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143-629: In the myths and folk religion of Chinese culture , the Jade Emperor or Yudi is one of the representations of the primordial god . In Taoist theology , he is the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzun , who is one of the Three Pure Ones , the three primordial emanations of the Tao . However, some Taoists in history were skeptical of his benevolence because his buildings and infrastructure in heaven and earth were sometimes seen as interfering with

286-413: A chicken's egg, and Pangu was born in the middle of it. In eighteen thousand years Heaven and the earth opened and unfolded. The limpid that was Yang became the heavens , the turbid that was Yin became the earth. Pangu lived within them, and in one day he went through nine transformations, becoming more divine than Heaven and wiser than earth. Each day the heavens rose ten feet higher, each day

429-427: A curiously choreographed pedal locomotion into various rituals. Mythology and practice, one explains the other: in these rituals, the sacred time of Yu merges with the sacral practice of the present. Various ideas about the nature of the earth, the universe, and their relationship to each other have historically existed as either a background or a focus of mythologies. One typical view is of a square earth separated from

572-611: A dynastic tradition. The new dynasty was called "Xia" after Yu's centre of power. Chinese creation myth Some Chinese cosmogonic myths have familiar themes in comparative mythology . For example, creation from chaos (Chinese Hundun and Hawaiian Kumulipo ), dismembered corpses of a primordial being ( Pangu , Indo-European Yemo and Mesopotamian Tiamat ), world parent siblings ( Fuxi and Nüwa and Japanese Izanagi and Izanami ), and dualistic cosmology ( yin and yang and Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu ). In contrast, other mythic themes are uniquely Chinese. While

715-434: A factual record of the past. Along with Chinese folklore , Chinese mythology forms an important part of Chinese folk religion and Taoism , especially older popular forms of it. Many narratives recounting characters and events from ancient times exhibit a dual tradition: one that presents a more historicized or euhemerized interpretation, and another that offers a more mythological perspective. Numerous myths delve into

858-521: A furrow through the mud and lifted it out to make human beings. That is why rich aristocrats are the human beings made from yellow earth, while ordinary poor commoners are the human beings made from the cord's furrow. Birrell identifies two worldwide mythic motifs in Ying Shao's account. Myths commonly say the first humans were created from clay, dirt, soil, or bone; Nüwa used mud and loess . Myths widely refer to social stratification ; Nüwa created

1001-524: A lack of consensus regarding these dates by modern historians. Their historical use may be limited to establishing a relative chronology. Houji was a cultural hero, of the agricultural type. Chiyou (also known as Ch'ih Yu) was a metallurgical engineer, specializing in weaponry. The mythological history of people (or at least the Han Chinese people) begins with two groups, one of three and one of five. The numbers are symbolically significant, however,

1144-642: A long history and many variations involves a shamanic world view, for example in the cases of Mongolian shamanism among the Mongols, Hmong shamanism among the Miao people , and the shamanic beliefs of the Qing dynasty from 1643 to 1912, derived from the Manchus . Politically, mythology was often used to legitimize the dynasties of China, with the founding house of a dynasty claiming a divine descent. Elaborations on

1287-607: A mortal subservient to God in Heaven " and a "lowly female subservient to the male, in the traditional manner of marital relations ." Long ago, when the world first began, there were two people, Nü Kua and her older brother. They lived on Mount K'un-lun . And there were not yet any ordinary people in the world. They talked about becoming husband and wife, but they felt ashamed. So the brother at once went with his sister up Mount K'un-lun and made this prayer: "Oh Heaven , if Thou wouldst send us two forth as man and wife, then make all

1430-541: A mythological geography, and may have notable features, such as mythological islands, or other mythological features. There are mythological versions of all the major rivers that have existed in China in between ancient and modern China (most of these rivers are the same, but not all). Sometimes these rivers are said to originate from the Milky Way or Kunlun. Anyway, they are said to flow west to east because Gonggong wrecked

1573-470: A powerful, evil entity had the ambition to conquer the immortals and gods in heaven and proclaim sovereignty over the entire universe. This evil entity also went into retreat and meditation to expand its power, though later than the Jade Emperor did. He passed through 3,000 trials, each trial lasting about 3 million years. After its final trial, it felt confident that no one could defeat it. It re-entered

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1716-531: A preexisting fund of myths." Who passed down the story of the far-off, ancient beginning of things? How can we be sure what it was like before the sky above and the earth below had taken shape? Since none could penetrate that murk when darkness and light were yet undivided, how do we know about the chaos of insubstantial forms? What manner of things are the darkness and light? How did Yin and Yang come together, and how did they originate and transform all things that are by their commingling? Whose compass measured out

1859-472: A round sky by sky pillars (mountains, trees, or undefined). Above the sky is the realm of Heaven, often viewed of as a vast area, with many inhabitants. Often the heavenly inhabitants are thought to be of an "as above so below" nature, their lives and social arrangements being parallel to those on earth, with a hierarchical government run by a supreme emperor, many palaces and lesser dwellings, a vast bureaucracy of many functions, clerks, guards, and servants. Below

2002-472: A special case" theory became an article of faith among 20th-century scholars. The French sinologist Marcel Granet 's influential Chinese Thought said: it is necessary to notice the privileged place given to politics by the Chinese. For them, the history of the world does not start before the start of civilization. It does not originate by a recitation of a creation or by cosmological speculations, but with

2145-408: A stream. Niu Lang fell instantly in love with her and stole her magic robe which she had left on the bank of the stream, leaving her unable to escape back to Heaven. When Zhinü emerged from the water, Niu Lang grabbed her and carried her back to his home. When the Jade Emperor heard of this matter, he was furious but unable to intercede, since in the meantime his daughter had fallen in love and married

2288-468: A symbol of fire as their tribal totems . K. C. Wu speculates that this appellation may be connected with the use of fire to clear the fields in slash and burn agriculture. And, Yandi is also a Red Emperor. One of the more important figures in Chinese mythology is the Yellow Emperor , or Huang Di. His original name was Yellow Soil or Huangdi where di was the Chinese word for soil or ground. He

2431-426: A turn as the emblematic or totem animal for a year or other unit of time in a cycle of one dozen. This is explained by various myths. The zodiacs in order are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig Some Chinese mythology becomes specific about chronological time, based on the ganzhi system, numbers of human generations, or other details suggesting synchronization between

2574-433: A year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar , he allows them to meet on a bridge over the river. The story refers to constellations in the night sky. Zhinü is the star Vega in the constellation of Lyra east of the Milky Way, and Niu Lang is the star Altair in the constellation of Aquila west of the Milky Way. Under the first quarter moon (7th day) of the seventh lunar month (around August),

