Basic data of flood myth

A worldwide myth about the destruction of the universe and the rebirth of mankind. Most of the records about floods in ancient China were related to water control. For example, "Huainanzi Lan Mingxun": "There were four poles in ancient times, and Kyushu was split; Heaven does not repeat, and the earth does not contain it; Fire does not go out, water is inexhaustible; Wild animals eat people, while birds prey on the old and the weak. So Nu Wa refined five-color stones to make up the sky, broken claws and four poles, killed the black dragon to help Jizhou, and accumulated reed ash to stop lewd water. " The following is the story of the goddess mending the water treatment. In addition, there are famous myths about guns and Yu's water control. None of them are directly related to human regeneration.

The flood myth circulated in later generations reflects that after the catastrophic flood disaster in a certain period in ancient times, two brothers and sisters of flood survivors got married and regenerated human beings. This myth can be divided into two systems: North and South. Generally speaking, the flood myth of Southwest China is: Leigong flood, flooding the world. Brother and sister hid in the gourd to avoid the flood. Finally, we decided to get married by means of divination such as rolling stone grinding and stone throwing. After marriage, raw meat balls gave birth to different races.

The northern flood myth says: floods flood the world. Fuxi and Nuwa (or Pangu brothers and sisters) escaped from the flood under the protection of stone lions or turtles. According to the meaning of the stone lion or tortoise, they decided to get married by rolling stone mill. Finally, the two brothers and sisters pinched the yellow clay figurine, recreated human beings and became the "ancestors" of the Han nationality. The plot of "squeezing yellow mud" here comes from the myth that Nu Wa made people out of soil in ancient times. Later, when Fuxi married Nuwa (or Pangu brothers and sisters), the plot continued. There are traces of primitive consanguineous marriage in both systematic myths. It seems to be a reflection of the transition from group marriage to pairing marriage in primitive society in China. Due to the different social stages reflected by the two systematic myths, the attitudes towards brother and sister marriage are also different. Early myths believed that the marriage of brother and sister was a necessary condition for the continuation of mankind. Later myths have different degrees of affirmation.

Wen Yiduo's "Myth and Poetry Fuxi Kao" quoted in detail the flood myth materials of Miao and Yao nationalities in southwest China in modern times. Flood myths of Han, Mongolian, Daur and other ethnic groups in the Central Plains and the north are constantly being discovered. In the north, especially in the vast areas around Huaiyang in the Central Plains, this myth is still circulating. Some of them are integrated with the myth of creation (such as Pangu Mountain and two brothers and sisters), and some have serious Buddhist tendencies. For example, in Hu and Zhong, Tathagata is three generations taller than Nuwa.

Due to the restriction of natural environment and social and cultural environment, the myth of oral flood is often constantly evolving. 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." Gun died unsatisfied, because of his unfinished ambition, he 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), "Shuhe decided to cross the river and didn't get home for ten years" (Sun Xingyan's Autopsy), "No shares, no hair on his shin, calluses on his hands and feet, and a full face of Li.

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 the struggle against nature.