China is a close neighbor of Southeast Asian countries. Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has established close ethnic relations with many ethnic groups in Southeast Asia, and has carried out friendly exchanges for thousands of years through various means. Among them, the influence of ancient Chinese myths and legends, as well as religious myths and legends and folk myths and legends formed by later generations on Southeast Asia, is a witness to this long-standing friendly relationship.
One
In a nutshell, China's influence on Southeast Asian myths and legends is mainly through three channels, namely ethnic migration, cultural exchange, and religious spread.
According to the research of relevant experts, around the Neolithic period, the production of southern China and the Indochina Peninsula has made great progress. The improvement of production technology and the improvement of maritime means of transport have created the necessary conditions for long-distance migration. Beginning about 5,000 years ago, groups of Chinese ancestors brought the advanced culture of their inhabited areas, or directly from Yunnan and Guangxi into the Indochina Peninsula, or from the South China Sea into the Indo-Islands and the Malay Peninsula, combined with local residents to jointly create the prehistoric culture of Southeast Asia. According to research, this wave of ethnic migration has lasted for thousands of years. It is conceivable that in the process of the common life, common labor and mutual exchange between the Chinese ancestors and the ancestors of Southeast Asia, the myth as the sum of the original ideologies will naturally present a colorful picture.
Southeast Asian petroglyphs, produced about 2000 to 3000 years ago, are probably the earliest examples of this view. Southeast Asian petroglyphs are the earliest illustrations of the lives of the inhabitants of Stone Age Southeast Asia, revealing their religious activities and intellectual pursuits, as well as their relationship with nature and the supernatural. It should be said that Southeast Asian petroglyphs are the earliest remnants of Southeast Asian mythology. Almost all of the Rock Paintings in Southeast Asia are based on hunting, and the pictures are mainly local animals, mostly cattle, dogs, fish, and elephants. Also most common is the sun. According to the general laws of mythological development, these may be totems of the beliefs of the primitive ancestors of Southeast Asia. Because totemic belief is the earliest belief of most peoples in the world, totemic mythology is also the earliest myth of the primitive ancestors. Totems are generally based on animal totems, and the worship of the sun belongs to the totem worship of natural phenomena. According to expert analysis, many of the original petroglyphs found in Cangyuan, Gengma and other places along the tributaries of the Lancang River in southwestern Yunnan, China, not only have similar content to those in Myanmar and northern Thailand, but also have similarities in the style of sun, man, cow, dog and other paintings. This reflects that the ethnic groups in southern Yunnan and the northern Indochina Peninsula in China are likely to have had a direct connection since the Neolithic period.
In addition to the chinese influence on Southeast Asian mythology through the path of ethnic migration, there is also an important way, that is, cultural exchange. According to Chinese historical records, from the Qin and Han dynasties of China to modern times, the economic and cultural exchanges between China and Southeast Asia have never been interrupted. During this period, more and more immigrants moved from China to Southeast Asia.
The brass drum is probably one of the most powerful physical evidence of economic and cultural exchanges between China and Southeast Asia in ancient times. The copper drum is a drum made of copper, which is characterized by "copper throughout, a face at one end, a hollow bottomless, and four ears attached to the side". It originated at the end of the primitive society in Southeast Asia, and it should be said that the copper drum reflects the highest degree reached by the primitive culture of Southeast Asia from both material and cultural aspects. The large number of patterns, lines and shapes on the brass drums are a true portrayal of the ideas and beliefs of the ancestors of Southeast Asia, as well as a true illustration of the mythological stories they created. For example, the most common sun pattern on the southeast Asian copper drum reflects the strong sun worship psychology of the primitive ancestors, and the ornamentation of birds, frogs, toads, deer, dogs and other animals is related to the totem worship of the ancestors. These can be confirmed by the myths and legends that are still circulating in Southeast Asia.
