The Legend of China

How the universe originated is a mystery that human beings have been exploring. Long ago, there were myths and legends about Pangu's creation.

According to legend, heaven and earth were originally a dark and chaotic substance, like a big egg. It was conceived in the middle under the plate. 18000 years later, suddenly there was a loud noise and the big egg cracked. Some heavy and turbid things gradually go underground, while light and clear things gradually rise and become the sky. The chaotic world is divided by Pangu, who holds the sky in his hand and feet on the ground. The sky is ten feet high and the earth is ten feet thick. Pangu's body grows ten feet a day. In this way, another 18,000 years passed, and Pangu's body grew to the height of nine Wan Li, standing like a huge pillar in the middle of heaven and earth, so that heaven and earth could no longer be closed and dark and chaotic. But Pangu was also very tired and finally fell down and died.

Before Pangu died, strange changes took place in heaven and earth. His voice turned into rumbling thunder, the air he exhaled into clouds, his left eye into the sun, his right eye into the moon, his body and limbs into the four poles and five mountains of the earth, his blood into rivers, lakes and seas, his tendons into roads, his muscles into fields, his hair and beard into stars in the sky, his skin and hair into flowers and trees, and his teeth and hair into flowers and trees. All kinds of parasites growing on him, nourished by sunshine and rain, have become ordinary people on earth. In this way, after the creation of the world, Pangu gave birth to everything in the world with his whole body.

There is a legend about Pangu's divine power. When he cried, his tears turned into rivers, and the flash in his eyes turned into lightning. Say that when he is happy, it is sunny; When you are angry, the sky is gloomy. He also said that it is daytime to open your eyes and night to close your eyes.

Pangu, who created the world, is revered by people. In some ethnic groups in southwest China, there are also various rituals and myths that worship Pangu. Legend has it that there is an 800-mile-long tomb in the South China Sea to bury his soul.

☆ Nu Wa tried to mend the sky.

In ancient China mythology, there was a goddess who nourished everything and benefited mankind. This is Nuwa.

It is said that after the opening of heaven and earth, although there are mountains, lakes, flowers, birds and beasts on the earth, there are no traces of human beings. The great goddess Nu Wa wanted to create a new life, so she grabbed the loess on the ground and kneaded it into the shape of a villain, imitating her own shape reflected in the water. As soon as these clay figurines were put on the ground, they were alive and kicking, and Nu Wa named them "people". In this way, she made up many men and women with yellow mud. But the speed of pinching people by hand is too slow after all, so Nu Wa successfully picked up a straw rope and stirred the dark yellow mud to the ground. As a result, the place where the mud splashed down became a place where people jumped around. So there are traces of human activities everywhere on the earth. Nu Wa also matched men and women, telling them to have their own offspring and pass them on from generation to generation. In mythology, Nu Wa is not only the original mother who created human beings, but also the earliest god of marriage.

Later, for some reason, the universe suddenly changed dramatically. Half the sky collapsed, revealing terrible changes. Half the sky collapsed, revealing a terrible black hole. There are also huge cracks in the ground. A blazing fire broke out on the mountain and a flood gushed out underground. All kinds of wild animals, bad birds and strange pythons rushed out to harm human beings. Seeing that mankind suffered such a tragic disaster, Nu Wa tried her best to mend the heavens and the earth. She first selected Xu colorful stone from the irrigation river, melted it into paste, and mended the holes in the sky one by one. He killed another chinemys reevesii, cut off its four feet, and stood on the four sides of the earth to support the sky. Then he killed the black dragon, drove away all kinds of birds and animals, and blocked the cross-flow flood with reed ash. Since then, the disaster has subsided, mankind has been saved, and the world is thriving. In order to make people live a happier life, Nu Wa also made a musical instrument called Sheng Chun, which people can enjoy after work.

Nu Wa is a mythical figure in matriarchal clan society. This myth reflects the naive understanding of human origin and natural phenomena at that time. Up to now, the myths and legends of Nu Wa are still circulating among the Miao and Dong people in southwest China, and they worship her as the ancestor of their own nation.

