11. Myth & Folklore
Andersen, Poul, The Demon Chained under the Mountain: The History and Mythology of the Chinese River Spirit Wuzhiqi. Berlin: G & H Verlag, 2001.
Barrett, T.H., The Religious Affiliations of the Chinese Cat: An Essay Towards an Anthropozoological Approach to Comparative Religion. London: London School of Oriental and African Studies, 1998.
Birrell, Anne, "The Four Flood Myth Traditions of Classical China." T'oung Pao 83 (1997) 4-5: 213-259.
Birrell, Anne M., "James Legge and the Chinese Mythological Tradition." History of Religions 38(1999)4: 331-353.
Birrell, Anne, Chinese Myths. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press in Co-operation with British Museum Press, 2000.
Blauth, Birthe, Altchinesische Geschichten über Fuchsdämonen. Kommentierte Übersetzung der Kapitel 447 bis 455 des Taiping guangji. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, 1996.
Brereton, Brian G. "Taiwan’s Mythological Theme Parks: Mnemonic Guardians and Uncanny Imaginaries." Acta Orientalia Vilnensia 7.1-2 (2006): 61-76.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the mnemonic roles of mythological theme parks in contemporary Taiwan. I investigate two popular theme parks, Madou’s “Prefecture that Represents Heaven” and its single Taiwanese precedent, the “Palace of Southern Heaven” in Zhanghua. I term these sites “mythological theme parks” because they differ significantly in form and function from other popular religious temples throughout Taiwan and China. Though both theme park and temple are loci of social production and reproduction, the nature of interaction at mythological theme parks resembles in many ways that which occurs at the imaginary realms manufactured by secular theme parks. These mythological theme parks feature moral imaginaries displayed in sculptural and animatronic depictions of the afterlife and acts of filial piety. My study addresses both textual sources and ethnographic data, collected while conducting fieldwork during the summers of 2004 and 2005, to evaluate how these mythological theme parks culturally convey the past into the present.
Brereton, Brian G. “Addressing Enduring Ethnocentricities through a Critical Investigation of the Historiography of Chinese Hell.” Critical Studies in History 1 (2008): 2-26.
Brereton, Brian Gosper. “From Flesh to Fantasy: Contemporary Conceptions of the Chinese Afterlife in Spirit-travelogues and Mythological Theme Parks.” Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, 2009.
Abstract: My dissertation analyzes the influence of conceptions and representations of the religious afterlife on individual and collective action in contemporary Taiwan. The critical study of representations of the Chinese afterlife has occurred almost exclusively in their anthropological locus classicus : the ancestral tablet, funerary ritual, and the underworld (Ahern 1973; Wolf 1974; Cohen 1988). My research, which builds on these foundtional inquiries, focuses on two alternative and fecund fields of otherworldly (re)production and representation: recent textual depictions of the afterlife and mythological theme parks. In this study, I will address both textual sources and ethnographic data to launch an inquiry into three key research questions concerning conceptions of the afterlife in Taiwan today: namely, (1) the struggle between individual desire and collective concerns, (2) the applicability and adaptability of traditional models of the religious afterlife, and (3) the processes by which representations of the afterlife illuminate and influence contemporary social systems. My analytical framework - inspired by practice theory, psychoanalytic thought, and psychological anthropology - illuminates an otherwise overlooked integrity in conventional Chinese conceptions of the afterlife and reveals the emotional correlates of their continuities and changes in current Taiwanese society.
Burruss, Susan Langhorne, "Foreign Influences on Chinese Mystical Horse Imagery." Masters Thesis (M.A.), Virginia Commonwealth University. 1999.
Abstract: Representations of the horse developed parallel to significant cultural elements at the dawn of China's vast history. As early as the Shang Dynasty (1766-1045 BC) images of the horse appeared on oracle bones. After its first appearance on oracle bones the horse remained highly significant and mystical representations of the horse continue to be a feature in Chinese art into the late twentieth century.
