, fertile, high and lowland. He tasted the flavor of the hundred plants and the sweet or bitterness of river and spring; and he taught the people what to avoid and what to follow. At that time, on just one day he came across seventy poisons.” – Confucio-Blogspot

“According to tradition, the contributions of Shennong to human civilization include the following eight items:

1) The Plough. He devised an implement – a plough with a handle – for tilling the land and preparing it for cultivation. This implement has been used by Chinese farmers for a very long time, around 7-8 thousand years. He invented also the axe, the hoe, and other implements, and taught people how to use them.

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2) Teaching the planting of various grains. Shennong is also called Emperor of the Five Grains (Wugu xiandi). The “five grains” were specifically sesamum, legumes, wheat, panicled millet, and glutinous millet. Rice is not included, because the ancients were only used to the environment of Northern China, where rice cultivation is not suitable.

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3) Medicinal herbs. The Divine Farmer is the ‘patron saint’ not only of agriculture, but also of pharmacology. There were 69 remedy recipes (herbs) included in the earliest known materia medica attributed to him. These represented a tradition of pragmatic medicine not integrated with the theories of Yinyang or Wuxing. He was said to have the penchant for tasting all kinds of herbs, to experience their effect on the body…

As a result of his efforts, numerous herbs became routinely used for health care, and the knowledge was handed down by oral tradition for centuries. When these herbs were described in a formal manner, the book was named after Shennong, known today as the Shennong Bencao Jing, or Herbal Classic of the Divine Farmer. The Shennong Bencao Jing is a fundamental book in Chinese medicine. It was written sometime before 200 CE and was attributed to Shennong…

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4) Invention of a simple loom. Shennong taught people to pick mulberry leaves and to plant hemp, then to weave fabrics using silk thread and hemp cords to make simple clothing.

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5) Invention of bow and arrows.

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6) Invention of commerce. He realized that some people were in need of artifacts that they were not making. Thereupon, he arranged people to trade their goods for the things that they most wanted in a set place. So, he is said to have helped develop the earliest market in China, because he established the marketplace, where to exchange and sell goods on fixed days during the month.

“Cowrie shells are believed to have been the earliest form of currency used in Central China, and were used during the Neolithic period… Cowry shells are believed to be the earliest form of currency used in Central China, about 3000 to 4500 years ago. In the Chinese writing system, the traditional characters for ‘goods’ (貨), ‘buy/sell’ (買/賣), and ‘monger’ (販), in addition to various other words relating to ‘exchange’, all contain the radical ‘貝’, which is the pictograph for shell. (Simplification changed 貝 to 贝.) However, the extent of the circulation of shell money is still unknown, and barter trade was supposed to dominate in the market. But copies of these shells made out of bone, wood, stone, lead and copper were common enough to suppose a trade system in them was used.

Bronzed shells were found in the Ruins of Yin, the old capital of Shang Dynasty (BC 1500-BC 1046). Bronze became a universal currency in the Zhou Dynasty.” – History of Chinese Currency

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7) Invention of pottery art. He is supposed to be the inventor also of ceramic containers, which are a very useful commodity in people’s lives.

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8) Invention of the guqin musical instrument. Shennong is considered the inventor – together with Fuxi and Huangdi – of the guqin, a five-stringed (later seven-stringed) musical instrument of the zither family. He also wrote many songs to entertain people after work…

Beside these eight major items, in various legends other aspects of civilization are attributed to Shennong. A legend says that it was Shennong who discovered that drinking water could be made healthier by boiling. Or take, for instance, the invention of tea drinking. In one popular Chinese legend, Shennong was drinking a bowl of boiling water some time around 2737 BC. The wind blew and a few leaves from a nearby tree into his water and the water began to change its color. The ever inquisitive and curious monarch took a sip of the brew and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and its restorative properties. A variant of the legend tells that the emperor tested the medical properties of various herbs on himself, some of them poisonous, and found tea to work as an antidote to poison.”

“The Yijing (Book of Change), one of the most ancient Chinese writings, starts by introducing the figure of Fuxi, who studied stars and earth, birds, and animals, and learned many things from them; then it continues: “After Fuxi died, Shennong rose. He made plow and taught people how to raise crops and fishing. He invented money and market for the exchange of goods… temples to Shennong are spread everywhere, given also that China is mainly an agricultural country. In many temples dedicated to other deities, there is also a chapel, or an altar, with Shennong’s statue.

In Taiwan, there are over one hundred temples dedicated to Shennong. The temple in Shilin, Taipei, is noteworthy for its beauty and antiquity. It was built over 300 years ago during the reign of Kangxi and is built on two floors. The ground floor is for the worship of Tudi Gong (the lord of the place), the second floor is for the worship of Shennong.

