Myths and Legends of China

Myths and Legends of China

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Title: Myths and Legends of China
Author: E. T. C. Werner
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Language: English
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Myths & Legends of China
By
E.T.C. Werner
H.B.M. Consul Foochow (Retired) Barrister-at-law Middle Temple
Late Member of The Chinese Government Historiographical Bureau
Peking Author of "Descriptive Sociology: Chinese" "China of the

Chinese" Etc.
George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. London Bombay Sydney

In Memoriam
Gladys Nina Chalmers Werner
Preface
The chief literary sources of Chinese myths are the _Li tai shên hsien
t'ung chien_, in thirty-two volumes, the _Shên hsien lieh chuan_, in
eight volumes, the _Fêng shên yen i_, in eight volumes, and the _Sou
shên chi_, in ten volumes. In writing the following pages I have
translated or paraphrased largely from these works. I have also
consulted and at times quoted from the excellent volumes on Chinese
Superstitions by Père Henri Doré, comprised in the valuable series
_Variétés Sinologiques_, published by the Catholic Mission Press at
Shanghai. The native works contained in the Ssu K'u Ch'üan Shu, one
of the few public libraries in Peking, have proved useful for purposes of
reference. My heartiest thanks are due to my good friend Mr Mu
Hsüeh-hsün, a scholar of wide learning and generous disposition, for
having kindly allowed me to use his very large and useful library of
Chinese books. The late Dr G.E. Morrison also, until he sold it to a
Japanese baron, was good enough to let me consult his extensive
collection of foreign works relating to China whenever I wished, but
owing to the fact that so very little work has been done in Chinese
mythology by Western writers I found it better in dealing with this
subject to go direct to the original Chinese texts. I am indebted to
Professor H.A. Giles, and to his publishers, Messrs Kelly and Walsh,
Shanghai, for permission to reprint from Strange Stories from a
Chinese Studio the fox legends given in


Chapter XV

.
This is, so far as I know, the only monograph on Chinese mythology in
any non-Chinese language. Nor do the native works include any
scientific analysis or philosophical treatment of their myths.
My aim, after summarizing the sociology of the Chinese as a
prerequisite to the understanding of their ideas and sentiments, and
dealing as fully as possible, consistently with limitations of space
(limitations which have necessitated the presentation of a very large
and intricate topic in a highly compressed form), with the philosophy of
the subject, has been to set forth in English dress those myths which
may be regarded as the accredited representatives of Chinese
mythology--those which live in the minds of the people and are referred
to most frequently in their literature, not those which are merely
diverting without being typical or instructive--in short, a true, not a
distorted image.
Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner Peking February 1922

Contents



Chapter
I. The Sociology of the Chinese II. On Chinese Mythology III.
Cosmogony--P'an Ku and the Creation Myth IV. The Gods of China V.
Myths of the Stars VI. Myths of Thunder, Lightning, Wind, and Rain
VII. Myths of the Waters VIII. Myths of Fire IX. Myths of Epidemics,
Medicine, Exorcism, Etc. X. The Goddess of Mercy XI. The Eight
Immortals XII. The Guardian of the Gate of Heaven XIII. A Battle of
the Gods XIV. How the Monkey Became a God XV. Fox Legends XVI.
Miscellaneous Legends The Pronunciation of Chinese Words

_Mais cet Orient, cette Asie, quelles en sont, enfin, les frontières

réelles?... Ces frontières sont d'une netteté qui ne permet aucune erreur.
L'Asie est là où cesse la vulgarité, où naît la dignité, et où commence
l'élégance intellectuelle. Et l'Orient est là où sont les sources
débordantes de poésie._
_Mardrus_, La Reine de Saba



CHAPTER I
The Sociology of the Chinese
Racial Origin
In spite of much research and conjecture, the origin of the Chinese
people remains undetermined. We do not know who they were nor
whence they came. Such evidence as there is points to their
immigration from elsewhere; the Chinese themselves have a tradition
of a Western origin. The first picture we have of their actual history
shows us, not a people behaving as