☆ Kuafu day by day

"Kuafu in one day" is an ancient myth in China. It embodies the spirit of primitive ancestors in pursuing light.

Kuafu, a tall man, is determined to catch up with the sun and make an earth-shattering career. Kuafu has two yellow snakes hanging from his ears, two yellow snakes in his hand and a walking stick. One day, the sun rose, and he strode after the sun until he reached Yugu. Legend has it that Yugur is a place where the sun rests. Take a bath here after sunset and rest on the huge wood. It went up again the next day. At this moment, I saw a huge red fireball in front of me. Kuafu had entered the light wheel of the sun and was completely surrounded by light. He felt very thirsty when he celebrated his victory. So he bent down, gulped down the water from the Yellow River and Weihe River, and drank up the water from both rivers in a few times, which was still unbearable. He ran to the north again, wanting to drink water from osawa. Osawa is a water body with thousands of miles. But Kuafu died before reaching his destination, and fell down like a mountain. Where the crutches fell, a peach forest with lush foliage and heavy fruits appeared.

According to legend, there is a Kuafu in the southeast of Lingbao County at the junction of Henan and Shaanxi, which is a relic left by Kuafu. In the north of the mountain, there is a peach tree forest hundreds of miles wide. It is also said that there is a Kuafu in Hunan, with three huge stones on which Kuafu built a pot.

☆ Break the work of Tianzhu.

Why do the sun, the moon and the stars rise and set in the west? Why do all rivers flow eastward? Legend has it that the water god * * * broke Tianzhu and * * * became a symbol of justice.

After Nu Wa repaired Tianyu, the sun, moon and stars operated normally for a long time. But then a war disrupted this situation. The warring parties are Gong, the god of water, and Zhuan Xu, the god of god.

* * * is the son of Vulcan Zhu Rong. He has a human face, a snake body and red hair. * * * Workers are often in charge of seven-tenths of the world, such as oceans, rivers and lakes, rivers and swamps. In the war between the Yellow Emperor and Yan Di, Gong Gong used water to help his ancestor Yan Di fight. Zhuan Xu is the great-grandson of the Yellow Emperor, who once asked him to represent theocracy. But when he was in charge of theocracy, he didn't care about the people on earth, and sent people to cut off the passage between heaven and earth and oppress the dissatisfied gods. What is even more unreasonable is that he tied the sun, the moon and the stars to the northern sky and fixed them there. In this way, some places on the earth are always bright, and some places are always dark, which brings disaster to people. Water god * * * took the opportunity to lead his men, rose up, overthrew the rule of Zhuan Xu and seized the throne of the Emperor of Heaven.

The war was fierce, and they fell from the sky and hit the foot of a mountain called Buzhoushan. Buzhou Mountain is located in the northwest, with a strange and abrupt shape, and it is a very high supporting Tianzhu. The two sides kept fighting here, but when they saw that they couldn't win for a while, they suddenly became furious and slammed the island. They only heard a loud noise and broke the island in an instant.

At this time, great changes have taken place in the whole universe. The sky in the northwest is tilted downward because there is no support from the hills, and the sun, moon and stars can no longer be fixed in place, alternating day and night once a day. The land in the southeast was violently shaken by the landslide and sank downward, forming the terrain of China, which is high in the west and low in the east. Since then, the water of the river has flowed to the east independently.

☆ Jingwei Reclamation

Jingwei Reclaiming the Sea is a fairy tale in which the ancients praised their good wishes and perseverance.

According to legend, Yan Di's youngest daughter, the sun god, went to the East China Sea to play and fell into the sea and drowned. After her death, her soul became a bird, called "Jingwei", with a flower head, a white mouth and red feet, lively and lovely. She was destroyed by the wave of sadness and hatred. She thought that other people might also take away her young life, so she kept taking branches and stones from the western hills and throwing them into the sea. She kept flying between the Western Hills and the East China Sea.

