Do you know the three stages of China myth?

Every country has its own wonderful fairy tales, and China is no exception, but the problem is that the fairy tales that most people know today still stay in The Journey to the West's system, which is very wrong, so let's talk about the orthodox myths in China today.

First, the first stage.

Before Taoism appeared. At this stage, the ancients believed in witchcraft and ghosts and gods, so the original myths were used by rulers to manage and unite the people, and were generally circulated in the form of totems and legends. For example, Kuafu lived day by day, and the original story was that an indomitable giant kept chasing the sun. Later, he was near a big river, so he drank the whole river because he was thirsty, and then he ran after the sun until he was exhausted. After his health collapsed, his crutch became a peach grove and he himself became a peach grove. For example, the four beasts in ancient times, he and they were actually the four leaders of the Yellow Emperor period. After the defeat, their tribal totem was vilified into four fierce beasts.

Second, the second stage.

When Taoism appeared. When Taoism was established in the early Han Dynasty, the myth of China was considered to be systematic. At that time, the highest god in China mythology was Lao Zi, who created and directed everything in the aristocratic family, and his position was supreme. We often hear the saying that "one gasification and three purges" were made by the old gentleman at the next higher level, namely, the Jade Qing Buddha at the beginning, the Lingbao Buddha at the next higher level and the moral Buddha at the next higher level. Under the Sanqing period, there were five parties and five elders, who were also the objects of worship of emperors in previous dynasties, namely Di Qing, Chi Di, Huangdi, Bai Di and Hei Di, while under the five emperors, there were six emperors.

Third, the third stage.

After the folk revision. The ancient history of China is always changing, and myths are no exception. Especially after Wu Cheng'en wrote The Journey to the West, it formed a myth in our memory today. In the east, there are the Jade Emperor and Grand Priest, in the west, there are Tathagata and Guanyin Bodhisattva, and there are terrible underground.