Yi, Naxi Creation Epic Comparative Study

"World-originate Epic" is one of the basic forms of epic. This kind of epic mostly depicts the formation of the universe, origin of human being, custom and some animals and plants that are close to human life. The world-originate epics reflect the theme of the resounding for human labor and creativity, as well as singing for the grittiness of primary people who sticks to cultivating the nature and create the new world. This style of primary form of literature made by minority nationalities in South-west China is unique. It is one of the most important styles of literatures that include myths, ancient ballads,sagas and stories. We will mention two important minority nationalities in South-west China- Yi and NaXi who have several famous world-originate epics which are rich in the forms and strong in influence for community and production activities in the area they are living. It is necessary to deploy the study on the compare between Yi and NaXi world-originate epics masterpieces because the study will be very helpful for the further systematic compare research. So the research is of great value for enriching the compare research in minority nationalities' literature.The thesis is divided into four parts. In the first part "Introduction on The Basic Theory of Epic", the author briefly analyzes the different understandings on the term of "epic", the basic form of epics, the time when the epics were emerging, the social and cultural causes of the epics, and the relationship between the epics and human civilizations. The second part "The Cultural Ecosystem and Basic Feature for The Creation of The Epic", the author discusses the cultural reasons why so many epics are exiting in the minority nationalities community in South-west China. The following angles are under argument: ecosystem, history, literature and psychology factors. At the same time, the author also analyzes the basic feature of the epic, introducing the relationship between the epic and myth. In the third part "Comparative Study on the World-originate Epics of Yi and NaXi Nationalities", firstly was the systematically analysis of the significance to deploy the comparative study on the world-originate epics of Yi and NaXi, made the start point comparative literature basic theory. In another word, that is in the sense of "why to compare, Can be compared, how to compare". Then from the aspects of the distribution of the epics, form and social function of the epics, text,literature, the author systematically analyzes the similarities and differences on the world-originate epics of Yi and NaXi. In the last part, the author briefly introduces the achievements and problems that exit in the work of collection and research on the world-originate epics of Yi and NaXi nationalities. Then discusses the danger on the world-originate epics that the two nationalities will face in the new era. In the sense of national literature and culture, the author carries out his thinking about the protection and salvage for the epics.World-originate epic is the same as heroic epic that is an "encyclopedia" which generally reflects the society, history, religion, culture, language, literature and custom of a people, is a "museum for the sample of the national spirit". The study on this subject can be and shall be of multi-aspect, multi-level and multi-angle. In the thesis, the world-originate epics of Yi and NaXi nationalities are selected to assure the comparative study. It is only primary research on the subject which is quiet complicated.