Jingwei's perseverance, beautiful wishes and grand ambitions are all respected by people. Tao Yuanming, a poet in the Jin Dynasty, wrote in his poem: "Jingwei holds Xiao Mu and will fill the sea." He warmly praised the solemn and stirring fighting spirit of Jingwei Bird who dared to fight against the sea. Later generations often use "jingwei reclamation" as a metaphor for the arduous cause of people with lofty ideals and benevolence.

☆ Fuxi invented gossip

It is said that Fuxi's mother is Hua Xushi, who lives in the far northwest. Once, she happened to see the footprints of a huge follower on the edge of the swamp. She thought it was strange, so she tried it with her own feet. Unexpectedly, as soon as she stepped on it, she suddenly had a strange feeling. Later, she became pregnant and gave birth to Fuxi. Fuxi has a human head and a snake body. He has great power since he was a child and can go up and down freely along the towering trees. When he grew up, he became the emperor of the East.

Fuxi was a wise emperor and a great cultural ancestor. He knows astronomy above and geography below, and is familiar with the natural laws of everything on earth. He invented the Eight Diagrams. The symbols (stem) represent the sky, (Kun) the earth, (Kan) the water, (Li) the fire, (Gen) the mountain, (earthquake) the thunder, (Xun) the wind and (exchange) the ze. Fuxi taught people to record everything with these symbols. He also imitated spiders, woven ropes into webs and asked people to fish and hunt.

☆ Houyi shoots the sun.

Yi is an archer. Even if a bird flies by, it can shoot down with one arrow.

Legend has it that during the reign of Emperor Yao, ten suns appeared in the sky at the same time, which brought severe drought to mankind. The land was baked to smoke, all the seedlings withered, and even copper, iron and sand were soft and almost melted. The people feel even worse, and their blood seems to be boiling in the sports peasant association. Strange birds and animals have appeared from burning forests and boiling rivers and lakes to hurt people and make them more miserable. When the Emperor of Heaven knew this, he sent Yi to the mortal world to save the people. The Emperor of Heaven gave Yi a red bow and ten white arrows.

He went to the mortal world on the orders of the Emperor of Heaven and was welcomed by the people. So he posed, bent his bow and took an arrow, and it was difficult to accurately locate the fireball in the sky and hit it with an arrow. There was no sound at first, but after a while, I saw filariasis flying in the sky and the fireball burst silently. Then, a bright red thing fell to the ground. People are scrambling to explore. It turned out to be a three-legged crow, golden in color and huge in size, probably the embodiment of the soul of the sun. Look at the sky again, the sun is gone, and the air seems to be colder. People can't help cheering in unison. This encouraged Yi, who, regardless of other things, shot arrows again and again, only to see fireballs exploding in the sky one by one, and the sky was full of filariasis.

Yao, who was standing on the earthen altar watching archery, suddenly thought that one can't live without the sun, and quickly ordered someone to secretly draw an arrow from Yi's quiver. Finally, there is only one sun left.

After shooting down nine suns, it is easy for people to get rid of many strange birds and animals. Among them, there are Yu Qiqi who eats people, teeth like chisels, hydra with fire and water, strong winds that destroy houses and make waves, snake in Dongting, and wild boar Feng.

☆ the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon

Chang 'e was originally a goddess in the sky. Because her husband was ordered by God to kill evil spirits on earth, she followed him to earth. Yi was out all day, shooting nine suns for the people, killing exotic birds and animals, and caring for his family. Chang 'e gradually became dissatisfied with him. One day, Yi asked the Queen Mother of the West for an elixir of life. If two people take this elixir together, they will live forever. If one person takes it alone, he will become a god. Yi took the medicine home and gave it to Chang 'e, asking her to take good care of it. She wanted to choose an auspicious day for them to eat, but Chang 'e felt that she had suffered a lot since she and her husband came to this world. Since the elixir has the magical effect of ascending to heaven, why not take it alone?

