What kind of "innocence" and genes does the myth embody in the civilizations of the East and the West?

In-depth study of the myths of different regions from all angles and the consistency and commonality of the development of human culture are of great historical and practical significance for us to build a "community of human destiny" today.

As the source of civilization and culture and the bearing form of national spirit, mythology has an irreplaceable and important position in any national culture. To this day, it profoundly affects the lives of modern people either through customs or with latent consciousness. Although there are various differences in the mythological narratives of the East and the West, and the myths of each ethnic group have distinct personalities, the civilizational memory they have created is common to the entire human race.

Is the content of mythology entirely in fiction and fantasy? Why are there so many similar motifs in ancient mythology in the East and the West? Zhou Ming, a special researcher at the Institute of Mythology of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, was recently interviewed by the "East and West Questions" column of the China News Agency, detailing how the myth reflects the evolution of the history and culture of the East and the West, and how it carries the common civilization memory of mankind.

The interview transcript is summarized below:

China News Service: The understanding of primitive myths is conducive to tracing the roots of national culture. So, in the different cultural contexts of the East and the West, what is mythology?

Zhou Ming: Myth is a unique cultural form that originated in human childhood. For a long time, due to their different positions, viewpoints, research methods, and perspectives, Chinese and foreign academic circles have had many different interpretations of the question of "what is a myth".

For example, in the West, the ancient Greek scholar Euchmarus of the school of mythological history said that myth was "history in disguise"; the ancient Greek scholar Xenophon of the school of mythology and metaphor said that myth was "the fable of the ancients"; the Austrian scholar Sigmund Freud of the psychoanalytic school said that "myth is a deformed fragment of the imagination and aspirations of the whole nation... it is an ancient fantasy of naïve human beings", etc., there are many sayings.

In July 2021, a projection on a building in Changsha showed Greek mythological figures. Photo by Yang Huafeng, a reporter of China News Service

In China, there are also various boundaries and definitions of what is a myth. Mr. Lu Xun said: "In the past, when the people of the early days saw that the heavens and the earth were all things, the mutations were not constant, and their phenomena, out of the ability of human beings, were self-made to explain them; everything that was explained is now called a myth." According to Mr. Mao Dun, mythology is "a kind of popular folk story, narrated by gods beyond human ability, although absurd and nonsensical, but the ancient people told each other, but believed it to be true."

I personally believe that mythology is a comprehensive consciousness created by primitive ancestors in the process of understanding nature and conquering nature, which reflects and expresses the thoughts, concepts, beliefs and extensive social life of early human beings. Mythology is characterized by a high degree of fantasy and explanatory character, and the form of expression is narrated by gods, demons, and supernatural divine heroes.

China News Service: Although the forms of civilization in the world are diverse, many ancient myths and stories have striking similarities, such as the opening up of heaven and earth, the origin of mankind, and the salvation of heroes.

Zhou Ming: In several ancient cultural systems that have influenced the development of world culture the most, there are more similar types of myths, which are academically known as mythological motifs.

From the origin point of view, the emergence of the same mythological motif is highly correlated with the similar stage of human social development, and the populations in different regions have more similar economic bases and conditions, social bases and conditions, psychological bases and conditions, linguistic bases and conditions, as well as more similar creators and inheritors (such as wizards and the like), thus causing the emergence of the same mythological motifs in different regional cultures.

For example, Greek mythology believes that the universe began as a chaos, and the god of chaos, Kaos, opened up the world and gave birth to five children, and the universe has since been divided into sky, earth, hell, darkness, and day. This is exactly the same as the groundbreaking plot of Pangu in China.

Prometheus was the creator of mankind, he made men out of clay, Athena gave human souls, and later Zeus created women. This "plot" is the same as our nuwa making people.

Prometheus quietly stole the tinder from the sun and gave it to mankind, where he was chained to the Caucasus Mountains by Zeus. In Chinese mythology, there is a fire god named Fu Bo, who is said to have stolen fire from heaven and gave it to mankind, and was finally demoted to the mortal world.

Antiques (Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome) art treasures. China News Service reporter Peng Dawei photographed

The same mythological motifs occupy a very important place in these cultural systems and profoundly influence the cultures of later generations.

China News Service: Comparing the ancient Chinese myths represented by the Classic of Mountains and Seas with Western myths, can we summarize the characteristics of Chinese myths that are different from Western myths?

Zhou Ming: First of all, as a whole, the biggest feature of Western mythology is that it has undergone many revisions, supplements, and improvements in the process of circulation, forming a relatively complete narrative style, involving many characters and stories and having strong logical connections, while the myths recorded in Qin and Han classics such as the Chinese "Classic of Mountains and Seas" have basically not changed after they have been finalized, and their content is simple, fragmentary, and has not formed a strong logical connection.

