The Similarities and Differences between Western Myths and China Myths?

First, the emergence and spread of myths

As far as the emergence of myths is concerned, there is not much difference between Chinese and western myths, all because of the harsh natural conditions and extremely backward production methods in primitive times. In order to maintain and prolong life, people are eager to get comfort from many unexplained phenomena in nature, so they worship and fantasize about many phenomena and various creatures in nature, which leads to myths. The emergence of myth is no different from primitive religious belief, which gives primitive people essential hope and spiritual strength, helps them overcome the harsh living environment at that time, urges them to think positively and develops their brains to a certain extent. Although the image of God is their fantasy, it is their own ideal state, which plays an exemplary role and makes them constantly pursue and make progress. In this respect, there is not much difference between China and the West, but in the spread of myths, the situation in China and the West is different.

In the process of myth preservation and dissemination, because of the rapid development of ancient civilization in China and the early maturity of characters, myths are generally preserved by characters. However, the main function of characters in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is not to record myths, but as a tool for hundred schools of thought to express his philosophical and political thoughts. Our resourceful and pragmatic ancestors quickly dispelled unrealistic illusions and devoted themselves to the realistic ideal of "ruling the country and leveling the world", so the myth was not carried forward too much, but scattered in general articles in a short, scattered and unsystematic way, with reservations in ancient books such as Shan Hai Jing, Huai Nan Zi and Mu Zhuan. In the west, myths are mostly handed down by folk singers who sing poems, and later processed and created by poets and dramatists. In this process, they often add personal imagination and polishing, and because of life and responsibility, they must win with rich storylines and content. Therefore, in western mythology, it is often a long masterpiece, such as Homer's epic, including "Ilion Ji" and "Ode to Xiuji", which sums up almost all the legends of heroes in the Trojan War with 279,298 lines, with large scale and rich content. And Greek mythology has a strict system. In particular, hesiod, an ancient Greek, wrote a special book "Divine Spectrum", which classified all the legends about gods and formed the "Russian-Persian God System", in which gods performed their respective duties with clear division of labor. Based on this, the influence of China mythology on later generations is far less than that of Greek mythology, especially in literature. In China, the only poem about myth that deserves praise may be Qu Yuan's Tian Wen. Later novels include The Journey to the West and Shen Fengbang, but most of them absorbed Buddhist things, and there are few shadows of ancient myths. Others are scattered in ancient prose. In the west, Homer's epics and a series of dramatic literary works, such as Agamemnon, King Oedipus, Prometheus Bound, etc. , are born at the beginning. Although bound and imprisoned by Christianity in the Middle Ages, it once again shone brilliantly in the Renaissance and is still absorbed by many writers. However, because Greek mythology is too dazzling, most scholars can only marvel at it, learn it and understand it, but it is difficult to create it again. However, from the Six Dynasties to the legends of the Tang Dynasty, from novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to contemporary articles, China's mythology has its shadow and shows lasting vitality.

Second, the content and influence of Chinese and Western myths

Human creation and creation are inevitably described in Chinese and western myths. In this respect, both China people and westerners believe that the original appearance of the world is chaotic, which is probably related to the natural environment at that time and people's ability to understand nature. The difference is that in Greece, people directly shaped chaos into a god, that is, Hallas, the god of chaos. Chaos is still a natural phenomenon in China. Although there is also a "chaos" god named Di Jiang, it is because it has no face. (4) It has nothing to do with creation, but later Pangu came into being, which split chaos and created heaven and earth. There are striking similarities between China and the West about the creation of human beings. Everyone thinks that human beings are made of loess, and there is a legend that immortals participate. The difference is that China created human beings with a female son-in-law, while Greece created human beings with a male Prometheus, which shows the differences between the two myths in the historical period. This has little impact on future generations, especially today when technology is advancing by leaps and bounds. What deserves attention is the description of war in Chinese and western myths.

