Pangu Country Details

Pangu country, in ancient times, Pangu myth in the Han literature and Yao, Zhuang and other ethnic groups in the oral tradition, the name of the written Pangu country first appeared in the southern dynasty Liang Ren Fang written in the "ShuiYiJi" recorded "in the South China Sea in the country of Pangu," the "ShuiYiJi": "now in the South China Sea has Pangu

The origin of Pangu and the location of Pangu country has been the focus of controversy among scholars of domestic mythology, and has not stopped, the mainstream view of the current academic community is that the Pangu myth originated from the East of Buddhism in India, the prototype is from the ancient Indian creation myth of the creation of the universe in the Brahman God story. There are also a number of sayings in Henan Province, Guangdong Huadu, Guangxi Laibin and so on.

In March 2005, the Chinese Folk Artists Association identified Tongbai Mountain in Nanyang, Henan Province, as the birthplace of the Pangu myth, and Tongbai County was named "China's Pangu Township". The Pangu Myth has been selected as one of the national intangible cultural heritages in Henan Province. In 2010, at the China Pangu King Culture Summit Forum held in Shiling, Huadu, Guangdong Province, participating experts believed that the Pangu myth should have originated in Lingnan. However, some other experts believe that Pangu beliefs spread from the north to south and southwest China with the migration of the Yao people.

Basic introduction Chinese name : Pangu Country Literature records : "Shui Yi Ji": the South China Sea in the Pangu Country? Introduction to Pangu Country, Distribution of Remains, Research and Evidence, Mainstream Opinions, Other Opinions, Introduction to Pangu Country The name of Pangu Country first appeared in the book Shuiyi Ji written by Liang Ren Fang in the Southern Dynasty, in which it is mentioned that there is a Pangu Country in the South China Sea. The myth of Pangu has been selected as one of the national intangible cultural heritages in Henan Province, and Tongbai County and Yuyang County in Henan Province have been awarded the names of "Hometown of Pangu in China" and "Sacred Land of Pangu in China" respectively. The legend of Pangu first appeared in the Three Kingdoms in Wu's Xu Shing's "Sanwu Calendar". The Pangu Country first appeared in the Southern Dynasty Liang Ren Fang's book, Shui Yi Ji, which mentions that there is a Pangu Country in the South China Sea. This strange book not only made a specific and clear account of the geographical area and source of the Pangu myth, but also depicted the characteristics of the "Pangu Country": "There are Pangu's tombs in Nanhai, stretching for 300 miles, and the common saying is that the descendants buried the soul of Pangu. Guilin has Pangu's temple, the present wishes. In the South China Sea, there is a Pangu country, and all the people are now surnamed Pangu." Pangu opened up the sky Pangu's origin and the location of the Pangu country has been the focus of controversy among domestic mythologists, and still has not ceased, there are currently a number of claims, such as Henan Province, Guangdong Huadu, Guangxi Laibin. In the ancient Chinese legend, Pangu is the god of opening up the sky and the earth. The myth of Pangu opening up the sky and opening up the earth spreads all over the Chinese land, and the remains of Pangu the Great can be found not only in the Han area, but also in the ethnic minority areas. In China's many canonical books, historical records, Pangu open up the myths also abound, the important ones are "deduction history", "history of famous paintings", "the gods and goddesses through the ages", "after the Han book of the southern barbarians", "record the record", "wide range of things", "Pangu open up the sky and the earth," and so on dozens of writings. These texts record in detail the story of Pangu's siblings who went through floods, rolled the earth to become parents, rolled the earth to create people, and opened up the sky and the earth. In 2010, Chen Disheng, a folk scholar from Huadu, Guangdong Province, proposed at the China Pangu King Culture Summit Forum that the "Pangu Kingdom in the South China Sea" as recorded in "The Record of Descriptions of Dissimilarities" was located in Huadu, and this proposal was recognized by many experts attending the meeting. Huadu area in ancient times used to be the residence of Yao people, the ancestors of Yao people will Pangu as the ancestor worship, in the town of Shiling, Fushan foothills built the Pangu Temple, every year in the Pangu's birthday (lunar calendar August 12) held the "Pangu