The statue of Shennong is easily recognizable among the myriad of icons in Chinese temples. He is always represented as sitting, the usual way of oriental kings. His head has two horns, referring to the ancient legend that he was a human being with a buffalo head. His torso is bare and at the waist he wears a skirt of tree leaves. This is to indicate that he belongs to the age when clothes had not yet been invented, when humans did not yet know how to weave fabrics.”

Shennong advanced the culture and civilization of China in the same way that the Hyksos Egyptians and Phoenicians (both with dominant Israelite elements among them) had advanced Greek civilization in ancient times.

“The classical writers, people like Herodotus whom you quoted when we started, had a very clear images that the Greeks had been living there at a rather primitive level, and along had come Egyptians and Phoenicians. Phoenicans are the people who lived on the Levant in present Lebanon, and these people had set up cities and had civilized the Greeks. They taught them irrigation, new weapons, the alphabet, how to write, a whole series of things were attributed to these Egyptian and Phoenician colonizers.” – Black Athena, For the People, 6:33-7:12

Not only did Shennong advance the culture of the Chinese as the Egyptians and Phoenicians did Greek civilization, but also his Bantu Israelite associations also point toward a Phoenician origin being that the Israelites were Phoenicians! Moreover, The name China seems to be derived from the Greek word for Canaan, Xvã (Chi-n-ã). Canaan is said to be the first Phoenician, so perhaps the Greeks were referring to the Phoenicians (Israelites) when they spoke of Xvã (China/Canaan).

“In historical times the Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites, and their land Canaan, “the lowlands,” the latter applying equally to the coast, and the inland highlands, which the Israelites occupied.” – The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Volume 30, PG 333

“Josephus, in Histories 2.104, cites Herodotus, who stated that, “The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine were circumcised…” Josephus further states that, “there were no inhabitants of Palestine that are circumcised except the Judaeans [the Israelites].” Beside Phoenicia, which possess a large Israelite population and was itself being called ‘China’ by the Greeks, another connection between the name China and the Israelite Phoenicians of the land of Canaan can be found in the Hebrew word Kinah/Qiynah H7015. Kinah was the name of a town in the tribe of Judah as well as an eponym for the color purple.

“The Hebrew word ‘kinah,’ referenced in the Shekinah pillar, means ‘purple.’ Thus, the Shekinah literally means ‘she-purple.’ The Biblical land of Canaan has the same ‘kinah’ etymology, making it the ‘land of purple.’ As a result, the merchants that came from Canaan were called the purple merchants and even traded in a powdered purple pigment.”” – Purple Shekinah, by Richard Merrick

Yet another association between the Israelites Phoenicians and China can be found in relation to the Chinese calendar. Chinese history states that Shennong had also invented the Chinese calendar and a harvest festival to compliment the agriculture he taught.

The Chinese calendar developed by Shennong is a lunisolar calendar (with strong emphasis on the moon for agricultural/religious reasons).

“Chinese calendar may refer to any of the official and civil calendars used in China and some neighbouring countries in different periods of history; however, the phrase is generally synonymous with Han calendar… The civil calendar in much of China is the Han calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar.” – Chinese Calendar

“A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year… The Hebrew… as well as the traditional Chinese… and Babylonian calendars are all lunisolar. The Chinese, Coligny and Hebrew lunisolar calendars track more or less the tropical year…” – Lunisolar Calendar

The Hebrew Israelites originally used to used the Enochian calendar but after the Babylonian captivity, they adopted the Babylonian lunisolar calendar. This gives us a foundation to set a theory upon. If the Babylonian, Hebrew, and Chinese Calendars are all lunisolar, and if Shennong was a Bantu/Phoenician/Israelite who introduced the calendar to China, might also the harvest festival that Shennong invented in China also be of Hebrew Israelite origin as well?

“Shennong is also credited with inventing the Zhaji Sacrificial Rite (later it was called the Laji Rite), which was held at the end of each year in order to thank all the gods for enabling the harvest…” – Handbook of Chinese Mythology, By Lihui Yang, Deming An, PG 193

The Zhaji Sacrificial Rite, later known as the Laji Rite, is a thanksgiving harvest festival.

“A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region… Certain religious holidays, such as Sukkot, have their roots in harvest festivals.” – Harvest Festival, Gutenburg.org

“Sukkot, Succot or Sukkos (Hebrew: ‫סוכות‎ or ‫סֻכּוֹת sukkōt or sukkos, Feast of Booths, Feast of Tabernacles) is a biblical Jewish holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei (varies from late September to late October).It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals…” – Sukkot, Wikipedia

The Hebrew word sukkōt is the plural of sukkah (H5521), which means, “booth or tabernacle“. Sukkot were usually constructed as a walled structure covered with schach (plant material such as leafy tree overgrowth or palm leaves).

