Handbook of Chinese Mythology TITLES IN ABC-CLIO’s Handbooks of World Mythology Handbook of Arab Mythology, Hasan El-Shamy Handbook of Celtic Mythology, Joseph Falaky Nagy Handbook of Classical Mythology, William Hansen Handbook of Egyptian Mythology, Geraldine Pinch Handbook of Hindu Mythology, George Williams Handbook of Inca Mythology, Catherine Allen Handbook of Japanese Mythology, Michael Ashkenazi Handbook of Native American Mythology, Dawn Bastian and Judy Mitchell Handbook of Norse Mythology, John Lindow Handbook of Polynesian Mythology, Robert D. Craig HANDBOOKS OF WORLD MYTHOLOGY Handbook of Chinese Mythology Lihui Yang and Deming An, with Jessica Anderson Turner Santa Barbara, California • Denver, Colorado • Oxford, England Copyright © 2005 by Lihui Yang and Deming An All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Yang, Lihui. Handbook of Chinese mythology / Lihui Yang and Deming An, with Jessica Anderson Turner. p. cm. — (World mythology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-57607-806-X (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-57607-807-8 (eBook) 1. Mythology, Chinese—Handbooks, Manuals, etc. I. An, Deming. II. Title. III. Series. BL1825.Y355 2005 299.5’1113—dc22 2005013851 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, Inc. 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116–1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgments, ix 1 Introduction, 1 What Is a Myth? 1 A General Introduction to Chinese Mythology, 4 Main Sources for the Myths of Ancient China, 4 Shanhaijing, 6 Chuci, 8 Huainanzi, 10 Three Features of the Written Records, 12 Myths Orally Transmitted among Contemporary Han People, 14 The San Tao Jicheng Project, 14 A Myth-telling Performance in Renzu Temple, 16 Myths in Other Ethnic Groups, 20 The Richness of Myth in China’s Ethnic Minorities, 20 Flood Myths, 21 Contexts of Myth Telling in Ethnic Minorities, 24 Myth Tellers in Ethnic Minorities, 27 Myths within Chinese History and Society, 30 The Pre–Qin Dynasty Period (before 256 BC), 32 The Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 CE), 36 After Han through the Qing Dynasty (220–1911 CE), 39 Republic of China (1912–1949), 43 The People’s Republic of China (1949–Present), 45 Influence of Myth on Chinese Culture and Society, 48 Influence of Myth on Belief, 49 Influence of Myth on Literature and Art, 50 Influence of Myth on Daily Life, 52 Influence of Myth on the Chinese Spirit, 54 2 A Timeline of the Mythological World, 63 The Emergence of Gods, 63 Pangu Was Born from the Cosmic Egg, 64 The Gansheng Myths, 64 v vi Contents The Emergence of the Universe, 65 The Cosmos Came from an Egg, 65 The Universe Came from a Divine Corpse, 65 Parents of the Suns and the Moons, 66 The Separation of Heaven and the Earth, 66 The Emergence of Humans, 67 Humans Were Created by Nüwa Molding Mud, 68 Humans Were Re-created by the Brother-Sister Couple, 68 The Invention of Culture, 69 Inventing Agriculture, 70 Acquisition of Fire, 71 Discovery of Chinese Medicine, 71 Inventing Chinese Characters, 72 Inventing Musical Instruments, 72 Cosmic Disasters and Restorations, 73 The Flood and Its Control, 74 The Repair of the Broken Sky, 74 Shooting Down the Surplus Suns, 75 Circular Time, 76 3 Deities, Themes, and Concepts, 79 Ba, 79 Boyi, 80 Buzhou, Mount, 81 Cancong, 82 Cangjie, 84 Chang’e, 86 Changxi, 91 Chiyou, 92 Cords of the Earth, 94 Crow of the Sun, 95 Di Jun, 97 Di Ku, 98 Dragon, 100 Elixir of Immortality, 110 Fangfeng, 111 Feng Bo, 113 Floods, The, 114 Fusang, 117 Fuxi, 118 Contents vii Gonggong, 124 Goumang, 126 Gun, 127 He Bo, 131 Houji, 131 Houtu, 135 Huang Di, 138 Hundun, 146 Jiandi, 148 Jiang Yuan, 150 Jingwei, 154 Kuafu, 155 Kui, 158 Kunlun Mountain, 160 Leizu, 164 Li, 167 Linglun, 169 Nüwa, 170 Pangu, 176 Pillars of the Sky, 181 Qi, 186 Shaohao, 187 Shennong, 190 Shentu, 200 Shujun, 201 Shun, 202 Sky Ladder, 205 Suirenshi, 208 Taihao, 211 Tang Valley, 212 Twelve Moons, 213 Xiangliu, 214 Xihe, 215 Xingtian, 217 Xirang, 218 Xiwangmu, 218 Yan Di, 225 Yao, 227 Yao Grass, 230 Yi, 230 viii Contents Yinglong, 234 Youchaoshi, 235 Youdu, 236 Yu, 236 Yu Shi, 242 Yulü, 243 Yuqiang, 243 Zhong, 244 Zhuanxu, 245 Zhulong, 246 Zhurong, 248 4 Print and Nonprint Resources, 251 Print Resources, 251 General Works on Chinese History and Culture, 251 Books and Articles on Chinese Mythology and Relevant Culture, 252 Nonprint Resources, 258 Videos, 258 Web Sites, 259 Glossary, 261 Index, 267 About the Authors, 293 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS On October 30, 2000, I received an e-mail from William Hansen, a mythologist in classical studies at Indiana University. At the time my husband, Deming, and I were visiting research fellows