At that time, wars often happened, and every war meant bloodshed and sacrifice. People pay extensive attention to the winning and losing and the stories of heroes. Of course, heroes who win or fight will doubt God's help. Especially in Greece, people even think that God will participate in the cause, development and end of the war, which will play a vital role. But there are different views on Chinese and western myths in the war. The most classic war in Greek mythology is probably the Battle of Troy, but this war is for personal grievances and revolves around a beautiful woman, Helen, which is almost inconceivable in China. What is even more incredible is that the Greek gods also participated in this war and supported different participants, making this war even more confusing. In the war, most generals also fight for personal interests and reputation, and even agree that in order to gain fame and personal dignity, they can go to extremes by hook or by crook, and the war itself is of little significance. For example, in the Battle of Troy, Achilles, the bravest general of the Allied Forces, was insulted because he quarreled with Agamemnon, the commander in chief, over a female prisoner. Achilles openly questioned Agamemnon and said, "Son of Atreus, I don't know what you are missing or what you are not satisfied with."? Your tent is full of copper, and groups of beautiful women are full of your tent ... "(5) It is precisely because of his personal interests and his pride and honor that the Greek Coalition forces have repeatedly failed, almost to the point of extinction. In order to protect their personal interests and dignity, he refused to participate in the war, which aggravated the decline of the Greek Coalition forces and put them in a greater predicament. Here, heroes are no longer concerned about the interests of society, nor the dignity of the country and the nation, nor the fate of the broad masses of the people, but their own self-interest. The most famous war in China mythology is the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou. The war was launched because Chiyou refused to accept management, was brutal and belligerent, and repeatedly violated the border. After repeated persuasion, the Yellow Emperor had no choice but to send troops to conquer. In this war, Ying Long and Nu Wa, subordinates of the Yellow Emperor, put the overall situation first. Qi Xin finally defeated Chiyou, pacified the Central Plains and laid the foundation of the Chinese nation. Undoubtedly, these concepts of war have profoundly influenced future generations. For example, when capitalism rose, western countries launched colonial wars around the world for money and interests, plundered gold and resources, and even launched a slight slave trade, which enslaved people all over the world, especially those in China and African countries, regardless of justice and dignity. China, on the other hand, has always attached importance to the justice of war. Even after the overthrow of imperialism and the rise of the world, they promised never to seek hegemony and never to be the first to wage war. This peace-loving nation is probably consistent with the ancient ideal-myth.

There are some stories about transforming and conquering nature in Chinese and western myths. Because the gods in Greek mythology often have an extremely evil side, many of them are natural things, and human conquest of nature means opposition to God. Therefore, in myths and legends, few people can really defeat nature and kill death. Even a few heroes are just beasts and monsters of the nature of God of War, but for God, they can do whatever they want and get away with it. Hercules, one of the most heroic, made twelve great contributions, but he only killed the strange lion in Nimia, killed the hydra in Rainie, captured the golden stag in Galinha, and captured the wild boar in Yeliulutus. There is nothing he can do about Zeus's debauchery and Hera's malice. In China, the position of God and man on nature is the same, such as the goddess mending the sky, Dayu harnessing the water, shooting at the sun after the game and so on. Everything is for the benefit of human beings to overcome and transform nature. Especially after the game, according to "Huainanzi Ben", "Yao's time, ten days out, cross the river crops, kill vegetation, and the people have no food. Anger, tooth picking, giving birth to nine babies, strong winds, closing the altar and repairing snakes are all human hazards. It was Yao who made the punishment, incised his teeth, killed nine babies, Fu Qiangfeng, shot for ten days (the ninth day), killed the cassock, broke the snake, and tackled the seal ... "If his work was not under Hercules, he shot for nine days, which would be tantamount to killing the son of God. This idea is really bold. This dialectical unity thought not only has the confidence of human beings to conquer nature, but also deeply understands the unity of man and nature, which undoubtedly played a very positive role in the later human development. In the west, when Christianity ruled mankind, the confidence in fighting God was completely gone. When science broke through the gods, the gods in ancient myths and Christianity were suddenly relegated to the feet of mankind. Later, for the sake of industrial development, they were fearless of nature and even took revenge wantonly, resulting in unbounded pollution and destruction. Even if we are aware of this problem now, it is far from reaching the dialectical unity of "harmony between man and nature".

Thirdly, the image and influence of God in Chinese and Western myths.

