Trees--The Connection Between Heaven and Earth

Today, my roommate was playing a Chinese video game called Legend of the Ancient Sword. I asked her what the story plot was. She said:"in the ancient world, Tianzhu collapsed and caused this big chaos, so everyone had to move..."
"Wait wait, what is Tianzhu?"
She rolled and eyes, "Well, tian means sky...and zhu means pillars..."
"No! I don't need you to teach me Chinese! I know Tianzhu means a pillar to the heaven, but what does it mean in specific?" I cut her off.
"Trees! A heaven pillar stands for trees, you know? Those ones we have in front of our aparment?"
Even though my roommate treated me like a three year old, I did all of a sudden realize that the concept of "trees are the connection between heaven and Earth" isn't only used in Greek or western mythologies.
And I also realized I forgot to post something...

And the legend of the Ancient Sword ↓

Happy MoonCake Festival

Today, Chinese people all over the world are celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, AKA the MoonCake Festival. This is a holiday which people get together with their families, enjoy the moon shine, and share their mooncakes.

 ←This is a picture shot at my hometown. People gathered with their loved ones by the riverside to appreciate the moon.It is a holiday to thank, appreciate, and pray.

  

       ↓And this is what mooncakes look like.

The Chinese have been celebrating this holiday since Shang Dynasty, which is 16th to 10th Century BCE. I feel like there is always a story behind every holiday, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. So of course there also is a myth behind this Mid-Autumn Festival.

There were originally ten suns in the sky. The lands were very dry thus people hardly had anything to eat. There was a strong man called Houyi, he was so strong that he took aim and shot nine of the suns. He left only one sun so there was enough light for everyone. The gods were happy, so they rewarded Houyi with an elixir so he could have an immortal life. Which means if he took the elixir, he would fly to the heaven and become a god. 

Houyi did not want to become a god, though. He had a beautiful wife and he just wanted an ordinary life. However, the emperor heard about the immortal pill and wanted it badly, so he sent assassins to Houyi's house. When the assassin arrived, only Chang'e, Houyi's wife was home. She fought with the killer but she was too weak;among confusion and panic she swallowed the exlixir. That was when Houyi came home, and helplessly saw his wife flying off to the moon. Chang'e flew further and further until her husband could no longer see her. 

Ever since then, Chang'e, the beautiful goddess had been living in the cold palace of the moon. Every August 15th, Houyi always brought flowers and cakes to his wife, but he had no where to go. He always talked to the moon and hoped that one day his wife would return.

 

What happen after the World was created?--Pan Gu and Nv Wa

I know I didn't explain this story in class clear enough, so here it is..

In the beginning, there was nothing but a mysterious chaos. And a giant person named Pan Gu lived in the egg-shaped cosmic. There was one more person before Pan Gu, but he did not know what to think, and he enjoyed living in the dark. But Pan Gu was different; he was lonely and he wanted to create lives, so he took out an ax around to split this chaotic world into two.

He was afraid that the two parts might composite, so he reached his hands to heaven, and propped his feet against the ground to make sure they stay separated. Heaven and earth became more and more apart as he kept growing taller and bigger. When the distance between heaven and earth is 36,000 kilometers, Pan Gu could finally take a break to look down to earth. He realized his blood turned into water; the water gave birth to a million insects, and a lot of other creatures were produced.

So that’s the Chinese mythological explanation of how the world was created. But where do humans come from?

A half human half snake goddess named Nv Wa lived in the world Pan Gu had created. She enjoyed the nature and hanging out with the animals, yet she was lonely. One day, she saw her beautiful shadow in the Yellow River, so she decided to create herself some company. She used her dexterous hands to mix mud and water from the yellow river.

        Soon, several little figures were created. They didn't look exactly like Nv Wa, because they had legs instead of tails, and they were also divided into male and female anatomy. Nv Wa was so happy she wanted to create more humans. However, It was impossible to create millions of humans one by one. She came up with an idea to stir up the mud onto bottom of the river bed with a rope and  throw the rope in the air. Amazingly, the small mud dots all dropped on the ground and became humans. 

A video about these two story is provided: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwkIvinb2k