. The awakening of China . isation—The Golden Age—Yau, the Unselfish Monarch—Shun, the Paragonof Domestic Virtties—Story of Ta-yii—Rise ofHereditary Monarchy UNLIKE the Greeks and Hindoos, the Chineseare deficient in the sort of imagination thatbreeds a poetical m3rthology. They are not, however,wanting in that pride of race which is prone to layclaim to the past as well as to the future. They haveaccordingly constructed, not a mythology, but a ficti-tious history which begins with the creation of theworld. How men and animals were made they do not say;but they assert that heaven and earth wer
. The awakening of China . isation—The Golden Age—Yau, the Unselfish Monarch—Shun, the Paragonof Domestic Virtties—Story of Ta-yii—Rise ofHereditary Monarchy UNLIKE the Greeks and Hindoos, the Chineseare deficient in the sort of imagination thatbreeds a poetical m3rthology. They are not, however,wanting in that pride of race which is prone to layclaim to the past as well as to the future. They haveaccordingly constructed, not a mythology, but a ficti-tious history which begins with the creation of theworld. How men and animals were made they do not say;but they assert that heaven and earth were united in astate of chaos until a divine man, whom they callPan-ku, the ancient founder, rent them show him wielding his sledge-hammer anddisengaging sun and moon from overlying hills—a grotesque conception in strong contrast with thesimple and sublime statement, God said, Let therebe light and there was light. Pan-ku was followed by a divine being named Nii-wa, in regard to whom it 70 L. ^_:. THE MYTHICAL PERIOD 71 is doubtftil whether to speak in the feminine or in themascuhne gender. Besignated queen more frequentlythan king, it is said of her that, a portion of the skyhaving fallen down (probably owing to the defectivework of her predecessor), she rebuilt it with preciousstones of many colours. Lien shih pu tien, to patchthe sky with precious stones, is a set phrase by whichthe Chinese indicate that which is fabulous andabsurd. Instead of filling the long interval between thecreation of the world and the birth of history withgods and fairies, the Chinese cover that period bythree sovereigns whom they call after their favoiuitetriad, heaven, earth, and man, giving them the respec-tive titles Ti^n-hwang, Ti-hwang, and of these reigned eighteen thousand years; butwhat they reigned over is not apparent. At all eventsthey seem to have contributed little to the comfortof their people; for at the close of that long periodthe wretched i
Size: 1205px × 2073px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauth, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidcu31924023119880
