Chapter 5-4 The Origin of Humanity: Chinese Mythology

November 5, 2024

After reading the Western stories, one might marvel at how, under the Great Flood, the world seemed like a "global village". However, while the Bible's origin traces back to over 4000BC, it does not explain the origins of the God and the "fallen angels". Their account of the universe and all things beginning just over 6,000 years ago fundamentally lacks credibility. Therefore, to understand what might have existed before that, one might turn to the perspective of Chinese civilization.

The history of humanity likely goes back hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years. This civilization originated in mythology, and the reliability of these myths is widely debated. If we were to say these myths were fabricated, the ancient people, often struggling to find enough to eat, would have no clear motive for inventing such stories. Moreover, many of these mythological figures are said to have used "super-natural" abilities to perform good deeds, earning them praise and reverence passed down through generations, which may have led to their "deification".

Let's borrow a quote from the book "Aliens Are on the Back Side of the Moon" to support the idea that mythology is "oral history": "In the process of forming and spreading myths, due to limitations in understanding, human errors in compiling, and the need for myths to evolve by merging and assimilating other similar myths, the original appearance of the myth was lost, and it became severely distorted. But no matter how it changes, its essence as oral history remains unchanged."

Let's start with the Chinese myth "Pangu Creates Heaven and Earth"（盘古开天地）:

"A long time ago, heaven and earth were not yet separated, and the universe was in chaos. The giant Pangu slept in this chaos for 18,000 years. One day, Pangu suddenly awoke and struck out at the darkness around him. The chaos gradually divided, the light and clear rising slowly to become the sky, and the heavy and murky sinking slowly to become the earth. After the separation of heaven and earth, Pangu feared they would merge again, so he held up the sky with his head and stepped on the earth with his feet, causing the separation to increase daily and Pangu to grow taller and taller. After countless years, heaven and earth gradually took shape, and Pangu, exhausted, finally lay down."

After Pangu collapsed, his left eye became the sun, and his right eye became the moon, bringing light to day and night. His breath turned into the winds of the four seasons and the drifting clouds, his voice became the rumbling thunder, his skin transformed into the vast land, his limbs became the four poles and the famous mountains of the earth, his blood turned into the flowing rivers, his hair became lush vegetation, and his sweat turned into nourishing rain and dew...

The ancient ancestor of humanity, Pangu, used his entire body to create the beautiful universe, completing the mission of separating heaven and earth and creating the sun, moon, stars, mountains, and rivers. However, without animals, the earth was silent. Next, the legendary ancient goddess Nuwa made her grand appearance.

The story can be depicted as follows (Figure 5.8):

Figure 5.8: Nuwa creates humans (imaginary picture)

At the beginning of the world, there were no humans on the earth. The heavenly goddess Nuwa saw the silence of the world and felt very sad. Sitting by the river, she saw her reflection in the water and suddenly thought she could create humans in her own image. So, Nuwa molded yellow clay into human figures and breathed life into them, and the clay figures came to life. Delighted, Nuwa created both men and women and let them reproduce. She made many clay figures and later thought of a more convenient method: she dipped a rope in mud, lifted it, and flicked it, causing drops of mud to fall to the ground and turn into many small people. Later generations said that the wealthy were made by Nuwa's hands from yellow clay, while the poor were made from the mud drops flicked from the rope.

Nuwa, with a human head and a snake body, initially created small humans in her own image, but they only had an upper body. However, humans needed to rely on the earth to survive and could not fly, making movement difficult. After thoughtful consideration, Nuwa gave the humans a pair of legs so they could walk and run on the ground. Later, she also modeled feet after hands, giving humans feet and soles, with toes that could move as flexibly as fingers. Satisfied with her creation, Nuwa also imagined and created various birds, beasts, livestock, fish, and insects, establishing their rules of reproduction and assigning humans to manage them. Thus, the earth became vibrant with the arrival of life.

Interestingly, under "creationism", the laws defined by the gods for the human world might be a "scaled-down version" of their own realm: even gods are not omnipotent, must follow rules, and cannot achieve eternal life. At the beginning of humanity, legends from both East and West set an average lifespan for humans created by gods, necessitating reproduction and generational renewal. The "breath of life" blown by either God or Nuwa may be the true master of the body.

Moreover, creationism also provides a clear explanation to the age-old question: "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" The answer is: like humans, animals were created by the gods first, allowing them to reproduce according to established rules, and ensuring their ongoing existence.

After creating humans, Nuwa continued to care about the suffering of the human world. The most famous story in this regard is the legend of "Nuwa Mending the Sky"（女娲补天）. Heaven and earth, like all things, have their imperfections. In ancient times, Nuwa smelted 5-colored stones to repair the cracks in heaven and earth and cut off the legs of a giant turtle to support the four poles.

Later, Gonggong fought with Zhuanxu (the grandson of the Yellow Emperor) for the throne. In a fit of rage, Gonggong struck Mount Buzhou, breaking the pillar that supported the sky and severing the earth's connection. As a result, the sky tilted towards the northwest, causing the sun, moon, and stars to be positioned there (hence the eastward rise and westward set), and the earth sank towards the southeast, causing all rivers to flow in that direction (hence all rivers flowing east).

The collapse of heaven and earth, though a natural disaster, also involved human actions. The goddess Nuwa, like a compassionate mother, created life when heaven and earth were desolate. In the face of her children's mistakes, she resolutely stood up to protect the people from suffering.

Even after mending the sky, Nuwa did not withdraw. She continued to watch over her children, ensuring the orderly operation of all things and adhering to the "rules". She uplifted the human spirit by creating music and intervened whenever something went against the natural order, correcting or even stopping it if necessary.