Myths and Legends

The Beginning of the World

      In the remote ages, the world was in complete indistinguishable chaos like a giant egg. Pan Gu, creator of the universe, was born in it. He grew bigger and stronger when sleeping in it for over 18,000 years. One day, Pan Gu suddenly woke up and saw nothing but darkness around him. Eraged by the narrowness and the darkness. Pan Gu grabbed a big axe out of nowhere and slashed around him vigorously. With a deafening blare shaking the world, the giant egg was split up and from it something clear and light ascended while something turbid and heavy descended, turning into the heaven and earth respectively. Being afraid of their folding-up again, Pan Gu stood and hung in there with his head up to sky and his feet down to earth. As the world continued to be expanded, Pan Gu grew in height as well. For another 18,000 years in this way, the heaven and earth were finally fixed when Pan Gu's height stopped increasing at 90,000 li (about 45,000 kilometers). However, Pan Gu was exhausted and slammed down after such strenuous work for such a long time. With his death, his body underwent marvelous changes. His breath turned into the wind and the cloud, his voice into thunder; his left eye into the sun while his right eye into the moon; his limbs and body into the four poles of the earth and the Five Mountains (Taishan Mountain in Shandong, Huashan Mountain in Shaanxi, Songshan Mountain in Henan, Hengshan Mountain in Shanxi and Hengshan Mountain in Hunan); his blood into rivers and lakes, veins into thoroughfares, muscle into fertile soil, skin into flowers and trees; his teeth and bones into various metals and stones, marrow into pearls and jewelry, sweat into rain and shower. The rudiment of the beautiful world was formed.

     This is one of the oldest legends of Chinese nation.Later generations commemorate and recall Pan Gu in different ways. 30 li(15 kilometers) south of Biyang County, Henan Province lies a Pangu Mountain. The Pangu Mountain Temple Fair is held every year on the third day of the third lunar month, and on that day people from all directions will gather here for worship and blessing activities.

Nü Wa Creating Human Beings

    The world presented a picture of great vitality after Pan Gu's creation. The sun shined in the daytime while the moon glowed at night. The trees and grass flourished, and rivers never ceased to run. At goddess Nü Wa was joyful to see this, but meanwhile she was always immersed in loneliness and felt something was missing. One day, Nü Wa came to a river and her eyes unconsciously fell on the placid water. Seeing her reflection in the water, Nü Wa was suddenly enlightened that the lack of creature of her own kind was the leading cause for her loneliness. With this thought, Nü Wa dug out some soil, mixed it with water and kneaded and shaped it into a small muddy figure on the basis of her appearance. The muddy doll became alive once it fell on the ground, jumping up and down. On the sight of the little creature she made, Nü Wa was filled with pleasure and she kept on making dolls with the hope that they could be everywhere on the earth. But merely on her own, there was hardly a chance that she could realize her dream. She paused to think and finally came up with a fantastic idea. Pulling a cane from the cliff, Nü Wa thrust one end of the cane in the mud. And then she withdrew it from the mud and brandished it in the air. The mud on the cane was thrown towards the ground, where countless splashing mud drops turned into Nümerous small dolls. Afterwards, she made both boy dolls and girl dolls, letting them live together, marry, conceive and raise their offspring. Human beings have thus survived from generation to generation.

      Nü Wa Fiesta, as one of the five great ancestral worship ceremonies in China, was listed in the first batch of the national-level "intangible cultural heritage" in folk category in 2006.

Gong Gong Hitting Buzhou Mountain

     In ancient times, Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor fought for the throne, and finally Yan Emperor was defeated. In order to take revenge for his ancestors, Water god Gong Gong, the descendant of Yan Emperor, declared war on Zhuan Xu, the descendant  of Yellow Emperor. GongGong was born with human's face but snake's body, quite different from ordinary people. Strong and mighty as he was, he was more audacious than wise. Zhuan Xu was not as powerful as GongGong was, but he was resourceful and good at winning trust and support of the people. The war was extremely fierce, with two troops fighting from heaven to ground and ground to heaven. Although neither could get the upper hand in the beginning, Gong Gong suffered one defeat after another when Zhuan Xu adopted flexible tactics. After several major wars, Gong's troop, with fewer and fewer soldiers, was besieged at the foot of Buzhou Mountain. Looking back at the approaching pursuing forces and the remaining teams. Gong Gong flied into a shameful rage, and suddenly struck the mountain with his head. With an earth-shaking blare, Buzhou Mountain was cut down in the middle and collapsed. But who could ever expect this mountain was actually a pillar propping up the sky? When one pillar was snapped, the whole universe would undergone tremendous changes. The sun, the moon, and the stars followed the northwest direction as the sky there tilted down. That's the reason why we today see these celestial bodies rise in the east and set in the west. Meanwhile the rope tied to the southeast corner of the earth broke, leaving the ground level uneven with the northwest higher and the southeast lower, which gave rise to the phenomenon that all the rivers flow to the east.