סֻכָּה çukkâh, sook-kaw’; feminine of H5520; a hut or lair: — booth, cottage, covert, pavilion, tabernacle, tent.

The sukkot dwellings of the Israelites are very similar, in both form and function, to many huts of the Bantu people. Certain East African groups lived in huts that not only resembled those of the Israelite’s sukkot but also the more oriental huts in the Far East.

It would seem very likely that all the inventions of Shennong can be attributed to his Bantu/Phoenician/Israelite origins.

“The architecture of Madagascar is unique in Africa, bearing strong resemblance to the architecture of southern Borneo from which the earliest inhabitants of Madagascar are believed to have emigrated… here, the traditional wooden houses of the aristocracy feature a central pillar (andry) supporting a steeply sloped roof decorated with roof horns (tandro-trano). In the southeast of Madagascar, actual zebu horns were traditionally affixed to the gable peak… For much of the length of the eastern coast of Madagascar bordering the Indian Ocean, architecture is highly uniform: nearly all traditional homes in this region are built on low stilts and are roofed with thatch made of the fronds of the traveler’s palm (ravinala madagascariensis).” – Architecture of Madagascar, Wikipedia

“The Betsileo are of Malayo-Indonesian origin, whereas Madagascar’s population is largely mixed of Bantu African and East Asian descent. Traditionally they claim a common heritage with the Antemoro from the east coast and the Bara from further south. They traditionally lived in huts made of vegetable fiber, reserving wooden huts for the nobles, per Malagasy architectural norms. Both were often adorned with decorative motifs or even the horns of zebu.”

The interesting element of this particular Bantu groups addition of horns onto their homes furthers the associations we can make between Shennong and his Israelite origins by way of the Bantu Africans and the Levantine Phoenicians. Shennong’s mysterious description of having horns on his head would seem to described by the Bantu and Phoenician cultural/religious practices. The Israelites also worshipped the Bull at times of their transgression against the Most High God, I AM THAT I AM (AHAYAH ASHAR AHAYAH, Exodus 3:13-15).

“Putting aside the horns, which have at the same time assumed the aspect of a fork, we cannot but be struck by the resemblance of this symbol to those of the Phœnician Caducei, where the Disk seems to be supported by a conical stem.” – The Origins of the Caduceus, The Migration of Symbols, by Goblet d’Alviella, PG 232

“They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off. Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off; mine anger is kindled against them: how long will it be ere they attain to innocency? For from Israel was it also: the workman made it; therefore it is not God: but the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.” – Hosea 8:4-6

“In Chinese mythology Shennong, besides having taught humans the use of the plow together with other aspects of basic agriculture, the use of medicinal plants, and having been a god of the burning wind (perhaps in some relationship to the Yan Emperor mythos and/or slash-and-burn agriculture, in which the ash produced by fire fertilizes the fields), was sometimes said to be a progenitor to, or to have had appointed as one of his ministers, Chi You; and like him, they were both ox-headed, sharp-horned, bronze-foreheaded, and iron-skulled.” – Shennong, Wikipedia

These bulls horns worn upon the heads of Shennong, the Flame Emperor, and his descendant Chiyou are also associated with the slash-and-burn agricultural technique. The presence of Slash and Burn agriculture in China as well as the Horned heads of Shennong and Chiyou are very strong evidences supporting the fact of the ancient Africa/Israelite origins of China.

“Bantu-speaking Africans, whose descendants make up the overwhelming majority of the present-day inhabitants of South Africa, had moved south of the Limpopo River by about 1,500 years ago. Farmers who combined knowledge of cattle-keeping and slash-and-burn (swidden) cultivation with expertise in metal-working, the Bantu speakers came from West Central Africa north of the Congo River near present-day Cameroon. Historians and archaeologists now argue that this movement took place not in any single great migration but rather in a slow southward shift of people throughout sub-Saharan Africa that resulted from the gradual drying up of the Sahara beginning about 8,000 years ago. The southward movement involved not the conquering hordes previously imagined but rather a moving frontier of farmers seeking new fields and pastures who interacted with pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, sometimes trading, sometimes incorporating people in client relationships, sometimes fighting for access to the same crucial resources.” – The Arrival of Bantu-Speaking Africans 

