What are the legends of China's traditional culture?

The Han nationality is the largest nationality in the world today, with a population of about 65.438+0.3 billion and a continuous history and culture of more than 5,000 years. In the history of China, ancient China, the ancestor of the Han nationality, has always been the main ethnic group in China. With the steady development of farming economy and unique feudal culture, they condensed and promoted the historical process of the development and growth of a unified multi-ethnic China and the Chinese nation.

Like many ancient nationalities in the world, the Han nationality has its own history of origin. After a long period of word of mouth, Han ancestors recorded and preserved their own stories about the origin of the world, ancestors' activities and national formation in China ancient books. Among the myths and legends of the Han nationality in Genesis, the widely circulated legends of Fuxi and Nu Wa reflect the historical traces of the first couple of Chinese ancestors in the legendary era, who gave birth to offspring in Genesis and created agricultural civilization on the yellow land.

This paper attempts to interpret one of the oriental myths and legends about the creation of ancient China ancestors through some sporadic accounts in China's ancient books. I hope to peep at the ancestor couple of Chinese ancestors, reproduce on the yellow land and start the early history of farming civilization. The title of the article and the title of "the first couple" used in the discussion refer to the explanation of "Adam and Eve" in The Concise Encyclopedia of Britain [1]. The purpose is to give a slightly immature brief comparison when stating superficial knowledge. In view of the limited academic ability and knowledge, the fallacy is simple and inevitable, please give us your advice.

Fuxi and Nuwa are the "gods" who gave birth to Chinese ancestors.

The descriptions of Fuxi and Nu Wa in China's ancient books are mostly recorded by later scholars after a long period of word of mouth from Chinese ancestors. Therefore, there are many oddities, repetitions and difficulties in some contents; There are also some contents that are obviously fictional, dreamy and wrong. However, these ancient China Genesis myths and legends are by no means completely absurd and illusory lies. In fact, it is these myths and legends that contain the profound understanding and simple expression of the Chinese ancestors' own creation history.

The description of the legend of Fuxi Nuwa in China's ancient books is rather messy. According to the records in Shiben Xidi Pian, "the home of Taihao Fuxi", so the Chinese ancestors had clearly thought that Fuxi was the Fuxi family of Tai Hao. In China's ancient books, Tai Hao was also recorded as "Dahao", "Dabi" and "Taibi". Fuxi can also be recorded as Bao, Dong, Bu Xi, Fu, Mi, Bao and Fu.

It is worth mentioning that many of Fuxi's deeds are related to Nu Wa. For example, it is recorded in Volume 8 of Du Guangting's "Records of Different Scenes" in the Five Dynasties: "If it is not the city of Tai Hao, there is Fuxi in Dongguan to lie in the temple." According to this record, we can know that around the end of the Tang Dynasty, the legend of Fuxi and Nuwa's brother and sister getting married and having children has been widely circulated in China. According to the explanations of historical materialism, sociology and ethnology, this actually reflects the social development stage of brother and sister intermarriage within the clan experienced by China ancestors in the legendary era.

1﹒ Fuxi is a "god" born of a "god" and a woman.

In the myths and legends of Chinese ancestors, great men who achieved great things and were regarded as gods by later generations were generally born after their mothers combined with gods. Such a way of combining a woman with God is usually manifested as a woman trampling on God's big footprints, or a woman swallowing a big egg laid by a bird of God and getting pregnant. According to the book "Poems with Fog" quoted in Volume 78 of "Peaceful Magnolia", it is recorded that: "Great traces began with Razer, followed by Hua Xu, and Fuxi was born." It is clearly pointed out that Fuxi was conceived by her mother Hua Xu who trampled on God's footsteps.

"Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Dong Jing" is also called: "There is Raytheon in Razer, and there is a dragon body with a head." China ancestors always regarded the legendary dragon as their totem worship. Therefore, the Han nationality and ancient China are also called the descendants of the "dragon". In the eyes of China ancestors, Thor was a god with great power. Therefore, they described their ancestor Fuxi as a "god man" with magical power, which was born after combining with women in the world.

