文化 | 英文版《你好中国》100集选（67-68)

67 Fish: A Chinese cultural symbol 

68 Legend behind Chinese ethnic groups

Myths and Folklore

In such a diverse set of regional culture throughout China it is no surprise that the amount of Chinese folklore folk songs and myths are vast and diverse.  Over the years the Chinese government and Universities have been collecting folklore stories and songs from all over China since 1949.  This Collection now boasts over 1.8 million stories and over 3 million folksongs.

Oral folklore Traditions

Even though local tradition varies on how the different ethnic groups around China classify these narratives they can be classified many different groups that are to be sung or to be spoken.  These include folk songs categorized as epics (Shishi), and naritive poems (Xushishi) similar to long ballads or lyrical fairy tales. There are also wedding songs (kujiage), drinking songs (jiuge), love songs (quingge), and work songs (laodongge). As Well as the Spoken narritives such as folktales (minjian gushi), myths (shenhua), legends (chuanshuo), animal tales (dongwu gushi) and many more different styles of stories.

Musical folklore

China has a rich written history of folksongs dating back to the 5th century BC.  This collection can be found in The Book of Songs (Shijing), these are based on local folksong traditions, and also the Yuefu folk ballads that date back to the Han Dynasty (220BC-220 AD).  There is also a large collections of folksongs called the Feng Menglong that date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). These folk songs have been incorporated in to modern films, orchestral music, and other new types of media.

Chinese mythology

Mythology in China has been gathered from the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups that are recognized by the current Chinese government.  These include myths about: Creation, legend, Religion, deities and mythological figures, cosmology, mythical places, plants, substances, and creatures such as abstract(omens the four friends: chaos, gluttony, ignorance, deviousness), birds, dragons, fish like, humanoid, mammalian, simian, snake like and reptilian.

Chinese mythological figures

The Chinese Dragon– considered to be the most powerful and divine creature as well as the controller of the waters.

Dragon-gods, from Myths and Legends of China, 1922 by E. T. C. Werner

The Jade Emperor– He was charged with running the three realms: heaven hell and the realm of the living.

Nüwa and Fuxi– Sometimes worshiped as the ultimate ancestors of all humankind, often represented as half human half snake. Nüwa created humans from clay for companionship.

Nüwa and Fuxi

Pangu– was claimed to be the first sentient being and creator, “Maker of the heavens and the earth.”

The Eight Immortals– Cao Guojiu, Han Xiangzi, Han Zhongli, He Xiangu, Lan Caihe, Lü Dongbin, Tie Guaili, Zhang Guolao: each of these immortals had powers that could be transferred to a tool that could bestow life or destroy evil, these eight tools were call the “Covert Eight Immortals.”

The Three Pure ones (the Taoist trinity)- Daode Tianzun, Lingbao Tianzun, Yuanshi Tianzun. These are the three highest gods in the Taoists pantheon. They are considered to be the purest forms of the Tao and the origin of sentient beings.

These are some of the more prominent mythological features.  There are many more that are derived from the many different ethnical regions of China. These myths and generally inform about moral issues and informs people about their cultures and values.  Like many mythologies these myths are thought to be in part factual truths.

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