in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusi- cology at Indiana University in Bloomington. Professor Hansen told me that an editor at ABC-CLIO was looking for someone to write a handbook on Chinese mythology as part of its World Mythology series. He wondered if I could write this volume. I was pleased to hear the news of this opportunity. I responded to him swiftly: “Yes, I want to try.” In fact, I had long hoped that someday I could introduce Chinese mythology to the West. I was encouraged to accept this great challenge. I have studied Chinese myths for more than ten years. My PhD dissertation and my postdoctoral research focused on Nüwa myths. I have been conducting fieldwork on myths and relevant folk religion in Henan, Hebei, Gansu, and Shaanxi provinces since 1992, and I currently direct three research projects on mythology. For these reasons, I am familiar with ancient Chinese myths recorded in written accounts and living myths transmitted orally in China today. Additionally, I have learned how most Chinese mythologists think of myths and what they have accomplished in the field. Since 1996 I have been teaching mythology to undergraduate and graduate students at Beijing Normal University. In this setting I have discussed mythol- ogy with students and addressed their questions about Chinese myths. I also fre- quently discussed Chinese mythology with American scholars and students in classroom and colloquium settings while a research fellow at Indiana Univer- sity. These experiences have given me an understanding of what nonspecialists are interested in, and what might be the common misunderstandings of and bi- ases toward Chinese myths. To my knowledge, there are no Chinese mythology books written in En- glish by Chinese mythologists. Although I am aware of several Chinese mythol- ogy texts that were originally written in Chinese and then translated into En- glish, these books are quite limited. Among them, perhaps the most notable is Dragons and Dynasties: An Introduction to Chinese Mythology (Penguin Books, 1993), which was written in the 1960s by Chinese mythologist Yuan Ke (1916–2001). Because this book and others like it were written many years ago, ix x Handbook of Chinese Mythology they do not reflect new achievements in Chinese mythology, especially those occurring in the past twenty years. Western scholars have made great contributions to the field of Chinese mythology from as early as the middle of the nineteenth century. Among nu- merous eminent books and papers, there are some that are exemplary, and thus cited in this book. Derk Bodde’s article “Myths of Ancient China,” a short but serious article, discusses many important issues pertaining to ancient Chinese myth studies. Anne Birrell’s studies of Chinese mythology have been published in several books and are cited within this volume. Her Chinese Mythology: An Introduction is a valuable book that provides concise and insightful interpreta- tions and reliable accounts that are translated from primary sources in ancient Chinese writings into English. Anthony Christie’s book, Chinese Mythology, presents many primary classical Chinese myths and numerous beautiful illus- trations. Many of the illustrations are rarely seen in mainland China. In spite of the important contributions that Western scholars have offered, however, I have found problems with many of the English books on Chinese mythology written by Western researchers. First, the Chinese myths discussed in many of these books are usually limited to the ones recorded in ancient Chi- nese writings. They seldom, if at all, mention the myths that are spread orally among Han people (the majority of the country’s population) and other ethnic groups in contemporary China. Second, these books usually view Chinese myths from Western values and cultural tradition by nature of being written within Western scholarly circles. For example, these scholars often compare Chinese myths with the classical mythology of Greece and Rome, using the latter as the criterion for comparison and analysis. They sometimes ignore how myths are transmitted and function within Chinese society and culture. Additionally, these scholars often overlook how native Chinese mythologists view myth and what has been accomplished in current research and collection. Third, their entries and sources are less selective, often including legends, folktales, historical anecdotes, and mythical figures of classical novels. Frequently the sources used in these books are an indiscriminate mix of different (and often historicized) classical documents. Two popular books about Chinese myths, for instance, Myths and Legends of China and A Dictionary of Chinese Mythology, both written by the English sinologist E.