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Chapter I Ancient Myths
Author: Nie Binghai article Source: 2007-06-1211:57: 00 This article is collected.
Myth was created by primitive ancestors in social practice, and its content involves all aspects of natural environment and social life, including the origin of the world and the fate of mankind, trying to show people "educational images of nature and human destiny". Myth still has literary charm in later generations, and it also inspires future generations' literary creation.
The first part: The production and record of China myth.
The Concept, Generation and Function of Myth —— The Mythical Value of the Unearthed Data and Literature Shan Hai Jing
Myth expresses the ancient people's understanding and desire for natural and social phenomena in the form of stories, which is "the natural and social form itself that people fantasize about processing in an unconscious artistic way". Myths usually take gods as the protagonist, including all kinds of natural gods and deified heroes. The plot of myth is generally manifested as change, divine power and magic. The significance of myths is usually manifested in the explanation of a certain natural or social phenomenon, and some express the desire of ancestors to conquer nature and change society. Only when human beings can express their feelings and their understanding of nature and society in words can myths come into being. The productivity level of primitive society is very low. Facing the unpredictable and controlled nature, people can't help feeling mysterious and awe. Some special catastrophic natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, floods and human birth and death, will cause surprise and panic in particular. People fantasize that there are all kinds of supernatural gods and magic in the world and worship them, which is naturally deified to some extent. That's how myths come into being. Myth is very important to primitive people. First of all, people talk about myths in order to maintain the significance and rationality of social customs and social systems. Myth is of great significance for maintaining human sociality. Secondly, due to low productivity, especially in the face of awe-inspiring nature, individuals must integrate themselves into the clan to survive. Myth is a powerful spiritual bond connecting individuals and collectives. Thirdly, in the mysterious daily work and life, our ancestors accumulated quite a lot of strong emotional experiences. Fairy tales can make the incomprehensible reality show all kinds of dramatic attributes, and people vent all kinds of uneasy emotions in grasping the imaginary world.
There are rich myths and legends in ancient China. In the unearthed ancient materials, we found a large number of god-shaped carvings, such as the painted goddess head in the "Goddess Temple" site in Hongshan Culture, Niuheliang, Liaoning; In Yinshan rock paintings, "there are images of witches praying for happiness and worshipping the sun"; In the paintings of Jiangjun Cliff in Lianyungang City, "God is represented by various faces, including sun god, moon god and star god". Another example is the coffin of Leigudun 1 in Suixian County. "There are two gods guarded by Geji, some with long horns and some with wings on their backs, which are full of myths." The image of December gods in Chu silks unearthed from Changsha ammunition depot, "Or three, or snakes or birds, to name a few, and some are indescribable." In addition, most of the animal-shaped sculptures unearthed are also related to myths. Therefore, the mythological thinking in ancient China was quite developed, which produced many gods and corresponding legends and stories. Due to the long history of the times and the rejection of myths by Confucianism, there are few records of ancient myths in ancient documents, and the information is scattered and incomplete, which is not as complete and systematic as ancient Greek myths. In the ancient literature of China, the myths recorded in Shan Hai Jing and other books are concentrated, while the rest are scattered in various books such as Jing, Shi, Zi and Ji. These materials are often just fragments, and there are not many complete storylines.
