Folk Narrative Study On Nu Wa Myth Of Shanxi,Shaanxi And Henan

As one of the earliest ancient goddesses in Chinese Mythology,Nu Wa exerted positive effects on the formation of humankind and the development of the human civilization.She was an outstandinggoddess who combined ancestor mother and cultural heroine together.Prior to the ethic becoming civilized,she initiated human beings with mud and patched the hole in the sky with stone.Then she created the god Shenmei to master the propagation of human and invented Shenghuang to enrich people's lives.Many kinds of ancient mythologies have been spread far and widely among the Central Plains,which consists of Shanxi province,Shanxi province and Henan province.Situated in the central plains and influenced by the Chinese civilization earliest,this area owns the profound historical culture and details.As one of them,the mythology of Nu Wa spans over those provinces.Due to the same theme,the mythologies of Nu Wa in different provinces are associated with each other,meanwhile they have own features and focuses.This phenomenon that mythology flourishes in different places has become a precious cultural resources in the local community.This paper can be divided into five chapters.The introduction elaborates the background,objective and significance of the research,and according to the actual need,the paper probes the research status of Nu Wa myths from two basic perspectives.Then there follows an account of the research material,research methods and the definition of the relevant concepts of the research.The first quarter of the first chapter is about a geographical division to Nu Wa myths,which includes three aspects:firstly,the birthplaces of Nu Wa with the discussion about Chengkuang and Chengji;Secondly,the burial sites of Nu Wa with the views about Zhaocheng,Fengling and Rencheng;Thirdly,the places that reflect Nu Wa's activities,analyzing how she stretched her activities into Jiyuan and Zhuxian.The second quarter of this chapter introduces and lists the different distributions of Nu Wa myths.The second chapter focuses on the folk oral narration of the Nu Wa myths in Shanxi,Shanxi and Henan province.The chapter discusses the polymorphous narrative system of the Nu Wa myths from the perspective of the mythical figures.The first quarter is about the original narration of Nu Wa myths which appear in Jiyuan and Shexian.The second quarter adds mythical figure of Fu Hsi into the narration,this quarter can be divided into three parts:the first part takes Nu Wa as a subject,the second part make a joint discussion for Nu Wa and Fu Hsi,the last part takes Fu Hsi as a subject,the three parts are marked by three geographic locations respectively:Hongtong,Xinmi and Huaiyang.The third quarter is the mythic narration with different figures.Connecting with the practical territorial situation of Xihua and Jiyuan in Henan,Lantian in Shanxi,Hongtong in Shanxi,this quarter gives a discussion from three mythical figures:Gong-gong,Huaxu and Gaomei.The third chapter concentrates on the folk behavior recounting of the Nu Wa myths in Shanxi,Shanxi and Henan province.From maternal subjects that have utilitarian characters and living recounting that have fused the language and behavior into one,this chapter explores the real phenomenon of the Nu Wa myths and its narrative practice in the three provinces.The fourth chapter,which takes Xihua County as a new cases,investigates the contemporary inheritance of.Nu Wa's mythic narration in Xihua County of Henan province.This chapter begins with a discussion about the different narrative forms which mainly include the traditional narration of Nu Wa myths,the current society's narration and new narration creating by local scholars.At the same time,the writer takes the unique scripture songs as examples to analyze new narration and demonstrate the new phenomenons in civil society.On the basis of the academic research results and the solid field survey data,this paper collects Nu Wa myths in regional society from multiple aspects,integrates and classifies the resources of Nu Wa myths in Shanxi,Shanxi and Henan province,shows the different forms and characteristics of the myths,and also relates to other areas that have rich resources of Nu Wa myths when necessary.Starting with the theoretical basis of folk narratives,the paper explores both the folk oral narrations from a point of oral folk literature and the folk behavior recounting form a perspective of rites and behaviors,it pays more attention to the connection of folk literature and folklore,which reflects the real evolving situation of Nu Wa myths with a broad and comprehensive perspective.