“Throughout most of the region south and east of the Congo River basin, people speak some form of Bantu, a closely related family of languages associated for the most part with agricultural populations that first appeared on the southern subcontinent early in the first millennium A.D… It would appear that as they spread south, groups of farmers spread into empty areas or ones heretofore the domain of foragers, creating settlements sustained by slash-and-burn cultivation…By the seventh century related people resided throughout subequatorial Africa, practicing agricultural economies, new kinds of society, and metalworking, as well as employing domesticated plants and animals previously unknown in wild form in the subcontinent.” – The Zimbabwe Culture: Origins and Decline of Southern Zambezian States, By Innocent Pikirayi, PG 77-78

“Agriculture is an important theme in Chinese mythology. There are many myths about the invention of agriculture that have been told or written about in China (Yang 2005:70). Chinese mythology refers to those myths found in the historical geographic area of China. This includes myths in Chinese and other languages, as transmitted by Han Chinese as well as other ethnic groups (of which fifty-six are officially recognized by current administration of China). (Yang 2005:4) Many of the myths about agriculture involve its invention by such deities or culture heroes such as Shennong, Houji, Hou Tu, and Shujun: of these Shennong is the most famous, according to Lihui Yang (2005:70)… Shennong is generally credited with having invented basic agriculture, including the plow; although he seems to have originated as a god of the burning wind, which is perhaps a reference to slash-and-burn agriculture, according to Anthony Christie. (1968:90)” – Agriculture (Chinese Mytology), Wikipedia

“A long debate has existed over whether or not the Yan Emperor was the same person as the legendary Shennong. An academic conference held in China in 2004 achieved general consensus that the Yan Emperor and Shennong were the same person. Another possibility is that the term Flame Emperor was a title, held by dynastic succession, with Shennong being known as Yandi, perhaps posthumously… Yan literally means “flame”, and K. C. Wu (a Chinese political figure and historian) speculates that this appellation may be connected with the fire used to clear the fields in slash and burn agriculture.… The Zuo Zhuan states that in 525 BC, the descendants of Yan were recognized as long having been masters of fire and having used fire in their names.” – Yan Emperor

“The history of the Bantu dispersion will always involve a good deal of speculation, for the Bantu left no written records, and the remaining evidence will always remain subject to different interpretations. There seems, however, little doubt that the Bantu migrations occasioned the spread of metallurgy throughout wide areas of eastern and southern Africa. The use of iron probably enabled the proto-Bantu and Bantu people to produce tools suitable for practicing slash-and-burn agriculture in the forest. Iron tools may have enabled the Bantu to break the forest barrier. Iron weapons gave them a great military superiority over their opponents…

“The use of iron may have spread westward; the art of smelting was certainly known to the people of Nok in the fourth century B.C. The smith’s craft may then have spread southeastward into Bantu Africa; in all probability the Bantu used iron-tipped tools when they pioneered new land.” – The Bush Burnt, the Stones Remain: Female Initiation Rites in Urban Zambia By Thera Rasing, PG 175

Inagina: The Last House of Iron

The whole film can be viewed from parts 1-6, but it is dubbed in European Spanish. Even if you don’t understand Spanish, it is still interesting to watch the film and you are certain to learn a lot from just the visuals. This is, by far, the most beautiful and largest furnace I’ve seen:

PT 1, PT 2, PT 3, PT 4 , PT 5, PT 6

Blooms of Banjeli

Preserve the Ancient Art

The ability to produce steel and iron tools and weapons was a skill that gave the Bantu the ability to dominate the continent of Africa quickly. The mastery of fire allowed the Bantu to master other elements such as the earth through their farming tools and slash-and-burn African savannah agricultural techniques and the mastery of other tribes of people through their development of stronger metals and weaponry. As a result of their mastery of fire and agriculture, Bantu communities grew quickly and more resources and food were required to sustain their populations. As tribal families grew, new territory was sought to provide for the increased demands which often brought conflict between less and greater nations.

The competition for resources during the Bantu expansion was fierce and many battles were fought for the domination of trade networks and territory for their respective kingdoms. This constant warfare and the need for increasingly more efficient agricultural tools provided an environment under which some of the most advanced blacksmiths and metallurgical knowledge developed. The Bantu Expansion even created the circumstances for the diffusion of this knowledge into other countries as Bantu men sought more land (As far as China) to provide for their ever-increasing populations.

Shennong and his descendant Chiyou, were both descendants of the Bantu Africans/Hebrew Israelites and it is for this reason, that they were known as the Flame Emperor and the masters of Fire. The same knowledge of fire that allowed the Bantu to create iron tools for agriculture and weapons of war also allowed Shennong to “invent the plow” in China. It should rather be said that Shennong introduced the plow to China, being that an ancient patriarch of the Israelites had already invented the same plow that Shennong is credited for in Chinese legend.