Festival" celebrations. Therefore, many experts believe that the ancient South China Sea "Pangu country" is in the present Huadu. Today, the Yao people in Guangdong live in Liannan, Lianyuan, Lianzhou and other areas in the north of Guangdong Province, and still retain the Pangu King Festival, which is dedicated to Pangu. And the Yao are an ethnic minority that moved into Lingnan from the north. During the Qin-Han and North-South Dynasties, the Yao people lived in Hubei and Hunan; during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Yao people were mainly distributed in most of today's Hunan, northeastern Guangxi and the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong; during the Ming Dynasty, Guangdong and Guangxi became the main distribution areas of the Yao people; at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, some of the Yao people migrated from the two provinces of Guangdong to Yunnan and Guizhou. Therefore, some experts believe that Pangu belief is with the Yao migration and spread from the north to South China and Southwest China, Pangu Temple and Pangu place names distribution area, just with the Yao history of migration, circling back and forth and now live in the area coincides with. Later, some scholars pointed out after research that Yao Pangu culture is from the influence of Han. The myth of Pangu was first recorded in Chinese texts and widely spread through the influence of Han culture. In recent years, some experts have pointed out that the mysterious Pangu Kingdom may not be located in Huadu. They believe that the "Nanhai" mentioned in Ren Fang's "Recounting the Dissimilarities" did not refer to the Nanhai County at that time, but rather to today's South China region, as recorded in many historical books. From this, it is assumed that in the Pearl River Valley of South China in ancient times, there once existed a Pangu State centered on the belief of Pangu. Experts investigated and found that in the Three Kingdoms period, Wu belonged to the Guilin County under the jurisdiction of the zone, that is, the current Guangxi Laibin City area, *** there are 28 Pangu Temple. Moreover, in Laibin City, Guangxi, the temple fair activities for the birthday of Pangu were prevalent everywhere, such as performing Pangu plays and singing Pangu songs. This coincides with the record of "The Record of the Dissimilarities", which states that "there is a Pangu Temple in Guilin, and people nowadays worship it". In addition, in Xingbin District of Laibin City and Guigang City, the county seat of Guilin County in the Qin Dynasty and a dozen other counties and cities, there are a lot of Zhuang residents "with Pan as a family name", and there are pure Pan Zhuang villages. Here folk not only prevalent in various versions of the Pangu story, Pangu songs, opera, and the name "Pangu" things can be seen everywhere, forming a cluster of cultural landscape of geographical names. Experts also pointed out that there is no "dying and creation" in the Pangu myth passed down by the Yao people in Huadu, while there is "breaking the fetus and creation" in the Pangu myth of the Zhuang people in Guangxi, which is very similar to the Pangu's "dying and creation" in terms of connotation. Its connotation is extremely similar to that of Pangu's "dying and being born to create the world". From this, the experts judged that the Pangu country mentioned in the Book of Descriptions is very likely to be built by the Guangxi Zhuang people. Researchers in Henan believe that the Pangu myth originated in the area inhabited by the Central Plains people, and have also been trying to prove that the Pangu country is located in Henan. This claim is also supported by many experts and scholars. As early as in China during the Northern Dynasties, the famous geographer Li Daoyuan in the "Water Classic Note", clearly recorded: "the old city of Uyang, the city south of the Cai water, out of the Pangu Mountain, also known as the Pangu River; Northwest flow injected in the water". According to relevant historical data, Henan Province, Uyang County in the North and South Dynasties period on the rise of the grand worship of Pangu activities, every year on the third day of the third of March Pangu's birthday this day, people will go to the Pangu mountain sacrifice, pray for blessings. Xihua County, Zhoukou City, there are Pangu Zhai ruins, Pangu wells, Pangu tombs and other relics, as well as the circulation of Pangu myths and legends. The distribution of relics The earliest known Pangu physical age, Shandong, Henan unearthed Han tomb Pangu statue, two provinces **** 7 places. One of the Shandong Pingyi South Wuyang Huang Shengqing Que for the 