The copper drum culture in Southeast Asia is very closely related to the copper drum culture in China. First of all, the main ornaments on southeast Asian copper drums, such as sun patterns, bird patterns, feather patterns, frog patterns, boat patterns, etc., can be found in the copper drum culture of southern China. This undoubtedly proves that the two geographically adjacent regions of southern China and Southeast Asia had frequent cultural exchanges as early as the Neolithic Period. As for who influenced whom, the most beginners have no unanimous opinion. However, since the 1950s, due to the continuous excavation of Hegel I-type copper drums and "pre-Hegel I-type copper drums" in southern China, especially in Yunnan, China, which fully proves that Yunnan, China is the origin of copper drums in the world, so the theory that "copper drums originated in southern China" has been recognized and endorsed by archaeologists in many countries. According to Kao, the copper drum was very popular with the local residents after it was transmitted from Yunnan, China to Southeast Asia, and spread rapidly. It flourished for centuries BC and spread throughout The Indochina Peninsula and the Indonesian archipelagos of Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.
The myths and legends circulating in Southeast Asian countries can also confirm the relationship between the Chinese ancestors and the ancestors of Southeast Asia in terms of ethnic relations and culture.
The Vietnamese historical book "The Complete History of Da Yue", when recording the inheritance of the ancient royal lineage in Vietnam, quotes the "Legend of Hong Pang" in the ancient mythology and legend collection "Lingnan Shade Monster", saying that the Yue kings are "after the Shennong clan". The Vietnamese have always regarded King Xiong as the founding king of the country, which shows that the Vietnamese historical records regard the Shennong clan as the ancestor of the Yue royal family. In fact, vietnamese dynasties have also always enshrined the three emperors and five emperors of China in the royal temple, and the three emperors and five emperors were offered to the main hall, while the Vietnamese royal families, such as the king of Jingyang, the raccoon king, the xiong king, the shi king, the ding xian emperor, etc. were offered in the partial chamber.
A myth circulating in Myanmar, "Three Dragon Eggs", says: In ancient times, the dragon princess and the son of the sun god fell in love, married each other, and gave birth to three dragon eggs in Myanmar. One of them broke and became a gemstone, so Myanmar is rich in gemstones; another dragon egg hatched a girl, sent to China by the gods, to become the queen of China; and another dragon egg became a boy, that is, the famous king of Myanmar, Tho Tho Low. Burmese historical texts call the Chinese emperor "Ullubah", which some scholars believe means "the same egg". This is also the reason why Burmese people still call Chinese "cell wave", that is, "brothers".
A myth of human origin in the Philippines, "The Birth of Sulu Island and Its First People", says that the inhabitants of Sulu Island are the offspring of a combination of an egg-born Filipino man and a Chinese princess born in a bamboo knot.
In addition, many southeast Asian countries still widely spread Chinese folk beliefs. For example, the worship and worship of the "Virgin of the Queen of Heaven", the Mazu, is popular in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In addition, some holy places and holy tombs related to famous Chinese historical figures have become places of worship for Chinese and locals in Southeast Asia, such as the Sam Po Gong Temple and the Great Uncle Gong Temple in Three Treasure City, Indonesia, which are still at the height of incense and fire all year round, and the Three Treasure Gong (Zheng He) and the Great Uncle Gong (Guan Gong) are respected by the local people. Myths and legends about Sampo And Guan Gong are widely spread among the people of Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries.
It can be seen that through ethnic migration, cultural exchanges and religious dissemination, China has had a considerable impact on the myths and legends of Southeast Asia, whether ancient myths and legends, religious myths and legends, or later folk myths and legends. Due to the large number of Southeast Asian ethnic groups, the complexity of the mythological system, and the fact that Southeast Asian countries have not excavated and sorted out their own myths and legends, it is very difficult to comprehensively and deeply study the relationship between China and Southeast Asian myths and legends, and can only be preliminarily discussed according to the limited information currently available.
Two
The close relationship between Chinese myths and legends and Southeast Asian myths and legends is mainly reflected in three types.
