On the Similarities and Differences between Chinese and Western Creation Myths

On the Similarities and Differences between Chinese and Western Creation Myths

Myth is a collective oral story created by people, which shows people's worship and struggle for super power, their understanding and imagination of ideal pursuit and cultural phenomena. It belongs to the category of folk literature, which has high philosophical and artistic quality. The following is my carefully arranged discussion on the similarities and differences between Chinese and western creation myths, hoping to help you!

[Abstract] 1. The definition and production of Chinese and western myths and legends.

2. Analyze and compare the image of "God" between China and the West.

3. The artistic characteristics and influence of Chinese and Western myths and legends.

[Keywords:] myths and legends, China, ancient Greece, comparison

Text: The so-called myths and legends are the products of primitive human fantasy and imagination. China scholars' interpretation of myth is generally based on Marx's theory of myth. "Any myth uses imagination and imagination to conquer, dominate and visualize natural forces", and it is "a natural and social form itself that has been processed by people's fantasy in an unconscious artistic way". Because natural forces are actually dominant, myths disappear. " So we know that China and the West are the same in the definition of myth. Below, the similarities and differences of its internal characteristics are compared and analyzed in detail.

First of all, the stories of natural gods and their meanings are basically the same. 1. From the perspective of the relationship between myth and productivity, it is a reflection of the low-level development of productivity. Farag put forward an accurate understanding in Religion and Capital: "Myth is neither a liar's lie nor a product of meaningless fantasy, but a simple and spontaneous form of human thinking. "Myth most vividly reflects the primitive thinking characteristics of early people. In China, in ancient Greece, it is the same. In the primitive period of mankind, productivity was extremely low and people's thinking ability was extremely simple. At this time, human beings are still in the so-called ignorant or semi-ignorant state. They are mysterious about nature and its changes, and they don't have enough knowledge to explain them. Therefore, various questions often haunt their minds, such as how heaven and earth were formed. How did everything about human beings originate? Why is it sometimes windy, sometimes rainy, sometimes thunder and lightning? Why do the sun and the moon rise and set in the west? Wait a minute. They can't give scientific answers to these questions, so they use some narrow life experiences to imagine and fantasize, so that they think that all natural things are like people, with will, character and feelings, which forms various concepts of natural gods in the minds of primitive people. Primitive people in China and the West believed that the sun and moon were gods, wind and rain were gods, and lightning was gods. For example, Artemis is the moon god in Greek mythology, and Zeus is the supreme god in Greek mythology, but he is also called Raytheon because he is proficient in lightning. In China mythology, those stories involving man and nature, such as Pangu's creation of the world, the body incarnates everything; Nu Wa created man with loess and refined five-color stones to make up the sky, which embodies the original thinking characteristics of * * * *.

Secondly, the two have * * similarities in the image of "God". Ancient Greek mythology can be divided into two parts: stories of gods and legends of heroes. The mythical god, like human beings, has lust, good and evil, scheming and blood relationship, all of which are personalized images. This is the "theory of the likeness of God and man". However, the difference between God and man is also obvious. They are immortal, can be deformed at will, have their own special skills and great strength, and their likes and dislikes play a decisive role in the life and death of human beings in the lower world. The heroes in the legend of heroes are all descendants of God, who are demigods and demigods. With extraordinary talent and perseverance, they accomplished some amazing achievements under the protection of a certain god, condensed the collective wisdom and strength, and showed the early Greek people's praise and yearning for hard work, courage and heroism. It often takes a hero as the center, forming a series of legends, such as Oedipus legend series and Odysseus legend series, which have the same effect as the immortals in China myths and legends. They are all mythical images of gods, just like China's Jingwei filling the sea, controlling the water, shooting the moon in nine days, and the goddess mending the sky. , which has a strong humanistic color.