86 AD, is the earliest known Pangu statue. Second, is the sichuan yizhou lecture hall stone room of pangu statue, according to Mr. rao zongyi authentication, for the 194 years of a.d. things. The earliest written record that can be dated is the "Wei Dajianji Remnants of a Monument" dated 222 AD. This is also an example of the earliest appearance of Pangu belief in the Central Plains. The earliest Pangu myths that appeared in the Central Plains had already formed two systems: the mountain system of the Tongbai Mountains and the Taihang Mountains, and the water system of the Huaihe River Basin and the Yellow River Basin. A group of Pangu myths was formed in the process of circulation, and there are many Pangu triumphs remaining, such as Pangu Mountain, Pangu Temple, Pangu Stone, Pangu Statue, and so on. In Uyang County, Henan Province, a grand worship of Pangu was organized during the North and South Dynasties. Guangdong Huadu in the early years of the Qing Jiaqing (1796 AD), the local in the Shiling Furnace Hill, halfway up the mountain found a stone tablet, engraved with "the beginning of heaven and earth, Pangu King of the Holy Emperor God position", and then rebuilt the Pangu Temple, the Furnace Hill was finally renamed "Pangu King Hill". This kind of Pangu as God's worship circle, its scope includes at least Xijiang, Beijiang and Dongjiang area. For example, the Pangu Temple in Beilingxiutai, Zhaoqing; the Pangu Altar in Sihui City; the Pangu Ridge and the Pangu Altar in Xinhua Town, Huadu; the Pangu Stone in Shenzhen; the Pangu Villages in Gaoyao and Yunan; the Pangu Temple in Shishu, Boluo; and the Pangu Palace in Baiyunzhao, Huidong. Nowadays, there are 28 Pangu Temples in the area of Laibin City, Guangxi, ****. Moreover, in Laibin City, Guangxi, temple fair activities to honor Pangu's birthday, such as performing Pangu opera and singing Pangu song, are prevalent everywhere. In addition, in Xingbin District of Laibin City and Guigang City, the county seat of Guilin County in the Qin Dynasty and a dozen other counties and cities, there are a lot of Zhuang residents who "take Pangu as their surname" and there are Zhuang villages with pure Pangu surnames. There are not only various versions of Pangu stories, Pangu songs and operas, but also things with the name "Pangu" can be found everywhere, forming a cluster of cultural landscape of geographical names. Guangdong has the largest number of Pangu temples and Pangu geographical names in the country, with more than 220 altar temples and 14 geographical names found in 51 counties and cities, and more than 100 Pangu temples and Pangu geographical names in more than 30 counties and cities in Guangxi. In addition, the provinces with more dense Pangu ruins include Hunan, Jiangxi, Hainan, Yunnan and Guizhou. Research and Evidence Mainstream View Although the academic community for the Pangu creation myth has been different, but on the basis of solid historical data and more rigorous analysis and argumentation, the mainstream view of the academic community is still roughly the same as Lu Simian's point of view. For example, Rao Zongyi published in 1986, "Pangu Tu Kao" article, cited: "Song Huang Huufu" Yizhou famous paintings record "no painting famous" entry: "Yizhou Museum Records" cloud: Emperor Xianxingping first year, Chenliu Gao Zuo for the governor of Yizhou, and more repairs to Chengdu Yutang stone room, east of the creation of a stone room, from which a stone room was created. East of the creation of a stone room, since the Zhou Gong Ritual Hall, its walls painted Pangu, Li Lao and other gods and emperors and kings of the past dynasties.'" Accordingly, Rao Zongyi believed that "Pangu as a picture was popular in Shuzhong at the end of the Han Dynasty, so the myth of Pangu must have arisen in the Eastern Han Dynasty at the latest". Two years later, Rao Zongyi also made the "Weiduo and Dunhuang murals" article, which cited the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty translation of the "Mordengha Sutra" in the cloud: "since in the sky, created in the world, the head for the sky, enough for the earth, the eye for the sun and the moon, the belly for the void, hair for the trees and plants, tears into the river, the bones for the mountains, the size of the convenience, all into the sea. All these are your Brahmins' delusional claims." On this basis, Rao Zongyi argues that "the arrival of the myth of the 'Self-Existent Heaven' in China can be traced back to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In this connection, Rao Zongyi argues that "the introduction of the myth of 'Self-Existent Heaven' into China can be dated