The first type is a myth and legend about the origin of dragons. As a symbol of the Chinese nation, the dragon originated from the ancient dragon totem worship. The Dragon Nation had an absolute advantage in ancient China, not only the Chinese nation was the Dragon Clan, but also the Southern Miao, Yue, Northern Xiongnu, Eastern Zhuyi, Western Qiang, and later transformed into the Dragon Clan' Northern Di, Xi Rong, Pan Arc and other ethnic groups are all direct or collateral descendants of the Dragon. According to Chinese scholars, the image of the dragon was first found in the pottery pot dragon pattern excavated from the Yangshao cultural site in Banpo, Xi'an. The shape of this most primitive dragon, in addition to the longer body slightly similar to the snake, the other is completely the image of the fish, the cultural relics unearthed before the Han Dynasty, the evolution of the dragon pattern on it, all reflect the original dragon is a fish animal as long as a snake. In addition, china's ancient books all record that dragons are aquatic animals. For example, the "Twenty-Ninth Year of Zuo Chuan Zhao Gong" says: "Dragons, water things also." ”
In addition, there is also the saying that the original image of the dragon is a snake, which is based on the fact that dragon and snake totem tribes were widely found in ancient China, and the bodies of Fuxi and Nüwa were human snake homomorphs.
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and other countries have myths and legends about dragons.
The Vietnamese "The Story of Raccoon Dragon Jun" says that Raccoon Long Jun, also known as Long Jun, was the son of King Lu of Jingyang, the fifth generation descendant of the Shennong clan of Emperor Yan. The king of Jingyang has a very good water nature, and the water house is like walking on the ground, so he is recruited by the dragon king as a horse and marries the dragon girl for a hundred years. A year later, he had a son, named Chonglian and named him Raccoon Longjun. In many places in the story, it is described that Long Jun, because he is the son of the Dragon Girl, loves water very much, so he often returns to live in the water house. Later, Raccoon Longjun combined with his brother Emperor Yi's daughter Ji Ji to give birth to a meat fetus, and seven days later a hundred eggs rolled out of the meat fetus, and each egg gave birth to a baby boy. After having a hundred sons, Raccoon Longjun still lived in the Dragon Palace for a long time, ignoring the government and politics, and only when the people in the country called him loudly when there was a problem, he immediately returned to the ground. Once, Concubine Ji rebuked him, "We now have a hundred sons, but you are always in the water house, leaving me alone and miserable, alone and sad." Why? Long Jun replied, "I am the Dragon Clan, the leader of the Water Clan, and I should live in the water." And you are a fairy, used to living on land. We can't live together for long. In desperation, the couple finally broke up, and a hundred sons were also evenly distributed: fifty belonged to Raccoon Longjun, brought back to the water house, and each of them divided the waters and lived separately; fifty belonged to Ji Ji, who lived on land with her mother, and also divided the territory and lived separately. Ji Ji lived in Fengzhou with fifty of her sons. The eldest son was elected king, and was called the King of Xiong, the title of Wen Lang Guo. Since then, the throne has been passed down from generation to generation. This is where the king recorded in vietnamese and chinese ancient texts originated. Therefore, today's Yue people also call themselves "Dragon Sons and Immortals", and hundred eggs give birth to hundreds of sons, and hundreds of sons are regarded as the ancestors of Lingnan Baiyue.
It can be seen that the Vietnamese myth and legend of the Dragon King is the descendant of the authentic dragon. The unalterable habit of the Dragon Clan is to "love water", that is, to live in water, that is, to survive without water. After Raccoon Longjun and the Land Immortal Ji Ji gave birth to a hundred sons, the state affairs and family affairs needed him so much, and he could not change the nature of his underwater life, so that he finally broke up with his beloved wife forever.
For example, he fought with the fish spirit in the water for three days and three nights, fighting the white waves and the wind, and finally defeating the ever-changing fish spirit. He fought against the fox spirit by dispatching the water tribe's subordinates and sending water to help the battle to break through the fox spirit's nest. However, in the face of the wood spirit who was good at casting spells on the land, Raccoon Longjun seemed powerless, and finally had to turn to his father Jingyang King, who had boundless mana, to subdue the wood spirit.
According to these stories, it can be judged that the "dragons" in Vietnamese myths and legends are also "water objects", that is, fish, not snakes. More directly, the ancestors of the Yue people originally used fish as their ancestors. Another myth can be corroborated by this myth: there is an island east of the Wenlang Kingdom, and it is said that the peoples on this island were transformed by fish when Pangu opened the sky, and they slowly learned to speak when they settled on land. It is very difficult to stand and walk at first, but it is easy to move in the water.
