The emergence of a myth and its value myth originated from the ancient ignorance period with extremely low productivity. At that time, human consciousness began to develop, but the thinking ability was extremely simple. Faced with all kinds of things and natural phenomena in the world, people feel mysterious and incomprehensible. Problems and phenomena, such as the creation of heaven and earth, the origin of mankind, the movement of the sun and the moon, lightning and so on. , are confusing and surprising. The infinite power of nature is even frightening. So the worship of natural forces appeared, and the vague concept of dominant natural forces appeared. People rely on their own narrow life experience, through imagination and fantasy, to create a personalized image of God; According to people's naive thinking, make up a fascinating story to explain natural phenomena and conquer and dominate natural forces. These stories were passed down orally from generation to generation by ancient people, and later people called them myths. Myth not only reflects the life and historical development process of ancient people to a certain extent in a special way, but also shows the spiritual world of ancient people, revealing a lot of valuable information for exploring the mysteries of ancient history, and also providing a lot of vivid information for understanding the consciousness, emotion, spirit, will and character of ancient people, which has immortal cognitive value. Moreover, ancient myths give people wonderful artistic enjoyment with their own magnificence, which has high aesthetic value. At the same time, ancient mythology is the source of romanticism in the history of literature, which provides inexhaustible nutrition for the development of later literature and is undoubtedly a fertile ground for literature and art. Second, the main myth of ancient China, The Myth of China, came into being very early, but it was only later recorded in writing. In addition, there is no special book to systematically record this myth, only some fragments of myth are preserved in ancient books such as Shan Hai Jing, Zhuangzi, Songs of the South, Huai Nan Zi and Liezi. Although it is not systematic and complete, its content is very distinctive. The existing ancient myths in China mainly include creation myths, natural myths, heroic myths and legendary myths. The exploration and explanation of the origin of the universe and human beings constitute the basic content of the creation myth. How did heaven and earth open? How did everything come into being? Where did humans come from? In short, how did the universe come into being? This most primitive, basic and important question is the first thing that primitive humans in the early stage of human consciousness should think about. No wonder it has become the most common theme in all myths. Although it is impossible for the creator of the creation myth to give scientific answers to these questions, those absurd descriptions are extremely attractive. For example, "Huainanzi Spiritual Practice" records the myth that heaven and earth are confused with Er Shen, and there is a battalion that reaches the sky; Lei Ju quoted the myth that heaven and earth are mixed, Mr. Pangu, and the universe is born, which was recorded by Xú Zhēng. Although it seems absurd and unreasonable, it shows the creative spirit of our ancestors' earnest exploration and bold imagination. Nature is full of change, infinite power and mystery, which makes primitive humans fear from confusion and worship from fear. In their view, nature is so full of vigor and vitality, as if it were an entity with personality and will; Storms, mountains and rivers, birds and animals are often regarded as gods by them. Inspired by this animism, they use tangible things to express invisible natural forces through imagination and fantasy, and then create images and stories of natural gods. This is a natural myth. Among the ancient myths in China, the natural myth is an outstanding myth. There are many records about natural myths in Shan Hai Jing, among which there are many absurd and magical images of natural gods. For example, Raytheon, Poseidon, Yin Candle, the Zhongshan God who rules day and night and is hot and cold in winter and summer, and Fusang, the sacred tree that bathes for ten days and eight days, are all filled with wood and stones. What is even more noteworthy is the myth that Kuafu is getting worse every day: Kuafu is driven away from Japan, and people live in Japan. Thirst, desire to drink, drink in the river, Wei; He, Wei and Bei drink Ozawa. Before he arrived, he died of thirst. Abandoned his staff and became Deng Lin. ("Shan Hai Jing Overseas North Jing") According to "Huai Nan Zi Terrain Training", Gao: "God beast, yes. "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" says