. The mythology of all races. When Yin Hung was twelve years ofage the Empress of the tyrant Chou sought to take his life. He SPIRITS OF NATURE 67 had already arrived at the place of execution when two im-mortals rescued him in a whirlwind and carried him off to a saferetreat on the mountain Tai Hua. He afterwards came out tofight on the side of the supporters of the Shang dynasty againstthe Chows, but this so outraged the Chow General that he pul-verized Yin Hung with the Eight Diagrams. After death hewas canonized as patron of good harvests. A myth is connected with the worship of Hou-tu, wh
. The mythology of all races. When Yin Hung was twelve years ofage the Empress of the tyrant Chou sought to take his life. He SPIRITS OF NATURE 67 had already arrived at the place of execution when two im-mortals rescued him in a whirlwind and carried him off to a saferetreat on the mountain Tai Hua. He afterwards came out tofight on the side of the supporters of the Shang dynasty againstthe Chows, but this so outraged the Chow General that he pul-verized Yin Hung with the Eight Diagrams. After death hewas canonized as patron of good harvests. A myth is connected with the worship of Hou-tu, who inmodern temples is representedas a woman. This was origi-nally worship of the spirit of theearth, then it became a worshipof individuals who were hon-oured as patrons of the soil,and deceased Emperors or Em-presses were designated as thisdeity. Since the early part ofthe Ming dynasty the god hasbeen transformed into a goddess,Hou-tu nai-nai. The generalfacts concerning the evolution ofthis worship are given in the but the. Fig. id. Hou-tu book Wu Li T^ung K^ao,no explanation is given ofchange of sex of the deity. Another spirit which is nowuniversally worshipped through-out China is the god of the city, Cheng Huang. He is men-tioned in Chinese literature first in the annals of the NorthernChi dynasty, 550-577 , where it is said that a respectfulcountenance and dignified prayer in the worship of ChengHuang will be answered by many blessings. During the Tangdynasty, when everything was given an origin in early history,Cheng Huang was interpreted as being the same as Shui Jung, 68 CHINESE MYTHOLOGY one of the Eight Spirits (Pa Cha), to whom the EmperorYao offered sacrifice, according to the Li Ki. There are formsof prayer written for his worship in the Tang dynasty by ChangShuo and Chang Chiu-ling, the famous litterateurs. In the
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