2717-512: Is Yánluó wáng ("King Yanluo")). Souls are parsed and adjudicated for torturous punishment by balancing ones' crimes in life against any merits earned through good deeds. Various other functions within Diyu are performed by minor officials and minions, examples of whom are Ox-Head and Horse-Face , humanoid devils with animal features. In some versions of mythology or Chinese folk religion, souls are returned from Diyu and reincarnated after being given

2860-538: Is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China . Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural traditions. Populated with engaging narratives featuring extraordinary individuals and beings endowed with magical powers, these stories often unfold in fantastical mythological realms or historical epochs. Similar to numerous other mythologies, Chinese mythology has historically been regarded, at least partially, as

3003-597: Is a lot of mythology around the Three Primeval Emperors, Five Premier Emperors, and Three Dynasties. An age of Three Primeval Emperors followed by the age of the Five Premier Emperors ( Sānhuáng-Wǔdì ) contrasts with the subsequent treatment of chronology by dynasties, up to recent times. Since the time the Qin emperor titled himself huangdi by combining two previous titles into one, huangdi

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3146-401: Is a real mountain or range named Kunlun, as there has in the past, however the identity has shifted further west over time). The Qing Niao bird was a mythical bird, and messenger of Xi Wangmu to the rest of the world. Nearby to Kunlun, it was sometimes said or written and forming a sort of protective barrier to the western paradise or "fairyland" named Xuánpǔ ( 玄圃 ) where also was to be found

3289-456: Is a temple in A Kung Ngam , Hong Kong , dedicated to the Jade Emperor. In the mid 19th century, people from Huizhou and Chaozhou mined stones in the hill for the development of the central urban area. They set up a shrine to worship Yuk Wong. At the beginning of the 20th century, the shrine was developed into a small temple and was renovated many times. The latest renovation was in 1992. Early Catholic missionaries to China wrote often about

3432-504: Is also known as Kao Hsin or Gāoxīn. Diku is an important mythological figure, as signified by his title Di ( 帝 ), basically signifying possession of some sort of imperial divinity, as in the sense of the Roman title wikt:divus ; something sometimes translated as "emperor". Diku is sometimes considered to descend from Huangdi and to be ancestral to the ruling family of the Shang dynasty of

3575-461: Is called Chilseok . In Vietnam , it is called Thất Tịch and if it rains on that day, it is said to be Zhinü crying tears of happiness for being reunited with her husband. There are several stories as to how the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac were chosen. In one, the Jade Emperor, although having ruled Heaven and Earth justly and wisely for many years, had never had the time to actually visit

3718-442: Is included. The title of the Five Premier Emperors is di , in Chinese. The original connotation of this title is unknown, or how it compares or contrasts with the term huang , and it is variously translated into English. Translations include "Sovereign", "Emperor", and "Lord". Names of the Five Premier Emperors include Huangdi, Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Di Ku, Yao, and Shun. Nuwa and Fuxi (also known as Paoxi) are sometimes worshiped as

3861-405: Is inherently nonlinear, with time being telescopically expanded or contracted, there are various contradictions. The earliest culture heroes were sometimes considered deities and other times heroic humans, but often little distinction was made. Examples of early culture heroes include Youchao ("Have Nest") who taught people how to make wooden shelters ) and Suiren ("Fire Maker") who taught people

4004-563: Is located at the foot of Penang Hill at the Air Itam suburb near George Town , Penang 's capital city. Aside from Thni Kong Tnua , the Chew Jetty in the heart of George Town is another focal point of the Jade Emperor's Birthday celebrations; the festivities in this particular location was captured for a 2014 Malaysian film, The Journey . Yuk Wong Kung Tin (Cantonese romanisation) ( 玉皇宮殿 ) also known as Yuk Wong Po Tin ( 玉皇寶殿 )

4147-503: Is now. People had to deal with a variety of monstrous beings, and they did not have many gods to protect them; in addition, many powerful demons were defying the immortals of heaven. The Jade Emperor was an ordinary immortal who roamed the earth helping as many people as he could. He was saddened because his powers could only ease the suffering of humans. He retreated to a mountain cave to cultivate his Tao. He passed 3,200 trials, each trial lasting about 3 million years. On earth at this time,

4290-624: Is sometimes believed that Nüwa molded humans from clay to populate or re-populate the world, thus creating modern humans. The production of the Yellow River Map is associated mythologically with Fuxi but is also sometimes placed in subsequent eras. Shennong is variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Peasant", or "Agriculture God", and also known as the Wugushen (Spirit of the Five Grains) and Wuguxiandi "First Deity of

4433-500: Is towards individual freedom, Daoism, and Nature. The relationship of the Conservative philosophies to mythology is seen in the legendary Nine Tripod Cauldrons , mythology about the emperors and central bureaucratic governance, Confucianism, written histories, ceremonial observances, subordination of the individual to the social groups of family and state, and a fixation on stability and enduring institutions. The distinction between

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4576-610: Is why Heaven is ninety thousand leagues from earth. Like the Sanwu Liji , the Wuyun Linian Ji ( 五遠歷年紀 , "A Chronicle of the Five Cycles of Time") is another 3rd-century text attributed to Xu Zheng. This version details the cosmological metamorphosis of Pangu's microcosmic body into the macrocosm of the physical world. When the firstborn, Pangu , was approaching death, his body was transformed. His breath became

4719-477: The wuxing are not really part of mythology, although belief in five elements could appear. The Hundred Schools of Thought is a phrase suggesting the diversity of philosophical thought that developed during the Warring States of China. Then, and subsequently, philosophical movements had a complicated relationship with mythology. However, as far as they influence or are influenced by mythology, divides

4862-522: The Christian doctrine of a rational creator God ." For instance, the missionary and translator Walter Henry Medhurst claimed Chinese religions suffered because "'no first cause' characterizes all the sects", "the Supreme, self-existent God is scarcely traceable through the entire range of their metaphysics ", and the whole system of Chinese cosmogony "is founded in materialism". This "China as

5005-518: The Guodian Chu Slips , seems to offer its own unique creation myth, but analysis remains uncertain. The 139   BC Huainanzi , an eclectic text compiled under the direction of the Han prince Liu An , contains two cosmogonic myths that develop the dualistic concept of Yin and Yang : When Heaven and Earth were yet unformed, all was ascending and flying, diving and delving. Thus it

5148-693: The River of Heaven ), clouds, and other features. These were often the home or destination of various deities, divinities, shamans, and many more. Another concept of the Heavenly realm is that of the Cords of the Sky. Travel between Heaven and Earth was usually described as achieved by flying or climbing. The Queqiao ( 鵲橋 ; Quèqiáo ) was a bridge formed by birds flying across the Milky Way, as seen in The Cowherd and

5291-515: The Tao as "a cosmic principle of the beginnings would seem to make little sense without seeing the possibility that it was rooted in the symbolic remembrance of archaic mythological, especially cosmogonic, themes." The " Heavenly Questions " section of the " Chu Ci ", written around the 4th century BC, begins by asking catechistic questions about creation myths. Birrell calls it "the most valuable document in Chinese mythography" and surmises an earlier date for its mythos "since it clearly draws on

