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Chinese Mythology: Gods, Creatures and Legends

An encyclopedia of Chinese myth built from the sources: what the old books actually say, in our own translation, and how each legend grew.

What is Chinese mythology?

Chinese mythology is the body of myths, legends and folk belief that grew up in China over more than three thousand years. It has no single canon and no founding poet. Instead the stories are scattered across early histories, books of philosophy, geographies such as the Shan Hai Jing, Daoist and Buddhist scriptures, temple traditions and the great Ming dynasty novels. Different centuries and different regions tell the same story in different ways, and the sources often disagree with one another. That is part of the subject, not a flaw in it.

Several layers sit on top of each other. The oldest are creation stories and culture heroes: Pangu who separated sky from earth, Nuwa who shaped people from clay and mended the sky, Fuxi, Shennong and the Yellow Emperor who taught humanity to farm, write and heal, and Yu the Great who tamed the floods. Alongside them stand the strange beasts and mountain gods of the Shan Hai Jing. Later came the organized Daoist heaven with the Jade Emperor at its head, Buddhist figures such as Guanyin who were absorbed and made Chinese, and the hugely popular gods of everyday religion: the God of Wealth, the Kitchen God, Guan Yu and Mazu. Finally the novels of the Ming dynasty, above all Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods, fixed the versions most people know today.

Where the stories come from

Because there is no single scripture, every entry here names its sources. The ones we return to most often are the Shan Hai Jing, or Classic of Mountains and Seas, a geography of beasts and gods compiled before and during the Han dynasty; the Heavenly Questions in the Songs of Chu, a long poem that asks about the myths of its day; the Huainanzi, a Han dynasty compendium that preserves the fullest early versions of Nuwa and the archer Yi; the Records of the Grand Historian, whose opening chapters turn the sage kings into history; In Search of the Supernatural, a fourth century collection of strange tales; and the Ming novels Journey to the West and Investiture of the Gods.

Many creatures also live in dictionaries and ritual texts rather than in stories. The Shuowen Jiezi, the first Chinese dictionary, defines the dragon; the Book of Rites lists the four spirit animals; the Erya glosses the qilin. These short definitions are often the oldest evidence we have, and we quote them in the original with our own English translation.

How this encyclopedia works

Each entry opens with quick facts and a one-line answer, then goes to the texts: the original Chinese passage, our translation, and where it comes from. From there we follow the legend forward through later books, art and festivals, and say plainly when a popular detail is late or when the sources disagree. Where a creature also appears in our free browser game Beasts of Shanhai or in the Shan Hai Jing bestiary, we link across so you can see the original art and the game version.

The encyclopedia grows every week. We start with the figures people ask about most, the dragon, the Monkey King, the qilin, the pixiu, the gods and the great beasts, and add individual entries for gods, heroes, places and creatures from there.

Entries

The Shan Hai Jing bestiary

Our illustrated bestiary covers 43 creatures from the Classic of Mountains and Seas one by one, from the nine-tailed fox and Taotie to the faceless Hundun and the all-knowing Bai Ze. Every page gives the original entry, our translation and the creature's original art from the game.

Play with the beasts

All 43 creatures in the bestiary are also units in Beasts of Shanhai, a free auto battler set in the world of the Shan Hai Jing. Build a team, counter the five elements and clear ten trials in your browser, no download or account needed.

Play Beasts of Shanhai free

Questions

What are the main gods of Chinese mythology?

The Jade Emperor rules heaven in the Daoist pantheon, above the Three Pure Ones in some systems and below them in others. Nuwa and Fuxi are the creator pair, Pangu separated sky from earth, and the most worshipped everyday gods include Guanyin, Guan Yu, the God of Wealth, Mazu and the Kitchen God. Our gods entry goes through each of them.

What is the most famous Chinese myth?

In the English-speaking world it is probably the story of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, from Journey to the West. In China the stories of Nuwa mending the sky, Chang'e flying to the moon and the archer Yi shooting down nine suns are at least as well known.

Is Chinese mythology Daoist or Buddhist?

Both, and older than either. The earliest myths predate organized Daoism and the arrival of Buddhism. Daoism later built a heavenly bureaucracy out of older gods, Buddhism added figures such as Guanyin and the underworld kings, and popular religion mixed all of it together.

What are the Four Symbols?

The Azure Dragon of the east, the Vermilion Bird of the south, the White Tiger of the west and the Black Tortoise of the north. They stand for the four directions and seasons and appear on Han dynasty tombs, mirrors and tiles.

Where can I read the original texts?

Many of the sources exist in English translation in print. Each entry here quotes the relevant passage in the original Chinese with our own translation, so you can see exactly what the oldest text says.

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