Third, there are great differences between the East and the West in the performance of heroes. In the primitive times of ancient China, people were seriously threatened by powerful natural forces and often suffered from various natural disasters, but they often did not have enough ability to overcome and subdue it. So they fantasize that heroes with superhuman abilities can appear, lead or help them to conquer and conquer nature and become their protectors or friends. In this way, they created various heroic gods and their stories on the basis of some struggle experiences. The stories of these heroic gods, on the one hand, express the strong desire of primitive humans to conquer and defeat nature; On the other hand, it is often a summary of some human labor experience and command. On this basis, China people unconsciously imagine and exaggerate according to people's appearance, especially those who have the ability of invention and creation or outstanding wisdom and skills in their own tribe, and have created heroes with great courage and supernatural power. In these heroes and stories about them, we can often see some ancient history. For example, in ancient Chinese mythology, there were Shennong, who invented herbs and planted crops for the people, and Huangdi, who led the people to defeat the southern fierce god Chiyou and made many inventions. In the face of Chiyou's disobedience to management, the Yellow Emperor was brutal and belligerent and repeatedly violated the border. After repeated persuasion, in vain, he had to send troops to conquer. In this war, Ying Long and Nu Wa, subordinates of the Yellow Emperor, put the overall situation first. Qi Xin finally defeated Chiyou, pacified the Central Plains and laid the foundation of the Chinese nation. They all have superhuman ability and divinity in mythology, but in history, they belong to the leaders and inventors of some tribes in primitive times, but their skills are exaggerated and deified in legends. In the ancient myths of China, the stories of such heroic gods account for the majority, which shows that the myth of China is mainly produced not because of the awe of nature, but because of the demand and desire of human beings to conquer nature, which to some extent reflects the praise of human beings for their own labor experience and wisdom.

Heroes in western mythology do not consider the interests of the people, the public, and the country and the nation. Most of them consider their own self-interest. For example, the Battle of Troy in Greek mythology, this fairy tale involves many gods in Greek mythology. It is for a beautiful woman, Helen. Even more incredible, the Greek gods also participated in the war, supporting different participants. And the two sides played with relish, which made the war even more ridiculous in the eyes of China people. In this war, we can see that all gods are fighting for personal interests and reputations, and even agree that in order to gain fame and personal dignity, they can go to extremes by any means, and the war itself is of little significance. There is another place in the story, which shows the value orientation of westerners more vividly. Achilles, the bravest general in the Allies, was insulted by arguing with Agamemnon, the commander in chief, over a female prisoner. Achilles pointed at Agamemnon. He believes that Agamemnon, as commander in chief, has nothing to lack and nothing to be dissatisfied with. He is a man who longs for money, power and beauty. Why should he compete with himself for a maid? It is precisely because he hurt his self-esteem and sense of honor, but also hurt his personal interests, so when the Greek Coalition forces failed again and again, and almost reached the end of disaster, he refused to participate in the war, which made the Greek Coalition forces worse and fell into a greater predicament. These situations are almost impossible and will not happen in China's fairy tales, because in China's fairy tales and real life, they are hierarchical and orderly. There is no doubt that the expression of heroes in foreign myths has deeply influenced future generations, so we can see the western moral standards from the expression of myths. In the early days of the rise of western capitalism, predatory occupation was carried out everywhere, crazy wars were waged for colonies, and naked slave trade was carried out. For their own self-interest, they don't consider national feelings at all. This is a far cry from China's ancient and modern culture. Finally, it analyzes the similarities and differences between Chinese and western myths and legends in artistic characteristics and influence. Chinese and western myths and legends are characterized by strong imagination, strong story and strong philosophy. Whether it is the myth of defeating natural forces or the myth of defeating human evil, it closely revolves around the theme of human existence. Moreover, in Chinese and western myths and legends, their heroes are full of inspiring fighting spirit, miraculous ability and heroism, and contain a positive and enterprising spirit of life. Moreover, in every myth, there are strong emotions and vivid images. It provides a direction for Chinese and western literature, a treasure house and soil for Chinese and western ancient literature, and an inexhaustible source of subject matter for later literary creation.

[Resources] (Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume II, Page 1 13)

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