“1) The Plough. He devised an implement – a plough with a handle – for tilling the land and preparing it for cultivation. This implement has been used by Chinese farmers for a very long time, around 7-8 thousand years. He invented also the axe, the hoe, and other implements, and taught people how to use them.”

In our attempt to demonstrate the connection between Shennong, the Bantu Africans, and the Israelites, the plough helps us begin to see that association more easily. Discovering the true origin and inventor of the plough will give us a better understanding of the associating between the Chinese and Bantu/Israelites. According to the Biblical records of the Hebrew Israelites, the technology of the ox-driven-plough was invented by the patriarch Abraham when he was young and still known as Abram.

“And in the first year of the fifth week Abram taught those who made implements for oxen, the artificers in wood, and they made a vessel above the ground, facing the frame of the plough, in order to put the seed thereon, and the seed fell down therefrom upon the share of the plough, and was hidden in the earth, and they no longer feared the ravens. And after this manner they made (vessels) above the ground on all the frames of the ploughs, and they sowed and tilled all the land, according as Abram commanded them, and they no longer feared the birds.” – Jubilees 11:22-23

In the separate article, ABRAHAM AND THE WISDOM OF THE EGYPTIANS, we discussed how Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob/Israel (the father of the Hebrew Israelites), had eventually departed from his hometown, Ur of Babylon (the land Chaleeans/modern Iraq) and eventually visited Egypt, before settling in the land of Canaan. While in Egypt, Abraham made the Egyptians acquainted with many parts of mathematical, astronomical and scientific learning that they were previously unaware of. As a result, the advances in Egyptian agriculture can also be attributed to the wisdom Abraham brought from the fertile crescent’s most powerful nation at the time—Babylon the land of Shinar.

Shortly after Abraham’s time, his descendants, the Israelites, would enter Egypt again, bringing a new wave of civil advances to Egyptian society during the Hyksos Era.

History also demonstrates that the Israelites who left Egypt carried much of the Egyptian culture with them wherever they migrated and they had a particular affinity for Bull/Baal worship. The historical reality of this Biblical truth can be partially reflected in the history, culture and expansion of the Bantu people’s of Africa.

“Bantu-speaking Africans, whose descendants make up the overwhelming majority of the present-day inhabitants of South Africa, had moved south of the Limpopo River by about 1,500 years ago. Farmers who combined knowledge of cattle-keeping and slash-and-burn (swidden) cultivation with expertise in metal-working, the Bantu speakers came from West Central Africa north of the Congo River near present-day Cameroon. Historians and archaeologists now argue that this movement took place not in any single great migration but rather in a slow southward shift of people throughout sub-Saharan Africa that resulted from the gradual drying up of the Sahara beginning about 8,000 years ago. The southward movement involved not the conquering hordes previously imagined but rather a moving frontier of farmers seeking new fields and pastures who interacted with pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, sometimes trading, sometimes incorporating people in client relationships, sometimes fighting for access to the same crucial resources.” – The Arrival of Bantu-Speaking Africans

As we have already discussed earlier in this article, the Bantu Expansion across the whole of Africa (A GIGANTIC CONTINENT) was made possible by their advanced knowledge of metalworking and agriculture.

These advances provided them the ability to create an environment where population was well provided for and thrived. As populations of both people and domesticated animals (wealth) increased, so did the need for new land. This desire drove the Bantu expansion across Africa and their knowledge of metalworking and agriculture allowed them to create a supply to meet the growing demand.

“The expansion was caused by the development of agriculture, the making of ceramics, and the use of iron, which permitted new ecological zones to be exploited.” – Bantu expansion, Wikipedia

“The Bantu-speaking farmers chose to minimize risks rather than to maximize production in their use of the environment. They kept large herds of cattle and invested these animals with great material and symbolic value. Cattle provided a means to acquire and to display considerable wealth, and they were used for significant social and political transactions, such as bridewealth compensation (lobola) and tribute demands. Cattle were also valued for their milk and for their hides, but they were seldom killed for their meat except on ceremonial occasions.” – The Arrival of Bantu-Speaking Africans

“Over a period of many centuries, most hunting-foraging peoples were displaced and absorbed by incoming Bantu-speaking communities… The Bantu expansion was a long series of physical migrations, a diffusion of language and knowledge out into and in from neighboring populations, and a creation of new societal groups involving inter-marriage among communities and small groups moving to communities and small groups moving to new areas.” – Bantu people, Wikipedia

As the Bantu moved into new areas, they continue to share and build upon their knowledge base of metalworking and agriculture. Shennong’s many contributions to the advancement of Chinese civilization would seem to have their origins with the Bantu peoples as their expansion seems to have reach as far as China. However, what evidence, if any, exists that can help confirm these associations? Could the some of the Israelites really have left Egypt to populate other areas of the African continent through the Bantu expansion and eventually have migrated to China? Let’s look into more information about Shennong.

