What kind of national cultural spirit is embodied in the ancient myths of China?

Myth is the most concentrated and true flash of national spirit and the oldest and most tenacious root of life of national culture. As Xie, a contemporary scholar, said, "all kinds of religious behaviors and myths and legends in clan society are actually not personal things, but actually expressions of some kind of collective consciousness." Therefore, to understand and analyze a nation and its true nature, myth is the key lifeline.

China is mostly the protector and beneficiary of human beings and the embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty. In China mythology, Huangdi, Dijun, Shennong, Nuwa, Dayu, etc. All the holders, victims, benefactors, devotees and benefactors of human beings are the embodiment of truth, goodness and beauty.

Many gods in China's mythology are anthropomorphic, mostly half-human, half-beast. Among the hundreds of gods recorded in The Classic of Mountains and Seas, the ratio of humanoid gods to non-humanoid gods is about 1∶4, and China mythology does not deliberately beautify gods. For example, Fuxi Nuwa is a snake with a human face, Yan Di Shennong is a human head, Zhuan Xu people are a mouth, a body and a face, and the West. Chiyou is a man with four eyes and six hands. The Yellow Emperor, regarded as the ancestor of the Chinese nation for thousands of years, was described as the "four-faced Yellow Emperor" in the anecdote "Autopsy" of pre-Qin philosophers quoted in "Peaceful Magnolia" (Volume 97), while the "Xuanyuanguo" recorded in "Shan Hai Jing Overseas Xijing" was a snake with a human face, and Xuanyuanguo was the son and grandson of the Yellow Emperor.

Because China's myths worship and praise gods, they show contempt and indifference to human beings, and cultivate the collective spiritual characteristics of the Chinese nation, such as loyalty, obedience, worship and awe. With the historization of myth and the strengthening of absolutism, the fear of superiority and authority is deepening, which makes it lack the challenge consciousness, critical spirit and anti-traditional personality spirit in the Chinese national spirit.

The myth of China reveals the fear and awe of nature of early human beings. Ancient ancestors knew little about the surrounding environment and their life experiences were full of fear. The fear of nature in China's ancient mythology is particularly prominent in the flood myth.

Although early humans were afraid of nature, they had a strong desire to conquer it. Therefore, people have created stories of gods and legends of heroes to express their desire to conquer and transform nature. For example, Yi, a hero in China mythology, used his own invention-bow and arrow to drive away the poisonous snakes and beasts that endangered the people with extraordinary efforts. Huai Nan Zi records that he has made seven impressive achievements.

The national spirit embodied in China's mythology is to respect "virtue", and the basic spirit of China's mythology is the concept of "destiny".

Chinese civilization has a long history. As early as 5000-3000 BC, Yangshao culture appeared in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and was replaced by Longshan culture in 2800-2000 BC, and its scope also developed from the middle reaches of the Yellow River to the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Civilization always originates from rivers. Although the ancient China people located inland had early civilizations in the Yellow River and Yangtze River basins, they were mainly engaged in farming. Therefore, they have the idea of attaching importance to reality and neglecting metaphysics. They hope to have a supernatural power to subdue floods and eliminate natural disasters. Therefore, China myth has rational and moral elements from the beginning. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, influenced by the patriarchal clan system and restricted by the morality of rites and music, the China myth changed its nature and development direction: the concept with strong fairy tales withdrew from the temple. However, the concepts of "destiny" and "son of heaven" with strong abstract theory have risen to the top of temple culture. Historians regard myths as "history", restate ancient myths and legends, and finally form a series of ancient historical legends. Because China formed centralized absolutism and unified Confucian tradition earlier, the myth of China was gradually transformed to meet the needs of political and moral education. Therefore, the myth of China has strong ethics.