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Gong-Gong
Gonggong () is a Chinese water god who is depicted in Chinese mythology and folktales as having a copper human head with an iron forehead, red hair, and the body of a serpent, or sometimes the head and torso are human, with the tail of a serpent. He is destructive and is blamed for various cosmic catastrophes. In all accounts, Gonggong ends up being killed or sent into exile, usually after losing a struggle with another major deity such as the fire god Zhurong. In astronomy, the dwarf planet 225088 Gonggong is named after Gonggong. Name In English, the two syllables of the name are the same. But in Mandarin, they differ in tone ( ''Gònggōng''), and in other Chinese languages they differ in their vowel and the initial consonant as well (cf. Middle Chinese , also Japanese ''kyōkō''). The most common variant of the name, , is identical to the first in English, but in Mandarin differs in tone (''Gōnggōng''), and in other Chinese languages in consonant and vowel as well (cf. M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Much of the mythology involves exciting stories full of fantastic people and beings, the use of magical powers, often taking place in an exotic mythological place or time. Like many mythologies, Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of history. Along with Chinese folklore, Chinese mythology forms an important part of Chinese folk religion. Many stories regarding characters and events of the distant past have a double tradition: ones which present a more historicized or euhemerized version and ones which present a more mythological version. Many myths involve the creation and cosmology of the universe and its deities and inhabitants. Some mythology involves creation myths, the origin of things, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhulong (mythology)
Zhulong or Zhuyin , also known in English as the , was a giant red solar dragon and god in Chinese mythology. It supposedly had a human's face and snake's body, created day and night by opening and closing its eyes, and created seasonal winds by breathing. Names The key word in the names "Zhuyin" and "Zhulong" is , pronounced ''zhú'' in present-day Mandarin. It describes the act of "shining" or "illuminating" something but, owing to the nature of Chinese grammar, can function as a verb ("to shine", "to illuminate"), an adjective ("shining", "bright"), or a noun ("light", "illumination", an object which illuminates) depending upon its position in a phrase. For example, the Chinese word for "candle" is (''làzhú'') or " wax-''zhú''"; an older word for "lantern" is (''zhúlóng'') or "''zhú''-basket". In the name Zhulong, the ''zhú'' modifies the noun (''lóng'') and thus intends a "shining", "torch-like", or "torch-bearing" Chinese dragon. and others call him "Torch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xiangliu
Xiangliu (), known in the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'' as Xiangyao (), is a venomous nine-headed snake monster that brings floods and destruction in Chinese mythology. Xiangliu may be depicted with his body coiled on itself. The nine heads are arranged differently in different representations. Modern depictions resemble the hydra with each head on a separate neck.For example, ithis © illustration/ref> Older wood-cuts show the heads clustered on a single neck, either side-by-side or in a stack three high, facing three directions. Legend According to the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'' (''Shanhaijing''), Xiangliu (Xiangyao) was a minister of the snake-like water deity Gonggong. Xiangliu devastated the ecology everywhere he went. He was so gluttonous that all nine heads would feed at the same meal. Everywhere he rested or breathed upon (or that his tongue touched, depending on the telling) became boggy with poisonously bitter water, devoid of human and animal life. When ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evil Deities
Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is generally seen as taking multiple possible forms, such as the form of personal moral evil commonly associated with the word, or impersonal natural evil (as in the case of natural disasters or illnesses), and in religious thought, the form of the demonic or supernatural/eternal. While some religions, world views, and philosophies focus on "good versus evil", others deny evil's existence and usefulness in describing people. Evil can denote profound immorality, but typically not without some basis in the understanding of the human condition, where strife and suffering (cf. Hinduism) are the true roots of evil. In certain religious contexts, evil has been described as a supernatural force. Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of its moti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Destroyer Gods
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish NavySmith, Charles Edgar: ''A short history of naval and marine engineering.'' Babcock & Wilcox, ltd. at the University Press, 1937, page 263 as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War. Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Gods
A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Another important focus of worship of water deities has been springs or holy wells. As a form of animal worship, whales and snakes (hence dragons) have been regarded as godly deities throughout the world (as are other animals such as turtles, fish, crabs, and sharks). In Asian lore, whales and dragons sometimes have connections. Serpents are also common as a symbol or as serpentine deities, sharing many similarities with dragons. Africa and the Mediterranean Sub-Sahara Africa Western Niger-Congo Benin * Ezili, goddess of sweet water, beauty, and love. Dogon *Nommos, amphibious spirits that are worshiped as ancestors. Serer * Mindiss (or Mindis) is not a deity in Serer religion, but a pangool with goddess–like attributes. She is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Gods