There is a myth in Laos, "The Story of Kowloon", which tells the source of the Lao Dragon people, that is, the main ethnic group in Laos. In ancient times, in the Mekong River Basin lived a woman named Meining. One day, when she went into the water to catch fish, she was hit by a log full of rough scales in the water. Soon she became pregnant and gave birth to her ninth son, whom she named Kowloon. Once a dragon in the river came out of the water and asked Kowloon's mother where his son was. Then he stuck out his tongue and repeatedly licked the back of the Kowloon who had no time to escape. Since then, Kowloon has been incredibly powerful and intelligent. So the people embraced him as the head of the tribe. Since then, this tribe has multiplied for generations. The nine sons of Mei Ning became the ancestors of the Lao people. This myth also makes it clear that the Lao people are also descendants of the dragon. Since their ancestor "dragon" was a scaly water creature, it was probably also a fish, not a snake. It is worth noting that this myth is the same as the "Nine Dragon Myth" recorded in the ancient Chinese books "Huayang Guozhi Nanzhongzhi" and "Later Han Shu Lamentation Biography". This may not be a coincidence.
The Burmese myth "Three Dragon Eggs" mentioned above also shows that burmese people, like the Chinese, Vietnamese and Laotians, claim to be descendants of the dragon.
There is also a legend about dragons in Cambodia: the dragon girl met and fell in love with a prince on Themu Island by chance. In order to congratulate the horse, the Dragon King showed great power, sucked the sea water around Temu Island dry, expanded the area of the island, and then concocted a luxurious palace for the couple. The prince wanted to meet the Dragon King and the Dragon Queen who lived in the Undersea Dragon Palace, but because he could not divide the water, he had to pull the dragon girl's long gauze skirt in his hand, led by the dragon girl, and walked towards the Dragon Palace. The sea then flashed to both sides, and finally saw the Dragon King and the Dragon Queen. Apparently, Cambodia's legendary Dragon King, Dragon Queen and Dragon Girl are also spirits in the water. Its plot is also quite similar to the Chinese story about dragons.
India also has myths and legends similar to the Chinese dragon (Naga). Naga is called "Dragon People" in Buddhism, and its original and later images are of a multi-headed python with neither scales nor fins, which is clearly different from that of Chinese dragons. There are many stories about Naga in Buddhist mythology, and it is said that Shakyamuni was reborn as Naga more than once. Such myths and legends also have a great influence on Southeast Asian countries, especially on The Buddhist countries of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and other countries.
The second type is the grain origin myth. Among them, the most representative myths of the origin of feilai rice-type cereals can be found in Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi in China and Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines in Southeast Asia.
The chinese myths about the origin of flying rice grains have different plots, but most of them have a common motif: in ancient times, rice grains were large (as large as eggs or radish) and automatically flew to the barns of each family. Later, the grain was broken or driven away by a lazy woman with something like a wooden stick, and it became as small as it is today, and it could not fly.
The myth of the origin of flying rice-type grains in Southeast Asian countries is generally consistent with the myths of various ethnic groups in China in terms of motifs and plots.
The origin of rice in Cambodia is this: at first, rice grew so wide that people did not have to cultivate it to wait at home for the rice to automatically fly into the granary. One day, an arrogant woman thought that the rice was too noisy when it flew into her house, so she beat the rice with a wooden board. In one breath, the rice flew into the stone crevices of the deep mountains and old forests to hide. Later, Yu'er took the initiative to help the hungry people and begged the Rice King to return to the villagers' homes to save mankind. The Rice King agreed, but on the condition that the villagers had to cultivate and harvest themselves. People had to do what The Rice King said.
The Vietnamese myth about the origin of rice is much the same: a long time ago, the Jade Emperor let the rice grow on its own in order to protect human beings from the suffering of field labor. When the rice is ripe, the grains move like ants along the rope to every household. A delicious and lazy woman who had not cleaned the house when the rice came into the house, and the house was dirty and messy. When the rice grains rushed through the door and poured into the house, the woman became angry, grabbed a broom and desperately whipped the rice grains, causing the rice to scatter. When the Jade Emperor learned of this, he was very angry and changed the original arrangement, not only making the rice grains smaller, but also making people have to cultivate and harvest and suffer from labor.
