. The mythology of all races. he Han Dynasty {Han Li Chih),carries the early chronology of China back to a period of morethan two million years, divided into ten great epochs. Thefirst of these was inaugurated by Pan Ku, the first created be-ing and also the first creator. This epoch was called that ofThe Nine Sovereigns (Chiu Ti) and was followed by theepoch of The Five Dragons (Wu Lung) who were sever-ally called eldest, second, third, fourth and youngest. Theywere also given the names of the five notes of the musical scale,and the names of the planets. The third epoch consisted offifty-nine
. The mythology of all races. he Han Dynasty {Han Li Chih),carries the early chronology of China back to a period of morethan two million years, divided into ten great epochs. Thefirst of these was inaugurated by Pan Ku, the first created be-ing and also the first creator. This epoch was called that ofThe Nine Sovereigns (Chiu Ti) and was followed by theepoch of The Five Dragons (Wu Lung) who were sever-ally called eldest, second, third, fourth and youngest. Theywere also given the names of the five notes of the musical scale,and the names of the planets. The third epoch consisted offifty-nine generations, the fourth of three generations, the fifth 26 CHINESE MYTHOLOGY of six generations and the sixth of four generations, but nonames have been assigned to any ruler in these four seventh epoch had twenty-two sovereigns whose virtuewas so conspicuous that their example was eagerly followed bythe men of their generation. The eighth epoch had thirteensovereigns, of whom the second was a ruler in modern Sze-. FiG. 4. The Three EmperorsHuang Ti, Fu Hsi and Shen Nunc chuan and there taught the people to make silk. In this epochwere two generations of The Nest-builders (Yu-chao),four generations of The Fire-producers (Sui-jen), andeight generations of Accomplishers (Yung-cheng). Theninth epoch is a bridge between the purely fanciful and the real,and derives its name Shan Tung from its virtue in transmittingthe succession to one whose actions are based upon the fixed lawsof the universe. The tenth and last of these initiatory epochs THE THREE EMPERORS 27 is represented as beginning with Huang Ti, the Yellow Em-peror, and it variously ended either with the Great Yu, founderof the Hsia dynasty, or with Wu, the founder of the Chowdynasty. Reference to these epochs is made only for the pur-pose of stating the belief that the early myths of the Chinese,as we now have them, are the result of the work of men duringthe historical period of China, who gathered together the
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