Chinese MYTHOLOGY a to Z

Chinese MYTHOLOGY A TO Z Jeremy Roberts Chinese Mythology A to Z Copyright © 2004 by Jim DeFelice All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Roberts, Jeremy, 1956– Chinese mythology A to Z: a young reader’s companion / by Jeremy Roberts.—1st ed. p. cm.—(Mythology A–Z) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8160-4870-3 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Mythology, Chinese. I. Title. II. Series. BL1825.R575 2004 299.5′1′03—dc22 2004005341 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text design by Joan M. Toro Cover design by Cathy Rincon Map by Jeremy Eagle Printed in the United States of America VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. CONTENTS Acknowledgments iv Introduction v Map of China xv A-to-Z Entries 1 Important Gods and Mythic Figures 151 Selected Bibliography 153 Index 154 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my wife, Debra Scacciaferro, for her help in researching and preparing this book. Also I would like to thank Dorothy Cummings; my editor, Jeff Soloway; Lauren Goldberg; and everyone else at Facts On File who helped prepare this volume. iv INTRODUCTION China covers nearly 4 billion square miles in Asia, roughly 14 percent of the world’s landmass. It has grasslands and deserts, a long coastline, and some of the highest mountains in the world. Its rich river valleys have hosted civilizations for thousands and thousands of years. When Rome was still young, China’s ancestors were wrestling with the problems of governing an empire as populous and diverse as any ever known. When Europe was struggling to recover from the Dark Ages, China was outfit- ting merchant vessels to sail across the oceans. So it is not surprising that China has a long history, rich with events and achievements. This long history has produced a tapestry of interwo- ven myths, religious stories, legends, and folk beliefs, which have all changed over time. Even today, as the stories are told to a new genera- tion, the tellers transform them in the very process of preserving them— one more reminder that myths and mythmaking are a vital part of the human experience. FIRST CIVILIZATIONS One of humankind’s oldest ancestors, Homo erectus, was discovered in China during the early part of the 20th century. Named “Peking man” in honor of the city near where the remains were found, this forerunner of present-day Homo sapiens sapiens roamed China between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago. (Peking is an old way of saying Beijing, the capital city of China.) Peking man’s offspring eventually turned from hunting to farming as a way of life. The Neolithic Age—sometimes called the end of the Stone Age—started in China perhaps 5,000 years ago. Archaeological sites along the YELLOW RIVER (Huang Ho in Chinese) show that the early Chinese in this area had thriving industries of pottery, cloth mak- ing, and farming. Symbols have been found on the remains of their pottery that archaeologists believe indicated different clans or connected families. THE SHANG The word dynasty refers to the ruler of a country and his or her succes- sors, generally chosen from his or her descendants. Archaeologists and historians break up much of China’s history according to these different v vi INTRODUCTION families of rulers. In the case of the SHANG, the word is also used by archaeologists and historians to describe the civilizations of the same period. (In this broader usage, Shang includes the Shang mentioned in early Chinese writings, once thought to be entirely legendary or mythic. The ruling family’s actual name was Tzu.) The exact myths and religious beliefs of the Shang, along with other Paleolithic human ancestors in China, are lost in the dark mists of time, but archaeologists have gathered much information about a period known as the Shang dynasty, which began around 1550 B.C. or earlier. Since it seems likely that the Shang evolved directly from earlier local inhabitants, their beliefs may illustrate much older ideas. The Shang kings had power not only as rulers but also because they had a personal, religious connection to the deities that could control the outcome of the harvest and all natural life. In the Shang culture, the direct ancestors of the kings and their families, especially the founder Ta I, were believed to intercede with nature or the deities who controlled it and thus to affect the present. These ancestors were revered and honored. The people regularly made sacrifices to them, as well as to different spirits of mountains and rivers. The highest god in the Shang pantheon was Di (or Ti in the older style of writing Chinese names in the Roman letters used in the West), who was seen as an overall deity with great powers. He was separate from the ancestor gods and did not have his own cult, or group of wor- shipers devoted to him. Besides the offerings of grain, wine, and animals made to ancestors and other figures, the religious sacrifices apparently included humans, today generally thought to be prisoners from outside the kingdom. Their bodies have been found in many excavations. DIVINATION One of the most interesting features of Shang times was the use of special bones to ask questions about the future, a process called DIVINATION, or fortune-telling. Questions were inscribed on the bones, called ORACLE BONES, then heated with a bronze poker. The cracks that appeared provided answers to the questions, which were then recorded on the bones. The related rituals included sacrifices and have provided much information about Shang times. Scholars say that the rituals changed over time; eventually, the kings used them simply to prove that their decisions had been correct. But the impulse itself to divine or see the future—and therefore to control it—remained a powerful one. Divination was not only practiced by the Shang or by the leaders of Chinese culture. By no later than the eighth century B.C. the stalks of yarrow plants (also called milfoil) were being used to read the future. The system was set down in the I CHING, or Book of Changes. Newer systems of thought did not dis- place fortune-telling but instead gave new explanations and, in some cases, different methods. Magnetic needles seem to have been intro- duced into FENG SHUI (a form of divination that uses geography to deter- mine good and bad energies that affect future events around the 11th INTRODUCTION vii century. Along with standardized manuals, they altered the science but retained its basic core and purpose. ANCESTOR WORSHIP The people of the early Shang culture, like all who followed them in China, revered their ancestors, the generations of family members who preceded them. Ancestors were considered able to talk to the all-important god, and, in some cases, they seem to have been treated much as we would treat a god today. The importance of ancestors in Asian thought can be confusing to those raised in different traditions. There are two general schools of thought common not only in ancient China but also in other Asian cul- tures. Both begin with the idea that the living and dead continue to be very important to each other. The spiritual realm of the dead is similar to that of the living. The Shang people believed the land of the dead was real and physically close, perhaps on the mountains on the horizon or the islands off in the mist at sea. Someone who is a king in this life, for example, will be a king when dead. Family ancestors are remembered at a family altar in the home. The names are recorded on tablets that represent and, in some cases, may be inhabited by the person. Sacrifices are regularly made to help feed the deceased. In return, the spirits of the dead can help the living by inter- ceding with the powers in the spirit world who affect the here and now. Another strand of ancestor worship honors the ancestors of CLANS and important founders of a community. While these ancestral figures started as real people, over time their features would become generalized. These ancestors would generally stretch back much further—perhaps 40 generations rather than five or six. In this tradition, ancestors were honored in special halls, which played their own important role in villages and cities as centers for feasts and even services like schools. Connected with the richest and most powerful families of the present—who were the only people who could afford to maintain the halls—these ancestors were seen as powerful and influential in the other world. In some cases, these figures would be honored by many outside the family line, in much the same way as a Westerner might remember and honor an important political or military leader of the past. The figures might then be revered as local gods in the informal FOLK RELIGION.

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