Nüwa patching the sky

Nüwa repairs the heaven

The myth of Nüwa patching the Sky (Chinese: 女娲补天; pinyin: Nǚwā bǔtiān) is a common theme in Chinese culture. The courage and wisdom of Nüwa inspired the ancient Chinese to control nature's elements and become a favorite subject of Chinese poets, painters, and sculptors,[1] along with so many poetry and arts like novels, films, paintings, and sculptures; e.g. the sculpture that decorate Nanshan District, Shenzhen,[2] and Ya'an.[3]

Nuwa the human creator

Huainanzi told a story of a very ancient times, about four pillars that support the sky were crumbled without explained reason. Other sources tried to explain the cause, i.e. the battle between Gong Gong and Zhuanxu or Zhu Rong. Unable to accept his defeat, Gong Gong banged his head onto Mount Buzhou (不周山) which was one of the four pillars. Half of the sky was fallen and created a gaping hole while the earth was cracked; the earth's axis mundi was tilted into the southeast while the sky into the northwest. That is why the western region in China is higher than the east and most of its rivers flow to the southeast. The same thing is applied to the sun, moon, and stars which are moved into northwest. The wildfire burnt the forests and lead the wild animals to run amok and attacked the innocence peoples, while the water which was coming out from the earth's crack didn't seem to be slowing down.[4]

Nüwa, pitied her humans, made an act to repaired the sky. She gathered five-colored stones (red, yellow, blue, black, and white) reputedly from the riverbed, melted it and used it to patched the sky; the sky (clouds) is colorful since then. She then killed a giant turtle (or tortoise), some version named the tortoise as Ao, cut the four legs of the giant creature as the new pillars to support the sky. But Nüwa didn't do it perfectly because the unequal length of the legs, made the sky tilt. After the job was done, she killed the black dragon which was causing the flood (some version named the dragon as Xiangliu), drove away the wild animals, extinguished the fire, and control the flood with a huge amount of ashes from the reeds burning. The world became peaceful as it was before.[4][5]

Empress Nuwa

The Chinese know well their Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, i.e. the early leaders of humanity as well as the culture heroes according to the Northern Chinese belief. But the lists are varies,[6] depends on the sources which are being used. One of the version included Nüwa as one of the Three Sovereigns, reigned after Fuxi and before Shennong.[7]

In her matriarch reign, She battled a neighbor tribal chief and defeated him, and toke him to the peak of a mountain. Defeated by a women, the later chief felt ashamed to be alive, he banged his head onto the heavenly bamboo to killed himself and for revenge. His act teared out the sky and made flood hit the whole world. The flood killed all the humanity except Nüwa and her army that was protected by her divinity. After that, Nüwa patched the sky with five-colored stones until the flood was receded.[8]

Culture

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NUWA REPAIRS THE HEAVENS (Nuwa Bu Tian)". Beijing: China on Your Mind. 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  2. ↑ dartman. "Goddess Nu Wa Patching the Sky". Panoramio. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Zhitao Li. "Nuwa Patching the Sky". Dreamstime. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 anonim (26 October 2009). "The Nuwa Sacrificial Ceremonies". Beijing: Confucius Institute Online. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Skryrock. "Nüwa Repairs the Heavens". Chinese Geography. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  6. ↑ Hucker, Charles (1995). China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. Stanford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780804723534.
  7. ↑ 劉煒/著. (2002) Chinese civilization in a new light. Commercial press publishing. ISBN 962-07-5314-3, p. 142.
  8. ↑ Mark Isaak (2 September 2002). "Flood Stories from Around the World". Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  9. ↑ Lianhua Andy (25 September 2015). "Penciptaan Bumi & Manusia Menurut Chiness Mitologi (Pangu ,Nuwa & Fuxi)". Retrieved 15 November 2015.(Indonesian)
  10. ↑ "Unveiling Goddess Nüwa in NY Times Square and Beijing". United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). 22 April 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Ozone statue unveiled in Vienna to mark Montreal Protocol anniversary". UNIDO. 22 November 2012. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "Goddess Nuwa patches up the sky". Zero Studio. 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  13. ↑ anonim (2014). "Goddess Nuwa Patches Up the Sky - the Chinese Library Series (Paperback)". AbeBooks Inc. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  14. ↑ Jedd Jong (4 February 2014). "The Monkey King". Retrieved 15 November 2015.

External links

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