Chinese creationism
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Chinese religion is unique in that it does not explicitly use a creation story until the Three Kingdoms period during the second century AD. Although this timeframe is about 1700 years ago, it is quite recent when set against the totality of Chinese history (often claimed to be about 5000 years long). Prior to the Three Kingdoms period, no creation story exists in ancient times, prompting some commentators to suggest China had no creation story of its own.
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[edit] Common Misconceptions
The story commonly held to be "China's Creation Story" (also called the story of Pangu) not only arrives late in the literature, but may not even originate in China (according to Chinese scholars). All available evidence suggests that the ancient Chinese, prior to the Three Kingdoms period, and including over 3300 years of history, never heard of Pangu. Please see the dating, details, and references to Pangu and Nüwa to verify this claim.
[edit] Recent Discoveries
A notable exception would be the Taiyi Shengshui, which has only been recently discovered. It is a Daoist account, but it is not clear to what extent Daoists themselves believed it. In any case, this myth apparently represents beliefs during the Warring States Period. By then, ideas of Heaven and God had been present for probably thousands of years, and were already noticeably changing. Please see the dating, details, and references to Shangdi and Taiyi Shengshui to verify this claim.
[edit] The Popular "Three Kingdoms" story
Thus, since Chinese mythology includes "recent" myths, the "Chinese Creation" story that explains the beginning of the universe only began under the Daoists in the Three Kingdoms period, well after most of Chinese written history had passed. Many websites still represent this as THE "Chinese Creation" story, unknowingly perpetuating a view that would have been foreign to most of ancient China. A summary of the popular Three Kingdoms period myth is listed below:
- It begins with a black egg in which the Earth, heavens, and Pangu exist together as one. Pangu cracks open the egg, thus creating the universe. Pangu then creates Earth and Sky. Nüwa made the first members of mankind from yellow clay.
[edit] External links
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Topics in Chinese mythology
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| General topics: | Creation myth · Astrology · Dragons · Religion in China · Folk religion ·List of deities · I Ching |
| Important beings: | Deities · Three August Ones and Five Emperors |
| Eight Immortals: | Zhongli Quan · Lü Dongbin · Elder Zhang Guo · Philosopher Han Xiang Iron-crutch Li · Immortal Woman He · Lan Caihe · Royal Uncle Cao |
| Mythical creatures: | List of mythical creatures |
| Mythical places: | Xuanpu · Yaochi · Fusang · Queqiao · Penglai · Longmen · Di Yu |
| Literary sources: | Shan Hai Jing · Shui Jing Zhu · Hei'an Zhuan · Fengshen Yanyi Journey to the West · Baishe Zhuan · Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio |
