HWANG-TI, hwang'te' (Chin., Yellow Em peror, or Ruler). The third of the Wit Ti, or 'Five Sovereigns,' who are reputed to have gov erned China in its legendary period, prior to n.e. 2356. Like Fuh-hi (q.v.) :mu many more of the great leaders of Chinese primitive times, his birth was miraculous, and many wonderful things are attributed to him. The year n.c. 2697 is given as the first of his reign, and as he ruled under the influence of the element earth, he be came known as the 'Yellow Emperor,' a circum stance which, if he ever lived, might point to the region now known as Shensi (q.v.) as the loca tion of his realm. There the earth is yellow, the at mosphere is tinged with yellow. and trees, houses, etc., are covered with the yellow dust from the mantle of loess (q.v.) which covers half the pro•inee. Yellow is still the imperial color. is said by the Chinese to have regulated the calendar, and to have introduoal in the sixty-first year of his reign the sexagenary cycle by which successive days have ever since been designated, the application of the cycle of year: dating only from the Han dynasty (which began in n.c.
20G). Ife is also credited with having intro duced a decimal system, the arts of wood, pot tery, and metals, boats and wheeled vehicles, and many other beneficent things. To Il Wang ti's wife is due the credit of having been the first to instruct the people in the rcaring, of silkworms. That Ilwang-ti was a virtuous ruler and his reign a prosperous one are vouched for by the statement that both the Fu-hwang and the K'i-lin appeared in his court. He died at the age of 111, and was succeeded by Shao hao, B.C. 2597. See the Chinese Repository, vol. xi.; ,Nlayer, Chinese Reade•'s Ma ituol (Shang hai, 1874) De la Couperie. The Western Origin of Chinese Cirilization ( London. ISS4 ) ; and Dyer Ball. Things Chinese (London and New York, 1393).