''Ancient Legends'' is a Chinese television series based on the myths and legends associated with the origins of the Chinese civilisation. It is based on stories in

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 t ...

and the ancient classic ''

Shan Hai Jing The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shan Hai Jing'', formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed sinc ...

''. The series was first broadcast in mainland China on

CCTV-1 CCTV-1 (CCTV General Channel) is the primary channel of CCTV, the national flagship terrestrial television network of the People's Republic of China. It broadcasts a range of programs from CCTV Headquarters at East 3rd Ring Road in Beijing and ...

from 15 August – 6 September 2010.

Plot

The story is based on the myths and legends associated with the origins of the Chinese civilisation and the earliest part of Chinese history under the

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 ...

. After

Pangu Pangu (, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology who separated heaven and earth and became geographic features such as mountains and rivers. Legends The first writer to record the myth of Pangu was Xu Zheng during t ...

split Heaven and Earth and

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 ...

created humankind, the world has been facing a plague. The Flower Goddess (the

Jade Emperor The Jade Emperor or Yudi ( or , ') in Chinese culture, traditional religions and myth is one of the representations of the first god ( '). In Daoist theology he is the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzun, who is one of the Three Pure Ones, the three ...

's younger sister) and

Shennong Shennong (), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (), was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. He is venerat ...

travel around China in search of a cure. They eventually sow the seeds of Heaven on Earth, causing flowers to blossom throughout the land, thus saving humankind. The plot also integrates other stories from

, such as Nüwa repairing the sky and

Houyi Hou Yi () is a mythological Chinese archery, archer. He was also known as Shen Yi and simply as Yi (). He is also typically given the title of "Lord Archer". He is sometimes portrayed as a god of archery descended from heaven to aid mankind. Oth ...

shooting down nine suns.

Cast

Vincent Chiao Chiao En-chun (born 7 November 1967), also known as Vincent Chiao, is a Taiwanese actor and Mandopop singer. He is best known for portraying heroes in costume television dramas. Filmography Films Television series Discography Albums / E ...

* Wen Qing as Flower Goddess * Ding Jun as

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

* Liao Jingsheng as

* Liu Dekai as

Fu Xi Fuxi or Fu Hsi (伏羲 ~ 伏犧 ~ 伏戲) is a culture hero in Chinese legend and mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking as well ...

* Annie Wu as Second Fairy * Liu Jia as

* Zhou Zhong as

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 serpe ...

* Zhao Hongfei as Demonic Emperor / Dragon Crown Prince * Han Dong as

Chi You Chiyou (蚩尤, ) is a mythological being that appears in East Asian mythology. Individual According to the Song dynasty history book '' Lushi'', Chiyou's surname was Jiang (), and he was a descendant of flame. According to legend, Chiyou had a ...

* Ma Xiaohua as

Kua Fu Kuafu () is a giant in Chinese mythology who wished to capture the Sun. He was a grandson of Houtu. Story One day, Kuafu decided to chase and catch the Sun. He followed the Sun from the East to the West, draining the Yellow River and the Wei R ...

* Xu Yun as Ruoxi * Yi Kun as Rushou * Duan Qiuxu as

Erlang Shen Erlang Shen () or Erlang, also known as the Lord of Sichuan (), is a Chinese god with a third truth-seeing eye in the middle of his forehead. Erlang Shen may be a deified version of several semi-mythical folk heroes who helped regulate China ...

* Gao Yuqing as

Taibai Jinxing Taibai Jinxing () is a deity in Chinese folk religion and Taoism. He is the son of Bai Di, the White Emperor, and his name means 'Evening Star'. The Fengshen Yanyi refers to him as an aide in the entourage of the Jade Emperor. In Chinese astr ...

* Wang Xiuqiang as

Taishang Laojun Daode Tianzun (), also known as Taishang Laojun () is a high Taoist god. He is the Taiqing (太清, lit. the Grand Pure One) which is one of the Three Pure Ones, the highest divinities of Taoism. Laozi is regarded to be a manifestation of Daode ...