from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Liang Renfang (梁任昉) cited Pangu in his Shui Yi Ji (述异记), which included the myth of the Great Self-Existent Heaven, which was regarded as a delusion of Brahmins by the Buddhists, as well as the stories of Pangu in his book The Calendar of the Third Kingdom (San Guo), by Xu Cheng, and in his other work The Calendar of the Fifth Year of the Five Lucks, cited by Ma Ching (馬绎史). According to the history of the Modenjaya Sutra, it has been cited in Lu Simian's Pangu Kao and the History of the Pre-Qin Dynasty (only the translations are different). Rao Zongyi, based on the record of Pangu pictures in the Yizhou Famous Paintings Record, thought that the myth of Pangu "must have arisen in the Eastern Han Dynasty at the latest", but based on the fact that the Modenga Sutra was translated into Chinese for the first time by An Shigao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he thought that the "'Self-existence in Heaven' myth could be concluded to have entered China". However, based on the fact that the Madhyamika Sutra was first translated into Chinese by An Shigao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he argued that "the myth of 'Zi Zi Tian' was introduced into China at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty", and that the myths of Pangu in the Shui Yi Jie, the San Wu Calendar, and the Wu Yun Calendar were "all influenced by Indian exoteric sayings". "This is the same as Lu Simian's view that the Pangu myth was created after the spread of Buddhism to the east, and that it was not earlier than the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but that the Pangu myth "must have arisen in the Eastern Han Dynasty at the latest. He Xin cited Rao Zongyi's "Pangu Diagram" in his book "The Origin of Gods", and also believed that the emergence of the Pangu myth in China "would not be earlier than the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty". He Xin also cited the Code of Manu and the Upanishads of ancient Brahmanism, as well as several historical materials from the Buddhist "Gayana Nirvana" and "Modenjaya Sutra", and argued that the prototype of the Pangu myth "actually comes from the story of the creation of the universe by the god Brahman in the creation myths of ancient India" (13), which is also the same as the viewpoints of Lü Simian and Rao Zongyi. In The Philosophy of Chinese Mythology, Ye Shuxian cites the views of the Japanese scholar Toshio Takagi (1876-1922), who in his Comparative Mythology, completed in 1904, had already suggested that the oviparous creation myth of Pangu's opening up of the world had originated in India, and that it was "first found in the Vedic poems of India". At the same time, Ye Shuxian also quoted Lu Simian's "Pangu Kao" in detail, arguing that he and Toshio Takagi "saw eye to eye and met by chance". As a result, Ye Shuxian asserted: "the earliest appearance of the Chinese canon of the Pangu myth ...... are due to the influence of the Indian Buddhist scriptures, this issue has been by Chinese and foreign scholars in decades ago to do the conclusion: the source of the Pangu myth is no longer a mystery." The above can be described as the mainstream view of the academic community on the Pangu creation myth. Of course, in addition, there are other views. Such as that Pangu is Fuxi or Nirvana gourd "a sound turn", the former is the evolution of the latter; and some scholars believe that the legend of Pangu originated from China's Miao, Yao, Dong, Li and other southwestern ethnic minorities, or originated in China's central Henan region, and so on. Although these views also have some basis, but from the development of Chinese philosophical history, they are not enough to show that the creation myth of "Pangu opening heaven and earth" has occurred before the philosophy of Laozi. Other Opinions In 2010, at the China Pangu King Culture Summit Forum held in Shiling, Huadu, Guangdong Province, participating experts believed that the Pangu myth should have originated in Lingnan. According to Ren Fang's account of the Pangu Kingdom in the Shuiyi Ji, Liu Zongdi, a professor at the Institute of Literature, History and Philosophy of Shandong University and a famous mythologist, believes that this is obviously a factual account of Ren Fang's real-life experience with his contemporaries, which is sufficient to show that the Pangu myth did not originate from the Central Plains civilization, but rather was a product of the Baiyue ethnic group of the South, and that its origin can be traced back to the folk beliefs and religious sacrifices of the Baiyue in the ancient times. It is only after the