5434-495: The Yao people and the She people , often as King Pan, and the eating of dog meat was tabooed. This ancestral myth has also been found among the Miao people and Li people . Some of the first culture heroes are the legendary emperors who succeeded the times of the part-human, part-serpent deities Nuwa and Fuxi; these emperors tend to be portrayed as more explicitly human, although Huangdi,

5577-460: The province of Ji was tranquil; crafty vermin died off; blameless people [preserved their] lives. Bearing the square [nine] provinces on her back and embracing Heaven , [Fuxi and Nüwa established] the harmony of spring and the yang of summer, the slaughtering of autumn and the restraint of winter. The Yellow Emperor produced yin and yang . Shang Pian produced ears and eyes; Sang Lin produced shoulders and arms. Nüwa used these to carry out

5720-548: The Cat missed the meeting with the Jade Emperor and was replaced by the Pig . The Jade Emperor was delighted with the animals and so decided to divide the years up amongst them. When the cat learned of what had happened, he was furious with the Rat and that, according to the story, is why cats and Rats are enemies to this day. The Cat can be seen as the domesticated Tiger or leopard the third of

5863-612: The Dragon Gates ( Longmen ) which were rapid waterfalls where select carp can transform into dragons, by swimming upstream and leaping up over the falls. Examples of islands include Mount Penglai , a paradisaical isle in the sea, vaguely east of China but sometimes conflated with Japan . Various other mythological locales include what are known as fairylands or paradises, pillars separating Earth and Sky, ruined or otherwise. The Earth has many extreme and exotic locales – they are separated by pillars between Earth and Heaven, supporting

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6006-605: The Drink of Forgetfulness by Meng Po . Much mythology involves remote, exotic, or hard-to-get-to places. All sorts of mythological geography is said to exist at the extremes of the cardinal directions of earth. Much of the earthly terrain has been said to be inhabited by local spirits (sometimes called fairies or genii loci), especially mountains and bodies of water. There are Grotto Heavens , and also earthly paradises. Various bodies of water appear in Chinese mythology. This includes oceans, rivers, streams, ponds. Often they are part of

6149-499: The Earth personally. He grew curious as to what the creatures looked like. Thus, he asked all the animals to visit him in heaven. The Cat , being the most handsome of all animals, asked his friend the Rat to wake him on the day they were to go to Heaven so he wouldn't oversleep. The Rat, however, was worried that he would seem ugly compared to the Cat, so he didn't wake the cat. Consequently,

6292-580: The Five Grains". Shennong is a mythological Chinese deity in Chinese folk religion and venerated as a mythical sage ruler of prehistoric China. Shennong's descendants began to style themselves as Yan Emperor ( Yandi ), or Flame Emperor. Yandi is often considered an important mythological emperor, although Yandi is sometimes considered as series of emperors bearing the same title, the "Yan Emperor(s)" or "Flame Emperor(s)". Yan literally means "flame", implying that Yan Emperor's people possibly uphold

6435-766: The Goddess Weaver, daughter of the Jade Emperor and the Celestial Queen Mother, who weaves the Silver River (known in the West as the Milky Way ), which gives light to heaven and earth. In other versions, she is a seamstress who works for the Jade Emperor. Every day Zhinü descended to earth with the aid of a magical robe to bathe. One day, a lowly cowherd named Niu Lang ( Chinese : 牛郎 ; pinyin : niú láng ) spotted Zhinü as she bathed in

6578-457: The Great . The Yellow River , prone to flooding, erupted in a huge flood in the time of Yao. The flood disrupted society and endangered human existence, as agricultural fields drowned, hunting game disappeared, and the people were dislocated to hills and mountains. Yu's father, Gun , was put in charge of flood control by Yao, but failed to alleviate the problem after nine years. In some versions Gun

6721-543: The Great Plainness [or Great Basis, Taisu, 太素 ] came to be, there was dark limpidity and mysterious quiescence, dim and dark. No image of it can be formed. Its midst was void; its exterior was non-existence. Things remained thus for long ages; this is called obscurity [ mingxing , 溟涬 ]. It was the root of the Dao … When the stem of the Dao had been grown, creatures came into being and shapes were formed. At this stage,

6864-596: The Heavenly Master of the Dawn of Jade of the Golden Door ( 金闕玉晨天尊 ). The characters for both are stamped on the front of the arms of his throne. In two folk automatic writing texts produced in 1925 and 1972, Guan Yu became the 18th Jade Emperor in about 1840 AD; however, some have disagreed that Guan Yu has succeeded, and thus the Jade Emperor and Guan Yu are often worshiped separately. In Tienti teaching,

7007-473: The Jade Emperor. He can also be regarded as a traditional figure among the White Lotus secret society. It was said that Jade Emperor was originally the crown prince of the kingdom of Pure Felicity and Majestic Heavenly Lights and Ornaments. At birth, he emitted a wondrous light that filled the entire kingdom. When he was young, he was kind, intelligent and wise. He devoted his entire childhood to helping

7150-412: The Jade Emperor. (Using the given figures, this period before his becoming the Jade Emperor lasted for a total of about 327 million years.) One of the myths describes how the Jade Emperor became the monarch of all the deities in heaven. It is one of the few myths in which the Jade Emperor really shows his power. In the beginning of time, the earth was a very difficult place to live, much harsher than it

7293-464: The Jade Emperor. They noticed that, "The stories of Jesus and the Jade Sovereign are, in certain aspects, quite similar. In both cases it is claimed that a god incarnated as a human being." On the other hand, they denounced the cult of the Jade Emperor as "superstitious," and compared unfavorably the "legends" about the Jade Emperor with what they claimed was a solid historical record documenting

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7436-565: The Liberal and Conservative is very general, but important in Chinese thought. Contradictions can be found in the details, however these are often traditional, such as the embrace by Confucius of the philosophical aspects of the Yi Jing , and the back-and-forth about the Mandate of Heaven wherein one dynasty ends and another begins based according to accounts (some of heavily mythological) where

7579-513: The Taoist belief of a spiritual paradise became incorporated into mythology as the place where immortals and deities dwell. Sometimes mythological and religious ideas have become widespread across China's many regions and diverse ethnic societies. In other cases, beliefs are more limited to certain social groups, for example, the veneration of white stones by the Qiang . One mythological theme that has

7722-604: The Twelve Houses divided? How do the sun and the moon hold to their courses and the fixed stars keep their places? Birrell describes this Chu creation narrative as a "vivid world picture. It mentions no prime cause, no first creator. From the "formless expanse" the primeval element of misty vapor emerges spontaneously as a creative force, which is organically constructed as a set of binary forces in opposition to each other — upper and lower spheres, darkness and light, Yin and Yang — whose mysterious transformations bring about