Chinese traditional religion is polytheistic; many deities are worshipped in a pantheistic view where divinity is inherent in the world. The gods are energies or principles revealing, imitating and propagating the way of Heaven ('' Tian'' ), which is the supreme godhead manifesting in the northern culmen of the starry vault of the skies and its order. Many gods are ancestors or men who became deities for their heavenly achievements; most gods are also identified with stars and constellations. Ancestors are regarded as the equivalent of Heaven within human society, and therefore as the means connecting back to Heaven, which is the "utmost ancestral father" ( ''zēngzǔfù''). Gods are innumerable, as every phenomenon has or is one or more gods, and they are organised in a complex celestial hierarchy. Besides the traditional worship of these entities, Confucianism, Taoism and formal thinkers in general give theological interpretations affirming a monistic essence of divinity. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Sovereigns And Five Emperors
The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were two groups of mythological rulers in ancient north China. The Three Sovereigns supposedly lived long before The Five Emperors, who have been assigned dates in a period from 3162 BC to 2070 BC. Today they may be considered culture heroes. The dates of these mythological figures may be fictitious, but according to some accounts and reconstructions, they supposedly preceded the Xia Dynasty. Description The Three Sovereigns, sometimes known as the Three August Ones, were said to be god-kings or demigods who used their divine abilities to improve the lives of the Chinese peoples and gift them essential skills and valuable knowledge. The Five Emperors are portrayed as exemplary ancestral sages who possessed a great moral character and lived to an extremely old age and ruled over a period of great Chinese peace. The Three Sovereigns on the other hand are ascribed various identities in different Chinese historical texts. These high kings ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Evildoers
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest composite number, its proper divisors being and . Four is the sum and product of two with itself: 2 + 2 = 4 = 2 x 2, the only number b such that a + a = b = a x a, which also makes four the smallest squared prime number p^. In Knuth's up-arrow notation, , and so forth, for any number of up arrows. By consequence, four is the only square one more than a prime number, specifically three. The sum of the first four prime numbers two + three + five + seven is the only sum of four consecutive prime numbers that yields an odd prime number, seventeen, which is the fourth super-prime. Four lies between the first proper pair of twin primes, three and five, which are the first two Fermat primes, like seventeen, which is the third. On the other ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yinglong
Yinglong () is a winged Chinese dragon, dragon and rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology. Name This legendary creature's name combines ''yìng'' "respond; correspond; answer; reply; agree; comply; consent; promise; adapt; apply" and ''lóng'' "Chinese dragon". Although the former Chinese character, character is also pronounced (with a different tone) ''yīng'' "should; ought to; need to; proper; suitable", ''yinglong'' definitively means "responsive dragon; responding dragon" and not "proper dragon". Classical usages The Chinese classics frequently mention ''yinglong'' "a winged rain-dragon" in myths about the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, especially the Yellow Emperor and his alleged descendant Yu the Great, King Yu. The examples below, limited to books with English translations, are roughly arranged in chronological order, although some heterogeneous texts have uncertain dates of composition. ''Chuci'' The (3rd–2nd centuries BCE) ''Chu Ci'' "Songs of Chu (stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ao (turtle)
Ao ( < ( ZS): *''ŋaːw'') is a large marine in . He was thought to have lived in the during the time of the formation of the world. When the goddess , creator of mankind, wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nüwa
Nüwa, also read Nügua, is the mother goddess of Chinese mythology. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay. In the Huainanzi, there is described a great battle between deities that broke the pillars supporting Heaven and caused great devastation. There was great flooding, and Heaven had collapsed. Nüwa was the one who patched the holes in Heaven with five colored stones, and she used the legs of a tortoise to mend the pillars. There are many instances of her in literature across China which detail her in creation stories, and today remains a figure important to Chinese culture. Name The character ''nü'' ( zh, t=女, l=female) is a common prefix on the names of goddesses. The proper name is ''wa'', also read as ''gua'' ( zh, t=媧). The Chinese character is unique to this name. Birrell translates it as 'lovely', but notes that it "could be construed as 'fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
