In history, almost every ethnic group and region has a creation myth that belongs to its own ethnic group, and China's Pangu Open Heaven and Earth is one of these stories.
The emergence of myths and stories in our country can be advanced to the primitive social period as early as possible, and human beings explain natural phenomena through reasoning and imagination. However, because the level of understanding at that time was still very low, and many things could not be correctly explained, those things were often shrouded in a mysterious color.
Mythology is the manifestation of people's attempts to conquer nature with the help of fantasy. Most of the images of gods in mythology have superhuman powers, idealized by primitive human cognition and aspirations.
China's myths are divided into creation myths, myths of gods and Buddhas, heroes and other types, these myths and stories, showing the ancient people's struggle for natural forces and the pursuit of ideals, is a kind of spiritual sustenance, human yearning and religious realization of the display, has a profound impact on the literature and art of future generations. It represents the worship and respect for nature that human beings generate in the process of asking for living space from nature.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas is an absurd and strange book written earlier in China, and later generations have calculated that the Classic of Mountains and Seas was written in the Chu State from the middle and late Warring States to the middle and late Han Dynasty, or was written by the Bashu people.
The masterpiece of Zhi Wei that we are going to introduce today is called "Search for God".
The Book of Search for Gods was born in the Jin Dynasty, and its author is Gan Bao.
Gan Baozi Lingsheng, born in the 5th year of Taikang in the Western Jin Dynasty (284 AD), died in the 57th year of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (351 AD), a native of Xincai (present-day Xincai County, Henan Province), was a famous writer and historian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Gan Bao began to study diligently from a young age, and when he was emperor of the Jin Dynasty, he was recommended by Wang Dao to be a zuoshu lang, and was ordered to lead the revision of the history of the country, and later wrote the twenty volumes of the "Jin Ji", which was called Liangshi by posterity. Later, Gan Bao participated in the suppression of the rebellion of the Jingxiang displaced people, and was supplemented as a San'in Order, and moved to An Taishou. Gan Bao wrote "Spring and Autumn Zuo Clan Yi Wai Biography", annotated "Zhou Yi", "Zhou Guan" and other books, and collected ancient and modern gods and strange anecdotes, and wrote 30 volumes of "Search for Gods", which was originally scattered, and the existing version is compiled by posterity.
"Search for God" is a Zhiwei novel, in the Wei Jin Zhiwei novel, "Search for God" is the most preserved and representative one. It not only reflects the basic content of the Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties Zhiwei novels, but also represents the highest level of Zhiwei novels in this period in art. It has had an extremely far-reaching influence on the history of Chinese novels, and is known as the "originator of Chinese Zhiwei novels".
There are 454 stories in the "Search for God", some of which promote the superstitious ideas of gods and ghosts, which belong to the dross of history. The other part is some practical folklore and secular stories, which are also the essence of this book. In the essence section, there are stories of lashing out at the brutality and cruelty of the ruling class and praising the people's resistance struggle, such as "Gan General Mo Evil", which depicts the blacksmith Mo Evil being killed by the King of Chu after successfully forging a sword for the King of Chu, and later, his son avenged his father. Although the plot is absurd and bizarre, it shows the strong will and heroism of the people to resist rape.
Another example is "Han Ping and His Wife", which tells the story of King Kang of Song who occupied Han Ping's wife and forced Han Ping to die, and his wife He Shi was not afraid of threats, was not used, and committed suicide. The work gives a merciless condemnation of the absurdity of the ruling class and the crimes that have caused tragedies of blood and tears to the people.
There are many stories in "Search for God" that express and praise the excellent qualities and extremely beautiful ideals of the working people, such as "Li Shu", which tells the story of the poor girl Li Ji who disregarded her personal safety and hacked the big snake to eliminate harm for the people, and composed a heroic hymn.
There is also a variety of love stories in "Search for God", reflecting a series of efforts by young men and women to fight for the freedom of marriage. Among them, there are people who love each other, and there are people who love God, and there is a deep spirit of realism in the romantic fantasy. "The Little Girl of King Wu" is such a story. Wu Wangfuchai's youngest daughter Ziyu and the boy Han Zhong fell in love, and their love was grossly interfered with by Wu Wang, resulting in a love tragedy. This story praises unwavering love and indicts the evils of the feudal system, which is heart-wrenching and even more sympathetic.
Like other Zhiwei novels of the Six Dynasties of Wei and Jin, the Book of Search for God has had a great influence on the development of literature and art in later generations, and its shadow can be seen in the legends and folklore of the Tang dynasty and in the Song and Yuan scripts. The novels and dramas of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties have absorbed many of the creative materials in "Search for God", and Guan Hanqing's "Dou E'e Grievance" is a further development of "Filial Piety in the East China Sea".
Pu Songling wrote in the preface to "Liaozhai Zhiyi": "Cai is not a dry treasure, Ya loves to search for God." It can be seen how profoundly the "Search for God" had on the birth of "Liaozhai Zhiyi". Until now, some of the stories in "Search for God" are still the creative material for writers.
Friends who like Zhiwei novels, may wish to take a look at the pioneering works of this Zhiwei novel, experience the development path of Zhiwei novels, look for the continuation and development of old stories in the new era, and create better works.