This study will focus specifically on representations of the horse as a mystical creature in Chinese art, as distinct from general equine imagery. Mystical equine imagery can possess characteristics associated with other animal species or mythological beings. I will establish the impact of foreign cultures on the Chinese perception of the horse as mystical. Outside elements include aspects of religion, mythology, legends, ritual, and folklore. It will be seen that these elements, combined with the indigenous mystical beliefs in China, were influential in Chinese representations of the horse as a mystical creature.
Ancient legends and myths of supernatural horses existed at an early period in China and were manifest in representation of mystical horses. Through contact with outside cultures along the silk routes the indigenous notions of the horse as a mystical creature were reinforced in China. The sheer amount of equine imagery in general in Chinese art and the obvious connections to early religious belief systems apparent in mystical representations of the horse in particular, suggest the significance of this topic. While scholars often acknowledge this in passing, to date there is no systematic study specifically of the mystical representation of the horse in Chinese art. This thesis will provide this information which is crucial for a thorough understanding of this significant subject in Chinese art. (Source: Dissertation Abstracts International)
Chan, Hok-lam. Legends of the Building of Old Peking. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press; Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2008.
Abstract: Legends of the Building of Old Peking examines a series of popular legends surrounding the building and rebuilding of the city that served as the capital of a succession of dynasties, including the Nazha or Nezha City legend of the Yuan (1279-1368) "Great Capital" and the Ming (1368-1644) "Northern Capital," and the Mongol legend of "siting by bowshot to locate the capital city" and its Chinese adaptations. These legends reveal a rich tapestry of religious and cultural traditions surrounding the majority Han and non-Han people's conceptions of the origins of their capital cities-legends that are distinct from imperial ideologies and dynastic traditions, and evolved under changing political and cultural circumstances. The book is a unique study of the historical origins of old Peking (spelled thus to distinguish it from modern Beijing) as well as the genesis and efflorescence of related popular culture in today's capital. [Source: publisher's website]
Csete, Anne, "The Li Mother Spirit and the Struggle for Hainan's Land and Legend." Late Imperial China 22(2001)2: 91-123.
Diény, Jean-Pierre, "La légende, le conte et l'histoire: le cas du vénérable Zhang Guo (VIIIe siècle)." In: Jacques Gernet & Marc Kalinowski [eds.] (avec la collaboration de Jean-Pierre Diény), En suivant la voie royale: mélanges offerts en hommage à Léon Vandermeersch. Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1997. Pp.315-328.
Abstract: The purpose of the present article is to show, by the use of a specific example, the vital role played in the writing of history by the strange and ambivalent collections characteristic of the literary production of China known as biji. The example chosen is the story of the Venerable Zhang Guo (8th century A.D.) about whom legendary, romantic or so-called historical biographies of different kinds have been produced based on a combination of elements taken from many biji. [Source: article.]
Eschenbach, Silvia Freiin Ebner von, "Tierische Heroen und heroische Tiere in der chinesischen Kultur." Georges-Bloch-Jahrbuch des Kunstgeschichtlichen Seminars der Universität Zürich 2 (1995): 127-144.
Frühauf, Manfred W., Die Königliche Mutter des Westens: Xiwangmu in alten Dokumenten Chinas. Bochum: Projekt Verlag, 1999. (Edition Cathay, Bd. 46)
Frühauf, Manfred W., "Der Kunlun im alten China: Versuch einer Positionsbestimmung zwischen Geographie und Mythologie &endash; Erster Teil." minima sinica 1/2000: 41-67.
Frühauf, Manfred W., "Der Kunlun im alten China: Versuch einer Positionsbestimmung zwischen Geographie und Mythologie &endash; Zweiter Teil." minima sinica 2/2000: 55-94
Giskin, Howard, "Chinese Folktales and the Family." In: Giskin, Howard & Bettye S. Walsh [eds.], An Introduction to Chinese Culture Through the Family. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2001. Pp.123-138. (Note: See pp.126-130 on dragon tales)
Haar, Barend J. ter. Telling Stories: Witchcraft and Scapegoating in Chinese History. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
Abstract: This book analyzes the role of oral stories in Chinese witch-hunts. Successive chapters deal with the implications of Chinese versions of the Little Red Riding Hood story; the use of parts of the adult human body, children and foetuses, to draw out their life-force; attacks by mysterious creatures, causing open wounds, suffocation, the loss of hair and the like; the presence of a Drought Demon in the corpses of recently deceased women; and finally the emperor forcibly recruiting unmarried women for his harem. Of interest to historians and anthropologists working on oral traditions, folklore and witch-hunts (also from a comparative perspective), but also to those working on anti-Christian movements and the intersection of popular fears and political history in China. [Source: publisher's website]
Hammond, Charles E., "The Righteous Tiger and the Grateful Lion." Monumenta Serica 44(1996): 191-211.