that "it is similar in shape, but has arms, and the leopard and tiger are good at casting". It can be seen that "Kuafu" is actually the image of a natural god. Natural myths mostly take mountains, rivers, storms, birds, animals and plants and other natural objects as description objects and story protagonists, which reflects primitive humans' reverence and worship, confusion and explanation of nature, and also shows their desire to conquer and dominate nature. The emergence of hero myth means the awakening of human self-consciousness, which indicates that myth has entered a new stage. Creation myth and natural myth reflect primitive man's exploration, understanding, conquest and domination of natural forces with imagination, while heroic myth reflects primitive man's understanding and reflection on himself, which means that man himself has become the object of consciousness, the center of the world and the master of the universe, marking that myth has entered a new stage. The protagonists in heroic myths are mostly demigods or "heroes" supported by divine power; Their heroic deeds of conquering nature or social struggle constitute the theme of heroic myth. In the ancient myths of China, there are countless heroic myths with infinite charm. For example, fairy tales such as Shan Hai Jing Water Control, Houyi Shooting at the Sun, and Huainanzi Ben Jing Xun praised heroes who fought against nature and worked for the interests of the people. Myths such as the Yellow Emperor's killing of Chiyou (The Classic of Mountains and Seas, The Classic of Wild North) and the fact that * * * workers are angry and can't touch Zhoushan (The Astronomical Training of Huainanzi) are all reflections of social struggle and describe the heroes of tribal wars in clan society. The myth of "Xing Tian competes with the emperor for the gods" contained in Shan Hai Jing Overseas Western Classics is even more touching: Xing Tian competes with the emperor for the gods, and the emperor breaks his head and buries yangshan. It takes the breast as the eye and the navel as the mouth, which is a kind of dance. Xing Tian in the story is undoubtedly a hero who dares to struggle and is not afraid of failure. This series of magical and supernatural heroes shine brightly in the treasure house of ancient myths in China. In addition, there are many legendary myths about exotic and strange foreign bodies in ancient China. Most of them are recorded in Shan Hai Jing, which comes from the so-called four generations of Shan Hai Ye. For example, The Country with Feathers, The Head with the Wings of a Human Face Bird's Mouth Eat the Fish in the Sea, The Man with One Arm and Three Eyes, Who Can Be a Flying Car (see also Zhang Hua's Natural History) and The Man is a Beast, Black and Full of Fire. Fantasy and interesting pictures reflect the wishes and ideals of ancient people trying to break through the limitations of various natural conditions and transform their living environment, showing amazing surreal and supernatural imagination. Obviously, it also contains traces of describing the barbaric life of four generations of clan society in ancient China. There are countless myths in the legend, covering a wide range, with strange images and interesting meanings. They are an important part of ancient myths in China. Three. Characteristics and Evolution of Ancient Myths in China Due to historical, geographical and ethnic reasons, ancient myths in China are scattered, and only chapters or fragments exist. However, despite such limitations, its characteristics are undeniable. Whether it is the exploration of the "truth" of the birth of the universe and the origin of mankind, or the praise of the "goodness" of diligence, courage, integrity and kindness, or the eulogy of the "beauty" of the sublime, rugged, magical and tragic, all reflect the thoughts, feelings and character of our ancestors to a certain extent. Like the myths of all mankind, the ancient myths of China have gone through the historical process of their own development and evolution. From the development history of myth, it has gone through different stages from spiritual myth to god myth and then to human myth. As the ancient myths of China have been transformed and processed by later generations in the process of spreading, they have lost their true colors, so it is difficult to clearly distinguish and define the above development stages. In particular, the spiritual myth marked by anthropomorphic animal and plant gods has lost its original appearance; However, the myth of god marked by animal form or half human and half animal form is often mixed with the myth of man marked by humanoid god. But if we distinguish them carefully, we can generally see that they belong to different development periods. Generally speaking, the most remarkable