Appreciating World

Mythology
China
 Introduction
Chinese mythology is a mythology that has been passed
down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic
area now known as "China". Chinese mythology includes
many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions.
Chinese mythology is far from monolithic, not being an
integrated system, even among just Han people. Chinese
mythology is encountered in the traditions of various classes
of people, geographic regions, historical periods including
the present, and from various ethnic groups.

Much of the mythology involves exciting stories full of

fantastic people and beings, the use of magical powers,
often taking place in an exotic mythological place or time.
Like many mythologies, Chinese mythology has in the past
been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of
history.
Many myths involve the creation and
cosmology of the universe and its deities and
inhabitants. Some mythology involves creation
myths, the origin of things, people and culture.
Some involve the origin of the Chinese state.
Some myths present a chronology of
prehistoric times, many of these involve
a culture hero who taught people how to build
houses, or cook, or write, or was the ancestor
of an ethnic group or dynastic family.
Mythology is intimately related to ritual. Many
myths are oral associations with ritual acts,
such as dances, ceremonies, and sacrifices.
 Facts about their gods
Chinese traditional religion is polytheistic; many deities are
worshiped in a pantheistic view where divinity is inherent in
the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing,
imitating and propagating the way of heaven which is the
supreme god head manifesting in the northern culmen of the
starry vault of the skies and its order. Many gods and
ancestors or men who became deities for their heavenly
achievements; most gods are also identified with stars and
constellations. Ancestors are regarded as the equivalent of
heaven within human society.
Gods are innumerable, as every phenomenon has or
is one or more gods, and they are organized in a
complex celestial hierarchy. Besides the traditional
worship of this entities, Confucianism, Taoism and
formal thinkers in general give theological
interpretations affirming a monistic essence of
divinity.
 Myths on the founding of
Chinese mythology
Chinese creation myths are symbolic narratives about
the origins of the universe, earth, and life. In Chinese
mythology, the term "cosmogonic myth" or "origin myth"
is more accurate than "creation myth", since very few
stories involve a creator deity or divine will. Chinese
creation myths fundamentally differ
from monotheistic traditions with one authorized version,
such as the Judeo-ChristianGenesis creation
myth: Chinese classics record numerous and
contradictory origin myths.
Some Chinese cosmogonic myths have familiar themes in comparative
mythology. For example, creation from chaos, dismembered corpses of a
primordial being world parent siblings, and dualistic cosmology. In contrast,
other mythic themes are uniquely Chinese. While the mythologies
of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece believed primeval water was the single
element that existed "in the beginning", the basic element of Chinese
cosmology was qi ("breath; air; life force"). Birrell explains that qi "was
believed to embody cosmic energy governing matter, time, and space. This
energy, according to Chinese mythic narratives, undergoes a transformation at
the moment of creation, so that the nebulous element of vapor becomes
differentiated into dual elements of male and female, Yin and Yang, hard and
soft matter, and other binary elements.
 Gods and goddesses of
Chinese mythology

Chang’e The Jade EmperorZao- Shen

Zhinu
Sun Wukong Guanyin
 How do they worshiped their gods
The two doctrines that are indigenous to China are
Confucianism and Taoism. Both of these faiths are
pretty widespread and do inform the general
philosophical view of Chinese, no matter which
faith they claim.

It’s interesting to note that none of these three

faiths really teaches worship of a god. Taoism is
focused manly on going with the natural flow of the
Creation while the chief emphasis in Confucianism
is harmonious conduct in society. Buddhism
teaches the state of mind that permits the
The weaver girl
and the cowherd
Vocabulary spinner
 Meaning Sentence:
: a group of houses and
associated buildings, larger
than hamlet smaller than The starting and arrivals
a town, situated in a rural of cars are now the
area. epochs in the village day.

Village
(noun)

Synonyms: Antonyms:
hamlet, township, town let downtown, municipality, burg
 Word game
VILLAGE
V- vile, vial, villa, vill
I- ill, ilea
L- lie, live, lag, lave
A- ale, age, all, ail
G- give, gave, gill, gal, gale
E- ell, evil
 Meaning Sentence:
: a person who weaves
fabrics especially as an
occupation. His father was a poor weaver, and the
expenses of his early education were
paid by one of his godfathers.

Weaver
(noun)

Synonyms: Antonyms:
weaverbird, weaver finch
 Word game
WEAVER
W- weave, wave, wear, ware
E- eve, ear, ere, ever, ewer
A- aver, are, awe
V- veer
R- rave, raw, reave
 Meaning Sentence:
: a place regarding in
various religions as the
abode of God and the angelsHe hopes to go to heaven
and the good after death, when he dies.
often traditionally depicted
above the sky.
Heaven
(noun)

Synonyms: Antonyms:
kingdom, paradise, sky hell, perdition
 Word game
HEAVEN
H- heave, have, hen
E- eve, eave
A- ave, an
V- van, vane
N- nave, nee
 Meaning Sentence:
: a feeling of strong love or
loyalty for a person.
The devotion they felt for each other
other was obvious.