One night, Chang 'e took advantage of Iraq's absence to pour out the elixir in the gourd and swallow it in one gulp. Suddenly, she lost weight and involuntarily floated out of the window into the sky. As she flew, she thought that if she went to the mansion, the gods would laugh at her selfishness. Besides, it is not easy to meet her husband. Might as well hide in the moon palace for a while. Who knows that when Chang 'e arrived at the Moon Palace, her spine kept shortening, but her waist and abdomen swelled desperately, and finally she became an ugly toad. Therefore, in many ancient poems, the Moon Palace is called "the moon".

Later, there was another legend that she was still a beautiful fairy instead of a toad. It's just that she is lonely in the moon palace, and only a white rabbit and a osmanthus tree accompany her all the year round. Later, another WU GANG was punished as a slave by the Emperor of Heaven. He kept identifying osmanthus trees, but the osmanthus trees were also cut down, and he would never rest.

The legend of Fuxi

Fuxi is the legendary ancestor of human civilization, and is known as the head of "Huang San".

According to legend, his mother's name is Hua Xushi, and she is a very beautiful woman. One day, she went to Leize for an outing and found a big footprint on the road. Out of curiosity, she stepped on a big footprint, and now she feels entangled in a snake, so she is pregnant. Surprisingly, this pregnancy has been 12 years. Then I gave birth to a baby with a head and a snake body. This is Fuxi. To commemorate the birth of Fuxi, the local people changed the place name to Ji Cheng, because in ancient times, people regarded twelve years as a century. According to historians, ancient Ji Cheng is today's Tianshui. Hanshu said: "Ji Cheng belongs to Hanyang County, and Hanyang County also belongs to Tianshui County. The place where the ancient emperor Fu was born. Therefore, Tianshui has always been called "the hometown of Huang Xi".

According to legends and historical records, as the ancestor of human civilization, Fuxi's main achievements are as follows: First, he taught people to make nets for fishing and hunting, which greatly improved human productivity at that time. At the same time, teaching people to domesticate wild animals is the origin of domestic animals. Second, change the marriage custom, advocate the marriage custom etiquette that men hire women to marry, and change the consanguineous marriage to the marriage outside the family, ending the primitive group marriage state that children only know their father for a long time. Third, the original book contract is used to take notes, replacing the backward form of knotting notes in the past. Invent pottery, harp and other musical instruments, create music and ballads, bring music into people's lives, and help people "cultivate self-cultivation and rationality, and be innocent". Fifth, divide and rule its ruling areas, appoint officials to manage the society, and provide reference for future generations to manage the society. Sixth, create an ancient calendar.

However, Fuxi's greatest achievement is to create gossip.

On the west of Weinan Township, Tianshui North Road, there is a Guatai Mountain, which is said to be the place where Fuxi painted gossip. Legend has it that in the ancient times when Fuxi lived, people knew nothing about nature. When it rains, it is windy, lightning and thunder, and people are both afraid and confused. Fu, who is naturally intelligent, wants to make all this clear, so he often stands on Guatai Mountain, looking up at the sun, moon and stars in the sky, overlooking the surrounding terrain, and sometimes studying the footprints and patterns of birds and animals.

One day, he came to Guatai Mountain again, thinking hard about the phenomenon he had observed for a long time. Suddenly, he heard a strange cry and saw a dragon horse jump out of the cave opposite Guatai Mountain. It is called a dragon horse because this animal has a dragon head with a strange pattern on it. The dragon horse jumped onto a big stone in the Weishui River at the foot of Guatai Mountain. This Tai Chi-like stone, combined with the design of the dragon horse, suddenly made Fuxi realize something, so he drew gossip.

Later, the cave that jumped out of Longma was called Longma Cave, and the big stone in Weishui River was called distraction stone. Now go to Guatai Mountain, and you can still see these places. In addition, there are remains of stone troughs and stone beds in Malone Cave.

As for the desirability of gossip, it lies in its profound cultural connotation. Fuxi culture characterized by it still attracts countless scholars at home and abroad to explore and study. Moreover, many contemporary disciplines are also deeply influenced by it and get inspiration from it. It is said that Leibniz, a great German mathematician, invented binary system, which was also inspired by gossip.