Creation Stories in Chinese Mythology

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do-it-out-of-spite
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Books References:
中国神话传说 by 袁珂
图说天下 - 传说时代夏商西周 by 龚书铎 & 刘德麟

Animations Used:
女娲补天 by 上海美术电影制片厂 (Shanghai Animation Film Studio)

[DS-wpdj]

Snakes: *exist*
Humans: We could make a religion out of this

[TheEquus]

I would love to see an entire series on Chinese mythology

[abthedragon]

"This was the birth of Furries"

Lmao, I wasn't expecting to hear that in a Xiran video 🤣

[SaszaDerRoyt]

Humans being shaped from clay and having life breathed into them is a very common mytheme across cultures, I wonder if it's one of those stories that is incredibly ancient and spread long before the divergence of many cultural and language groups. I think the first use of ceramics was in the upper paleolithic to create human/humanoid figurines (such as the Venus of Dolní Věstonice), long before pottery came to be, I wonder if there is a link there? I'm sure people before me have speculated the same, I'll look into it

[franbl]

I was adopted from China and have felt very isolated from my chinese culture. I didn't get the chinese myth dvds but when you tell these stories it fills a big gap in my heart.

[russergee]

“You know how common incest is in these myth stories!”

My Greek ass is thinking “oh thank god it’s not only our stories!” 😆

[kevinthejace]

Okay, but are we gonna talk about the dad from the flood myth? This man captured a thunder god with nothing but a spear and a cage, almost ate said god, then proceeded to survive a world ending flood by just building a boat, and when he showed up on heaven’s doorstep, the gods deadass shit themselves out of fear. What a legend.

[roselover]

I love how specific the creation myth with Pangu is. It details down to the muscles and *bone marrow* in his body to explain what pieces became what.

[karppiss]

Apparently, in Finnish mythology snakes have been known as creatures that bring luck for the house, so people usually kept them as "pets", giving them milk and food (it was believed that snakes enjoyed milk for some reason). If you treated them well, your livestock would be succesful etc., but if you mistreated or killed them, you'd become very unlucky.
Later, when Finland started to have more biblical influences, snakes became known as evil creations of satan, or even the embodiment of the devil. Sad really ):

Edit: There are speculations that people thought of snakes as luckycharms because they were useful in getting rid of pests, such as rats

[gtdqlmq]

I recently played Shin Megami Tensei, a JRPG where the main plot is that the apocalypse has wiped out most of humanity and various figures of world mythologies are in constant arms in order to recreate the world as they see fit. Most of the figures fall into three main factions: Law (represents order and stability), Chaos (represents freedom and individuality), and Neutral (balances between the two).
Nuwa is featured in this game and she represents the Neutral faction, with her end goal being to recreate the world such that humanity, her favored creation, can thrive on its own without the interference of gods or demons.

[avencree]

I work at a high school library and we recently got a new batch of books. I was processing them and saw your book was on the list my librarian had ordered. I’m almost certain I scared the kids in the library at the time with how loud I literally fangirl squeed.

[childofwonder.]

I’m currently reading a book called “Salt Fish Girl” and it’s written by a Chinese Canadian author and the main characters are Nu Wa and then her reincarnated as a young girl in 2044. It’s actually really good and the writing and story are beautiful. I highly recommend it and I understand the book better because of this video

[coolcactus]

The bit about snake deities in every culture is no joke, in prehispanic mexico there was Quetzalcoatl, a feathered snake god and his axolotl brother Xolotl (who originally was a man with a dog head but turned into an axolotl to avoid getting killed by the other gods beacuse he didnt want to kill himself and got cursed to stay as an axolotl forever)

Edit: decided to re-check the legend, turns out the gods capured him in his axolotl form. He needed to be sacrificed in order for the stars, sun and moon to move and finish the creation of the universe, also thanks to that legend the axolotl became a fancy snack for aztec princes.

[Rikmach]

It's weird, Pangu is startling similar to the myth of Ymir in Norse mythology, whose body became parts of the world when he was slain.

[mikehunt]

Since you asked, here's a Lithuanian creation myth involving snakes.

"Eglė the Queen of Serpents"

A young maiden named Eglė discovers a grass snake in the sleeve of her blouse after bathing with her two sisters. Speaking in a human voice, the grass snake repeatedly agrees to go away only after Eglė pledges herself to him in exchange for him leaving her clothes. Eglė agrees to marry, while not fully understanding the potential consequences and the gravity of her situation. Then after three days, thousands of grass snakes march into the yard of her parents' house. They come to claim Eglė as their master's bride and their future queen and take her to the bottom of the sea lagoon to their king.

Instead of seeing a serpent or a grass snake on the seashore, Eglė meets her bridegroom Žilvinas, who appears to be a handsome man - the Grass Snake Prince. Eglė bears four children (three sons (Ąžuolas (Oak), Uosis (Ash) and Beržas (Birch)) and one youngest daughter Drebulė (Aspen)). Eglė almost forgets about her homeland, but one day, after being questioned by her oldest son Ąžuolas about her parents, she decides to visit her home. In order to be allowed to visit home, Eglė is required to fulfill three impossible tasks: to spin a never-ending tuft of silk, wear down a pair of iron shoes and to bake a pie with no utensils. After she gets an advice from the sorceress and succeeds in completing these three tasks, Žilvinas reluctantly lets Eglė and the children go. Prior to their departure, he instructs them how to call him from the depths of the sea and asks not to tell this secret to anyone else.


After meeting the long lost family member, Eglė's relatives do not wish to let her return to the sea and decide to kill Žilvinas. First, his sons are threatened and beaten with the scourge by their uncles, in attempt to make them disclose how to summon their father; however, they remain silent and do not betray him. Finally, a frightened daughter tells them the grass snake summoning chant.


All twelve brothers of Eglė call Žilvinas the Grass Snake from the sea and kill him using scythes. After nine days, Eglė arrives at the seashore and calls her husband, but unfortunately only the foams of blood return from the sea. When Eglė hears her dead husband's voice and discovers how her beloved has died, as a punishment for betrayal she whispers an enchantment, which turns her fragile fearful daughter into a quaking aspen. Thereafter she turns her sons into strong trees - an oak, an ash and a birch. Finally, Eglė herself turns into a spruce.

[Leslie_Smith]

"Mental gymnastics to claim that Nuwa was a male god"

Most of creation myths are due to goddesses...I mean... *gestures at women's roles in reproduction and child rearing, as well as lots of worship towards fertility in the past.* Those mental gymnastics are better than the Olympics. XD

[lillithcollins]

I find it interesting that myths in general seem to have a theme of punishing youthful (and typically female) curiosity and kindness but then "redeeming" them by the end of the story. I've also seen a trope (can I call it that?) in many mythologies of a wise woman, typically a wife or at least a mature woman who gives practical and realistic advice but is then ignored by the men of the story who then bring disaster to themselves. Think Cassandra from Greek myth who was cursed to only tell the true future but never be believed.

[fuckinghugepablo]

(remembers Quetzalcoatl is literally a feathered serpent) holy shit, snakes hold the meaning of the universe!!!

[Genjonable]

In one of Cambodia's creation myths, our kingdom was founded on the union between a Native Naga (sacred serpent) Princess, Soma/Neang Neak, and an Indian merchant Brahmin, Kaundinya/Preah Thong. Also, it would be interesting if you could make videos on ancient Chinese relations with the kingdoms in Southeast Asia :D

[nesiwatson]

I'm really happy that I (being Ukrainian) actually remember the things you're saying because I read about Chinese mythology (along with Native American, Japanese and Persian) when I was a kid. I think we should all tell kids stories from all around the world