The Chinese Culture Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Chinese CultureThis report is about the myths and beliefs of the Chinese culture. Its aboutthe stories the Chinese created to explain the terra firma around them, and generallyhow they perceived their surrounding environment. This report deals withancient myths and the people who believed them, and what the current believes ofthese people are.The Southwest Creation StoryThe Southwest creation fable is a myth which explains why people are different.The myth begins by saying that on that point were people on earth who were all alike,meaning there werent people who were black, white, oriental, etc.. It statesthat the humans on earth all generally were the same. on that point were also divinitys wholived above the clouds in the heavens. And there was a huge heavenly breakwhich started on a mountain and reached all the way up to heavens door. Itgoes on to tell a story of a man who had two children. One was a girl and theother was a boy.They lived in a signaling which had a hug e very cryptic roof. The man had built theroof so thick because it rained almost every day. He hated the rain. He knewit had its benefits but too much of it ruined his crops, destroyed his livestockand every time it rained the roof of the house was destroyed. And every timethe man rebuilt it, he made it thicker and thicker. He blamed all hismisfortune on the Duke of Thunder. The Duke of Thunder was one of the gods wholived in the heavens. He was the god of rain and thunder. The man dispised theDuke very much and had a pure hatred of him.Every time it rained the Duke would descend from the heavens and stand on a eyebrow. There he would watch with pure delight as the rains and thunder camedown harder and harder. Finally the man had had enough. One day he took hisaxe and waited on the hilltop for the Duke to arrive. When the rains came so didthe Duke, and the man slashed him in the back. The Duke washurt but not killed because he was a god. The man caged him and brought himhome. He pu t him in a corner and warned the kids not to go near him. And toespecially not give him water. The next morning was a beautiful sunny one, butthe Duke looked horrible almost as if he was dehydrating. The man told thechildren he had to go to the market and said again not to go near the Duke nomatter wha... ... his son. Zoa was killed by his ownchum who was ashamed of what his younger sibling had become. What themagician didnt tell Zoa was which close relative would kill him. Zoa whohad become overconfident wasnt as great as he apprehension he was. And he wastoo arrogant to not know that the gods should not be challenged. This mythtells that becoming overconfident will eventually hurt you and that no onecould beat their destiny. The Chinese in this story believed in the gods,they were very religious people and this myth tells that the gods should notbe challenged.Both of these myths were written a long time ago and I dont think that thepeople today still believe in these myths as s trongly as the people who wrotethem did. I think its like Halloween in our culture. We still practice thecustom as the ancient people did but we dont have as much as a strong believein ghosts and goblins as our ancestors did.BibliographyBirch, Cyril. Chinese Myths And Fantasies. Great Britain London, 1992.Fei, Charles. Strange Creatures. New York, 1990Ke, Yuan. Dragons And Dynasties. China Beijing, 1993*Chinese Myths.* Grolier Encyclopaedia, 12th ed. 1996.