Chinese Mythology - Major Concepts

Major Concepts

Some myths survive in theatrical or literary formats as plays or novels. Important mythological fiction, seen as definitive records of these myths, include:

  • Verse poetry of ancient states such as "Lisao", "Jiu Ge", and "Heavenly Questions" traditionally attributed to the authorship of Qu Yuan of Chu
  • Fengshen Bang (Investiture of the Gods), a mythological fiction dealing with the founding of the Zhou dynasty
  • Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, published in the 1590s; a fictionalized account of the pilgrimage of Xuanzang to India to obtain Buddhist religious texts in which the main character encounters ghosts, monsters, and demons, as well as the Flaming Mountains
  • Baishe Zhuan, a romantic tale set in Hangzhou involving a female snake who attained human form and fell in love with a man

Read more about this topic:  Chinese Mythology

Famous quotes containing the words major and/or concepts:

    Society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less.
    —John Major (b. 1943)

    Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to the intellectual expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-medical jargon that parodies the concepts of science. The social style conforms to the political expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-liberal social movement that parodies the ideals of freedom and rationality.
    Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)