7865-458: The Way of Heaven results in change, but then a new ethical stable dynasty becomes established. Examples of this include the stories of Yi Yin , Tang of Shang and Jie of Xia or the similar fantastic stories around Duke of Zhou and King Zhou of Shang Mythology exists in relationship with other aspects of society and culture, such as ritual. Various rituals are explained by mythology. For example,

8008-543: The Weaver Girl mythology surrounding the Qixi Festival . The hazy band of stars of the Milky Way was referred to as the "Silvery River" or the "River of Heaven". According to mythology, beneath the Earth is another realm—an underground world generally said to be inhabited by the souls of dead humans and various supernatural beings (see hun and po ). This hell is known by various names, including Diyu or

8151-594: The Yellow Emperor, is often portrayed as part-dragon during life. Some historicized versions of semi-historical and undeniably mythologized accounts of ancient times were used by those who have attempted to apply actual BCE dates to the mythological chronology. Traditional Chinese accounts of the early emperors chronologically locate the Yellow Emperor as having lived in the Northern Chinese plain around 2698 to 2599 BCE, about seventeen generations after

8294-548: The Yellow Springs. In more recent mythology, the underground inhabitation of the dead is generally described as somewhat similar to the land above: it possesses a hierarchical government bureaucracy, centered in the capital city of Youdu . The rulers of the underground realm are various kings, whose duties include parsing the souls of the dead according to the merits of their life on earth, and maintaining adequate records regarding that process. (An example of one such ruler

8437-525: The above Chinese cosmogonic myths about the world and humans originating spontaneously without a creator (e.g., from "refined vital energy" in the Huainanzi ), two later origin myths for humans involve divinities. The female Nüwa fashioned people from loess and mud (in early myths) or from procreating with her brother/husband Fuxi (in later versions). Myths about the male Pangu say that people derived from mites on his corpse. In Chinese mythology,

8580-582: The actual membership of the two groups is not explicated. There are different lists. The older group is the Three Primeval Emperors, who were followed by the Five Premier Emperors. After that came the Three Dynasties: these were the Xia dynasty , Shang dynasty , and the Zhou dynasty . These three are all historically attested to, but separating the myth from the history is not always clear; nevertheless, there

8723-449: The ancient titles of Huáng ( 皇 ) and Dì ( 帝 ) to create a new title, Huángdì ( 皇帝 ); thus, the Qin emperor used mythology to bolster his claims to be the legitimate and absolute ruler of the whole earth. This reflected what was to become a longstanding belief that all civilized people should have one government, and that it should be Chinese. Shun passed on his place as emperor to Yu

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8866-482: The animals in the classical Chinese Zodiac text. Once a great drought had spread across the land. Four dragons from the sea noticed the plight of the people and traveled to beseech The Jade Emperor in the Heavenly Palace to bring the rains to the people. He was very busy ruling the heavens, earth, and sea and distractedly agreed to send the rains on the next day if they would return to the sea, but soon after

9009-438: The basics of writing. In some cases, they were revered as the ancestor of an ethnic group or dynastic families. Chinese mythology is intimately connected to the traditional Chinese concepts of li and qi . These two foundational concepts are deeply entwined with socially oriented ritual acts, including communication, greetings, dances, ceremonies, and sacrifices. Significant interplay exists between Chinese mythology and

9152-421: The calendar includes the twelve zodiacal animals and various divine or spiritual genii regulating or appointed as guardians for years, days, or hours. In China and surrounding areas, a calendrical system consisting of measuring time in cycles of twelve represented by twelve has an ancient historical past. The exact line-up of animals is sometimes slightly different, but the basic principle is that each animal takes

9295-403: The course of the mythology around the flood stories. For example, a historicized version of xirang explains this soil may represent an innovative type of raised garden, made up of soil, brushwood, and similar materials. Thus, Yu and his work in controlling the flood with xirang would symbolize a societal development allowing a large scale approach to transforming wetlands into arable fields. Yu

9438-425: The cowherd. As time passed, Zhinü grew homesick and began to miss her father. One day, she came across a box containing her magic robe which her husband had hidden. She decided to visit her father back in Heaven, but once she returned, the Jade Emperor summoned a river to flow across the sky (the Milky Way ), which Zhinü was unable to cross to return to her husband. The Emperor took pity on the young lovers, and so once

9581-470: The creation and cosmology of the universe, exploring the origins of deities and heavenly inhabitants. Some narratives specifically address the topic of creation, unraveling the beginnings of things, people, and culture. Additionally, certain myths are dedicated to the genesis of the Chinese state. A subset myths provides a chronology of prehistoric times, often featuring a culture hero who taught people essential skills ranging from building houses and cooking to

9724-411: The deputy that competently and diligently helped in the work against the great flood, a mighty hunter who helped feed the people during a time when agriculture had been rendered impossible, Bo Yi . The mythological variants are much concerned with the relative merits between the two. Qi's succession broke the previous convention of meritorious succession in favor of hereditary succession, thus initiating

9867-583: The divine assistance obtained in the founding and the reasons for it. The fighter of the Great Flood, Yu "the Great" had served Yao and Shun and they enfeoffed him as the Prince of Xia, an area of land. Upon Yu's death questions arose regarding the method of imperial succession, which would be a key factor as an example for Chinese culture for millennia. The question was who would succeed Yu upon his death. It could be his son, Qi of Xia , also known as Kai, or

10010-415: The dragons departed, he forgot his promise. After ten days, the rains still did not come and the people began to die of starvation. The dragons could not simply stand by and do nothing, and so they decided to use their bodies to capture great masses of water from the sea, taking it upon themselves to bring the rain. The people were grateful and prayed their thanks to the Jade Emperor, who soon discovered what

10153-549: The dragons ensuring that the people of China would never be without water again. The Jade Emperor was originally the assistant of the Divine Master of the Heavenly Origin, Yuanshi Tianzun . Yuanshi Tianzun is said to be the supreme beginning, the limitless and eternal creator of Heaven and Earth, who picked Yu-huang, or the Jade Emperor, as his personal successor. The Jade Emperor will eventually be succeeded by

10296-737: The dragons had done, and became angry that they intervened without his blessing. The Jade Emperor ordered Mountain God to trap the four dragons. However, from each mountain that trapped a dragon there sprang a new river. From Yellow Dragon came the Yellow River , from Long Dragon the Yangtze River , from Black Dragon the Amur River , and from Pearl Dragon the Pearl River . The rivers thereafter flowed from west to east and north to south,

10439-495: The early dynasties, however, more purely historical literature tends to begin with the Qin dynasty (for example, see Paladin 1998). On the other hand, accounts of the Shang, Xia, and early Zhou dynasties tend to mythologize. By a historical process of euhemerism many of these myths evolved over time into variant versions with an emphasis on moral parables and rationalization of some of the more fantastic ideas. Mythology of time and