The Book of Songs and Songs of the South are two collections of poems, many of which are based on myths. For example, The Book of Songs' ode to a mysterious bird and Elegant Style recorded the magical experience of the birth of Qi, the ancestor of Shang clan, and Hou Ji, the ancestor of Zhou clan. There are many mythological materials preserved in Songs of the South, especially in Tian Wen. The author uses a large number of myths as materials, some of which are closer to the original appearance of myths than those contained in other books, so they are very valuable. However, because the author uses the form of asking questions, when referring to a myth, it is often only a few words, which is too fragmentary and difficult to understand. There are still some myths in some history books, such as Zuo Zhuan, Guoyu and Yizhoushu. Most of the myths in these history books have been transformed by historians to illustrate ancient historical facts, but we can still see the clues of the original myths. For example, in a passage in Zuo Zhuan, Gao Xin's two sons were moved to two places to take charge of Shangxing and Shen Xing respectively because they could not live in harmony. This myth is actually a mythical explanation given by early people to the natural phenomenon that Shangxing and Canxing have never met. The story about Mu's meeting with the Queen Mother of the West in Mu Zhuan is the most mythical. Because myth itself has profound and concise meanings, it has also been valued by pre-Qin philosophers. Among philosophers, Zhuangzi cited myths the most. Zhuangzi claimed to be the "Nineteen Fables", some of which were myths, and some were often the deformation of ancient myths, such as the change of Kunpeng, the loss of the Yellow Emperor to Zhu Xuan, and the sudden chaos. There are also some mythological materials in Mencius, Mozi and Han Feizi. Lu's Chunqiu and Huainanzi were written in Qin and Han Dynasties respectively, and were compiled by many people. Both books retain many myths. In particular, the book Huainanzi has collected a wealth of myths, such as Terrain Training, which contains myths about thirty-six overseas countries, Kunlun Mountain, Yu and Kyushu. China's four famous ancient myths: the goddess of mending the sky, the worker touching the mountain, Houyi shooting the sun and the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, are all preserved in Huainanzi. There are still new myths in the Western Han Dynasty and other documents since then, or they supplement the old ones.
Among all the ancient documents, Shan Hai Jing has the most theological value. Shan Hai Jing was written from the early Warring States to the early Han Dynasty. It should be selected by wizards and alchemists of different times according to the information circulated at that time. In fact, it is a book with the nature of folk primitive religion. Shan Hai Jing is a book with the most preserved mythological materials in ancient China. The book is divided into five volumes: four volumes of mountain classics, five volumes of overseas classics, five volumes of domestic classics and four volumes of wild classics. The content is extremely complicated, including not only myths and legends and religious ceremonies, but also the geography, history, nationality, biology, minerals, medicine and other aspects of ancient China.
The myths preserved in Shan Hai Jing are quite old, but strictly speaking, there are still more gods than myths. There are a lot of descriptions of mountain gods in Shan Hai Jing. They are often grotesque animals, or have both human and animal physical characteristics, such as birds with dragon heads or horses with faces. This may contain the consciousness of nature worship or totem worship, which reflects the early thinking characteristics of human beings. The mythical colors of Hai Jing and Ye Jing are the strongest in the books, which record some strange looks, living habits and customs of foreigners, such as the country with a chest, the Republic of China, the country with long arms, the country with eternal life, the country with adults, the country with little people and so on. Among them, there are many absurd myths, such as controlling water and dancing in farmland. , deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, widely circulated. Although the myths in The Classic of Mountains and Seas are fragmentary, many stories have clear outlines, and some can even be combined to get quite complete stories and images, such as the legends of Kuafu, Dayu, Emperor Jun and Queen Mother of the West, and the magical scene of the holy land Kunlun Mountain. In a word, Shan Hai Jing can be said to be a treasure house of ancient myths in China, which is of great significance to the spread and research of China myths.
Section II China Myth and Its National Spirit
The ancestor of the creation myth, the flood myth, the war myth, the invention myth, the sense of hardship, the sense of loving the people and the spirit of resistance.
Myths are rich and complex, and can be simply classified as follows:
First, the myth of creation
The story of Pangu is the most famous creation myth in ancient China;
Heaven and earth are chaotic, like a chicken. Pangu was born in it, eight thousand years old. The heavens and the earth are open, it is the sky, and the turbidity is the earth. Pangu is among them, changing nine times a day. God is in heaven and saint is on earth. The sky is ten feet high, the earth is ten feet thick and Pangu is ten feet, so it is eight thousand years old. The number of days is extremely high, the number of places is extremely deep, and Pangu is extremely long. Then Huang San. (Volume 1 of "Cultural Performance" is quoted from Xú Zhēng's "May 3rd Calendar")
This is a typical oviparous myth. The universe was born from an egg, which is very common among primitive people all over the world. Oviposition is a common life phenomenon. Our ancestors imagined that the universe was born from the shell. The myth of spawning in the universe has a great influence on China's concept of Yin and Yang Taiji. At the same time, the process of personification and volition of the universe also reflects the firm belief of our ancestors in human strength.
