Stories from Ancient China: The Origin of Manchuria

A long time ago, there was a pond, named Mountain Lake, in the Changbai Mountain in the Northeast of China. The pond water was extremely clear, there were peaks surrounding it and the nearby scenery was very elegant. One day, three heavenly maidens came to bathe in the pond. The oldest sister was called Engulun, the second Zhenggulun, and the youngest Fogulun. After they finished bathing and were putting on their clothing, a magpie carrying a red fruit in his mouth and put it on the top of Fogulun's clothing. Fogulun was so fond of the red fruit that she kept playing with it in her hands when she accidentally swallowed it and fell pregnant.

Soon afterwards, Fogulun gave birth to a baby boy. The baby was able to talk right after birth. Sometime later, when the boy grew up, Fogulun said to her son: "You came to this world on orders from heaven. Heaven gave you life to help suppress the chaos of war." She told her son how he was conceived. She then gave her son a small boat to let him ride with the current. Fogulun then rose into the sky and returned to heaven.

He followed his mother's instruction and went to a place where some people were residing. Upon landing on a bank, he sat on a tree branch. At that time, three tribal leaders were always fighting to gain leadership. While Fogulun's son sat on the branch, a person coming for water saw him and told the tribe's people that he had seen a strange person by the riverbank. People stopped fighting and came to the riverbank to investigate. They were surprised to see this unusual person and asked where he came from. He told them: "I am the son of Fogulun. My surname is Aisin Gioro and my name is Bukuliyongshun. Heaven gave birth to me in order to put an end to your fighting." He told them what his mother had told him. People were glad to hear his words and made him their king.

From then on, the chaos of war subsided and people lived and worked in peace. This country is known as Manchuria and Bukuliyongshun is know to be their founder.