10582-484: The earth grew ten feet thicker, and each day Pangu grew ten feet taller. And so it was that in eighteen thousand years the heavens reached their fullest height, earth reached its lowest depth, and Pangu became fully grown. Afterwards, there was the Three Sovereign Divinities. Numbers began with one, were established with three, perfected by five, multiplied with seven, and fixed with nine. That

10725-439: The earth, palaces beneath the sea, and various fantastic areas or features of the earth, located beyond the limits of the known earth. Such mythological features include mountains, rivers, forests or fantastic trees, and caves or grottoes. These then serve as the location for the actions of various beings and creatures. One concept encountered in some myths is the idea of travel between Earth and Heaven by means of climbing up or down

10868-407: The elderly and the weak. Thereupon, Nüwa smelted together five-colored stones in order to patch up the azure sky, cut off the legs of the great turtle to set them up as the four pillars, killed the black dragon to provide relief for Ji Province , and piled up reeds and cinders to stop the surging waters. The azure sky was patched; the four pillars were set up; the surging waters were drained;

11011-512: The essence of watery qi became the moon. The overflowing qi of the essences of the sun and the moon made the stars and planets. To Heaven belong the sun, moon, stars, and planets; to Earth belong waters and floods, dust and soil. Of old, in the time before there was Heaven and Earth: There were only images and no forms. All was obscure and dark, vague and unclear, shapeless and formless, and no one knows its gateway. There were two spirits, born in murkiness, one that established Heaven and

11154-606: The existence and life of Jesus. In 2005, roughly 2% of Chinese folk practitioners believed in the Jade Emperor. A crater on Saturn 's moon Rhea , discovered by Voyager 2 spacecraft, is named after him. Counterparts of the Jade Emperor in other Asian cultures Chinese mythology Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Chinese mythology ( traditional Chinese : 中國神話 ; simplified Chinese : 中国神话 ; pinyin : Zhōngguó shénhuà )

11297-498: The figures, which gave rise to human sickness and physical abnormalities. (The most common alternative Chinese creation myth states that human beings were once fleas on the body of Pangu .) In another myth, Nüwa fashions men out of the mud from the Yellow River by hand. Those she made became the richer people of the earth. After getting tired of it, she dipped her scarf into the mud and swung it around. The drops that fell from

11440-409: The first emperors include, in chronological order, Huangdi, Gaoyang (Zhuanxu), Gaoxin (Di Ku), Yao, and Shun. These emperors were said to be morally upright and benevolent, and examples to be emulated by latter-day kings and emperors. Sometimes approximate calculations of times have been made based on the claimed number of generations from one significant mythological figure to the next, as in the case of

11583-718: The first lunar month. On this day, Taoist temples hold a Jade Emperor ritual ( 拜天公 , Mandarin : bài Tiāngōng ; Hokkien : pài Thinn-kong , literally "heaven worship") at which priests and laymen prostrate themselves, burn incense and make food offerings. In the morning of this birthday, Chinese, Taiwanese as well as Hokkien and Peranakan Malaysian Chinese and Singaporean Chinese who practice Buddhism , Taoism and other traditional Chinese religions set up an altar table with 3 layers: one top (containing offertories of six vegetables ( 六齋 ), noodles, fruits, cakes, tangyuan , vegetable bowls, and unripe betel , all decorated with paper lanterns) and two lower levels (containing

11726-735: The first-born semidivine human Pangu ( 盤古 , "Coiled Antiquity") separating the world egg -like Hundun ( 混沌 , "primordial chaos") into Heaven and Earth . However, none of the ancient Chinese classics mentions the Pangu myth, which was first recorded in the 3rd-century Sanwu Liji ( 三五歴記 , "Historical Records of the Three Sovereign Divinities and the Five Gods"), attributed to the Three Kingdoms period Taoist author Xu Zheng . Thus, in classical Chinese mythology, Nüwa predates Pangu by six centuries. Heaven and earth were in chaos like

11869-401: The five sacrifices and wines) to honor the deities below the Jade Emperor. The household then kneels three times and kowtows nine times to pay homage and wish him a long life. In Penang , Malaysia , a focal point of the Jade Emperor's Birthday celebrations is Thni Kong Tnua , which gained worldwide fame as one of the featured locations for The Amazing Race 16 . The temple, built in 1869,

12012-517: The goddess Nüwa repaired the fallen pillars holding up the sky, creating human beings either before or after. The ancient Chinese believed in a square earth and a round, domelike sky supported by eight giant pillars (cf. the European ideas of an axis mundi ). The "Heavenly Questions" of the Songs of Chu from around the 4th century BC is the first surviving text that refers to Nüwa: "By what law

12155-409: The gods, immortals, and humans proclaimed the Jade Emperor the supreme sovereign of all. The world started with wuji ( 無極 , nothingness) according to the Chinese creation myth . The Jade Emperor was the head of the pantheon, but not responsible for creation. In another creation myth , the Jade Emperor fashioned the first humans from clay and left them to harden in the sun. Rain deformed some of

12298-482: The jade pool Yáochí ( 瑤池 ), eventually thought to exist on mount Kunlun (which itself was thought to possess cliffs insurmountable to normal mortals was the Moving Sands , a semi-mythological place also to the west of China (the real Taklamakan Desert to the west of or in China is known for its shifting sands). There were other locations of mythological geography around the area of Kunlun such as Jade Mountain and

12441-447: The legendary founder of the Ji family, Hou Ji , whose descendants would rule generations after his mythological appearance as the historical Zhou dynasty , beginning around 1046 BCE. Despite various assignments of dates to the accounts of these Emperors, fantastic claims about the length of their reigns are common. The average reign-lengths that these numbers imply are improbable, and there is

12584-465: The lighting condition in the sky causes the Milky Way to appear dimmer, hence the story that the two lovers are no longer separated on that one particular day each year. The seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is a holiday in China called Qixi Festival , which is a day for young lovers much like Valentine's Day in the West . In Japan , it is called Tanabata (star day). In Korea , it

12727-701: The many natural laws or dao . He is often identified with Śakra in Chinese Buddhist cosmology and identified with Yu the Great in Chinese mythology . The Jade Emperor is known by many names, including Yu, Heavenly Grandfather ( 天公 , Tiāngōng ), which originally meant "Heavenly Duke", which is used by commoners; the Jade Lord; the Highest Emperor; Great Emperor of Jade ( 玉皇上帝 Yu Huang Shangdi , or 玉皇大帝 Yu Huang Dadi ). There are many stories in Chinese mythology involving

12870-405: The misty vapor gather. If not, then make all the misty vapor disperse." At this, the misty vapor immediately gathered. When the sister became intimate with her brother, they plaited some grass to make a fan to screen their faces. Even today, when a man takes a wife, they hold a fan, which is a symbol of what happened long ago. One of the most popular creation myths in Chinese mythology describes

