Ancient Chinese Mythology
The Ancient Chinese was a complex civilization. They made the first pottery during 7000 B. C. and is one of the earliest civilizations. Being so ancient they likewise had their unique beliefs about how the world came to be, how life came to be, and how humans came to be. They believed of a sky court holding power over humans and life. They believed that natural disasters came to be when sky guardians were not doing their duty. They believed that the guardians could be banished to the mortal realm and cause havoc. Yet no matter which guardian powerful or not they all have their own story and importance, or they will be forgotten. Of these millions of stories these are the most important three: the creation of earth and life, the creation of humans, and the order of time.
The most important story of the three would be the creation of the earth and life. At the beginning of the universe there was only chaos. The sky and the earth were connected. One day Pangu, a child of the universe, woke from a deep slumber. He saw the chaos and was determined to fix everything So he created a axe and split a rift in between the sky and the earth. He then when into the rift and push. Using his tremendous power the sky and the earth slowly separated. The bottom part started condensing and became earth and the top part started to vaporize and became the sky. Everyday Pangu grew 10 feet and every day earth and the sky grew 10 feet apart until they could never connect
Classical China was a breeding ground for new ideas, inventions, and most importantly, religions. Although Classical China was littered with different religions and beliefs, Confucianism was the most prominent. Confucianism is based on the teachings of a philosophical
Concerning the three most important creation myths in my opinion. The first would be the idea that the world started as a ball of rock or basically nothing and was turned into what it is today by one or more gods or goddesses being killed or just simply become the earth. The second is the idea that people and plants were made from natural resources such as rock, mud, clay, and more. The third is the idea that there was a bloody struggle or war for power over the earth or the universe. There are many other motifs like heros, monster, and other creatures that are involved in creating what is now earth. Another is bloody warfare which is seen quite often in the creation myths. In my opinion the three creation myths I have chosen are the most important. In the next three paragraphs I will explain what they mean and why they are used so often in so many creation myths.
Religion? Culture? Ancient China had many distinct characteristics that made it so unique and memorable. Religion, culture, and many other attributes served as a foundation for what we know as ancient China today. Ancient China had many distinct religious and cultural characteristics, but also had huge amount of influence and impact to each other. Philosophy and the distinct way of life was defined by the many practices and beliefs within the Chinese culture. Religious practices in China pushed people to gain god's favor, in other words do good deeds. China's almost too perfect geography kick started the start of a new civilization.
Homer speaks of fate in the singular as impersonal power and sometimes makes it function interchangeably with these of the Olympian gods. The Gods, be that as it may, have more impact on the destiny of the mortals than the free will of the mortals themselves .The pursuer can see the Gods ' choices influencing Odysseus’ destiny when Odysseus is sent back nine days’ worth of cruising due to his group opening Aiolos ' blessing. In The Odyssey, the gods control the fate of the humans. The Gods basically control most of the events that the humans go through in the novel. Things happen to the humans that they cannot control. Fate is an understanding word that is appropriately exampled throughout the novel of the odyssey from the six different
Indeed, social, economic, and political factors took significant roles in the development of different Chinese religions. In fact, the 800 years of the Western Zhou dynasty provided a favorable environment for Confucians to idealize the “Way of the Ancients”. This work was foundation in the Confucian classics. In the meanwhile, the political and economic stability of the dynasty played a crucial role in the establishment of the Confucian thinking and religion. In the era of Han dynasty rulers Chinese saw the entry of Buddhist principles in China. During the Han dynasty art and science were advanced. Persons started understanding eclipses through astronomy. History was studied systematically. In addition, Chinese people seem to have been in
The traditions of the Chinese people for the most part seem to stem from Eeastern philosophy and religion, such as Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucius.T there are a ton more, but those are the most significant. Some of the customs of the Chinese people date back a to when they believed dragons controlled the weather. They also have many tales of adventure such as, Journey to the West, which is about the Monkey King’s journey to the west and another great tale is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms which is about the unification of China.