Except for a few gods in Greek mythology, most of them are more like people, and some of them are even inhuman and closer to "magic". They don't think of people, sow discord and manipulate behind the scenes, and some go directly to the lower world to flirt with women and vent their resentment, treating people like dirt. For example, Zeus, the Lord of gods, is like a romantic son of heaven. He often can't help himself for the beauty of girls on earth. After the change, he loved them and gave birth to many children. Under his influence, Russian and Persian gods often slipped down from the mountains and had many affairs with folk boys and girls. At the same time, they often intrigue. For example, in the last battle of the Trojan War, the gods were divided into two factions and helped each other. This decade-long war tragedy was provoked by several goddesses. Hera, the queen of God, was jealous of Zeus' love with IO, a folk girl, and dared not settle accounts with Zeus, so she vented her hatred on the innocent girl, turned her into a cow and was ravaged. The God of China is often solemn, great, perfect, creative and supreme. For example, the goddess of mending heaven in Huainan Zilan inscription said: "There were four poles in ancient times, and Kyushu was split; The sky does not repeat, the land is not rich, the fire does not go out, the water does not stop, animals eat people, and birds take the old and the weak. So the harem refined five-color stones to make up the sky, broke the aojiang foot and set up four poles, killed the black dragon to help Jizhou, and accumulated reed ash to stop lewd water. Tian Bu, four poles are positive, lewd water is exhausted, Jizhou is flat, sly insects die, and people's livelihood is destroyed. " Nu Wa worked hard to make a baby, and then she died silently, expecting nothing in return. Her heart is full of the idea that labor is lofty and great, that labor can change the world, the great creative spirit of the nation and broad love. Another example is Dayu's flood control for 138 years. He went home three times and didn't enter. He puts himself first and thinks that the people are the first. Heavy and hard work left him without skin and shin hair, so that his body was proud and his skin festered. All these fully show that, in terms of values, China myth attaches importance to individual responsibility, emphasizes individual mission in the world, advocates moral ethics of serving the public, selflessness and virtue first, affirms human sociality and social responsibility, and regards individualism as a scourge, which is a lever to support the world.

These two images of gods have always influenced Chinese and westerners, and even formed two completely different social concepts. In the west, people have always emphasized freedom, private property and personal value. Perhaps Zeus, as the father of all gods, is the best footnote of this thought and the ideal of people. Although, in the Middle Ages, the ideology of westerners was imprisoned by Christianity for a long time, once it was restored, it immediately became a common practice. If you are an individual, freedom may be a good thing, but as a god, or as the head of the current government department or officials of all sizes, you may do whatever you want like Zeus and become a public hazard all over the world. Fortunately, western legal measures are relatively complete. However, as a country, when the United Nations can not fully play its role in today's world, this freedom has become a major cause of world turmoil. For example, the United States attacked Afghanistan and Iraq, followed by Britain. Isn't this behavior like Zeus? China's ideal leader is "to worry about the world first, and to enjoy the world later".

For the benefit of the people, and under this standard, a series of wise kings and loyal ministers have been produced in history, but in modern times, capitalism is particularly easy to take root and sprout, and finally a socialist country has been established. However, in a certain period of time, one-sided exaggeration of selflessness has also caused certain negative effects. I hope that in the modern age when China's culture is integrated with each other, the two social concepts can learn from each other and make our world more perfect.

Chinese and western myths need to be further studied, and their influence as primitive culture needs to be further considered and explored, which is undoubtedly of great significance to the origin and destination of mankind. In today's era of great collection and integration of world cultures, we not only need to explore and study our own culture, but also need to expand our horizons to the whole world. We should not only learn the development status of world culture and the most advanced cultural knowledge, but also dig deep into the roots and fully understand the emergence, development and trend of each culture, so as to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, improve ourselves and develop ourselves. Bibliography:

(1) Ye Shuxian, Myth-Archetypal Criticism, Xi 'an: Shaanxi Normal University Press, 1987.

(2) Chapter II of Lu Xun's A Brief History of Chinese Novels: Myths and Legends.

(3) Comparison of Chinese and Greek myths from the perspective of cultural philosophy.

Journal of Hubei University for Nationalities (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 19, No.2..

(4) Three Seas Classics, Xishan Classics, Du Qian's Note: Huangdi. Think Di Jiang is the Yellow Emperor.

(5) The Iliad Chapter II (6) Qian Min's son China's Mythology [M] Yinchuan: Ningxia People's Publishing House, 1994.