Devotion
(noun)

Synonyms: Antonyms:
affection, attachment, fondness
abomination, hatred, rancor
 Word game
DEVOTION
D- devote, dove, dot, done, dote
E-
V- vote
O- one, ode
T- toe, tone, tod, toed, ten, tin
I- ion
N- nod, note, node
 Meaning Sentence:
: a person whose job is to take
care of cows.
Always together and never apart,
they lived their lives with great
devotion and Cowherd was no
longer
lonely.
Cowherd
(noun)

Synonyms: Antonyms:
cowman, wrangler, cowgirl
 Word game
COWHERD
C- cow, coed, code, core, coder
O- owe, ode, owed
W- woe, wed, whore, wore
H- hoe, how, hoed
E- echo, eco
R- red, row, rode, rod
D- doe, dew, drew
 Summary of the story
Characters: Event:
Zhinu- the weaver girl The goddess Zhinu married a
Niulang- the cowherd mortal man which is illegal that
Empress goddess- the one who made the empress goddess
made the galaxy angry and made a celestial river
Ox- the companion of Niulang called the galaxy.
Setting: Plot:
On the Mountain where the The empress goddess found out
cowherd lives, at the lake where that Zhinu married a mortal, she
the lovers met and at the heaven ordered her to go back to
where the empress goddess heaven. Niulang followed her,
created the milky way galaxy. but the empress goddess made
a large river to separate the two
Ending: lovers.
Zhinu and Niulang stays on each
side of the river and never be
togethe,r except once a year ona
single night in the 7th day of the
seventh moon.
 Plot Diagram
Climax

Exposition Resolution
 Exposition
Once upon a time, there were seven
goddesses who lived in heaven. They were all
sisters. One night, they took a trip to the mortal
world. They wanted to explore over there since
it was difficult to obtain permission from the
Empress goddess. They decided to bathe
together in a lake which was located near a
cowherd’s home. The cowherd’s name is
Niulang.
 They laughed and splash water. Because of
the sounds the cowherd woke up and decided
to check what was the commotion about. Once
he stepped out , he saw all of them and that
was when his eyes laid sight on one of the
goddess, Zhinu. They fell inlove immediately
and had two children.
 Rising action
The other sisters got worried because it was
illegal for a goddess to marry a mortal man. In
fact they did not want the goddess of heaven to
find out. But, she ended up finding out, ordering
Zhinu to return back to heaven to resume her
weaving duties.
 Climax
Niulang was very sad and upset. What would
life be without Zhinu? Seeing this, his ox
started to speak and tell him that if Niulang
would kill the ox and put on the hide, he will be
able to travel to heaven and see Zhinu. Crying,
the cowherd killed the ox and put on the hide
and also carried his two children to find Zhinu.
This made the goddess of heaven furious and
created a large river to separate them as far as
possible. We call this the Milky Way Galaxy.
 Falling action
However the cowherd didn’t gave up.
Together with Zhinu’s six other sisters, it
took a very long time until the Goddess of
Heaven made the decision to allow
Niulang to see Zhinu on a single night in
the 7th day of the seventh moon.
 Resolution
Zhinu seats eternally on the other side of the
river, weeping while she weaves cloud on her
loom. Niulang, with their two children gazes
with his deep sadness as his love from across
the great expanse. The lovers will never be
together except once a year. In preparation for
this event, magpies form a bridge for them to
see each other. Once they reunite, it starts to
rain because both lovers and the magpies are
sad.
Truth in life represented in the myth
In the myth The weaver girl and the cowherd,
it is illegal for a goddess to marry just a mortal
man. Because they are not on the same state
and they don’t fit together. I can picture this
out in reality. Some elite people forbids their
children to marry a commoner because they
are not the same affluent as them. They
believe that riches are for riches, and poor's
are only for poor’s .
 Questions
1. Why did the empress goddess created a milky way?
2. Who help Niulang fly?
3. When did Niulang and Zhinu meet every year?
4. How many children do they have?
5. Who helped them to meet each other?
6. What did the magpies do?
7. Why is that the empress goddess got mad when she
found out that Zhinu married Niulang?
8. What is the lesson that you’ve learned from the
story?
9. Why can’t they be together anymore?
10. Where did the story take place?
 Answers:
1. Because she got mad after finding out that Zhinu married a
mortal man.
2. The ox.
3. On the Qixi festival of the Chinese, on the seventh day of the
seventh moon.
4. Two.
5. The magpies, and Zhinu’s sisters.
6. They formed a bridge for them.
7. Because the goddesses believe that it is illegal for them to
marry a mortal.
8. I’ve learned that we should never be a hindrance on the live
life of others, because we don’t know what is the effect of it in
them.
9. Because the goddess of the heaven made a vast river to
separate them as far as possible.
10. On the mountain and on the vastness.
 Acknowledgement
I would like to extend my heartfelt
gratitude to my English teacher, Mrs.
Beatriz G. Espinosa for giving me this
assignment serving as a challenge on
my journey to reach my goal. I would
also like to thank the sources that really
helps me a lot. To my parents who
understands me even though I always
got home late at night. And also to my
friends who motivated me.
 Source
https://medium.com/…/chinese-folktale-the cowherd-
and-the-weaver-girl-cd045f934a
https://www.theephoctimes.com/the-cowherd-and-the-
weaver-girl_391106.htm
 Biodata
Name: Justine Dawn P. Juevesa
Age: 15 year sold
Birthday: October 30, 2003
Address: Prk. 3 Polonuling, Tupi, South
Cotabato
Ambition: To be a flight steward someday
Motto: Kill them with success, and burry
them with a smile.