13013-565: The mites on his body were touched by the wind and evolved into the black-haired people . Lincoln found parallels between Pangu and the Indo-European world parent myth, such as the primeval being's flesh becoming earth and hair becoming plants. In another myth, the children of the spiritual beings Tianlong and Diya are the first humans. Norman J. Girardot , professor of Chinese religion at Lehigh University , analyzed complications within studies of Chinese creation mythology. On

13156-504: The moment of creation, so that the nebulous element of vapor becomes differentiated into dual elements of male and female, Yin and Yang , hard and soft matter, and other binary elements." The Tao Te Ching , written sometime before the 4th century BC, suggests a less mystical Chinese cosmogony and has some of the earliest allusions to creation. There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth; Silent—amorphous—it stood alone and unchanging. We may regard it as

13299-594: The mother of heaven and earth. Commonly styled "The Way." The Way gave birth to unity, Unity gave birth to duality, Duality gave birth to trinity, Trinity gave birth to the myriad creatures. The myriad creatures bear yin on their back and embrace yang in their bosoms. They neutralize these vapors and thereby achieve harmony. Later Taoists interpreted this sequence to mean the Tao ( Dao , "Way"), formless ( Wuji , "Without Ultimate"), unitary ( Taiji , "Great Ultimate"), and binary ( yin and yang or Heaven and Earth). Girardot reasons that Tao Te Ching evokes

13442-511: The mythological chronology and the ideas of modern historians. However, real correlation begins in the Year of the Metal Monkey, Zhou dynasty, 841 BCE, a since validated claim by Sima Qian . However, although historians take note of this, subsequent mythology has not tended to reflect this quest for rational, historical timelining. Various ideas about the creation of the universe, the earth,

13585-409: The mythologies of Mesopotamia , Egypt , and Greece believed primeval water was the single element that existed "in the beginning", the basic element of Chinese cosmology was qi (" breath ; air ; life force "). Anne Birrell explains that qi "was believed to embody cosmic energy governing matter, time, and space. This energy, according to Chinese mythic narratives, undergoes a transformation at

13728-606: The needy (the poor and suffering, the deserted and single, the hungry and disabled). Furthermore, he showed respect and benevolence to both men and creatures. After his father died, he ascended the throne. He made sure that everyone in his kingdom found peace and contentment. After that, he told his ministers that he wished to cultivate Tao on the Bright and Fragrant Cliff. After 1,750 eons, each eon lasting for 129,600 years (360 years), he attained Golden Immortality. After another one hundred million years of cultivation, he finally became

13871-517: The ninefold heavens? Whose work was this, and how did he accomplish it? Where were the circling cords fastened, and where was the sky's pole fixed? Where did the Eight Pillars meet the sky, and why were they too short for it in the south-east? Where do the nine fields of heaven extend to and where do they join each other? The ins and outs of their edges must be very many: who knows their number? How does heaven coordinate its motions? Where are

14014-430: The one hand, With regard to China there is the very real problem of the extreme paucity and fragmentation of mythological accounts, an almost total absence of any coherent mythic narratives dating to the early periods of Chinese culture. This is even more true with respect to authentic cosmogonic myths, since the preserved fragments are extremely meager and in most cases are secondary accounts historicized and moralized by

14157-591: The ordering of the universe.". The Daoyuan ( 道原 , "Origins of the Tao ") is one of the Huangdi Sijing manuscripts discovered in 1973 among the Mawangdui Silk Texts excavated from a tomb dated to 168   BC. Like the Songs of Chu above, this text is believed to date from the 4th century BC and from the same southern state of Chu . This Taoist cosmogonic myth describes the creation of

14300-549: The original qi split and divided, hard and soft first divided, pure and turbid took up different positions. Heaven formed on the outside, and Earth became fixed within. Heaven took its body from the Yang , so it was round and in motion; Earth took its body from the Yin , so it was flat and quiescent. Through motion there was action and giving forth; through quiescence there was conjoining and transformation. Through binding together there

14443-469: The other that constructed Earth. So vast! No one knows where they ultimately end. So broad! No one knows where they finally stop. Thereupon they differentiated into the yin and the yang and separated into the eight cardinal directions. The firm and the yielding formed each other; the myriad things thereupon took shape. The turbid vital energy became creatures; the refined vital energy became humans. Birrell suggests this abstract Yin-Yang dualism between

14586-426: The philosophical camps into two rough halves, a Liberal group and a Conservative group. The liberal group being associated with the idea of individuality and change, for example as seen in the mythology of divination in China, such as the mythology of the dragon horse that delivered the eight bagua diagrams to Fu Xi, and methods of individual empowerment as seen in the Yi Jing ( Book of Changes ). The Liberal tendency

14729-517: The philosophical traditions of Confucianism , Taoism , and Buddhism . Elements of pre- Han dynasty mythology such as those in Classic of Mountains and Seas were adapted into these belief systems as they developed (in the case of Taoism), or were assimilated into Chinese culture (in the case of Buddhism). Conversely, teachings and beliefs from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism have, in turn, become integral components of Chinese mythology. For example,

14872-846: The pillars separating the two, there usually being four or Eight Pillars or an unspecified number of these Sky Ladders. The Four Symbols of Chinese cosmology were the Azure Dragon of the East, the Black Tortoise of the North, the White Tiger of the West, and the Vermillion Bird of the South. These totem animals represented the four cardinal directions, with a lot of associated symbolism and beliefs. A fifth cardinal direction

15015-435: The place of exile of Gun and other events during or just after the world flood . Further east was Fusang , a mythical tree, or else an island (sometimes interpreted as Japan). The geography of China, in which the land seems to be higher in the west and tilt down toward the east and with the rivers tending to flow west-to-east was explained by the damage Gonggong did to the world pillar Mount Buzhou , mountain pillars separating

15158-418: The progress of cultural development. One common story involves Pangu . Among other sources, he was written about by Taoist author Xu Zheng c. 200 CE, as claimed to be the first sentient being and creator, "making the heavens and the earth". Various culture heroes have been said to have helped or saved humanity in many ways, such as stopping floods, teaching the use of fire, and so on. As mythic chronology

15301-529: The redactors of the Confucian school that was emerging as the predominant classical tradition during the Former Han period . On the other hand, there are issues with what Girardot calls the "China as a special case fallacy"; presuming that unlike "other ancient cultures more blatantly caught up in the throes of religion and myth", China did not have any creation myths, with the exception of Pangu, which

15444-415: The reigning Jade Emperor has 55 predecessors. However this is from the point of view of Chinese Folk religion , and many orthodox Taoists do not believe these claims to be true. Elements from the supreme god Shangdi and his worship were incorporated into theology about the Jade Emperor and the two were often thought to be the same being. The Jade Emperor's Birthday ( 天公誕 ) is said to be the ninth day of