Pangu not only separated heaven and earth, but also created everything between them. Another myth says that after his death, his breath turned into clouds, his voice into thunder, his eyes into the sun and the moon, his limbs into mountains, his blood into rivers, his hair into stars and his fur into vegetation. This world view of "dying incarnation" is a metaphor for the corresponding relationship between man and nature. In ancient China, there were many myths about the universe. For example, Shun Di's wife gave birth to ten suns, and the wife of Emperor often gave birth to twelve moons. The physical behavior of God Candle dragon recorded in Shan Hai Jing directly triggered natural phenomena such as day and night, four seasons and so on. All these show the spirit of our ancestors to actively explore natural phenomena such as the universe.
Second, the myth of ancestors.
Just like caring about the origin of the universe, people are also interested in the origin of mankind. The myth about the origin of mankind is the story of Nu Wa. The goddess of mending the sky shows her important position as a great god of the universe. "Huai Nan Zi Lan Mingxun" contains:
In ancient times, the four poles were abolished, and Kyushu was cracked. The sky is not covered, and the land is not full. The fire is burning, the water is inexhaustible, animals eat people, and birds catch the old and the weak. So nuwa refined five-color stones to make up the sky, and the broken claws were enough to set up four poles, killing the black dragon and helping Jizhou, and accumulating reed ash to stop the lewd water.
After hard work and struggle, Nu Wa reorganized the universe and created the natural conditions necessary for human survival. Nu Wa is not only a pioneer, but also a creator of human beings. "Peaceful Magnolia" Volume 78 cited "Custom" cloud:
As the saying goes, when the world was created, people went to the empty building, but Nuwa took loess as a human being, and the spectators were at a loss, so they led the rope into the mud and raised it with people. Therefore, rich people are also loess people; Poor people and ordinary people are also human beings.
This myth is rich in meaning. It not only fictionalizes the appearance of human beings, but also tries to explain why human beings have differences in social status. The myth about Nu Wa mainly originated from the matriarchal clan society. The immortal contribution of Goddess of Mending Heaven to the creation of human beings not only reflects people's affirmation of women's continuing racial role, but also recognizes women's social status. The above myths have created an image of a hardworking woman with peculiar magic. Everything she does is full of love for human beings.
In addition to the common ancestor of mankind, each tribe has its own ancestor myth. Qi, the ancestor of Shang clan, was born when the giant butterfly swallowed the eggs. The birth and experience of Hou Ji, the ancestor of Zhou people, is even more legendary. The Book of Songs Daya Sheng Min records the myth of Hou Ji: Jiang Yuan was pregnant because she stepped on the thumb print of the Emperor of Heaven. Jiang Yuan felt ominous when she gave birth to Ji successfully, so she abandoned Ji in narrow paths, Woods, ice and other places. However, Ji was miraculously rescued by cattle, sheep, woodcutter and bird respectively, and survived, and soon showed his ability to grow crops and eventually became the ancestor of Zhou people. Almost all tribes have such myths, and many of them are similar in plot or structure. They reflect the memory of ancestors and show national pride.
Third, the flood myth.
Myths with the theme or background of flood are everywhere in the world. The academic circles have also put forward various explanations for the causes of the flood myth. The floods that once occurred were so tragic that they left an indelible mark on human minds, and became a collective symbol, passed down from generation to generation in the form of myths, reminding people to be vigilant against natural disasters.
Most of the flood gods abroad show such a theme, that is, the gods are disappointed with the fall of human beings, the flood is a punishment for human beings, and the reconstruction of human beings after the flood reflects the introspection and criticism of human nature. The flood myth preserved in ancient Chinese Han literature mainly regards flood as a natural disaster, reveals the positive significance of fighting floods and saving the people, and values people's wisdom and fighting spirit. The most outstanding heroes in these flood myths are Yu and his son.
Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Jing contains:
The flood is terrible. Gunmen stole the emperor to cover the flood without waiting for the emperor's life. The emperor ordered Zhu Rong to kill the gun in the feather suburb. Yu was born after Fu (abdomen), and the emperor ordered Yu to pave the soil for Kyushu.