      As a famous Chinese myth in remote ages, Gong Gong hitting Buzhou Mountain, together with Nü Wa patching the sky, Hou Yi shooting the suns, the Goddess Chang's fly to the moon, is known as the four great myths of ancient China.

Nü Wa Patching the Sky

      After Gong Gong crashed into the Buzhou Mountain, the pillar of the sky fell down. and the rope tied to the southeast corner of the earth broke, thus turning the world into chaos. The torrential water of Milky Way poured down from the sky holes, and the earth became a vast ocean; the ground split, the scalding magma splattered, and the conflagration raged all over the world. Although desperate for survival, human beings could do nothing but cry in despair.Seeing the dreadful disaster her offspring experienced, Nü Wa was in deep sorrow and she was determined to save humanity by patching the sky. She searched the whole world, collected many colorful stones and melted them in the fire. These stones turned into gel-like multicolored liquid with heat. Then Nü Wa climbed up the mountain to mend the sky holes of different sizes with these liquid. Being afraid of the sky's collapse again, Nü Wa came up with an idea to strengthen it when she finished the repairing work. She cut off the four legs of a giant turtle she found under water and took them as pillars to support the sky, replacing the Buzhou Mountain. Then she travelled a long distance and arrived in Central China, searching for the black dragon which bullied and oppressed the masses during the chaos. The dragon was killed after a life-and-death struggle and people there could live a normal life. After that, Nü Wa blocked the raging flood with the ashes of reeds she collected from riverside. Finally with the sky repaired, the pillars were erected again, the flood receded, and the world restored its peace and tranquilness.

      Nü Wa is regarded as the "mother of mankind" in ancient Chinese mythology. She not only created human, but also saved them in distress. As a figure of great importance in Chinese mythology system, Nü Wa and her stories have been passed down by Chinese people for thousands of years.

Kua Fu Chasing the Sun

    A long time ago, there was a mountain named "Chengdu Zaitian" in the vast wildemess. This mountain was home to the Kua Fu tribe, whose members were all tall and mighty with super strength like giants.

      Catching sight of the sunrise and sunset, Kua Fu suddenly hit upon an idea that he wanted to race against the sun to see who ran faster! The next day, the moment the sun came out, he took a big step and ran towards the sun at full speed. The sun, however, was not still, and it steadily rose from the horizon, reached the highest point and then descended to the west. Kua Fu could not stop for an instant, and he ran like wind all the way, struggling to catch up. Most of the day passed, and Kua Fu was finally about to overtake the sun in Yugu, where the sun was supposed to fall! But as he got closer, he felt exhausted and extremely thirsty when a huge heat wave hit him all over. Then Kua Fu first came to the Yellow River, and drank the water there in one breath, and then at the Weihe River, he drank up all its water again. But that was still far from enough, and he ran to the north where there was a boundless ocean called Daze with abundant water. However, on the way, he ran out of energy. The moment he was about to fall, Kua Fu threw his cane out with his last bit of strength. The cane turned into a peach forest with luxuriant foliage and rich fruits. As precious gifts for the descendants, this peach grove served as a resting place and people passing by could enjoy the coolness in the shade and take peaches as food before they continued their journey.

Hou Yi Shooting the Sun

      Legend has it that in ancient times there were ten suns in the sky. In Tanggu where the sun rose, there was a giant tree called Fusang, the home of these suns. Every morning when the night was coming to an end, one of the suns would rise into the sky, illuminate the ground, and emit light and provide heat for the world. Ten suns rotated every day and everything was well-regulated.