15587-494: The rich from loess and the poor from mud. In contrast, the builder's cord motif is uniquely Chinese and iconographic of the Goddess. In Han iconography, Nüwa sometimes holds a builder's compass. The 9th-century Duyi Zhi ( 獨異志 , "A Treatise on Extraordinary Things") by Li Rong records a later tradition that Nüwa and her brother Fuxi were the first humans. In this version, the goddess has been demoted from "primal creatrix to

15730-546: The ritual burning of mortuary banknotes (Hell Money), lighting fireworks , and so on. A good example of the relationship between Chinese mythology and ritual is the Yubu, also known as the Steps or Paces of Yu . During the course of his activities in controlling the Great Flood, Yu was supposed to have so fatigued himself that he lost all the hair from his legs and developed a serious limp. Daoist practitioners sometimes incorporate

15873-400: The scarf became the poorer humans. In another story, popular throughout Asia and with many differing versions, the Jade Emperor has a daughter named Zhinü ( simplified Chinese : 织女 ; traditional Chinese : 織女 ; pinyin : zhī nǚ or Chih'nü, literally: weaver girl). She is most often represented as responsible for weaving colorful clouds in the heaven. In some versions, she is

16016-773: The second millennium BCE. Diku is credited with the invention of various musical instruments along with musical pieces for them to accompany. Diku is said to have consorted with the semi-divine females Jiang Yuan and Jiandi . Yao and Shun were important mythological rulers, exemplars of propriety in rulership. The Great Flood began during the reign of Yao and continued through the time of Shun (the successor of Yao, who had passed over his own son and made Shun his successor because of Shun's ability and morality). Historically, when Qin Shi Huang united China in 221 BCE, he used propaganda to acclaim his achievements as surpassing those of mythological rulers who had gone before him. He combined

16159-720: The seventy transformations? Shang Pian ( 上駢 ) and Sang Lin ( 桑林 ) are obscure mythic divinities. The commentary of Xu Shen written around AD   100 says "seventy transformations" refers to Nuwa's power to create everything in the world. The Fengsu Tongyi ("Common Meanings in Customs"), written by Ying Shao around AD   195, describes Han-era beliefs about the primeval goddess. People say that when Heaven and earth opened and unfolded, humankind did not yet exist, Nü Kua kneaded yellow earth and fashioned human beings. Though she worked feverishly, she did not have enough strength to finish her task, so she drew her cord in

16302-421: The sky , usually four or eight. Generally, Chinese mythology regarded people as living in the middle regions of the world and conceived the exotic earthly places to exist in the directional extremes to the north, east, south, or west. Eventually, the idea of an eastern and western paradise seems to have arisen. In the west, according to certain myths, there was Kunlun. On the eastern seacoast was Feather Mountain ,

16445-466: The sky from the world (China), which also displaced the Celestial Pole, so that the sky rotates off-center. In the west was Kunlun, although it is also sometimes said to be towards the south seas. Kunlun was pictured as having a mountain or mountain range, Kunlun Mountain where dwelt various divinities, grew fabulous plants, home to exotic animals, and various deities and immortals (today there

16588-513: The sky, various deities and creatures, and the origin of various clans or ethnic groups of humans have circulated in the area of China for millennia. These creation myths may include the origins of the universe and everything, the origins of humans, or the origins of specific groups, such as a Han Chinese in descent from Yandi and Huangdi (as 炎黃子孫 , "Descendants of the Flame and Yellow Emperors"). Various myths contain explanations of various origins and

16731-464: The structure of society in the Middle Kingdom (earthly China). The mythology of China includes a mythological geography describing individual mythological descriptions of places and the features; sometimes, this reaches to the level of a cosmological conception. Various features of mythological terrain are described in myth, including a Heavenly world above the earth, a land of the dead beneath

16874-444: The time of Shennong. A major difference between the possible historicity of material embedded in mythological accounts is that through the time of the last Flame Emperor (Yandi) information was recorded using knotted ropes, whereas the introduction of writing is associated with the reign of Huang Di (although the historical continuity of written tradition beginning at that time is a matter of discussion by experts). The most prominent of

17017-483: The two primeval spirits or gods may be the "vestige of a much older mythological paradigm that was then rationalized and diminished", comparable to the Akkadian Enûma Eliš creation myth of Abzu and Tiamat , male fresh water and female salt water . The Lingxian ( 靈憲 ), written around AD   120 by the polymath Zhang Heng , thoroughly accounts for the creation of Heaven and Earth. Before

17160-561: The ultimate ancestor of all humankind and are often represented as half-snake, half-humans. Nuwa's companion, Fuxi, was her brother and husband. After Gong-Gong was said to have damaged the world pillar holding the earth and sky apart, the sky was rent causing fires, floods (the Flood of Nuwa ) and other devastating events which were only remedied when Nüwa repaired the sky with five colored stones. The figure of Nüwa, also referred to as Nü Kwa, appeared in literature no earlier than c. 350 BCE. It

17303-470: The universe and humans out of formless misty vapor, and Birrell notes the striking resemblance between its ancient "all was one" concept of unity before creation and the modern cosmogonic concept of gravitational singularity . At the beginning of eternal past all things penetrated and were identical with great vacuity, Vacuous and identical with the One, rest at the One eternally. Unsettled and confusing, there

17446-459: The use of fire and cooking thus saving them from much food-poisoning, in addition to developing cuisine . Another example of a mythological hero who provided beneficial knowledge to humanity involves sericulture , the production of silk : an invention credited to Leizu , for one. An example of a non-Han ethnicity culture hero is Panhu . Because of their self-identification as descendants from these original ancestors, Panhu has been worshiped by

17589-498: The various colored rivers which flew out of Kunlun. For example, the Red, or Scarlet River was supposed to flow to the south of Kunlun. Mythological and semi-mythological chronology includes mythic representations of the creation of the world, population (and sometimes re-populations) by humans, sometimes floods, and various cultural developments, such as the development of ruling dynasties. Many myths and stories have been recounted about

17732-552: The wind and clouds; his voice became peals of thunder. His left eye became the sun; his right eye became the moon. His four limbs and five extremities became the four cardinal points and the five peaks . His blood and semen became water and rivers. His muscles and veins became the earth's arteries; his flesh became fields and land. His hair and beard became the stars; his bodily hair became plants and trees. His teeth and bones became metal and rock; his vital marrow became pearls and jade. His sweat and bodily fluids became streaming rain. All

17875-461: The world and recruited an army of demons with the purpose of attacking heaven. The immortals, being aware of the threat, gathered themselves and prepared for war. The gods were unable to stop the powerful demon and it defeated them all. The Jade Emperor finished his cultivation during this war. When he was changing the land to make it more liveable for men and repelling a variety of monsters, he saw an evil glow radiating from heaven and knew something