“Shennong, also known as the Emperor of the Five Grains (Wǔgǔxiāndì), was a legendary ruler of China and cultural hero. Shennong is considered to have been one of the Three Sovereigns (also known as “Three Emperors”) who lived some 5,000 years ago. Shennong has been thought to have taught the ancient Chinese not only their practices of agriculture, but also the use of herbal drugs… According to the eighth century AD historian Sima Zhen’s commentary to the second century BC Shiji (or, Records of the Grand Historian), Shennong is a kinsman of the Yellow Emperor and is said to be an ancestor, or a patriarch, of the ancient forebears of the Chinese. The Han Chinese regarded them both as their joint ancestors.” – Shennong, Wikipedia

“The Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to East Asia. … They sometimes refer to themselves as Yan Huang Zisun, meaning the “descendants of (god-emperors) Yan and Huang”.” – Han Chinese,

“Yan Huang Zisun (Chinese: 炎黃子孫; literally: “Descendants of Yan and Huang”) is a term that represents the Chinese people, most notably the Han. Today, the Chinese people still refer to themselves with this term. Yandi (炎帝) and Huangdi (黃帝) are both legendary ancestors of the Huaxia people. Legend has it they are both part of the Yanhuang tribe. They were enemies who fought each other in the Battle of Banquan. Huangdi defeated Yandi and the two peoples amalgamated and eventually became the Huaxia people, who in turn developed into the Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in China… The derivation of the term is mentioned as Yan Huang Shizhou (炎黃世冑) in the National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China, officially translated in English as “Descendants of Yan and Huang. Ma Ying-jeou, President of the Republic of China, has used this term to refer to all Chinese people.” – Yan Huang Zisun, Wikipedia

It is very interesting to note that the Han Chinese, being the largest ethnic group in the world, all claim Shennong/the Yan Emperor as their forefather. This is a bold claim especially being that the Yan Emperor Shennongshi was not only considered to be a legendary figure but also a god! It is also very interesting to note the Chinese claim of descent from Shennong in relation to his possible Bantu/Israelite origins. According to the Holy Bible, seed and nationhood his passed from father to son. Scientifically, this can be traced through the Y-chromosome haplogroup.

Shennong is agreed to be the Yan Emperor and the Yan Emperor is claimed to be one of the patrilineal ancestors of ‘all Chinese’ which brings us too an interesting point. If Shennong/The Yan Emperor was a Bantu himself, would that not make ‘all Chinese people’ or at least the ‘Yan Huang’ people Bantu as well (along the patrilineal line of descent)? The following video link provides evidence that ‘all Chinese people’ indeed have DNA origins in Africa. This points towards the Bantu origins of the Chinese. The research that came to these conclusions was performed by Chinese scientist and researchers:

Despite an attempt to prove the independent development and origin of Chinese people, the conclusion supports the Bantu origin of Shennong and the Chinese. Moreover, understanding the association between the Bantu and the Chinese also helps us to better understand the strange description and depiction of Shennong (and his descendant Chiyou) as having a horned head like the Minotaur.

Many Bantu peoples, who are descendants of the ancient Israelites, in keeping with the pagan worships of ancient Babylon and Egypt, had a habit of venerating the Bull.

“They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.” –Psalm 106:19

“And Aaron said unto them, Break off the goldenearrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 32:2-4

“So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you.” – Deuteronomy 9:15-16

“Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.” – Deuteronomy 9:8

“Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the Lord rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.” – 2 Kings 17:14-20

The biblical excerpts above provide evidence of the Israelite association with the Bantu people. The verses of scripture explain that the Israelites chose to worship the calf/bull image, giving it credit for what the God of Israel had done for his people. This of course angered the God of the Israelites and he then allowed them to be removed out of their homeland. The Israelites chose to practice the customs of the other nations they lived amongst instead of the customs of their forefathers. Thus the Israelites, later known as the Bantu, adopted the worship and veneration of the bull/Baal. It is interesting to note that, just as the Israelites allowed Aaron to create the Golden Calf image for them to worship, the Bull image is often used amongst the priesthood of many African tribes to venerate the African medicine men.