In order to stop the flood of human beings, the gun stole the emperor's land and caused the emperor's anger and was killed. His tragic experience also won the deep sympathy and respect of future generations. For example, Qu Yuan wrote Li Sao, which was unfair to him: "I am dying, but I died in the wild." Because of his unfulfilled ambition, Gun finally broke his belly and gave birth to Yu, and a new generation of water control heroes was born.
Yu inherited the gun's legacy, and at first he also used the method of "blocking" (blocking), but it was still difficult to stop the raging flood, so he switched to dredging. In order to clear the waterway, Yu took pains to look around the rivers and terrain. According to Lu Chunqiu, he went to the seaside in the east, to the country of naked people in the south, to the country of three dangers in the west and to the country of dogs and soldiers in the north. In the process of water control, "Yu left home for eight years and didn't enter the house for three times" (Mencius Teng Wengong), "Dredging the river and crossing the river, he didn't get home for ten years" (Series on Dead Bodies), "No shares, no hair on his shin, and calluses on his hands and feet. In addition, he had to fight hard with many evil gods, such as killing Xiang Liu (Shan Hai Jing, overseas northern Shan Hai Jing) and conquering the monster Wu ("Li Tang" in article 467 of Tai Ping Guang Ji). His spirit also touched many gods. It is said that Hebo gave him a river map (under the Book of Dead Bodies in Sun Xingyan), Fuxi helped him to measure the land, and Yi Long helped him to work with a turtle (Volume II of Nine Questions about Chu Ci). In a word, the flood that pervades the world and harms the world was finally subdued by Dayu, and a heroic image of indomitable, saving people and full of wisdom was established in the cultural history of China. The flood myth reflects the experience and wisdom accumulated by our ancestors in their struggle with nature.
Fourth, the myth of war.
Huangdi and Yan Di are the leaders of two big tribes active in the Central Plains, rising in Jishui and Jiang Shui, which are not far apart, respectively. They had serious conflicts in the process of developing eastward. The Five Emperors Historical Records contains:
Emperor Yan wanted to invade the princes of the mausoleum, and the princes returned the Xuanyuan with salt. Xuan Ape is an inspirational soldier of Xiu De, who governs five qi and five arts, caresses ten thousand people and spreads them everywhere. Teach bears, donkeys, donkeys and raccoons. Tiger, in order to fight Emperor Yan in the wild of Hanquan, and then win his ambition in three wars.
The "princes" and "Xiu De" mentioned in this myth are obviously attached by later Confucian scholars. However, Huangdi and Yandi did have a cruel war in the field of Chinese boxing. The new book "One Farmer" called the battlefield at that time "bloody drifting". The Yellow Emperor was able to drive bears, pigs and other wild animals to participate in the war, adding magical colors to this war. These beasts may be totems of some tribes. They represent different tribes and fight with the Yellow Emperor. The battle of Hanquan ended with the victory of the Yellow Emperor, which led to the integration of two tribes, and the Chinese nation was formally formed and developed into a major part of the Chinese nation. This myth is actually a record and explanation of a historical event.
After the confluence of Yanhuang and Huangdi, there was another famous war between Huangdi and Chiyou:
Chiyou fought against the Yellow Emperor, who made Ying Long attack the wild land of Jizhou. Ying Long stores water. Chiyou asked Fengbo and Rain God to tide over the difficulties together. The Yellow Emperor was a goddess, and when the rain stopped, he killed Chiyou. (Shan Hai Jing Huang Da Bei Jing)
The Yellow Emperor and Chiyou fought in the land of Zhuolu. For three days, Chiyou is a fog, and all the soldiers are at a loss. Huangdi took the fighting machine behind the wind as a south guide car, so that he could avoid four directions, and he captured Chiyou. ("Taiping Yu Lan" Volume 15 is quoted from "Zhi Lin")
Chiyou belongs to the Miao tribe in the south. He has 8 1 brothers with bronze heads, which may imply that their army has been equipped with metal armor. It is mentioned in literature that Chiyou smelting metal as a weapon was suitable for the development of gold smelting at that time. This battle is very fierce, involving gods such as Fengbo and Rain Master, and weather such as wind, rain, drought and fog has also become a weapon to attack each other. These two myths not only involve the ancient witchcraft of praying for rain and blocking rain, but also involve some inventions with important cultural significance, which are rich in connotation.