evolution results of ancient myths in China are historicization, fable and religionization. Historization is the most prominent manifestation of the evolution of ancient myths in China. This is not only because the ruling voices of past dynasties have consciously tampered with myths in order to safeguard the interests of their own classes; This is not only because China's ancient historiography developed earlier; The main reason is that Confucianism, represented by Confucius, despises and denounces myths and tries to transform them. " Zi does not talk about strangeness, strength, chaos and spirit (The Analects of Shu II). Therefore, we despise the absurdity of myth, humanize the "God", and make some seemingly reasonable interpretations of some widely circulated fairy stories, turn them into history and put them in simplified books. For example, explaining that "the Yellow Emperor's 300 years" means "people benefit from life for a hundred years, people fear his God for a hundred years, and people teach him for a hundred years when they die". Saying "a foot" is "a foot is not a foot, but a foot is also a foot" (Han Feizi said "lower left") and so on are typical examples of the transformation of myth and history. As the spiritual core of myth is removed, it will inevitably die out. Myth originally contained some philosophies. In order to publicize their own theories, some thinkers of later generations selected the parts they needed from the arsenal of myths, processed them consciously, and then turned them into fables that entrusted their thoughts, and the stories of images contained some philosophies, so myths were allegorized. The allegorization of China's ancient myths is mainly reflected in the works of pre-Qin philosophers. Zhuangzi, in particular, is an expert in turning myths into fables. Myth and primitive religion are the products of primitive thinking. The mythical "God" was originally the object of ancestors' belief and worship, while the myth conquered and dominated the power of nature through imagination, which is also in line with the primitive religion's control of nature by witchcraft. Myth contains religious factors, so it is easy to be used by religion. Myth turns into fairy tales, which is the main manifestation of myth religiousization. In the ancient myths of China, the myth of the Queen Mother of the West and the myth of the Moon gradually evolved into fairy tales, which is the most typical example. Its * * * characteristics are: the protagonist changed from a goddess to a fairy, the image changed from rough to beautiful, and the plot changed from absurd to "reasonable". In short, it has been consciously modified and polished, and the concept of immortality of the alchemist has been mixed in. This is undoubtedly another reason why myths deteriorate and tend to die out. Responder: The Lost Scorpion-Auxiliary Level 2 2008-12-1810: 56 Myth not only reflects the life and historical development of ancient people to a certain extent in a special way, but also shows the spiritual world of ancient people, in order to explore the mysteries of ancient history and understand their consciousness, emotions and feelings. Moreover, ancient myths give people wonderful artistic enjoyment with their own magnificence, which has high aesthetic value. At the same time, ancient mythology is the source of romanticism in the history of literature, which provides inexhaustible nutrition for the development of later literature and is undoubtedly fertile soil for literature and art. Answer: Open the window of the soul-senior manager level 7 2008-12-181:0/kloc-0. Myths about the creation of heaven and earth, the origin of human beings and everything. Also known as opening a myth. The myth of creation is a naive explanation and description of nature and the universe in the form of fantasy in human childhood, which reflects the original ideas of primitive ancestors on heaven, earth, the universe and the origin of human beings. There are mainly two kinds of creation myths: the creation myth of heaven and earth (including the formation of the world and everything) and the myth of human origin (including the origin of nations). There are three myths about the creation of heaven and earth: the first is to create the world with God as the main body. This image, title and way of creating heaven and earth are all different. The creative god of Yao nationality is called Miruotuo; Yi people have four creative gods: Bagg, Dianni, Zhige Aru and Jiezhi Jialu. The second category, the giant metaplasia myth, tells that everything in the world is transformed from various parts of the giant's body. For example, the myth of Pangu of Han nationality, the myth of "Shepama and Shemima" of Achang nationality, and the myth of "Nizhi Xiajin, the giant who created everything" of Yi nationality, etc. The