“JOHN BULLS were replicas of the grotesquely masked African Witch Doctor with a bull’s horns on the head. They were the dominating feature of the festivities in town and country. There was terror and excitement in the young and old… The crack of the whip would tease the bull. The bull would then shoot off in the direction of the crowd of children or grown ups and plough through them and they would scatter.” – John Bull

Many of the Bantu people left Africa, for various reasons (trade, conquest, seeking refuge, servitude), in search of new lands. These migrations resulting from the Bantu expansion brought waves of Israelites into the East in places such as India and even China (EAST AFRICAN MIGRATION). These Bantu/Israelites people obviously brought with them the same pagan Bull worship with them into all the places the travelled.

It is also interesting to note that the biblical record states that the High Priest, Aaron, made a molten image. This clearly implies the Israelite’s mastery of fire, just as the Bantu and the Yan Emperor of China were also known for. A molten image is one created from molten metal. In order to turn metal into a molten state, allowing it to be poured and cast, the metal must be heated to extremely high temperatures. The Bantu Africans are known to have created clay furnaces in very ancient time periods that could heat fire to temperatures that could not only produce iron but also steel.

“The issue of innovation features prominently in studies of pre-colonial African metalworking. In the 1980s, Schmidt and Avery (1983) advanced the hypothesis that East African iron smelters practiced the technique of preheating the air in the furnace before smelting began, thereby raising temperatures to produce high-carbon steels. This preheating technique is central to the blast furnace method prevalent today, and its postulation emphasized the high technical skill of traditional African metallurgists.” – The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology, edited by Peter Mitchell, Paul Lane, PG 140

“The Haya (northern Tanzania) carbon steel pre-heated furnace discovered by Prof. Peter Schmidt and professor of engineering Donald H. Avery of Brown University, reported in the Science Magazine of September 22, 1979 that Africans produced steel 2,000 years before Europe. The furnace reached temperatures of 1800C, some 200C and 400C higher than the highest reached in European cold blast bloomer.” Shaping the Society Christianity and Culture: Special Reference to …, Volume 2, By Pastor Stephen Kyeyune, PG 111

The Tree of Iron: PT 2, PT 3, PT 4

“In Chinese mythology, Shennong, besides having taught humans the plow and basic agriculture, and been a god of the burning wind, was sometimes said to be an progenitor or minister of Chi You; and, like him, ox-headed, sharp-horned, bronze-foreheaded, and iron-skulled…” – Cultural China

“According to the Song dynasty history book Lushi (路史), Chiyou’s surname was Jiang (姜), and he was a descendant of Yandi. According to legend, Chiyou had a bronze head with metal foreheads.” – Chiyou, Wikipedia

“They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 32:8

However, it was this same mastery of fire that caused the Israelites to forget their true ancestry, becoming lost in chasing after the customs of the nations that surround them. The Israelites would eventually completely forget their Israelite heritage, choosing rather to adopt new customs which cause their God to allow them to remain lost in all the places they wandered into and would later became enslaved in. The scriptures said that the Israelites would be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, which would also include China.

“How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour’s wife. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” – Jeremiah 5:7-9

“And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.” – Jeremiah 15:4

“My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.” – Hosea 9:17

“And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.” – Jeremiah 17:4

“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.” – Jeremiah 50:6

“My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” – Ezekiel 34:6

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” – Isaiah 11:11

“Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” – Isaiah 49:12

SINIM – H5515 – Thorns

• a people living at the extremity of the known world; may be identified with the inhabitants of southern China
• Çîynîym, see-neem’; plural of an otherwise unknown name; Sinim, a distant Oriental region:—Sinim.

The historical record of the Holy Bible states that the lost sheep of the Israelites, the Most High god’s people, would be scattered into ALL KINGDOMS and even specifically states that they would one day return to Israel back from Sinim—China.

“Isaiah 49:12 in the KJV:

“Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.”

Isaiah 49:12, Chinese Union Version:

“看哪，這些從遠方來；這些從北方、從西方來；這些從秦（原文作希尼）國來。”

The KJV transliterates “סינים (sinim)” as “Sinim”.  The Chinese Union Version translates “סינים (sinim)” as “秦國 (Qin Country)” (with an in-text note of the Hebrew transliteration).

“Qin Country” is the country of the Qin dynasty – China.  Since the establishment of the Qin (“Chin” or “Sin”) dynasty in 221 BC, the large Far East nation has been called “China” or “Sina.” Some translations (NIV, ESV) refuse the reading, “סינים (sinim)” as found in the Masoretic text. These modern scholars assume that Isaiah could not have referred to China because “Sinim” came to mean “China” only after 221 BC, hundreds of years after the life of Isaiah. During Isaiah’s life (8th century BC), the Qin state was just a small state among hundreds of other states in the region. However, if Isaiah was able to prophetically call the future king Cyrus by his name (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1), it would not have been unusual for Isaiah to have referred to the name of a future nation.” – KJV Today.com

In fact, Dunhang’s Mogao Caves in China provide much evidence of the presence of Negroes in the Far East.

