Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [180]
Even when there is a suggestion of incest in Chinese mythology, as in the Flood story featuring Nü Gua and her brother, who repopulate the world, the two siblings feel shame over their behavior and “screen their faces.” Sleeping around is not sanctioned in Chinese myth; “love children” have no place; and little tolerance is shown for feuding in families, which are meant to be honored.
Instead, the Chinese gods are usually hardworking, creative types. Nü Gua’s brother, the god Fu Hsi, for instance, invents nets and teaches the people how to fish. The engineer god Yu figures out how to stop the dangerous flooding of the river and is rewarded with immortality. Huang Di (“Great God Yellow”) invents clothing and coins, while Shen Nong reveals the medicinal value of plants and even dies in the attempt to make new medicines. Author Anne Birrell suggests that the clean-living nature of this pantheon may lie with those who later compiled China’s myths—a post-Confucian set who placed virtue above racy storytelling. “The theme of love is rare,” she writes, “and is narrated in a sexually non-explicit manner, which may suggest early prudish editing.”
WHO’S WHO OF CHINESE GODS
In the Chinese pantheon, there are literally hundreds of gods, both major and minor, who were worshipped locally as well as nationally. The Classic of Mountains and Seas specifies more than two hundred different gods. Some of these deities clearly emerge from distant Chinese history and may have been actual early rulers whose accomplishments entitled them to be elevated to the status of a god. Some of these mythical emperors/deities were even assigned dates of their reigns. Three of these were called the “three sovereigns” and three were called the “sage kings.”
Four Ao The four Ao are water gods who take the form of dragons and are under the command of the Jade Emperor. In control of the rain and sea, each was given an area of land and sea to control.
Fu Hsi (Fu Xi) First of the three sovereigns and the brother of Nü Gua, Fu Hsi (translated as “great brilliance” in some traditions and “sacrificial victim” in others) is a god who, from the fourth century BCE on, is deemed an important creator and protector of the human race, especially in floods and other calamities. Fu Hsi is believed to be responsible for the invention of writing, hunting, and, most important, with the process of divination through the oracle bones, which later became the Book of Changes (I Ching). When Fu Hsi observes the markings on all the birds and beasts, he contemplates the divine order of things, and creates the first written markings from which humans can make prophecies.
In one charming tale, Fu Hsi watches a spider spinning a web and is inspired to devise nets from knotted cords, which he uses to teach humans how to hunt and fish.
By the time of the Han Dynasty, Fu Hsi was declared to have been the first emperor, who ruled from 2852–2737 BCE.
Guan Di (Kuan Yu, Kuan Kung) A figure out of Chinese Confucian folklore, Guan Di is a war god who may have once been an actual army general, executed as a prisoner of war during a time of division in China. While perhaps once a man, the god was supposedly nine feet tall with enormous strength, and Guan Di is usually depicted with a red face and a forked beard. But unlike the fierce war gods of other mythologies, Guan Di is known for courtesy, faithfulness, and being most contented when peace prevails. In 1594, Guan Di was recognized as a god by the Chinese emperor, who offered sacrifices to him.