18018-616: The world pillar at Buzhou, tilting Earth and Heaven away from each other at that sector. Examples of these mythologized rivers include the Yangzi (including various stretches under different names), the Yellow River , the mythological Red River in the west, near Kunlun, and the Weak River , a mythological river in "the west", near "Kunlun", which flowed with a liquid too light in specific gravity for floating or swimming (but unbreathable). Examples of features along mythological rivers include

18161-580: Was Nü Wa raised up to become high lord? By what means did she fashion the different creatures?" Two Huainanzi chapters record Nüwa mythology two centuries later: Going back to more ancient times, the four [of 8] pillars were broken; the nine provinces were in tatters. Heaven did not completely cover [the earth]; Earth did not hold up [Heaven] all the way around [its circumference]. Fires blazed out of control and could not be extinguished; water flooded in great expanses and would not recede. Ferocious animals ate blameless people; predatory birds snatched

18304-425: Was a late, and likely foreign, importation. Girardot traces the origins of this "methodological rigidity" or "benign neglect" for the study of Chinese religion and mythology back to early 19th-century missionary scholars who sought creation myths in early Chinese texts, "the concern for the study of Chinese cosmogony on the part of the missionaries resulted in a frustration over not finding anything that resembled

18447-532: Was a vast under ground land, also known as Diyu , Yellow Springs, Hell, and other terms. As time progressed, the idea of an underground land in which the souls of the departed were punished for their misdeeds during life became explicit, related to developments in Daoism and Buddhism. The underground world also came to be conceived of as inhabited by a vast bureaucracy, with kings, judges, torturers, conductors of souls, minor bureaucrats, recording secretaries, similar to

18590-408: Was also postulated: the center, represented by the emperor of China, located in the middle of his Middle Kingdom (Zhong Guo, or China). The real or mythological inhabitants making their dwellings at these cardinal points were numerous, as is associated mythology. The Heavenly realm is described by the Chinese word "Tian," which can be translated into English as both " Heaven " and "sky." Sometimes this

18733-418: Was amiss. He ascended and saw that the evil entity was too powerful to be stopped by the gods. He challenged it, and they fought. Mountains shook and rivers and seas toppled. Due to his deeper and wiser cultivation, his benevolence instead of his might, the Jade Emperor won the battle. After the evil entity was defeated, its army was scattered by the gods and immortals. Because of his noble and benevolent deeds,

18876-573: Was called the Grand Inception. The Grand Inception produced the Nebulous Void. The Nebulous Void produced space-time, space-time produced the original qi . A boundary [divided] the original qi . That which was pure and bright spread out to form Heaven ; that which was heavy and turbid congealed to form Earth. It is easy for that which is pure and subtle to converge but difficult for the heavy and turbid to congeal. Therefore, Heaven

19019-405: Was completed first; Earth was fixed afterward. The conjoined essences of Heaven and Earth produced yin and yang . The supersessive essences of yin and yang caused the four seasons. The scattered essences of the four seasons created the myriad things. The hot qi of accumulated yang produced fire; the essence of fiery qi became the sun. The cold qi of accumulated yin produced water;

19162-423: Was executed by Shun's minister Zhurong for this failure, but according to others Gun was merely exiled for opposing the elevation of Shun as co-emperor. In more purely mythological versions, the story is more along the lines that Gun transformed into an animal shape to escape the wrath of Heaven (for having dared to go to Heaven and steal the flood-fighting expanding earth xirang ). He fled to Feather Mountain and

19305-538: Was fertilization, and in time all the kinds of things were brought to growth. This is called the Great Origin [Taiyuan, 太元 ]. It was the fruition of the Dao . The Neo-Confucianist philosopher Zhou Dunyi provided a multifaceted cosmology in his Taiji Tushuo ( 太極圖說 , "Diagram Explaining the Supreme Ultimate"), which integrated the I Ching with Taoism and Chinese Buddhism . In contrast to

19448-678: Was named after the Yellow Soil in the Yellow River Basin area where Chinese civilization was thought to have originated. Future generations later changed it to di or emperor in order to give Huangdi a more sovereign-sounding name. He also appears as Xuanyuan. Huang Di is also referred to as one of the Five August ones, and one of the few consistent members of the list. There were also other colored emperors, such as Black, Green, Red, and White. According to some mythology, Huang Di

19591-413: Was no distinction of dark and light. Though Tao is undifferentiated, it is autonomous: "It has no cause since ancient times", yet "the ten thousand things are caused by it without any exception". Tao is great and universal on the one hand, but also formless and nameless. The 4th or 3rd century BC Taiyi Shengshui ("Great One Giving Birth to Water"), a Taoist text excavated in 1993 as part of

19734-430: Was personified into a deity (sky god). In some descriptions, this was an elaborate place ruled over by a supreme deity, or a group of supreme deities, Jade Emperor being associated with Daoism and Buddhas with Buddhism. Many astronomically observable features were subjects of mythology or the mythological locations and settings for mythic scenes. These include the sun, stars, moon, planets, Milky Way (sometimes referred to as

19877-503: Was punished by Heaven, but when Yu used it he was able to stop the flood and was rewarded by Heaven, is a question frequently made in the myths. The mythology of Yu and his associates during their work in controlling the flood and simultaneously saving the people can be seen in various ways to symbolize different societal and cultural developments, such as innovations in hunting, agriculture, well-digging, astronomy, social and political organizing, and other cultural innovations that occur during

20020-474: Was said to be the founder of the Xia dynasty . The first three dynasties have especial significance in mythology. The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography as known through literary accounts. However, many of these accounts contain elements of a clearly semi-mythological, and in some versions completely mythological or fanciful. The founding mythology of the early dynasties tends to have certain common general features, including

20163-472: Was struck dead by the fire god Zhurong on behalf of Heaven. After three years, his son Yu appeared out of his belly, usually said to be in the form of some fantastic animal. Yu took his father's place fighting the flood, leading the people to build canals and levees, often said to be with the help of Xirang . After thirteen years of toil, Yu abated the flood. Why the Xirang failed to work when Gun used it and he

20306-492: Was the son of Shaodian, who was the half-brother of Yan Di. Huang Di's mother was said to be Fubao . Huang Di's wife Leizu is supposed to have invented sericulture. In some versions Cangjie invented writing during the reign of Huang Di. The Yellow Emperor is said to have fought a great battle against Chiyou . Huangdi had various wives and many descendants, including Shaohao (leader of the Dongyi ). Ku, Di Ku, Ti K'u, or Diku,

20449-455: Was the title for Chinese emperors for ages. The title of the Three Primeval Emperors is huang , in Chinese. The original connotation of this title is unknown, and it is variously translated into English. Translations include "Sovereign", "Emperor", and "August". The names of the Three Primeval Emperors include Youchao ("Have Nest"), Suiren ("Fire Maker"), Paoxi/Fuxi ("Animal Domesticator"), and Shennong ("Divine Husbandman"). Sometimes Huangdi

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