02-A Guide To Chinese Classical Mythology

A Guide to Chinese Mythology
Definition of Mythology
According to “Encyclopedia of Contemporary Literary
Theory”:
1. Northrop Frye sees myth as the structural foundation
of literature. (It always means, first and primarily,
mythos, story, plot, narrative.)
Myth as a universally intelligible language ~ A typical
metaphor takes the form of the statement “A is B”.
2. A Myth is a story about a god or some other
supernatural being; sometimes it concerns a
deified human being or ruler of divine descent.
3. Illustrates or explains the origin of the world.
4. According to “New Dictionary of Cultural

Literacy”:
“The body of myths belonging to a culture.
Myths are traditional stories about gods and
heroes. (They often account for the basic
aspects of existence explaining, for instance,
how the Earth was created, why people have
to die, or why the year is divided into
seasons. )”
The Difference between Greek
M. and Chinese M.
1. Greek myths were organized systematically;
on the contrary, Chinese myths were told
fragmentary.
2. The figures of Greek m. usually present the
human nature of divine god.
3. The figures of Chinese m. usually represent a
divinity of eternal beings.
Stories
From the book “Classic of Mountains

and Seas”
• Kua Fu, who wished to capture the
sun.
• Jīng wèi, filling the sea
• Cocooned horse
• Né-zhā nào hăi (Né-zhā fights the
Dragon King)
Kua Fu
Kua Fu is a giant who wished to capture the sun. One day
out of the blue, Kua Fu was confused by the Sun's
whereabouts at night and decided to chase and catch the
Sun. With each stride he gets closer to the Sun, however,
he could never catch up to it. He followed the Sun from the
East to the West, draining all rivers and lakes crossing his
path as sources of water to quench his burning thirst as he
closed in on the star. However, he wasn't able to finish his
quest because he died of the extreme heat and exhaustion.
After he died, the cane he was carrying transformed into a
vast forest.
jīngwèi
Originally, Jīngwèi is the name of the daughter of the
emperor Yandi, she perished at a young age in the East
sea. After her death she transformed into the shape of a
bird in order to exact revenge upon the sea by bringing
stones and small twigs from the mountains nearby over
the sea in an effort to fill it up. Jīngwèi even has a short
dialogue with the sea where the sea scoffs her, claiming
that she wouldn't be able to fill it up even in a million
years, whereupon she claims that she will then proceed
to take ten million years, even one hundred million years,
whatever it takes to fill up the sea so that others would
not have to perish as she did.
Cocooned horse
It was said that in ancient times there was a man who was traveling
far a way from home and left behind a daughter and a male horse, which
She fed and watered. Living all alone in a remote place, the girl longed
For her father to return. One day, she said to the horse jokingly, “ I
Would marry you if you could bring my father home.” Hearing this, the
Horse broke its reins and galloped straight to where her father was.
The man was surprised and also overjoyed when he saw his horse and
got on it. The horse faced the direction it came from and kept on neigh-
ing sadly. “This is odd, “ the man said to himself. Maybe something has
happened to my family?” He hurried home.
Because the horse had shown an uncommon feeling towards him, the
man treated the animal especially well, giving it very fine forage. The
horse, however, would not eat.
Each time it saw the girl coming in or going out , it would become excit-
ed, kicking and neighing. This happened many times.
Puzzled, the man asked his daughter in private and was told the truth.
Now that he knew the reason for the horse’s strange behavior, he warned
the girl, “ Do not breathe a word to anyone. It might bring shame to our
family. And do not go outside.” Then he killed the horse with a bow and
an arrow. The skin he took off the horse was spread in the courtyard to
dry. One day when the father was out again, the daughter and other girls
of the neighborhood were playing games beside the skin. She kicked it,
saying, “ Is it not funny that an animal like you should want to marry a
girl? It serves you right to have been killed and skinned.”
No sooner had she said these words than skin raised itself, wrapped t-
he girl up, and vanished before the other frightened girls could do any
thing to save her. They made haste to tell the father, who came back
at once to look for her, but it was too late.
A few days later, the man found that this daughter and the horse skin
had turned into a silkworm, producing silk on a tree. The silk it made
was much better than that made by ordinary silkworms. Women in th-
e neighborhood used the cocoon and raised more silkworms, and this
greatly increased their income. The tree was then named “ sang”,
which was identical in sound with the word that meant death. After
this people vied with each other in planting this tree. And this is the
origin of the silkworms raised today.
Nézhā fights the Dragon King
The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas, tired of being
peaceful, have become cruel and destructive,
plaguing China with destructive storms and a
drought. The people beg for rain, but the East Sea
Dragon King Ao-Guang ignores them, telling the
yaksha Ye Cha to go and find children for him to
eat. Ye Cha captures one of Nezha's friends as he is
bathing by the ocean, and Nezha confronts him,
injuring him badly. Ao-Guang sends his third son,
Ao-Bing, next. Ao-Bing is killed by Nezha,
infuriating Ao-Guang.
~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Nezha%27s_Triumph_Against_Dragon_King
“Free And Easy Wandering” ~ by Zhuāng zi
In the northern sea there is a fish whose name is

Kun. The Kun is so huge that I can’t tell how many
thousand lǐ he measures. Then, he changes and
transforms into a bird whose name is Péng. The
back of the Péng measures I don’t know how
many thousand lǐ across and, once he lifts up to
fly, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When
the sea bends to move, this bird sets off for the
southern sea, which is the Lake of Heaven.
“Free And Easy Wandering”
Jiān Wú said to Lián Shú, “I was listening to Jiē Yú’s
talk--big and nothing to back it up, going on and
on without turning around. I was completely
astonished at his words--no more end than the
Milky way, wild and wide of the mark, never
coming near human affairs!”
“What were his words like?” asked Lián Shú.
“He said that there is a Holy Man living on
faraway GūYè Mountain, with skin like ice or
snow, and gentle and shy like a young girl. He
doesn’t eat the five grains, but sucks the wind,
Drinks the dew, climbs up on the clouds and mist,
rides a flying dragon, and wanders beyond the
four seas. By concentrating his spirit, he can
protect creatures from sickness and plague and
make the harvest plentiful. I thought this was all
insane and refused to believe it.”
“You would!” said Lián Shú. “ We can’t expect a
blind man to appreciate beautiful patterns or deaf
man to listen to bells and drums. And blindness
and deafness are not confined to body alone--the
understanding has them too, as your words just
now have shown….” (translated by Burton
Watson)
The Meaning of Chinese Myths
To transform for keeping existence

To empower human beings to…
To fight with the natural catastrophe
To show the inexhaustible potentiality of human
beings
Transformation is the archetype of mythology
Draw pictures to illustrate
the stories
Thank you

02-A Guide To Chinese Classical Mythology

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

02-A Guide To Chinese Classical Mythology

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

02-A Guide To Chinese Classical Mythology

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Guide to Chinese Mythology

4. According to “New Dictionary of Cultural

From the book “Classic of Mountains

In the northern sea there is a fish whose name is

To transform for keeping existence

You might also like