Moreover, without having to make the connection between Israelite and Bantu, other scholars have documented the presence of actual Israelite tribes in China.

It would now seem quite evident that Shennong, the Flame Emperor of China, had definite connections with the ancient Israelites by way of the Bantu peoples of Africa. We’ve discovered that modern Han Chinese claim Shennong as one of their progenitor and in fact Chinese DNA connects them to Bantu Africans as well. However, we have yet to discuss Shennong’s title as Divine Farmer. Obviously, the mastery of fire by Shennong and his descendants allowed them to make the tools that Shennong introduced to China but could all the other agricultural practices in China also have Bantu/Israelite origins as well?

“Shennong is among the group of variously named heroic persons and deities who have been traditionally given credit for various inventions: these include the hoe, plow (both leisi style and the plowshare), axe, digging wells, agricultural irrigation, preserving stored seeds by using boiled horse urine, the weekly farmers market…”

After understanding Shennong’s strong Bantu associations, it makes it more apparent that it is very probably that his various agricultural inventions and advances in China were developed from the rich agricultural tradition and knowledge of the Bantu people. It was the Bantu/Israelites who migrated to China and brought the knowledge of civilization with them. The Betsileo are a group of east African Bantus that we will use to illustrate this.

“They established agricultural communities or societies based on herding cattle. They brought with them the technology for iron making, a metal which they used to make weapons for the conquest of their neighbors… Traditional farming methods vary from one ethnic group or location to another, according to population density, climate, water supply, and The most intensive form of cultivation is practiced among the Betsileo and Merina groups of the central highlands, where population densities are the highest. At the other extreme are the extensive slash-and-burn methods of brush clearing and shifting cultivation in the south and the east.”

“The Betsileo region of Fianarantsoa is characterized by hills and valleys with rice paddies carved into the sides of them in elaborate terracing systems, in a style reminiscent of those in south East Asia…

The Betsileo diet almost invariably consists of rice accompanied with livestock such as beef, chicken, or duck and secondary crops like cassava, beans and other farm vegetables… The Betsileo are probably the most efficient traditional rice farmers. They construct rice paddies on narrow terraces ascending the sides of steep valleys in the southern portion of the central highlands, creating an intricate landscape reminiscent of Indonesia or the Philippines.

The irrigation systems use all available water, which flows through narrow canals for considerable distances. Some of the rice paddies cover no more than a few square meters. Only those surfaces that cannot be irrigated are planted in dryland crops. In parts of the central highlands two rice crops a year can be grown, but not on the same plot. The Betsileo use a variety of local species that can be sown at different times, employing irrigation to grow some varieties in the dry season and waiting for the rainy season to plant others. The fields surrounding the typical Betsileo village often represent a checkerboard of tiny plots in different stages of the crop cycle.” – Agriculture in Madagascar, Wikipedia

Through travel on trade routes over the ages, either as Merchants, Warriors, or Slaves/Servants, the people of East Africa found themselves in the Far East.

Of course they brought their culture, customs and religious beliefs along with them. The Bantus knowledge of metallurgy, blacksmithing, as well as agricultural and animal husbandry helped to advance the civilizations they came into contact with. It was these advances to Chinese civilization, introduced by Shennong, that led to him being venerated as the Divine Farmer and Emperor of China. To this day, many temples exist where Shennong is worshipped as a god for his contributions.

So, Shennong, was an Israelite and provides evidence of an ancient Israelite presence in China. However, if Shennong and the other article written about his descendant Chiyou do not provide satisfactory evidence, more thoroughly documented evidence of the Israelite presence can be found in the article Lost Tribes on The Silk Road and The East African Israelites of Zanjiland East Africa to find details on more recent historical waves of the Israelite presence in China and the Far East.

We must remember that Israelites are scattered throughout all kingdoms of the earth and Most High is calling them back from all the places he scattered them. Chinese Israelites and those who desire to worship the Most High God, I AM, of the Hebrew Israelites (Exodus 3:13-15) in spirit and in truth no matter your nationality, it’s time to return to follow the laws and Holy days of our Creator.

“But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” – Isaiah 49:14-15

To gain further details on the Israelite presence in China and the Far East in general, please continue reading through the following links:

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Question comments concerns?

Contact: NasiResearch@Instruction.com

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