The myth of the origin of the flying rice-type grain of the Lao Long people in Laos says that in the primitive period, the grain was as large as a pumpkin, and when it matured, it would automatically roll from the field to the owner's barn. One day, before a lazy widow could clear the barn, the grain kept rolling from the field, and the widow was furious and drove the grain back to the field. Since then, the grain has become smaller and no longer automatically rolls into the barn.
Mr. Tairyo Obayashi, a Japanese mythologist, said in his article "Genealogy of the Legend of the Origin of Rice Cultivation in the South Island" that the myth of flying rice, known as the Indochina type of rice, such as the Lao Dragon Clan in Laos, has also been found in northern Malacca and San Pedro in the Philippines. Now, Chinese and foreign scholars have confirmed that Hemudu is the earliest rice producing area in the world with a large amount of physical evidence. China's archaeologists and agricultural experts have further demonstrated that the Hemudu culture is the birthplace of Chinese rice farming, and as a center, it spreads around, spreading to the northeast across the sea to Korea and Japan, and to the south to Taiwan and southeast Asian countries. Until now, Vietnam and Thailand still call rice "grain", which is consistent with the name of rice by the ancestors of the Vietnamese people in southern China.
To sum up, it seems that it can be said that both scientific archaeological arguments and written and legendary evidence show that the myth of the origin of China's flying rice-type grains and such myths widely circulated in Southeast Asia may indeed have a close direct relationship, and the similarity of their motifs may not be accidental coincidences.
The third type of myth and legend in Chinese and Southeast Asian myths that may have a "blood relationship" is the "myth of brothers and sisters replanting human beings after the Flood".
The flood myth is a universal literary phenomenon in the world. Part of this is based on the theme of "The Only One Who Survives after the Flood Passes on Mankind", which is a primitive myth of the same type shared by several ancient civilizations in the world. Although the plot is mostly similar to the above classical myths, its central motif , "Brothers and Sisters (or Brothers) Replanting Human Beings " has its own unique status and significance. Its distribution of regions and ethnic groups is not limited to China, but also extends to Southeast Asia.
Such myths circulating in China have the same basic plot as follows:
1. Heavy rain (or oil fire) due to some reason (or unspecified reason);
2. The Flood exterminates all living beings, except for the brothers and sisters (or brothers) who survive by providence or other blessings.
3. In order to reproduce, the remaining brothers and sisters (or brothers) obey the divine orders or through other means such as divination, and finally marry.
4. Husband and wife produce normal or abnormal fetuses, complete the task of passing on offspring (or no sexual relations after marriage, and pass them on by induction or kneading clay people).
The above plot can be simplified to the following two motifs:
(1) Flooding (or spreading of natural fire, etc.) exterminates all living beings, which can be called the motif of "flood annihilation".
(2) The only remaining brothers and sisters (or brothers) after the disaster either obey the orders of God or through some means, lift the psychological disorder, marry and reproduce, which can be called the motif of "brothers and sisters marry and reproduce human beings".
The author has collected a total of 18 flood myths in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and other countries, of which 7 are "the myth of brothers and sisters marrying and re-colonizing human beings after the flood". Of these 7, 3 are from Vietnam, 2 from Laos and 2 from the Philippines. Through comparison, it can be seen that these 7 myths are exactly the same as the motif and plot of the above-mentioned Chinese "myth of brothers and sisters marrying and re-breeding human beings after the flood". Just take Laos' Lao Ancestors as an example:
In order to punish the sin of "godlessness in the eyes" of human beings, the gods cast spells and rained for three years, three months and three days. The earth was flooding and a vast ocean, and human beings were drowned one after another, leaving only the two brothers and sisters who were put into the gourd by their parents to survive. One day after the flood, a partridge bird flew in and persuaded the brothers and sisters to marry, and the sisters and brothers were very angry and threw stones to beat the bird to death. Later, the sister and brother lived for a long time, but still did not see anyone coming, so they married. The wife was three years, three months and three days pregnant, and gave birth to a strange gourd. After another 30 days, I suddenly heard the noise of people inside, so I used an iron shovel to poke a hole in the gourd. Unexpectedly, three groups of people came out of it, and these three groups of people are the ancestors of the three major ethnic groups of LaoSing, Laolong and Laosong in Laos.