It was in the two wars of internal annexation and external resistance that the Yellow Emperor showed great power and established his image as the ancestor of the Chinese nation. Out of love for the ancestors of the Chinese nation, many inventions in the cultural history, such as automobiles, pottery, wells, ding, music, bronze mirrors and drums, were attributed to the Yellow Emperor or his courtiers. Huangdi became a cultural hero who was good at invention and creation in mythology.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) invents and creates myths.
After the Yellow Emperor, myth entered the heroic age. People put all kinds of great inventions accumulated in their own development process and all kinds of natural and social obstacles overcome on mythical heroes and regard them as symbols of their own tribal ideals. In this way, the god of nature was replaced by the god of man himself. It marks the prominence of human subjectivity, which is the result of social progress. There are a lot of myths about cultural heroes in history. The protagonists of these myths are usually human images, and they all have magical experiences or skills. Their achievements lie in creation and conquest, such as Sui Lian Shi, You Chao Shi, Shennong Shi, Cang Xie and Hou Ji.
Hou Yi is the inventor of the bow and arrow in myths and legends, and also a sharpshooter. The invention of bow and arrow was a great event in primitive life, so people gave great courage and honor to the inventor of this bow and arrow. Hou Yi, on the other hand, used his bow and arrow and magical skills to kill pests for the people and benefit mankind. The poisonous monsters who died under the bow and arrow of Yi include digging teeth, nine babies, strong winds, quarreling, repairing snakes, sealing and so on. Yi's most brilliant achievement was shooting down nine suns. According to the South Classic of Mountains and Seas and the East longitude of Huang Da, "Di Jun's wife He was born ten days ago." These ten suns live in a tree and appear in turn. Come one day and come out the other. Wang Yi, the Songs of Chu, quoted Huainanzi as saying: "Ten days after Yao came out, the grass and trees were burnt." So easy to draw a bow and an arrow. "If we shoot from the back for ten days, by the ninth day, nine Japanese, China and Ukrainians will have died and their wings will all be lost, so we will stay for one day." Human order has been restored. Ten suns are the sons of the Emperor of Heaven. You need not only magical skills, but also superhuman courage to shoot down for nine days.
In addition to these types of myths, there are some myths that show the outstanding personality and courage of human heroes and show the unshakable belief of human beings in themselves, such as:
Kuafu drove out of Japan and entered Japan. If you are thirsty, you can drink water from the river. If the river is not enough, you can drink osawa in the north. Before he arrived, he died of thirst. Abandoned his staff and became Deng Lin. (Shan Hai Jing Overseas North Jing)
Why Kuafu stayed away from the sun is unknown, but his strong self-confidence, courage to work hard, and his tall image melted in the sun constitute a magnificent picture, reflecting the grand ideals of ancient ancestors. And the ending of his thirst adds a layer of tragedy to the whole story.
Another tragic myth against nature happened to a delicate woman:
There is a kind of bird that looks like a black bird. It has a head, a white beak and bare feet. It's called Jingwei, and its singing is self-singing. She is Yan Di's girl named Nuwa. The girl drowned while swimming in the East China Sea, so she was Jingwei. She often holds the title of Western Mountain Wood and Stone and is trapped in the East China Sea. (Shan Hai Jing Bei Shan Jing)
The girl drowned in the East China Sea and became a bird. How tragic it is to persist in revenge on the vast sea with weak life and meager strength! It is this fighting spirit that knows it is futile that supports the early people to go through that sinister and difficult era. The myth of Kuafu and the little girl eulogizes the tenacious vitality of human beings.
The colorful myths in ancient China are the echoes of ancient history, which truly record the magnificent fantasies, tenacious struggles and faltering footprints of the Chinese nation in childhood. Similarly, as the cultural source of the Chinese nation, it has greatly influenced the formation and characteristics of the national spirit.
Apart from being ignored by scholars, China's ancient myths are lost, and historical myths are a very important reason. The so-called historicization of myth is to regard myth as historical legend. The usual practice is to restore the gods to the ancestors of human beings and regard fairy tales as historical facts, which constitute some illusory ancestors and their development pedigree. This cultural phenomenon has appeared more or less in the cultural history of other nations in the world.