Hammond, Charles E., "The Demonization of the Other: Women and Minorities as Weretigers." Journal of Chinese Religions 23(1995):59-80.
Hammond, Charles E., "Vulpine Alchemy." T'oung Pao 82(1996)4-5:364-380.
Henricks, Robert S., "On the Whereabouts and Identity of the Place Called 'K'ung-sang' (Hollow Mulberry) in Early Chinese Mythology." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 58(1995)1:69-90.
Henricks, Robert G., "Fire and Rain: A Look at Shen Nung (the Divine Farmer) and His Ties with Yen Ti (the 'Flaming Emperor' or 'Flaming God')." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 61(1998)1: 102-124.
Hsieh, Daniel. "Fox as Trickster in Early Medieval China." In: Alan K.L. Chan & Yuet-keung Lo [eds.], Interpretation and Literature in Early Medieval China. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2010. Pp. 223-249.
Huntington, Rania, "Foxes and Sex in Late Imperial Chinese Narrative." Nan Nü 2(2000)1: 78-128.
Idema, Wilt L., with an essay by Haiyan Lee. Meng Jiangnü Brings Down the Great Wall: Ten Versions of a Chinese Legend. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2008.
Abstract: Meng Jiangnu Brings Down the Great Wall brings together ten versions of a popular Chinese legend that has intrigued readers and listeners for hundreds of years. Elements of the story date back to the early centuries B.C.E. and are an intrinsic part of Chinese literary history. Major themes and subtle nuances of the legend are illuminated here by Wilt L. Idema's new translations and pairings.
In this classic story, a young woman named Meng Jiang makes a long, solitary journey to deliver winter clothes to her husband, a drafted laborer on the grandiose Great Wall construction project of the notorious First Emperor of the Qin dynasty (BCE 221-208). But her travels end in tragedy when, upon arrival, she learns that her husband has died under the harsh working conditions and been entombed in the wall. Her tears of grief cause the wall to collapse and expose his bones, which she collects for proper burial. In some versions, she tricks the lecherous emperor, who wants to marry her, into providing a stately funeral for her husband and then takes her own life.
The versions presented here are ballads and chantefables (alternating chanted verse and recited prose), five from urban printed texts from the late Imperial and early Republican periods, and five from oral performances and partially reconstructed texts collected in rural areas in recent decades. They represent a wide range of genres, regional styles, dates, and content. From one version to another, different elements of the story - the circumstances of Meng Jiangnu's marriage, her relationship with her parents-in-law, the journey to the wall, her grief, her defiance of the emperor - are elaborated upon, downplayed, or left out altogether depending on the particular moral lessons that tale authors wished to impart.
Idema brings together his considerable translation skills and broad knowledge of Chinese literature to present an assortment of tales and insightful commentary that will be a gold mine of information for scholars in a number of disciplines. Haiyan Lee's essay discusses the appeal of the Meng Jiangnu story to twentieth-century literary reformers, and the interpretations they imposed on the material they collected. [Source: publisher's website]
Kang, Xiaofei, "The Fox [hu] and the Barbarian [hu]: Unraveling Representations of the Other in Late Tang Tales." Journal of Chinese Religions 27(1999): 35-67.
Lai, C.M., "Messenger of Spring and Morality: Cuckoo Lore in Chinese Sources." Journal of the American Oriental Society 118(1998)4: 530-542.
Lévy, André, "Brève note sur un long bâton. À propos de l'arme magique de Sun Wukong dans le Xiyou ji." In: Jacques Gernet & Marc Kalinowski [eds.] (avec la collaboration de Jean-Pierre Diény), En suivant la voie royale: mélanges offerts en hommage à Léon Vandermeersch. Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1997. Pp.329-331.
