CHIN 50 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Chu Ci, Heavenly Questions, Classic Of Mountains And Seas
Document Summary
Mythical origins of the world and the creation of the earliest humans. Myth tells how through the deeds of supernatural beings, a reality came into existence. Early chinese texts have different creation myths. Deity of chaos, shapeless yellow sack, red as a cinnabar flame, with six feet and four wings, but no eyes or face. Semi-divine, yang rose to sky, and yin went down to earth. Used his body to separate heaven and earth. One of his eyes became sun, other became moon, limbs became mountains, flesh became soil, fluids became rain. Female deity nuwa appears in easly myths as head of human and body of snake. Brother and sister or husband and wife. Following a catastrophe in which sky crashed down to earth. Used turtles legs as pillars to support the sky and mends the sky with stones. Turtle legs were uneven tilted southeast wards- formed ocean. Main sources of mythology come from three texts.