third category, the myth of natural evolution, tells the process of natural formation of heaven and earth in imagination, which is neither the creation of the god of land reclamation nor the metaplasia of giants, but completely natural evolution. For example, Buluotuo and his sisters in Zhuang mythology, and the ancestors' love in Naxi creation mythology. These myths are preserved in the epics and ancient songs of ethnic minorities. There are two kinds of myths about the origin of human beings: one is to explain the birth of human beings in the world, to tell the process of creating human beings and to explain the origin of nations; The other is related to the flood myth, which explains the process of rebuilding human beings through the combination of brother and sister after the flood. In the myth created by the country, people come from eggs, gourds, stones, caves or Woods, but it is more common that people are made of mud. Such as the myth of Nu Wa. In the myth of creation, the contents that explain the origin of human beings and nationalities are often combined, and the origins of nationalities and human beings are considered to be simultaneous. The creation process recorded in the Yi epic Meige is that brother and sister get married, give birth to strange gourds, and eight kinds of people appear, indicating the origin of eight nationalities. The myth of creation is worldwide, and it is the ideology of human primitive period, which has important historical value and certain literary value. (2) The myth of the sun, the moon and the stars. Myths that explain natural phenomena such as the sun, moon and stars. The myth of the sun, moon and stars first put forward the origin of the sun, moon and stars. China has five myths: fertility, metaplasia, egg-laying, casting and creation. In addition, there is another saying that the sun is a heroic god and a celestial emperor. There are also some myths that explain the origin of some constellations. The regular movement of the sun and the moon is one aspect of the explanation of natural phenomena in the myth of the sun and the moon. Ancient myths in China described the daily life schedule of the sun and the moon as having work and rest like human beings. The shadow in the middle of the month and the change of full moon and short moon are another aspect of this kind of myth to explain natural phenomena. In Han mythology, the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon turned into a toad, WU GANG chopped laurel, and Jade Rabbit pounded medicine. There are also many myths among ethnic minorities to explain the shadow in the middle of the month. Regarding the relationship between the sun and the moon, people think of them as husband and wife, brother and sister, sister and menstruation. There is also a magical explanation for the phenomenon of solar eclipse in mythology. For example, the Han people have the saying that Tiangou swallowed it. The myth of shooting at the sun is an indispensable part of the myth of the sun and the moon. The basic content it describes is that there are many suns (or moons) in the sky, and strong light irradiation has caused serious consequences. The hero's archer shot down the redundant sun and moon. This kind of myth reflects the ancient people's desire to control the sun and conquer drought. The myth of the sun, the moon and the stars reflects the simple understanding of celestial bodies by ancient humans, and some show the desire to control celestial bodies by witchcraft, which has primitive science and certain practical significance. However, due to the infiltration and integration of various primitive concepts, they finally combined into a myth full of naive fantasies, which was taken as the creative theme by literati. (3) the myth of the origin of animals and plants. A natural myth. It is an explanatory story of primitive people about the origin and characteristics of animals and plants. In the primitive era of fishing, hunting and gathering economy, the level of human productivity is extremely low, and it is still impossible to distinguish between itself and nature. People often think that the animals and plants around them have the same perception, feeling and life history as themselves, especially those that have a direct interest in people's life and production, and then use visual fantasy to explain their sources and characteristics, which has become the myth of the origin of animals and plants. In China's mythological works, there are few separate myths about the origin of animals and plants, and most of them exist as original myths and local plots in the epic of creation. For example, in the Buyi myth epic "Creation of the Earth", it is said that the forest and rare birds and animals are all changed by Weng's family. According to Kuafu mythology, Taolin was