The historization of China myth is the conscious or unconscious behavior of historians and thinkers. It is generally believed that the image in ancient mythology has experienced a development process from animal shape, half-man, half-beast shape to human shape. In orthodox historians or Confucian classics, the divine image of half man and half beast has been obliterated, because it is difficult to bring this image into the historical pedigree and it also violates the principle of rationalization. In addition, there are other myths that violate the principle of rationalization, and they have also been deleted. As Sima Qian said: "His prose is unruly, and Mr. Jin is hard to say." (Records of the Five Emperors) A considerable number of myths have not been recognized by historians, so they have not entered the records. These, we have no way to investigate. Some were fortunate enough to be recorded by literati, but they were ruthlessly deleted in the process of circulation. For example, in the myth of Shun recorded in the ancient version of Female Biography, two women taught Shun to obey the bird workers and dragons and escape from the disaster in the well, but this version of Female Biography disappeared. Another example is Huainanzi, which contains the myth of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, saying that Chang 'e "holds the moon as a toad, and holds the moon as an essence", but this version of Huainanzi does not exist either. The reason may be "unruly".
Another way to historicize myths is to transform them. That is to say, the distorted interpretation of myth makes it a real event, thus becoming a cornerstone of building ancient history. Such examples abound in traditional Confucian classics, from Shangshu, Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu to Historical Records, Wu Yue Chun Qiu and Yue Jue Shu. Robbie's History of the Road in Song Dynasty is his masterpiece. As a result of the transformation, a large number of myths disappeared, the history extended forward, and the genealogy of each clan became more rigorous. For example, "Zuo Gong Seventeen Years" contains:
My great-great-grandfather, a young man, walked upright, and the phoenix bird was in the middle, so I was punished by the bird and named the bird: the home of the phoenix bird, with correct calendar; Xuanniao's, teacher also; "Zhao, the secretary is also; Jade bird house, the initiator also; Danbird's family, the company is closed. I wish the dove's family, Stuart also; The yazi house, Sima also; Pigeon's family is very ordinary; Cool Shi Yu, Sko also; Stork pigeon, minister also. Five pigeons, pigeons are people, too. Five pheasants are five works, the sharp weapon is used accurately and measured accurately, and people are saved.
Many eastern tribes in China regard birds as totems, and many myths about birds are bound to be popular among them. Here, these myths about totem birds are transformed into a series of official names and organized according to the social bureaucracy of later generations.
Myth historization began in the early Spring and Autumn Period, and Confucianism, represented by Confucius, inherited and promoted this tradition. Confucius once said, "Don't talk about the confusion of Machamp" and directly participated in the transformation of myths. According to the download of "The Corpser" (Sun Xingyan series), when Zi Gong mentioned to Confucius the myth that the Yellow Emperor had four sides, Confucius said, "The Yellow Emperor took four people and unified the four sides, which is called the four sides." Four sides are interpreted as four people facing four directions, and the myth that the Yellow Emperor has four sides has become a historical fact about governing the world. Another myth about osmium suffered the same fate as Confucius. Confucianism is the mainstream of traditional culture in China, and Confucius' attitude towards myth as a saint has a great influence on later culture.
Another way for the development and change of ancient myths in China is to be transformed by Taoism and become the source of fairy tales. Fairy stories generally tell the story of becoming immortal or becoming immortal through cultivation or immortal guidance. In fairy tales, we can find many ancient mythical figures, the most prominent of which are the Yellow Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West. According to Records of the Historian, the Yellow Emperor cast a tripod at the foot of Jingshan Mountain and crowned it. There is a dragon hanging on the tripod with a beard to welcome him to ride the dragon to heaven. This story has obvious fairy tale traces. The Yellow Emperor's victory over Chiyou is attributed to the "Nine-day Xuan Nv" in the fairy tale, "giving the emperor (Huang) the skills of three fairs, five righteousness of yin and yang, and ... Lingbao's five charms and five victories made Chiyou in Hebei, China" (Volume 9 of Biography of Extensive Literature, citing Xuan Nv Law). Similarly, Chang 'e, who stole medicine to the moon, and the Queen Mother of the West, who took fairy medicine, are also important figures in fairy tales. The transformation from myth to fairy tale is limited, and it is generally concentrated on a few specific characters, with similar plots of practicing, taking medicine and ascending to heaven and not dying. However, the cultural implication of fairy tales is much weaker than that of myths. In fairy tales, the national spirit and aesthetic quality of those mythical characters have been seriously weakened.