Such myths between China and Southeast Asia are not only identical in motifs and main plots, but also strikingly similar in some details, such as:
(1) In Vietnamese, Burmese, and Lao mythology, after a brother and sister (or brother and sister) get married, the wife often does not give birth directly, but a husband who produces meat buns, gourds, pumpkins, etc., and then gives birth to people from these hollow things. According to this, it can be analyzed that the ethnic groups of Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar, laos and many ethnic groups in China may have produced gourd (pumpkin) worship in history, and have regarded the gourd as a symbol of mother worship and ancestor worship, and as the ancestor of mankind.
(2) The flood myths of Vietnam, Laos and other countries are also the same as the Chinese flood myths, saying that two brothers and sisters (or brothers) breed after marriage and become the common ancestors of all ethnic groups. For example, the Flood Myth in Vietnam says that the two sisters and brothers gave birth to 6 ethnic groups, including Bana, Sedang, Heye, Moi, Jing, and Cham. According to the Lao flood myth, the descendants of the sisters and brothers are the ancestors of the three major ethnic groups: Lao Ting, Lao Long and Lao Song. Burmese flood myths also say that some ethnic groups, such as the Shan, come out of the same pumpkin. The spread of such myths is undoubtedly of positive significance for the national unity and reunification of these countries.
(3) After the flood, the brother and sister (or brother- and sister) are reluctant to combine, and after the guidance of the gods (Vietnam, the Philippines), animal persuasion (Vietnam, Laos) or the use of rolling stones, needles (Vietnam) and other methods, the two finally dispelled their doubts and married, these details are basically the same as the Chinese flood myth.
In addition to the above-mentioned content of brothers and sisters marrying and re-breeding human beings, there is another type in the Southeast Asian flood myth, that is, the reconstruction of human beings has nothing to do with the marriage of brothers and sisters, but is the result of god-given pumpkins to give birth to people. For example, a flood myth in Vietnam says that two gods brought 8 pumpkins to the earth after the flood, placed them in 8 regions, and then used eight Optimus Pillars to poke the pumpkins one by one, so that 330 peoples came out of them. A Burmese flood myth says that a superhuman wise man found two pumpkin seeds from the belly of a god-given cow, planted the pumpkin seeds, produced two large pumpkins, and then walked out of them from the people of all ethnic groups in Myanmar. The Lao flood myth says that the gods gave the only three kings and a buffalo, and after the buffalo died, a vine grew from its nostrils, on which a large pumpkin was produced, and then out of the pumpkin came the ancestors of the three major ethnic groups of Laos.
The Chinese flood myth also contains content in the reconstruction of human beings that have nothing to do with the marriage of brothers and sisters, but it is not god who gave pumpkins to give birth to people. As the Dai flood myth says, a gourd floats out of the water and a person comes out of the gourd. The Wa flood myth also says that when the flood was terrible, a gourd drifted from afar, and the ancestors of various ethnic groups came out of it. It is worth noting that in the 8 Philippine flood myths collected, there is no content of gourds or pumpkins, and the brothers and sisters left behind by the flood are normal fetuses, up to 5 men and 4 women, and are the ancestors of a nation, that is, it is not explained that all ethnic groups are of the same root.
