The Mythological Archetypal And Evolution Of Chi You Myth In Pre-Qin And Han Periods

The pre-Qin period has already produced the basic plot of Chi You myth,such as Chi You rebellion,the war between yellow Emperor and Chi You,Chi You as a courtier,Chi You making weapons and so on.The core plot is the war between Huang Di and Chi You,which comes from The Book of Mountains and Seas.In The Book of Mountains and Seas,the original state of this myth is well preserved,and the myth ritual archetypal of this myth is reflected.Huang Di,a symbol of the natural order,fought with Chi You,a symbol of the destruction of the natural order.The battle is also a contest between the two most important factors for farming peoples,rain and drought.Ying Long and Nu Ba,controllable weather controllers,became assistants to Huang Di.Feng Bo and Yu Shi are uncontrollable forces of nature,on the side of Chi You.The war between Huang Di and Chi in The Book of Mountains and Seas is a natural myth,reflecting the struggle between the defender of order and the destroyer.During the Warring States period and the Han Period,many changes took place in the Chi You myth.For the need of constructing their own theories,in the warring States period the Thinkers narrated the Chi You myth,not too much in the specific plot,but concerned about this text as a historical period that can be traced and their own discussion.The evolution of Chi You myth was deeply influenced by the social and historical conditions at that time.The war events in reality,the change of ideas and the construction of different groups make Chi You myth go towards historicization and become political myth.Chi You then became a traitor to Huang Di.With the unification trend at the end of the Warring States Period,the Chi You myth text also moved toward integration.Represented by the official history of Five Emperors,the story of the war between Chi You and Huang Di was determined as a contest between the legitimate son of heaven and the rebels.This process did not eliminate the contradictions in the Chi You myth plot,but left a basis for future generations to continue to explain.In the Han Dynasty,the official sacrifice to Chi You also changed from prosperity to decline.On the other hand,the historicization of Chi You myth is mainly the result of the evolution of upper culture,and its natural attribute has been preserved to a great extent in the folk.In the folk narration,Chi You not only got rich in image,but also continued to develop in story plot.Juedi opera continues its ritual setting,play a greater role in the military and disaster avoidance functions of god of war and soldier,influenced by folk religion and belief,different characters participated in the plot of fighting with Chi You.So the folk and the official developed Chi You’s narration which was interrelated but different.