* Wang Yunchao as

* Li Bo as Zhao Xuanlang * Zhang Chunyan as Python Spirit (Red Lady) * Bai Yun as Baoniang * Li Xiaofeng as

Du Kang Du Kang, sometimes identified with Shao Kang, is one of the figures credited with the invention of alcoholic beverages in Chinese legend. He became the deified patron of winemakers in China and Japan ( Tōji). Grain wines were an important part o ...

* Yang Jincheng as Jumang * Song Yang as

Zhu Rong Rong Zhu (Standard Chinese, ch: 茸主; born March 7, 2000) is a Chinese mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight (MMA), Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Of Tibetan people, Tib ...

* Wang Yijian as Fenghou * Duan Weiping as

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'' ...

* Wang Ke as Fifth Fairy * Chen Jie as Sixth Fairy * Liu Ran as Seventh Fairy * Wang Wenlin as Eldest Fairy * Zhou Xiang as Third Fairy * Sun Yanan as Fourth Fairy * Chen Sanmu as

Tu Di Gong Tudigong ( "Lord of the Soil and the Ground") or Tudishen ( "God of the Soil and the Ground"), also known simply as Tudi ( "Soil-Ground") is a tutelary deity of a locality and the human communities who inhabit it in Chinese folk religion and Tao ...

* Zhao Zhonghua as Limu * Dai Xiaoxu as

Cangjie Cangjie () is a legendary ancient Chinese figure said to have been an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters. Legend has it that he had four eyes, and that when he invented the characters, the deities an ...

* Chi Huaqiong as

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

* Zang Xiuyun as Nüba * Yue Ding as

Kitchen God The Kitchen deity – also known as the Stove God, named Zao Jun, Zao Shen, Zao kimjah, Cokimjah or Zhang Lang – is the most important of a plethora of Chinese domestic gods that protect the hearth and family. The Kitchen God is recognized in C ...

* Yang Xiaodan as Kitchen Goddess * Qiang Gaopeng as Xuanming * Li Yuan as God of Plague * Xu Rongjing as Lele * Hong Zhibin as Liaoliao * Wang Minghao as Azure Dragon * Sun Hao as

White Tiger The white tiger or bleached tiger is a leucistic pigmentation variant of the Mainland tiger. It is reported in the wild from time to time in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, in the Sunderbans region and ...

* Zhang Heng as

Vermilion Bird The Vermilion Bird ( zh, c=朱雀, p=Zhūquè) is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. According to Wu Xing, the Taoist five elemental system, it represents the Fire element, the direction south, and the season summer correspo ...

* Li Yang as Xuan Wu * Liu Zhengliang as Teng * Wang Haocheng as Fengmeng * Hou Yong as Yinlingzi * Wei Chenfei as Yuerou * Zhong Bo as Yuqiang * Ma Zijun as

Dragon King The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the '' lóng'' in Ch ...

* Fang Yuan as

Chang'e Chang'e ( ; , alternatively rendered as Chang-Er or Ch‘ang-o), originally known as Heng'e, is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. She is the subject of several legends in Chinese mythology, most of which incorporate several of the following elem ...

* Zhu Jianfeng as Shentu * Li Yuan as Yulei * Sun Jiaolong as

Xing Tian Xingtian (, also Hsing T'ien) is a Chinese deity who fights against the Supreme Divinity, not giving up even after the event of his decapitation. Losing the fight for supremacy, he was beheaded and his head buried in Changyang Mountain. Neverthel ...

* Chen Chen as

Pixiu Pixiu (; Old Chinese ( ZS) *''bi-qʰu'') is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature. Pixiu are considered powerful protectors of feng shui practitioners, and resemble strong, winged lions. A Pixiu is an earth and sea variation, particularly an inf ...

* Yin Shuo as Count of Wind * Huang Heng as Master of Rain * Gao Rui as Mujue

Alternate titles

Alternate titles for the series include: * ''Tales of the Past'' * ''Huaxia Yanyi'' () * ''Chuanshuo'' () * ''Tiannü Sanhua'' ()

External links

*
''Ancient Legends''
on

Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' South ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancient Legends 2010 Chinese television series debuts 2010 Chinese television series endings Shenmo television series Chinese mythology in popular culture