It was during the former Han Dynasty period that Confucianism developed from being the teachings of a few scholars at the end of the Chou period, to becoming the philosophy of the government. This had set Confucianism to become the dominating feature of Chinese culture and to affect a large portion of humanity. Consequently, it is interesting to determine how and why the implementation of Confucianism came about during Han China. During the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) this classical Confucian core was effectively synthesized with elements of what had originally been competing schools of thought, most notably the cosmological speculations of the Yin-Yang and Five Agents philosophies. (Press)
Besides the monarchy politics revealed by the story of Yu, the myth also shows what marriages are like in the early ancient Chinese society. “After Yu had toiled for thirty years he had reached the age when, according to Confucian tradition, it was proper to take a wife.” (p88 Christie, Anthony) Yu met his wife by following a prophecy that lead to sovereignty. Yu’s wife Nu-chiao turned into a stone when she is pregnant. After nine months of transformation a boy Chhi was born. Unlike Chinese feudal tradition after Qin dynasty, a man as great as Yu only has one wife and one child. It shows that monogamy is the dominant culture during Yu’s time.
In all of the stories there is a common beginning. One where the universe is dark and void. And out of this spaceless dark void comes light, created by some sort of cosmic entity or just appearing after a set period of time. Chaos is sometimes switched out instead of darkness, and void for and endless ocean as in some myths, like Babylon for instance. Another similarity is almost every myth involves many gods, aside from the Middle East myth (Modern day christianity/Judaism/Islam) which is monotheistic, many other myths either involves conflicts among gods, like Babylons and Scandinavia to use as examples. The myths have similarities because each Myth was created by people living in these time periods, and in this pre-modern eras where these were created, things like violence and a sense of class were ingrained in their culture and lives, and so these things carried over, even to people who never would know of the other’s existence.
One of the biggest ethnic group of immigrants was the Chinese. The Chinese flocked to America. They would often borrow money to make the trip to America and pay the money back through hard work. The most common jobs for Chinese immigrants were farming, mining and building railroads. The most common being mining. The Chinese were considered very hardworking and trust worthy. The Chinese were very family orientated often sending money back home to their family in china. However, the Chinese had a common problem. Many of them were addicted to opiates and other drugs. A large percent of them also had a gambling problem. The average Chinaman, the police will tell you, would rather gamble than eat any day, and they have ample experience to back them.
In the beginning, (according to Chinese Mythology) the heavens and earth were one. The universe was a big black egg and after 18,000 years it split. The light part floated up and became the heaven and the turbid matter became the earth. In heaven King Guo Xin (King in charge of Earth) hated King Fang. He announced that whoever cut off and brought him the head of King Fang could marry his daughter, the princess. King Guo Xin’s dog, Pan Gu, heard of the news and cut off the head of King Fang then, he brought it to King Guo Xin. King Guo Xin ordered that Pan Gu got some fresh meat, but he didn’t eat it. He only slept for three days. King Guo Xin was confused and asked Pan Gu if he was doing this because he wanted to marry the princess. Pan Gu
In the Southeast Asian creation myths, all have animals, water, and a catalyst. For the Dayak, the catalyst was when the coiled water snake opened his mouth. For the Sumatra people, it was when the Fabulous blue chicken laid 3 huge eggs. There also appears to be mountains or large mounds in multiple creation myths.
Just like Greek and Chinese creation stories there are many more of other cultures, but these two have a lot of similarities and differences of their creation of the being of earth, just like Greek have different gods then the Chinese and reasons why was earth created but similar on what existed before earth was created for living life.
Classic Chinese and classic Japanese mythology are quite similar, in fact, they have more commonalities than differences. As examples, one can compare and contrast the two mythologies in terms of characters, form and structure, creation myths, and mythology’s relevance to life. Animals and dragons also appear repeatedly in Chinese and Japanese mythology. In this paper it will be shown that Chinese and Japanese mythologies are more similar than different.
The Ancient Chinese were a complex civilization. They made the first pottery during 7000 B. C. and is one of the earliest civilizations. Being so ancient they likewise had their unique beliefs about how the world came to be, how life came to be, and how humans came to be. They believed of a sky court holding power over humans and life. They believed that natural disasters came to be when sky guardians were not doing their duty. They believed that the guardians could be banished to the mortal realm and cause havoc. Yet no matter which guardian powerful or not they all have their own story and importance, or they will be forgotten. Of these millions of stories these are the most important three: the creation of earth and life, the creation of humans, and the order of time.