transformed from a cane that Kuafu abandoned after dying of thirst every day. This kind of myth holds that animals and plants are changed by a certain part of God's body or God's instruments. In addition, some myths believe that animals and plants were created by the creator God. For example, the Yi epic Le Aoteyi tells the story of Otsu who helped the gods create creatures on the earth, planted three trees on the ground, and then there were trees. Put the deer in the forest, and there were animals from then on. There are also some myths that god, man, animals and plants are interactive. ④ Flood myth. A worldwide myth about the destruction of the universe and the rebirth of mankind. Most of the records about floods in ancient China were related to water control. For example, there is a story of the goddess mending the sky and governing the water in "Huai Nan Zi Lan Mingxun". In addition, there are myths about Gun and Yu's water control. None of them are directly related to human regeneration. The flood myth circulated in later generations reflects that after the catastrophic flood disaster in a certain period in ancient times, two brothers and sisters of flood survivors got married and regenerated human beings. This myth can be divided into two systems: North and South. Generally speaking, the flood myth of Southwest China is: Leigong flood, flooding the world. Brother and sister hid in the gourd to avoid the flood, and later became husband and wife, resulting in different races after marriage. The northern flood myth says: floods flood the world. Fuxi and Nuwa (or Pangu brothers and sisters) escaped the flood under the protection of stone lions or turtles, and then got married. Finally, brother and sister pinched the yellow clay figurine, recreated human beings and became the "ancestors" of the Han nationality. There are traces of primitive blood marriage in the myths of these two systems. It seems to be a reflection of the transition from group marriage to pairing marriage in primitive society in China. Due to different social stages, there are different attitudes towards brother and sister marriage in mythology. Early mythology believed that the marriage of brother and sister was a necessary condition for the continuation of mankind; Later myths have different degrees of affirmation. Wen Yiduo's "Myths and Poetry Fuxi Kao" quoted in detail the flood myth materials of Miao, Yao and Yi in southwest China in modern times. Flood myths of Han, Mongolian, Daur and other ethnic groups in the Central Plains and the north are constantly being discovered. Some of them are integrated with the myth of creation, and some have serious Buddhist tendencies. Due to the restriction of natural environment and social and cultural environment, the myth of oral flood is often constantly evolving. ⑤ The myth of Nuwa. Nu Wa is the goddess of creation in China mythology. It is a great goddess image handed down from the matriarchal clan period in primitive society. The content of the myth of Nu Wa mainly has two aspects. The first is to make people. Legend has it that Nu Wa kneaded the yellow land and created human beings. Later, because I was busy, I dragged the rope into the mud and shook it. The spilled mud became a lot of people (see Ying Shao's "Later Han Dynasty Customs and Justice"). The other is mending the sky. The theory of mending the sky was first seen in Huai Nan Zi Lan Mingxun. Legend has it that in ancient times, the sky fell apart, fires burned us, floods flooded, and evil birds and animals harmed people. Nu Wa smelted five-color stones to fill the sky; Cut off the turtle's foot and put it on the ground, propping up the sky and killing the black dragon who made waves to save the people in the Central Plains. Then the reeds were burned to ashes, which stopped the terrible flood. Nu Wa can also be regarded as the earliest hero of water control in China myths and legends. In addition, it is also said that Nu Wa once made a sheng spring. This is similar to the Lusheng played by all ethnic groups in southwest China later. Nu Wa is also the goddess of music. There is also a legend that Nu Wa established a marriage system for human beings ("the general meaning of custom"), allowing young men and women to marry each other and reproduce. She is also the goddess of marriage. 