China and Vietnam have special relationships in geography, ethnicity, and religious culture, so Chinese myths and legends have more similarities with Vietnamese (mainly Vietnamese) myths and legends. In addition to the above three types of myths and legends, it can be used as an example: First, China and Vietnam are influenced by the Confucian rationalist worldview and historicize mythological figures. For example, the emperors in the myths of the Fuxi clan, the Furen clan, the Shennong clan, and the Yellow Emperor gradually evolved into kings in history and called their ancestors. Like China, Vietnamese texts failed to restore the complete system of their mythology, but instead historicized them according to the needs of feudal society. From the 15th century onwards, historicized myths and legends were incorporated into the official vietnamese annals. Early compilations of medieval literature from the 14th to 15th centuries and historical narrative poems of the 17th century, such as the Book of the Southern Heavens, began to adopt mythological themes. Second, after Buddhism began to spread in Vietnam around the mid-1000s AD, the myths of the Vietnamese were mixed with Buddhist myths, Taoist myths, and myths from southern China. As a result, the Heavenly Emperor was called the Taoist Jade Emperor, and the Buddha was described as a benevolent master, and still had the kind of temperament of having white hair and high morals. Some Chinese myths and legends such as Nüwa, Pangu, Chang'e Benyue, Niulang Weaver Girl, Sun God, Moon God, Wind God, Fire God, Thunder God, etc. have been adapted or recreated. For example, in Chinese mythology, the groundbreaking Pangu became the Tianzhu God of Yue mythology, and the main plot of the two is roughly the same. The difference is that Chinese mythology says that as Pangu's body grew, heaven and earth became more and more separated. There is also a late legend that "Pangu holds an axe and chisels to divide the world". And the myth of the Yue people says that the god of the pillar of heaven suddenly stood up, lifted the ceiling with his head, and then dug up the earth and stones, built a pillar of heavenly stone, and held the ceiling. The higher the pillars, the higher the sky rose as high as it is now. The Heavenly Pillar God is the supreme god of the Yue people, he rules everything between the universe of heaven and earth, and is also known as the Jade Emperor. The Chinese Pangu and the Vietnamese Tianzhu God (The Jade Emperor) created all things differently: after Pangu's death, the various parts of his body became people, mountains and rivers, grasses, trees, sun, moon, stars, etc., while the Tianzhu God only created mountains and rivers and kneaded various animals out of mud, while other tasks such as man-making were completed by many gods. Third, it can be seen from the chaos myth that the primitive cosmology of the Chinese and Vietnamese ancestors is basically the same. The first is the concept of cosmic chaos before creation, which holds that the universe is chaotic, and God emerges from chaos, and this chaotic myth is one of the oldest myths. The second is to imagine the creation of the world as the separation of heaven and earth, that is, the concept of the separation of heaven and earth. The third is the concept of "heavenly round place" after the separation of heaven and earth, "the earth is flat and flat, like a huge square plate, and the sky is like a bowl that is buckled upside down", which is the same as the cosmological concept of "heavenly round place" in ancient China. But this perception should have arisen later.
Myth is the precursor of history, and although it is not equal to history, it contains certain historical elements. Through the above comparison and analysis, it can be clearly seen that China and Southeast Asian myths and legends have a long-standing "blood" relationship. This not only proves that China and the ancestors of Southeast Asia have had close economic and cultural exchanges since the primitive society, but also confirms that there may be historical origins between China and some ethnic groups in Southeast Asia.
Finally, it should be emphasized that the geography and ethnic situation of South-East Asia is complex, and its myths and legends are not a single system, but are composed of several different systems. In the process of its formation and development, the myths of each system have their own unique historical backgrounds such as economy, geography and national culture and psychology, and have formed their own characteristics. The exchanges between the various systems of Southeast Asian mythology and between them and the myths of various Chinese peoples are not one-way, but mutual and multi-directional, and their relationships are extremely complex, and it is difficult to trace and sort out clearly. But what is certain is that this multilateral mutual exchange and influence has played a very important role in promoting ethnic integration, economic development and cultural progress among Southeast Asian countries, as well as between China and Southeast Asian countries.
【About the Author】
Zhang Yu'an, born in 1945. A native of Qian'an County, Jilin Province. He graduated from the Department of Oriental Languages and Literatures of Peking University in 1969. Professor of the Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures, College of Foreign Chinese, Peking University, and doctoral supervisor. He has been engaged in the teaching and research of Indonesian and Malaysian languages and cultures for a long time. He is the chief editor of the books "Oriental Myths and Legends", "Commentaries on Indonesian Folk Tales", and "Comparative Studies of Oriental Folk Literature". He is the co-author of Basic Indonesian, Four Cultures of the World and Southeast Asian Literature, and Dictionary of Oriental Literature.
Source: The original article was published in Southeast Asia, No. 3, 1999, and the annotations have been omitted, see the original issue for details.