      Working on their posts day after day, year after year, these suns were bored by the monotonous repetition. They thought it would be more boisterous if they went up to sky together. And so they did the next day! Like burning fireballs, the ten suns radiated exceptionally dazzling light and intense heat, far beyond what humans could bear. With such blaze, the flowers and trees were burnt to death, the rivers and lakes dried up, and many people and animals died because of hunger and drought.

    Seeing this, the heaven emperor was anxious and immediately sent the sharp shooter Hou Yi to drive the sun away to save people on the earth. With the red bow and several white arrows the emperor granted him, Hou Yi came to the world and found that the masses suffered great pain beyond expression even worse than his expectation. He thus made up his mind to punish these suns so that they could no longer harm the innocent. Then he drew the bow, fit the arrow on the string, aimed at a sun in the sky, and shot the arrow with all his might. With a whoosh, a sun fell from the sky, turned into a few small fireballs and then quickly extinguished. In this way, another eight arrows were shot successively without a single one missing the target, and accordingly the suns fell down one by one. Hou Yi would have had the last sun shot together, but with a second thought of the consequence of having no sun, he took the bow back and went back to report the progress to the emperor. All was back to normal with one sun in the sky.

The Goddess Chang'e Flying to the Moon

      After the nine suns were shot down, Hou Yi reported to the emperor back in the heaven, but he did not even know he met with a terrible disaster! It tumed out that these suns were actually the emperor's sons and the purpose of his sending Hou Yi was merely to warn his sons against being absurd. With his nine sons' death, the emperor was furious, and he degraded Hou Yi and his wife Chang'e to be the mortal, not allowing them to return to the heaven.

      Hou Yi had no choice but to live on earth, feeling sorry for involving his wife in the punishment. Later, Hou Yi heard there was a Western Queen Mother on the Kunlun Mountains, who treasured up the magic elixir of life, and anyone who took it could live forever, or even ascend to heaven to be an immortal. With the guilty feelings for his wife, Hou Yi travelled over mountains and rivers, went through innumerable trials and hardships, and finally obtained a bit of this medicine from the Western Queen Mother. However, it was so little that both of them could live forever if they had shared the medicine, but only one of them could become a god in the heaven after one took all the medicine. Hou Yi told his wife what had happened in full detail when he was back home. After discussion, the couple decided to share the medicine and live happily in the world. However, with the dreams of returning to the heaven, Chang'e was actually playing a double game. She couldn't resist the temptation, and in Hou Yi's absence, she took out the medicine and swallowed the whole. In a flash she felt herself increasingly lighter. She gradually left the ground, and slowly flew up to the sky. Still with the love for her husband,Chang'e finally landed on the moon, the celestial body closest to the earth and became a goddess there.

      Legend has it that in the clear full moon night, you might see Chang'e and hear her softly sigh up in the moon.

The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid

      A long time ago,there was a young orphan named Cowherd. He lived on farm work and an old cow was his only companion. As time went by, Cowherd found his cow a supernatural being, which could speak like human beings and even fly in the sky! With the help of the magic cow, Cowherd made the acquaintance of a fairy named Weaving Maid. They found each other congenial and tied the knot finally. Being an affectionate couple, Cowherd tilled the farm while Weaving Maid engaged in spinning and weaving, and they had a son and a daughter. However,the good times did not last long. Hearing Weaving Maid's secretly marriage to the mortal, the Queen Mother burst into anger, and she personally led the heavenly soldiers to capture her from the mundane world. Watching his wife taken away, Cowherd panicked, at a loss about what to do. After he came back to himself, he rode on the cow with his kids and sped up in hectic pursuit. Greatly surprised to find this, the Queen Mother removed the jade hairpin on her head and gently wielded it behind her. A Milky Way appeared across the sky, blocking the way of Cowherd ahead. Boundless with its raging waves, the Milky Way was an insurmountable obstacle even to the magic cow. Feeling hopeless about saving his wife, Cowherd collapsed at a stroke when two kids cried bitterly. The Weaving Maid, on the other side of the Milky Way, could do nothing but weep silently. Catching sight of this, the Queen Mother couldn't bear to let the family be parted forever. Finally she agreed to let them reunite on the Milky Way on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month once a year. And on that day, the magpies gathered to build a bridge, stretching over the Milky Way, where the Cowherd family could enjoy the transient reunion time.

     In the course of time, July the seventh day of lunar calendar has evolved into the Chinese Valentine's Day, becoming the most romantic traditional festival in China.