Ancient Texts
China: Ancient texts
Ancient Texts pages that draw on China, each with the sources shown. Start with Gonggong, Nüwa, The Qigong (Jigong) flying cart, Yu the Great.
Gods · ChinaGonggongAccording to Chinese myth, a red-haired serpent god lost a fight for the throne and smashed his head against a pillar of heaven. The sky tilted northwest and the earth sank southeast. The story is said to explain why stars wheel one way and rivers run the other. Who fixed it, and how?Gods · ChinaNüwaChinese myth says the goddess Nüwa made people from yellow earth, then mass-produced more by flicking a muddy rope, so nobles are hand-molded and commoners flung. Later she patched a broken sky with melted stones of five colors. Why did the sky break in the first place? The page tells both stories.Objects · ChinaThe Qigong (Jigong) flying cartA Chinese text compiled around 290 CE says a people from a far country built flying carts that ride the wind. One landed in the reign of King Tang, who had it taken apart so his people would not see it. Ten years later, an east wind came. What happened to the visitors then?People · ChinaYu the GreatChinese tradition says the Great Flood was beaten by an engineer-king who dredged channels instead of building dams, after his father failed for nine years. In one version Yu was born from his father's body. A 2016 study proposed a real Yellow River flood behind the legend, though others dispute it.
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