Thank you for visiting. This article is one installment in a series that explains the “original texts” of the world’s myths and religions — an index page summarizing the original texts of “Chinese mythology.”
Chinese mythology has a grand scale — Pangu, who gave birth to heaven and earth; Nüwa, who made humans; Houyi, who shot down the suns. But, as with Greek mythology, no single scripture gathering the stories exists.
The whole picture of Chinese mythology emerges by gathering the records written fragmentarily within various classics — geographies, philosophical works, history books.
Chinese mythology’s original texts are not a continuous “story” like a Greek epic, but are scattered fragmentarily across various classics — the geography Shanhaijing, the philosophical work Huainanzi, the history book Shiji, and so on. So this series divides the myths reconstructed from these into three articles by content, explaining them while showing the source (which classic records it) in each place.
You can view the full list, including each myth and religion, from the complete index below.
The Big Picture of Chinese Mythology’s Original Texts
The representative original texts conveying the roots of Chinese mythology are as follows. The feature is that the myth is recorded not in a book that tells the myth itself, but within books with another purpose.
Listing the major original texts gives the following.
| Original text | Character | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Shanhaijing | Geography | Records the mountains and rivers of each region and the gods, monsters, and beasts there. The most important mythic source |
| Huainanzi | Philosophical work | Conveys Nüwa’s mending of heaven, Houyi shooting the suns, and the like |
| Shiji | History book | Records the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors as the beginning of Chinese history |
| Investiture of the Gods, Journey to the West | Later novels | Ming-era literary works taking myth and legend as their subject |
Now, let me introduce what each article explains.
Chinese Myths and LegendsView on Amazon →
Article 1: The Creation Myths — Pangu and Nüwa
The first part of the series explains the creation myths of how the world and humankind were born.
It covers in detail the story of the giant “Pangu,” who produced the world from a chaos-egg, and the goddess “Nüwa,” who made humans from clay and mended the broken heaven with five-colored stones.
Article 2: The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and the Start of Civilization
The second part of the series explains the legendary sage-kings said to have granted civilization to the people, the “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.”
It covers stories such as “Fuxi,” who taught the people hunting and writing; “Shennong,” who taught agriculture and medicine; and “Yu,” who tamed the great flood.
Article 3: The Heroes of the Myths
The third part of the series explains the stories of heroes and gods that color Chinese mythology.
It covers striking stories such as “Houyi,” the master archer who shot down ten suns; “Chang’e,” who ascended to the moon; and the giant “Kuafu,” who chased the sun.
Three Features of Chinese Mythology
Chinese mythology differs considerably in character from Greek or Norse mythology. There are three great features worth knowing for reading it.
| Feature | Content |
|---|---|
| 1. Historicized | The gods are built into history as “ancient sage-kings” rather than “gods of myth” |
| 2. Unsystematic and fragmentary | There is no genealogy of the gods or consistent story; it is scattered across the classics |
| 3. Revived in later ages | It was revived as story in Taoism and Ming-era novels (Journey to the West, Investiture of the Gods) |
Especially important is feature 1, the “historicization of myth.” In China, gods such as Fuxi, Shennong, and the Yellow Emperor are told not so much as gods themselves but as “great emperors (sage-kings) who built civilization,” and were even built into the opening of the history book Shiji. The boundary between myth and history is blurred from the start.
Also, as in feature 2, there is no organized system of gods like Greece’s twelve Olympians, and the stories are scattered across geographies, philosophical works, and history books. These were later, as in feature 3, organized as Taoist gods, or turned into story as the subject of novels like Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods, gaining life again. The images of Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) and Nezha that we are familiar with are also products of this revival.
To Learn More
Here are some related books. Reading them alongside this series lets you savor this world even more deeply.
Chinese Mythology: The Birth of the GodsView on Amazon →
Chinese Myths and Legends from ZeroView on Amazon →
Conclusion
In this article, I introduced the big picture of Chinese mythology’s original texts and what the three articles of the series cover. How was it?
Chinese mythology has no single scripture; it is reconstructed from records scattered across various classics like the Shanhaijing, Huainanzi, and Shiji. From the creation, through the sage-kings who built civilization, to the tales of heroes, its grand scale is its feature.
I also explain the original texts of other myths and religions. For the full list, see the complete index of the world’s myths and religions.
For the strength of the gods and heroes, please use this ranking article as a reference too.
I hope you’ll read the next article too.
📚 Series: The Original Texts of Chinese Mythology (1/4)
