Magnificent Stories Not Well Known
Three major reasons according to Yuan Ke ( 袁 珂, Chairman, Assoc. of Chinese Mythology) China didn’t enjoy the phenomenon of gifted poets like Homer and Hesiod Chinese writing system was not sufficiently developed to write down the oral traditions Myths were prevented from fully developed by the negative attitude of the scholars of early dynasties
In a piecemeal fashion (as in Birrell’s book) 300+ narratives from 100+ classical texts Revealing a wide range of mythic themes: Origins Cultural bearers Saviors, destroyers Miracle birth and founding (of dynasties) Emperors, heroes, goddesses Immortality, fabled flora/fauna
Before heaven and earth had formed, there was a shapeless, dark expanse
Creates human beings Mends the Heaven
Taught Fishing & Hunting Changed marriage customs ： inter-clans Created symbols for recording （ specifically ， the trigrams ） Invented musical instruments Started government & administration Created calendar system
One of the Three Huangs （三皇， major cultural bearers ） Honored as 燧皇 （ SuiHuang ） Fire making and cooking The other two being 伏羲 （ FuXi ） or 羲皇 神农 （ ShenNong ） or 农（ agriculture ）皇
Tasted various herbs Invented agriculture and medicine One of the Three Huangs
奚仲作車 奚仲 倉頡作書 倉頡 后稷作稼 后稷 皋陶作刑 皋陶 昆吾作陶 昆吾 夏鯀作城鯀
Teaches farming Plants various grains Helps Yu The Great put flood under control Ancestor of the Zhou royal house
Qu, Yuan and his poems, collectively known as ChuCi ( 楚辞, or Verses of Chu)
Chinese phonetic alphabet
Composites Singles