Ancient mythology has a great influence on the literary creation of later writers. As Marx said, "Greek mythology is not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its soil." In literature, we can see the continuation and development of mythical spirit. The influence of myth on literature is mainly manifested in two aspects, one is as the material of literary creation, and the other is directly affecting the way of thinking, expression and appreciation of literary creation.
China myth, with its profound connotation and vivid expressive force, laid the foundation for later literature. Myths are not only directly recorded by later generations, but also provide materials for various literary works. In the pre-Qin prose, Zhuangzi was famous for his "extraordinary writing" and "unusual writing" (Yi Jian Wen Jian). Zhuangzi's subtle reasoning and unconstrained style of writing are largely derived from myths. For example, the change of Kun Peng in the carefree tour and the "breaking chaos" in the emperor gave the full text a changeable and strange color. As for Cao Zhi's use of the image of Fu Fei, the goddess of Luoshui, he created the well-known Ode to Luoshen, which is a successful creation using mythological materials. In the history of China literature, myths are the most common phenomenon. For example, Hou Ji's miracles are described in The Book of Songs, Elegant and Living People, and all kinds of immortals flock to Li Sao. Since then, poets, especially romantic poets, have often used myths in their poems. For example, Li Shangyin's poem "Yaochi" said: "The window of Yaochi's grandmother opened, and the song moved, and she went to Wan Li on the eighth day, never to return." It is the magical application of mythical images. There are also many novels and operas based on myth, which are mainly recreated by using the strange imagination of myth and the image or plot of myth. For example, Liu Yi, a novel by Li in the Tang Dynasty, created a beautiful love myth. The absorption and transformation of myths in the novels of ghosts and gods in Ming and Qing Dynasties reached the peak of this kind of literature, and its representative figures, The Journey to the West, the Monkey King, Pig Bajie and their soaring seventy-two changes, became one of the most influential stories in China literature. From the Monkey King, we can easily see the influence of Huai vortex monsters such as Chi You, Xingtian and Wu. In addition, there are many thought-provoking fairy tales in Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, Flowers in a Mirror, Romance of the Gods and Dream of Red Mansions. It can be said that ancient myths, as materials, are found in every corner of China's classical literature. After the author's excavation and transformation, he re-radiates light in new works, which makes literary works have unique artistic charm.
As a concentrated expression of primitive ancestors' ideology, myth condenses ancestors' thinking and feelings about themselves and the outside world, and contains rich emotional factors. These mythical images have been fixed in history, flowing in the hearts of several generations through cultural accumulation, and always lost no time in expressing them in the literary works of future generations through various forms. That is to say, the significance of myth to literature is not only that it is the source material for writers, but more importantly, those works that consciously or unconsciously use mythological archetypes can guide authors or readers into the deep emotional experience that our ancestors once had, thus alleviating the pressure of reality and the secularization of Paramore. The significance of myth as prototype is more important than its significance as material. When Qu Yuan was hit repeatedly in the real world and was helpless, he resolutely turned to the ancient myth: the dragon and the phoenix got married, traveled across the sea, and begged women everywhere. It is the great power of the mythical world, which makes him transcend from the real world, supports his personality and soothes his mental trauma. At the same time, some abstract and generalized images in Lisao have become solid mythological prototypes due to their profound mythological background and creative refinement by Qu Yuan, and have been handed down from generation to generation in the history of China literature. Pu Songling's Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio regards myth not only as a material, but as a whole spiritual sustenance, which is a rejection of this unfair world and a conversion to the mythical feelings and the world of divine words. As jung said, "a person who speaks with the original image speaks with the voices of millions of people at the same time." ..... He turned our personal destiny into the destiny of mankind, and he awakened all our benevolent forces. It is these forces that ensure that human beings can get out of danger at any time and spend a long night. " It can be said that Qu Yuan, Pu Songling and other works all embody the essence and strength of mythological archetypes.