In December 2020, the large-scale indoor immersive light and shadow art exhibition "Whale Dream Wonders, Hidden Mountains and Seas" was launched in Chengdu. China News Service reporter An Yuan photographed

Secondly, the gods recorded and represented in Western mythology are highly inclined to "humanization"—that is, the world of gods and human life are integrated, and gods are like people, with joys and sorrows, as well as eating and drinking Lazarus. In the ancient Chinese mythology recorded in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, the gods basically have the image characteristics of "half beast and half man". For example, pangu in "Breaking New Ground" has the image of "dragon head snake body"; the image of Nüwa in "Nuwa created man" is "snake body human head"; the image of the Oriental Wood God Jurman is "bird body and human face".

Third, the basic difference between "humanization" and "deification" leads to the fact that Western mythology is more "realistic", while Chinese mythology is more inclined to "write fiction". In contrast, Western mythology is closer to the reality of real life, while the "supernatural" nature of ancient Chinese mythology is more intense, far from real life.

Finally, in terms of narrative methods, Western mythology is more delicate and perfect, and the interconnection between gods and gods and gods and between gods and people is relatively close. The narrative method of ancient Chinese mythology is more simple than that of Western mythology. This is also one of the biggest differences between ancient Chinese mythology and Western mythology.

China News Service: According to your analysis, it can be said that myths contain the ancient cultural genes of various ethnic groups in the world, so what are the far-reaching influences of Chinese myths on the formation of national spirits?

Zhou Ming: Myths that originated in distant antiquity are the root and source of national culture, and the influence of ancient Chinese myths on the formation of national spirits is reflected in the following points.

First, the spirit of exploration of positive thinking and the courage to find the root cause. In the various types of origin myths in ancient China, people are full of curiosity about the world around them and human life, and they constantly ask "why" and explain according to their own understanding, forming a primitive world view.

Second, the positive spirit of responding to natural challenges. Mythical stories such as "CangYu Zhi Shui" and "Nine Days of Shooting" in the Classic of Mountains and Seas tortuously reflect that when the ancestors faced a series of natural disasters such as floods and droughts, they did not passively submit to nature, but actively resisted through divine heroes such as "Cang", "Yu" and "Yi", reflecting the indomitable positive spirit.

Third, perseverance, perseverance and enterprising spirit. "Kwa Father Day by Day", "Jingwei Reclamation", and "Punishment Heaven Dance Ganqi" are typical representatives. Father Kwa opened his legs to chase the sun, Jingwei single-handedly grabbed the wood of the Western Mountains to fill the sea, and the head of the Heavenly Emperor was cut off by the Heavenly Emperor, still with milk as the eye, with the navel as the mouth, qi to dance, reflecting the spirit of fierce ambition is always there (Tao Qian).

In September 2020, the Jiangwan Scenic Area in Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province, described the myth and legend "Wunu Slaying the Dragon" passed down by the ancestors of Wuyi Wuyuan as a painting. Photographed by The China News Agency

China News Service: With the continuous updating of archaeological discoveries, people are more and more aware that myths are not simply fantasies and fictions, but also carry the true civilization imprints common to human beings.

Zhou Ming: In China, the study of mythology was for a long time mainly limited to literature, especially in the field of folk literature. Since the 1980s, with the introduction of a large number of mythological theories abroad, many scholars have broken through simple literary research and turned to multidisciplinary, multi-vision, multi-dimensional mythological research, and studied mythology as an ancient world cultural form from anthropology, ethnology, folklore, religious studies, philosophy, linguistics, history and other disciplines, in an effort to clarify various problems of myth and reality.

In recent years, with the development of archaeology around the world and the excavation of a large number of ancient sites, a large number of cultural relics have been unearthed, which has surprised people to see such an obvious connection between myth and reality. Especially at the specific stage of human cultural development, behind the shapes, ornaments, patterns, symbols, etc. of artifacts unearthed around the world, there are very similar mythological concepts support, with a high degree of consistency and commonality at a specific stage of human cultural development, which profoundly reveals the common memory that human beings have in the process of cultural development.

Therefore, in-depth study of the myths of different regions from all angles and the consistency and commonality of the development of human culture are of great historical and practical significance for us to build a "community of human destiny" today.

Respondent Profiles:

Zhou Ming, born in 1957 in Chengdu, is a member of the Mythology Professional Committee of the Chinese Folk Writers Association, a standing director of the Sichuan Folklore Society, a distinguished researcher of the Institute of Mythology of the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, and an associate editor of the Mythological Research Journal. He graduated from the department of Chinese of Nanchong Normal College (now Xihua Normal University) in early 1982, and entered the Institute of Mythology and Literature of Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences in early 1983, where he served as an academic assistant to the mythologist Mr. Yuan Ke for a long time, assisting Mr. Yuan Ke in writing and publishing academic works such as "Dictionary of Chinese Myths and Legends", "Chinese Myths and Legends", "Brief Outline of Chinese Literary History", "Dictionary of Chinese Ethnic Myths", "History of Chinese Mythology", "Annotations to the Classics of Mountains and Seas (Revised Edition)", mainly engaged in mythology, folklore and folk literature research.

Source: China News Network