Three Kingdoms, due to the turmoil in the Central Plains, the people moved south, the culture of the Central Plains and the south of the intermingling of cultures, Pangu, which originally does not belong to the culture of the Central Plains of the myth of the Chinese myths, and then later on, replacing Fuxi, Nuwa, etc., as the god of the Chinese myth of the beginning. Long Haiqing, a researcher of the Hunan Provincial Literature Federation and a mythologist, pointed out, "A large number of field investigations have found that wherever there are Pangu cultural remains, they are associated with places where the ancient ancestors of Miao and Yao used to be active or migrated through." The Pangu myth should have originated in Lingnan. Although the specific origin and development of the Pangu myth experts still have many different opinions, but for its origin in the "Hundred Yue land" this statement, basically reached a consensus. In the opinion of the experts, the legend of Pangu, which is regarded as the creation myth of the Chinese nation, should have originated in the land of Baiyue in ancient times; and Lingnan, or even Guangdong ancestors, may be the creator of one of the greatest myths in the history of human civilization. However, other experts believe that the belief in Pangu was spread from the north to the south, but the Yao people did play a key role in it. Zeng Xiangwei, deputy director of the Expert Committee of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Association, believes that Pangu beliefs are densely distributed in the areas inhabited by the Yao, Han, Miao, She, Zhuang and Li ethnic groups in the two provinces, and if analyzed in depth, all these areas have a cultural background of the Yao ethnic group. A large amount of information shows that the migration of the Yao people throughout history has gone through a process from north to south. The route in the south is roughly as follows: from the Jianghuai area to Jiangxi, and from Jiangxi to Guangdong and Xiangnan, and then from Guangdong and Xiangnan to Guangxi, and even to the Yunnan and Guizhou areas, with a part of them circling back in the combined area of the four provinces of Guangdong, Gui, Xiang and Gan. The dense and large number of Pangu temples and Pangu place names in the distribution area coincide with the areas where the Yao people migrated, maneuvered and now live in the history. Since the Yao migrated from north to south - some data show that the power of the ancestors of the Miao and Yao ethnic group once reached the central plains east of Shaanxi, west of Shandong, and a part of Hebei, and then moved southward through central and east China, from Jianghuai to Jiangxi, to the two Guangdong provinces, and then toward Yunnan and Guizhou. Therefore, the distribution of Pangu beliefs in Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Hubei, especially in the ancient Yangzhou area and Jiangsu and Zhejiang, as well as the Pangu temples and Pangu relics in South China and Southwest China, and even in Southeast Asia and the Americas, can all be explained. From this, it seems to be concluded that Pangu beliefs spread to South China and Southwest China with the migration of the Yao people. Later, some scholars, after research, believed that the Yao Pangu culture came from the influence of the Han Chinese. Hunan scholar Peng Guanzhang's "Pangu that Pangou said questioning" based on the Yao literature "over the mountain list", pointed out that in the Yao, before the Tang Pangu, Pangou two clearly distinguishable from each other, Yao beliefs in only Pangou and not Pangu. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Pangu's name was included in the "Over the Mountain List", and at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Pangu became one of the objects of worship of the Yao people and was included in the ranks of the ancestors of the Yao people. According to him, "Pangu is only the shell of Yao beliefs, while Discus is the nuclear quality of Yao beliefs". Another scholar from Hunan, Li Bengao, who is of Yao origin, also pointed out in his "Ruminations on Pangu and Pangou" that Yao also worship Pangu, but only as a symbolic deity to be worshipped, and that the time of Yao's worship of Pangu is also relatively late, according to the "Review of the King's Ultimatum", which states that Yao's rituals of worship of Pangu began in the Song Dynasty, and in some areas is even later. Peng and Li both scholars believe that the Yao Pangu culture comes from the influence of the Han Chinese. The Chinese canon first recorded the Pangu myth, and through the influence of Chinese culture widely spread the Pangu myth.