Di Jun

Overview

In Chinese mythology, Di Jun (帝俊) is an ancient Chinese Emperor. He is the father of the ten Suns that almost destroyed the Earth. Di Jun’s name is composed of the character for "emperor", dì (帝), and the word for "handsome", jùn (俊). He is married to the sun goddess, Xihe (羲和), and the moon goddess, Changxi (常羲).

Mythology

In ancient times, there were actually ten Suns in the sky. They were fathered by Di Jun with his first wife, Xihe. The Suns were instructed to take turns appearing in the sky, so that the Earth wouldn’t burn from their collective heat.

However, since the Suns were just children, they decided that it would be fun to go out and play all at the same time, which threw the Earth into immediate chaos. Forests burned, famine ensued, and even the ground began to scorch. The skilled archer, Hou Yi (后羿) decided to take matters into his own hands and set out to shoot down nine of the ten Suns. Di Jun, distraught with what his children had done, even supplied Hou Yi the arrows that would kill the Suns.