Chinese Mythology: An Introduction

by Anne Birrell

"We must all thank Professor Birrell for providing an incredibly bountiful source, containing all manner of practical and fascinating information within its framework of myths. This book should find many uses and readers -- it is a superb resource for teaching about Chinese myth, literature, history, religion, culture, and thought." -- Suzanne Cahill, The Journal of Asian Studies In Chinese Mythology , Anne Birrell provides English translations of some 300 representative myth narratives selected from over 100 classical texts, many of which have never before been translated into any Western language. Organizing the narratives according to themes and motifs common to world mythology, Birrell addresses issues of source, dating, attribution, textural variants, multiforms, and context. Drawing on exhaustive work in comparative mythology, she surveys the development of Chinese myth studies, summarizes the contribution of Chinese and Japanese scholars to the study of Chinese myth since the 1920s, and examines special aspects of traditional approaches to Chinese myth. The result is an unprecedented guide to the study of Chinese myth for specialists and nonspecialists alike. "Goes far beyond anything in or out of print on this subject. Nothing remotely of this stimulating nature and high quality exists in English. It will be very much sought after by sinologists, but especially by non-sinologist comparativists. Birrell has singlehandedly saved the scholarly world at least a decade in its attempts to come to grips with this fragmented, refractory body of narratives... [A] marvelous work of humanistic scholarship." -- Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania "The first serious and comprehensive introduction to Chinese mythology aimed at both the specialist and general reader. It is splendidly organized with well-chosen texts, lucid commentary, and useful supplementary matter... Sets new standards in the presentation of Chinese mythology." -- Asian Affairs "One can safely expect to see this volume in all libraries that serve educated general readers as well as even the most modest academic libraries. Anne Birrell is to be congratulated for bringing this arcane subject matter into the grasp of a wide variety of readers outside the China-studies area." -- Robert E. Hegel, Chinese Essays, Articles, Reviews

Genres: Mythology, China, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Religion

322 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1993

Reviews

[Mesoscope · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work is essentially a compendium of Chinese mythological source material, introduced and translated in short snippets from ancient texts. I found it pretty frustrating that the material is organized by the prevailing motif of each individual excerpt. For example, if you are interested in the legendary Shang hero Yi Yin, you'll have to begin with his birth story in the "Miraculous Births" section, read again of his mother's transformation into a Mulberry tree in "Metamorphoses," and then wait to learn of his principle exploits in "Founding Myths" later on.

This book is therefore primarily usable as a reference, presumably to folklorists, or for browsing at random. It provides little help in surveying the overall character, development, or diffusion of mythological themes. That's frustrating, especially given the relative scarcity of contemporary scholarly treatments of its subject.

[CivilWar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not a book for people with a casual interest in mythology: do not come here awaiting fun folk tales, for the "readings" are invariably from the earliest material, which is also the tersest. The book is not interested in showing you later versions of myths organized into engaging fiction, but rather with showing you primary sources, the earliest ones possible, a hard task in the fragmentary record of early, not or at least less euhemerized accounts of the notoriously fragmentary Chinese mythological record. Multiple of the "readings" are repeated, if they cover multiple motifs at once for the book is organized by motifs rather than narratively, and you will appreciate this because the terseness makes it easy to forget things if you are not accustomed to these narratives, and because Chinese mythology is no less depthful than Greek, Roman, Celtic, Germanic or Japanese mythology, and no less tied with ethnic folk memories of migrations, rituals, archaic belief, etc.

This is what this book is concerned: not with presenting mythology for its own enjoyment as so many books do, but with analyzing Chinese mythology, according to a multitude of approaches: comparative mythology, ethnography, myth&ritual, etc. It is an introduction, in short, only for those who want to take Chinese mythology seriously, for an introduction on the analysis of Chinese myth and how to approach it, from a variety of approaches.

If that is what you are interested in - there is hardly a better introduction, and indeed this should be the standard intro. Analyses, counter-analyses and primary sources are here in orderly and scholarly fashion given for the student/reader to make what they will of it: I can hardly recall the number of times I had a realization reading it, but my notebook sure speaks of how enlightening this method is for educating the student of mythology. A+ scholarly intro.

[Helmut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wichtigstes Werk zur chinesischen Mythologie

Die chinesische Mythologie ist nicht weniger komplex und für den Uneingeweihten konfus als die griechisch-römische oder die nordische. Dazu kommt, dass im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen mythologischen Systemen in China die Mythologie häufig nicht als solche hingenommen und tradiert, sondern gemäß soziopolitischen Verhältnissen angepasst wurde, so dass ein Mythenträger oft genug von einem Retter der Menschheit zu einem verkommenen Bösewicht umgedeutet wurde, so dass ein und derselbe Gott je nach Kontext völlig unterschiedlich beschrieben wird. Um die chinesische Mythologie zu verstehen, muss man also tiefer gehen als das einfache Lesen der entsprechende Texte: Man muss sie vergleichen.

Dies tut das vorliegende Werk. Die chinesische Mythologie wird hier nicht präsentiert, sondern analysiert. Dies ist also kein Buch, das man so nebenbei liest, denn das Verhältnis zwischen wissenschaftlichem Analyseteil und Textteil beträgt ca. 4:1 - wer also nur eine Sammlung von Mythen lesen will, ist woanders besser bedient. Die Ausschnitte der Texte (insbesondere dem Shan Hai Jing, dem Tso Zhuan und den anderen klassischen Han- und Prä-Han-Texten) sind kurz und werden vergleichend nebeneinander gestellt. Gerade durch die Analyse und den Vergleich wird deutlich, dass die Texte viel mehr enthalten, als man durch das einfache Lesen erkennen kann - bei manchen Textstellen versteht man dadurch überhaupt erst, worum es darin eigentlich geht.

Eine umfangreiche Bibliographie, die gelehrte Einführung und die ausführliche und umfassende Aufarbeitung verschiedenster Mythen machen dieses Werk zu einer Standardreferenz in diesem Bereich; es gilt aber das oben erwähnte caveat: Dies ist ein wissenschaftliches Buch, das nicht dem Sehnen nach Versetzung in eine vergangene Zeit nachgibt.

[Marsha]

OK I know nothing about Chinese myths and feel like this is the best approach to introducing ancient civilizations to my kids. This book is dense!!! like a college textbook. But I found the first two chapters extremely helpful in getting ready. Chp1 is all about what a myth is in general and then how that definnition applies to Chinese myths. It explains the uniqueness of China's myths. Then Chpt 2 explained the creation myths. I hope my kids like P'an Ku or PanGu or Pangu...all the same guy but different spellings!

This came from the Nelson Art Gallery's library.

I can't read another word about mythology or my head will explode. Very thorough, very informative...and way too much info my kids. But it has the background that makes me confident I get creation stories from China and I "get" the functions of these myths within the context of the developing cultures. Interesting how there are three bands (geographically speaking) that influence the myths. I don't understand everything about this, but it is quite amazing. Jarrod Diamond-esque except not biology.

[Kevin Yee]

A very scholarly compilation.