Chinese Mythology 中国神话
From primordial chaos to the ordering of heaven and earth — these ancient tales carry the deepest imagination and cosmology of the Chinese civilization.
Nüwa Mends the Sky
女娲补天
When Gonggong smashed Mount Buzhou in fury, the sky pillar shattered and the earth's cords snapped. Nüwa smelted five-colored stones to repair the heavens and cut the legs of a great turtle to uphold the four corners of the sky.
Creation Myth
Jingwei Fills the Sea
精卫填海
Emperor Yan's daughter Nüwa drowned while swimming in the Eastern Sea. Her spirit became the Jingwei bird, who relentlessly carries twigs and pebbles to fill the ocean that claimed her life.
Indomitable Spirit
Houyi Shoots the Suns
后羿射日
Ten suns blazed across the sky simultaneously, scorching crops and withering all life. Emperor Yao summoned the divine archer Houyi, who shot down nine of the suns with his celestial bow, leaving one to warm the world.
Heroic Legend
Chang'e Ascends to the Moon
嫦娥奔月
Houyi obtained the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West. Chang'e drank it and floated upward to the moon, where she dwells alone forever in the cold Lunar Palace — a goddess of solitude and longing.
Tragic Romance
Pangu Creates the World
盘古开天
In the beginning, the universe was an egg of primordial chaos. Pangu awoke within it and, over eighteen thousand years, split it apart — the light and pure rose as heaven, the heavy and dark sank as earth. Pangu's body became the world itself.
Cosmic Origin
Kuafu Chases the Sun
夸父逐日
The giant Kuafu raced the sun across the heavens. When he reached it, an overwhelming thirst consumed him. He drained the Yellow and Wei rivers but perished before reaching the great marsh — his staff becoming a forest of peach trees.
Eternal Pursuit
