Chinese Mythology中国神话

Chinese myth mainly talked about the origin of human being, everything in nature, and tribal fights, etc. It reflected the ancient living surroundings, conditions and cultural developments.
3 The comparisons between Chinese and Greek myths
Greek Myth
The history of Greece is shorter, and Greek myth produced later than Chinese myth. It produced in about eleventh century BC. Although the Greek myth developed a little late, it didn’t cause backward culture. In about 8 BC, Greek myth was written in Theogony(神谱), Homer Epic(荷马史诗), and other literatures.
Nuwa created man (女娲造人)
One day, she found the men she originally created has been hair snowwhite and died.
Looked at this kind of situation , she felt worry. So Nuwa divided human into men and women, so that human can also cooperate, reproduce. Because human is god-like creature, not equal with animals, so she again established marriage system which is different from animals promiscuity-after(产生后 代).
On the other hand, Chinese myth’s self-creation was much more significant than Greek myth. Because of its inland culture, Chinese myth was influenced very little by other cultures.
The bird Jing Wei trying to fill up the sea(精卫填海)
Just before she was buried by the surging waves, her spirit turned into a beautiful bird. As it flew over the roaring sea, it cried sadly in the sound "jinwei, jingwei". That was why people called it “Jingwei".
2 Some examples of Chinese ancient myths
Pang Gu Separates the Sky from the Earth (盘古开天)
According to legend, in the beginning of the world , the heaven and earth were integrated into one body that is just like an egg. And in the “egg” Pangu slept for thousands of years. One day he suddenly woke up. Opening his eyes, he found everything was invisible. Angrily, he grasped an axe and wielded it with an effort. The heaven and the earth started to split. He feared that the heaven and the earth got integrated into one body again. So he decided to hold the heaven with his hands and feet.
The Features
Although Chinese myth had appeared in the Late Paleolithic Age（旧石器时代）,the stories passed down were just a few and unsystematic because of many reasons.
4 Some characters and symbols in Chinese ancient myths
目录
1 The origin and features of Chinese ancient myths
The Origin
Chinese myth was the product of ancient sages’ imaginations, which can conquer the nature and dominate the nature.
Chinese culture derived from The Yellow River basin（黄河流域）, so it could be said that Chinese myth was based on the closed inland culture（内陆文化）.
Historical Background
PangGu Separates the Sky from the Earth (盘古开天)
Thousands of years passed ,the heaven and the earth finally separated ,but Pangu fell down exhaustedly . When he died, his breath turned into the wind and cloud, his voice turned into the thunder; his eyes turned into the sun and the moon. His four limbs and body became the four quadrants of the globe(大地上的东、西、 南、北四极), and his blood became the rivers and his muscle and bones became the layers of the earth . His flesh became the soil , his hairs and furs became the stars, flowers and trees.
Many of them were written in ShanHaiChing（山海经）, HuaiNanTzu（淮 南子）and other ancient literatures, such as Jingwei Reclamation（精卫填海）,Yu Gong Remove the Mountains（愚公移山）.
Pangu created the rich and beautiful world with his body.
Nuwa created man (女娲造人)
It is said that Nuwa existed in the beginning of the world. She was a goddess had human face with a snake-like body. She felt lonely as there were no animals so she began the creation of animals and humans. On the first day she created chickens. On the second day she created dogs. On the third day she created sheep. On the fourth day she created pigs. On the fifth day she created cows. On the sixth day she created horses. On the seventh day she began creating men from yellow clay.
1、China has one of the world’s oldest civilizations.
2、Confucius influenced Chinese society through his teaching, philosophy and writings.
3、Since some of the works were destroyed, scholars collected oral myths, legends, and folktales from the common people in an attempt to resuscitate the traditional literary heritage.
The bird Jing Wei trying to fill up the sea(精卫填海)
Once upon a time, there was a cute little fairy, named baby girl, she was the youngest daughter of Emperor Yan, and Emperor Yan loved her very much. Baby girl wanted to visit the sun rises place – the east sea. But her father was too busy to take her there. One day she sailed a boat to the east sea. Farther and farther away from land, sea waves were more and more big and her boat capsized.