Abstract: This short note points to some possible Indian sources other than the Ramayana for the Monkey's cudgel peculiar feature of changing size at will. [Source: article.]
Lewis, Mark Edward. The Flood Myths of Early China. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2006.
Abstract: Early Chinese ideas about the construction of an ordered human space received narrative form in a set of stories dealing with the rescue of the world and its inhabitants from a universal flood. This book demonstrates how early Chinese stories of the re-creation of the world from a watery chaos provided principles underlying such fundamental units as the state, lineage, the married couple, and even the human body. These myths also supplied a charter for the major political and social institutions of Warring States (481&endash;221 BC) and early imperial (220 BC&endash;AD 220) China.
In some versions of the tales, the flood was triggered by rebellion, while other versions linked the taming of the flood with the creation of the institution of a lineage, and still others linked the taming to the process in which the divided principles of the masculine and the feminine were joined in the married couple to produce an ordered household. While availing themselves of earlier stories and of central religious rituals of the period, these myths transformed earlier divinities or animal spirits into rulers or ministers and provided both etiologies and legitimation for the emerging political and social institutions that culminated in the creation of a unitary empire. [Source: publisher's website]
Lewis, Mark Edward. “The Mythology of Early China.” In: John Lagerwey and Marc Kalinowski [eds.], Early Chinese Religion: Part One: Shang through Han (1250 BC-220 AD). Leiden: Brill, 2009. Pp.541-594.
Münke, Wolfgang, "Chinesische Mythologie." Nachrichten der Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens 157-158(1995):175-229.
Münke, Wolfgang, Mythologie der chinesischen Antike: mit Ausblick auf spätere Entwicklungen. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1998.
Pimpaneau, Jacques, Chine: Mythes et dieux de la religion populaire. Paris: Philippe Picquier, 1999.
Pleiger, Henriette, "Das qilin - die vielen Gesichter eines chinesischen Fabeltieres." minima sinica 14(2002)1: 35-57.
Porter, Deborah Lynn, From Deluge to Discourse: Myth, History, and the Generation of Chinese Fiction. Albany: SUNY Press, 1996.
Sangren, P. Steven, "Myths, Gods, and Family Relations." In: Meir Shahar & Robert P. Weller [eds.], Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1996. Pp.150-183.
Sangren, P. Steven, Myth, Gender, and Subjectivity. Hsin-chu: Program for Research of Intellectual-Cultural History, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, 1997. (Hsin Chu Bank Endowed Lecture Series on Thought and Culture)
Sangren, P. Steven, "Separations, Autonomy and Recognition in the Production of Gender Differences: Reflections from Considerations of Myths and Laments." In: Charles Stafford [ed.], Living with Separation in China: Anthropological Accounts. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. Pp.53-84. [Note: Deals with popular stories about gods who must leave their families in order to achieve recognition. Nezha and Miaoshan are the case-examples.]
Schwarz, Ernst & Amina Agischewa, Der Trank der Unsterblichkeit. Chinesische Schöpfungsmythen und Volksmärchen. München: Kösel Verlag, 1997.
Verellen, Franciscus, "Zhang Ling and the Lingjing Salt Well." In: Jacques Gernet & Marc Kalinowski [eds.] (avec la collaboration de Jean-Pierre Diény), En suivant la voie royale: mélanges offerts en hommage à Léon Vandermeersch. Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1997. Pp.249-265.
Abstract: Zhang Ling, fondateur du mouvement taoïste des Maîtres célestes au IIe siècle de notre ère, fut également vénéré comme héros civilisateur de la région du Sichuan. Le présent article propose une nouvelle lecture de la légende de Zhang à partir de cette perspective régionale. L'image du héros au sein de la mythologie de Sichuan ancien est illustrée en particulier par les légendes ayant trait à sa création du Lingjing, puits de sel important et source majeure de richesse de la région au Moyen Age. [Source: article.]
Watson, James L. "Waking the Dragon: Visions of the Chinese Imperial State in Local Myth." In: James L. Watson & Rubie S. Watson, eds. Village Life in Hong Kong: Politics, Gender, and Ritual in the New Territories. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2004. Pp. 423-441.