Yan Emperor
Zhurong (), also known as Chongli (), is an important personage in Chinese mythology and Chinese folk religion. According to the "Huainanzi" and the philosophical texts of Mozi and his followers, Zhurong is a god of fire and of the south. The "Shanhaijing" gives alternative genealogies for Zhurong, including descent from both the Yan Emperor and Yellow Emperor. Some sources associate Zhurong with some of the principal early and ancient myths of China, such as those of Nüwa (Nüwa Mends the Heavens), Gonggong, and the Great Flood. Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of history. Thus, in the study of historical Chinese culture, many of the stories that have been told regarding characters and events which have been written or told of the distant past have a double tradition: one tradition which presents a more historicised and one which presents a more mythological version. This is also true in the case of Zhurong. In Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian" ("Shi Ji"), Zhurong is portrayed as a historical person, who held the governmental office of Minister of Fire.