Feather Mountain () is one of many important mythological mountains 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 ...
, particularly associated with the
Great Flood
A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primaeval ...
. According to the mythological studies of Lihui Yang,
Gun
A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...
was executed on the "outskirts" of Feather Mountain by
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 ...
, either for stealing the
xirang
''Xirang'' (), also known as ''hsi-jang'', Swelling Earth, self-renewing soil, breathing earth, and living earth is a magical substance in Chinese mythology that had a self-expanding ability to continuously grow – which made it particularly effec ...
or for failing to control the flood waters. According to
K. C. Wu
K. C. Wu () (October 21, 1903 – June 6, 1984) was a Chinese political figure and historian. Among other offices, he served as Mayor of Shanghai and as Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government.
Early life
Wu was born in Central China and ...
,
Emperor Shun
Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...
exiled Gun to Feather Mountain for
lèse-majesté
Lèse-majesté () or lese-majesty () is an offence against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or the state itself. The English name for this crime is a borrowing from the French, w ...
, but that Gun was not executed; and, rather, that such accounts result from misunderstanding the meanings associated with the ancient Chinese character ''jí'' (殛), which appears in certain source works.
Anthony Christie relays the following three mythic story versions: that on Feather Mountain, Gun was either killed by Zhu Rong, torn into pieces by tortoises and owls, or else that his lifeless-seeming body lay there for three years before being slashed open at the belly with the Wu sword, after which his son Yu emerged as a winged dragon and Gun himself metamorphosed into a yellow bear.
See also
*
Heavenly Questions
The ''Heavenly Questions'' or ''Questions to Heaven'' () is a piece contained in the Classical Chinese poetry collection of ''Chu Ci'', which is noted both in terms of poetry and as a source for information on the ancient culture of China, espec ...
*
Kunlun Mountain: a mythical mountain, dwelling of various divinities, and fabulous plants and animals
*
Yushan (mountain)
Yu Shan or Yushan, also known as Mount Jade, Jade Mountain, or , and known as Mount Niitaka during Japanese rule, is the highest mountain in Taiwan at above sea level, giving Taiwan the 4th-highest maximum elevation of any island in the ...
: in some accounts the dwelling of
Xi Wangmu
The Queen Mother of the West, known by various local names, is a mother goddess in Chinese religion and mythology, also worshipped in neighbouring Asian countries, and attested from ancient times. From her name alone some of her most importan ...
*
Mount Buzhou
Mount Buzhou (不周山 lit. "Unrevolving Mountain") was an ancient Chinese mythological mountain which, according to old texts, lay to the northwest of the Kunlun Mountains, in a location today referred to as the Pamir Mountains. It is the mountai ...
: mythical mountain
*
Mount Penglai
Penglai () is a legendary land of Chinese mythology. It is known in Japanese mythology as Hōrai.McCullough, Helen. ''Classical Japanese Prose'', p. 570. Stanford Univ. Press, 1990. .
Location
According to the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas' ...
: paradise; a fabled fairy isle on the
China Sea
The China Seas consist of a series of marginal seas in the Western Pacific Ocean, around China. They are the major components signifying the transition from the continent of Asia to the Pacific Ocean.Pinxian Wang, Qianyu Li, Chun-Feng Li, ''Geolo ...
References
{{Chinese mythology
Locations in Chinese mythology
Mythological mountains