Here, it is interesting to see that the Chinese ancestors not only created the ancestor admired by later generations in their own creation myths and legends. But also created a "dragon with a head", which combined with Hua Xushi with "great traces", thus giving birth to the ancestor Fuxi's "God". Here, we see the ancient ancestors of China, a long-standing "God-making" abyss.

In the eyes of Chinese ancestors, Fuxi and Nu Wa, or an era representing attachment to "divine power", together gave birth to Chinese ancestors and created agricultural civilization. The Book of Changes under Cohesion, written earlier and regarded by Chinese ancestors as the first of the Six Classics, has such a description: "Bao Jia didn't, but Shen Nong Jia wrote it." "There is no Shennong, Huangdi, Yao, Shun and Yu." This actually points out to us that the Chinese ancestors who paid attention to the inheritance of humanities had clearly listed Fuxi as the highest ancestor long before the ancestor of Yan Emperor Shennong and the ancestor of Huangdi who created humanities.

2. Fuxi is the ancestor of Chinese ancestors who broke away from the divine world.

In the early myths and legends of China ancestors, God and man were different. God is powerful and does not live with people. God lives in heaven, and God can come down to earth. And people can't go to heaven. Legend has it that the immortals are all in a place called Duguangshan. This is recorded in the "Training of Huainan Zibo": "Kunlun Mountain, or twice as high, is called Liangshan. Climbing up won't kill you ... or double it. It's ascension to heaven, and it's called Taidiju. "

Because Fuxi is a divine man born after the intercourse between God and a woman, Fuxi can also build a ladder to ascend to heaven. "Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Jing" records: "In the South China Sea, between the black water and the green water, there is a tree named Jian Mu, which was greatly destroyed." The "building wood" mentioned here is used by immortals to ascend to heaven. Therefore, "the construction of wood is wide, and the emperor is from top to bottom." There is no scenery in Japan and China, and it is silent and covers the world. "The' big mouth country' refers to the ancestor Fuxi, who can also climb trees and build trees, up and down between heaven and earth, and the gods are like gods."

However, it is precisely Fuxi's ability to climb up and down, which is reflected in the minds of Chinese ancestors. Fuxi is just a different person from God in the era of "Jesus reaching the sky". Fuxi is an ancestor who broke away from the divine world, made inventions with divine power, led the people to create farming civilization and implemented social changes. Therefore, Fuxi, the ancestor, can be regarded as a god man in the legendary era by Chinese ancestors, and he will be remembered for a long time in the palace of Chinese civilization with unprecedented achievements.

3. Nu Wa is the female ancestor who bred the ancestors of Huaxia with loess.

The legend of Nu Wa's creation of human beings has a far-reaching influence on Chinese ancestors. The description in Huai Nan Zi's Talk about Xun Lin is quite mythical: "Huangdi gave birth to Yin and Yang, Pian gave birth to eyes and ears, and Sang gave birth to arms and hands. This Nuwa is so seventy. " According to Gao You, a scholar at the end of the Han Dynasty, "The Yellow Emperor is also the god of ancient times. When he first created human beings, he became yin and yang. " "supernatant and mulberry are the names of god. Therefore, "Huai Nan Zi said Xun Lin" is to explain that "Nu Wa is the king of the world, and seventy is a change of nature". This statement is not the work of one person. " [2] This not only objectively reflects that with the help of the "gods", Nu Wa was able to complete the great social evolution of "creating human beings". At the same time, it also scientifically reflects that the Chinese ancestors in Fuxi and Nuwa era were in the historical entity of matriarchal clan society.

The legend of Nu Wa's creation of human beings quoted in "Records of Customs" is recorded as follows: "As the saying goes, when heaven and earth opened, there was no one. Nu Wa created human beings with loess, and the spectators were at a loss, but they were attracted by the mud and bootstrapped themselves as human beings." Although this record is late, its origin may be earlier than that mentioned in Huai Nan Zi. Its most romantic and meaningful place is that Nu Wa "shoots loess" to create human beings. Nu Wa gave birth to Huaxia ancestors with "loess", which not only romantically and vividly revealed the traces of social development of female ancestors, but also gave birth to Chinese ancestors. It also scientifically and classically reflects the inherent and inseparable relationship between the ancestors of China and the yellow land and farming culture that nourished them.