6 Fuxi myth. The myth created by China culture. Fuxi, also called Taihao Fuxi, is said to be the son of Hua Xushi who stepped on Raytheon's footprints in Razer. He can "go up and down" along the building timber growing in the wild in Du Guang as a ladder. Fuxi has many inventions, mainly saying that he sat on a square altar, listened to music from all directions, and drew eight kinds of hexagrams (gan), (Kun), (Zhen), (Kun), (Kan), (Li), (Gen) and (Hui), which represent things between heaven and earth. He also imitated spiders to weave webs and make fishing nets. According to this principle, his courtier Ju Mang became a bird catcher. Fuxi also made the harp and created the music of peace and discussion. The dawn of ancient civilization was revealed in the legendary Fuxi era. Fuxi later became the emperor of the East, and his courtier Ju Mang became his god. There is also a legend that Fuxi and Nuwa are husband and wife. This theory appeared in the Western Han Dynasty. Wang Yanshou of the Eastern Han Dynasty wrote the words "Fuxi Scale, Nu Wa Snake" in Lu Lingguang Dian Fu. There are images of Fuxi, Nu Wa mating with the snake head on the stone statue of Wuliangci in the Eastern Han Dynasty. One side is marked Fuxi, and the other side may be Nuwa. ⑦ The myth of emperor. The myth of Heaven Emperor worshipped by Yin people in ancient China. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is called Gaozu. He was the ancestor of the Yin people and was later promoted to the Emperor of Heaven. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, he is in the shape of a bird's head, a monkey's body, a foot, and seems to have a cane in his hand. The last five chapters of The Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Classic of Huang Da focus on the divine words about the Emperor, but not in other books. Di Jun's two wives, one named He, who lives in Gan Yuan, gave birth to 65,438+00 suns. The other, Chang Xi, lived in the wilderness in the west and gave birth to 12 moons. There is also a wife named E Huang, who lives in the southern wilderness and gave birth to an ancestor of 1 trisomy. Di Jun often falls from the sky and makes friends with some colorful birds. The two shrines of the Emperor below are managed by these colorful birds. In the Great Northern Wilderness, the Emperor had a bamboo forest. He cut a section of bamboo and cut it open to make a boat. 18 days, Yao went to war, and Di Jun gave Yi Hong a bow and white arrow, asking him to go down the mountain to help the poor. These are fragments of the existing myth of the emperor. We can see the divinity of the Emperor as the Emperor of Heaven. Due to the development and evolution of myth, Dijun became two legendary emperors, one was Xin's and the other was Xin's. They are all demigods and demigods heroes, spreading their own myths and legends. 8 myth. Yi is a hero who shoots at the sun in China mythology. According to pre-Qin ancient books, Yi is either called Yi (Zuo Zhuan, Tian Wen) or Renyi (Shan Hai Jing). According to Yi myth, when Yao was the monarch, 10 sun appeared in the sky, burning seedlings, starving the people, and all kinds of evil birds and beasts took the opportunity to harm the people. So the God gave you a red bow and a bag of white arrows and told him to relieve the people's suffering. When he descended to the mortal world, he first shot down nine of the 10 suns, and then destroyed the ferocious beasts such as Hella, Tooth Cutting, Nine Babies, Gale, and Snake Repairing. Finally, I went to the mulberry forest in the Central Plains and caught the most harmful wild boar. He steamed the wild boar and gave it to the Emperor of Heaven, expecting a return, but he didn't know that the Emperor of Heaven shot and killed his nine grandchildren because of Yi, and he was very dissatisfied with Yi's actions. In addition, there are some records of shooting Hebo, asking her for the elixir of life, and Heng E's trip to steal the moon in [[Queen Mother of the West]], which reflect her other activities and his tragic ending. Huainanzi also records the folk gods who worship foreigners and eliminate disasters. Pet-name ruby Chang 'e myth. Chang 'e is the moon goddess in China mythology. The myth of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon is the most popular. It first appeared in Huai Nan Zi Lan Mingxun. According to the myth, you asked the Queen Mother of the West for the elixir of life and brought it home. Chang 'e stole the elixir while she was away. She flew lightly off the ground and ran to the Moon Palace. The Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's myth can also be found in the earlier "Gui Zang", but the narrative in "Gui Zang" is sketchy, only saying that Chang 'e took the elixir of the western queen and went to the moon palace for a month's essence, which seems to have nothing to do with Iraq. In the ancient edition of Huai Nan Zi, there is a record that Chang 'e became a toad in the Moon Palace. Now there is no record, which shows that people have changed from condemnation to sympathy for Chang 'e. From the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty, people's sympathy for Chang 'e developed more and more, and ancient legends such as becoming a toad were gradually forgotten. Some scholars believe that Chang 'e is Chang 'e Xi in Shan Hai Jing.