There is also a legend in "Custom Pass": "Nu Wa asked for a shrine and a female media, and she was shocked by her marriage." The connotation reflected in this legend is both intriguing and thought-provoking. On the one hand, it is the continuation and development of social evolution after Nu Wa created man. On the other hand, it profoundly reflects and reveals the ongoing marriage of Chinese ancestors in Fuxi and Nuwa times, and the major changes in the social system caused by marriage. That is, the matriarchal society headed by the female ancestor gradually transits to the paternal society, "being a female media, because of marriage."

The matriarchal farming civilization in Fuxi Nuwa era

The law of social development of historical materialism tells us that the Chinese ancestors in Fuxi Nuwa era were in a transitional period from matriarchal clan society to paternal clan society. China's ancestors in this period were basically passed down according to their mother's lineage, so China's ancient books said, "We only know his mother, but we don't know his father." Only then did China's ancestors gradually transition to the patriarchal society. So they will choose a male ancestor who is worshipped by later generations like Fuxi, and describe this male ancestor as a "god man" with magical power born after the combination of "god" and women.

According to the Biography of Xuanyuan (volume 100), "The Yellow Emperor's visit to Xuguo in China was also a fairy country." Note "Fuxi was born in this country." It can be seen that the legendary Hua Xu is not only the "mother of Fuxi". It is also the name of the Chinese ancestors in the legendary era, or the name of a clan or tribe. Therefore, the birth of Fuxi Huaxu Kingdom is actually a matriarchal clan (tribe) society that is now said by ethnologists to practice intermarriage among clans (tribes).

In such a matriarchal clan (tribe) society, men and women of different generations in the popular clan (tribe) intermarry and reproduce. So we see the legendary Fuxi and Nuwa, who are both brother and sister and husband and wife. At that time, the Chinese ancestors not only clearly knew their mother Hua Xushi; At the same time, due to the development of society, they can speculate or invent that his paternal ancestor's father was a "god" who left a "huge trace" but could not be traced back.

1﹒ Fuxi and Nu Wa are brothers and sisters married by close relatives.

Tian Wen of Chu Ci said, "Nu Wa has a body. Who made it?" Wang Yi, a scholar in the Han Dynasty, wrote the following words for this topic: "Rumor has it that Nu Wa's head is snake-shaped, with seventy strokes a day." According to Selected Works of Wang Yanshou, "Fuxi has a scaly body and a snake body." This is the image of Fuxi and Nuwa as a couple described by Chinese ancestors. The image of Fuxi and Nu Wa's double-headed conjoined snake body found in some places in the south in modern times is also a confirmation of the integrated image of husband and wife.

In the Tang Dynasty, Li Rong's "Monologue" said: "When the universe first opened, there were only two brothers and sisters, Nuwa, who were in Kunlun. There is no one in the world. I think that couple is very shameful. My brother went to Kunlun Mountain with my sister and cursed:' If Heaven sends brother and sister as husband and wife, it will disappear; If not, let the smoke disperse. "As a result, the smoke was near, and his sister came to see her brother." This is a more detailed account of the discussion between brother and sister as husband and wife.

Coincidentally, in the Qing Dynasty, Liang Yu rope "Han Shuren Biao Kao" Volume II quoted "Spring and Autumn Annals" and said: "Hua Xu was born with Fuxi as a male and Nuwa as a female." Thus, the Chinese ancestors believed that Fuxi and Nuwa were brothers and sisters born of the same mother, and the legend of intermarriage and offspring spread widely and was well-founded. This also reflects that the Chinese ancestors did experience the social development stage of intermarriage between brothers and sisters within the clan in the legendary era.