THE 10 MOST POPULAR CHINESE MYTHS AND LEGENDS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Even though the myths and legends of China are not collected in specialized texts, they can be found in the oral tradition of that country and in the imaginary of different Chinese philosophical currents.

Taoism, Confucianism and Moism are three of the main currents of thought in Eastern culture, behind which countless myths and legends have been woven.

In addition, in ancient China it was believed that the gods coexisted with mortals, so little by little history and mythology came to mix.

Top 10 myths and legends of China

1- Pan Gu and the genesis of the universe

According to this myth, a long time ago, before the earth existed, the only thing that existed was an egg-shaped entity within which there was a chaos of mixed forces and substances.

Over time, these elements gave rise to a giant, hairy and horned being called Pan Gu.

Pan Gu slept and grew longer for 18 thousand years, until he woke up in the middle of silence and nothingness. He didn't like that.

Then, Pan Gu created an ax and split the egg in two, after which the separation of yin and yang began; the dark and heavy became Earth, while the light and light rose to form the sky.

And to prevent all of this from coming together again, Pan Gu stood between the two halves for 18 thousand years, until he made sure that they stabilized and would stay apart.

It was then that Pan Gu finally lay down and died, so that every part of his being was transformed into something that makes up the human world that is known today.

2- The harp and the woodcutter

Legend has it that there was a virtuoso musician named Boya who felt that no one appreciated his art. One night, Boya was playing by the river and came across an unknown lumberjack.

Seeing Boya's surprise, the woodcutter explained that he was on his way back but the music moved him and he wanted to know where it came from. So Boya invited him to his house where they chatted throughout the night.

The evening was so enjoyable that the new friends decided to meet in a year in the same place and at the same time.

A year later, Boya was the agreed place at the appointed time and the woodcutter never arrived. He had died.

The heartbroken harpist made his way to his friend's grave, where he began to play heartbreaking notes until he could not bear his sadness and destroyed the harp.

3- The young white snake and Xu Xian

According to this legend, years ago in the West Lake, in the town of Hangzhou, two snake devils (Bai Suzhen and Xiao Qing) became young women to go out to celebrate.

In the middle of the party they meet a young man named Xu Xian, with whom Bai Suzhen falls in love. When reciprocated, they start a relationship after which they got married and began a life together, in harmony and happiness.

However, a monk named Fa Hai, from the Jinshan Temple, opposed the union and insisted on separating them.

He revealed to Xu Xian the secret that Bai was a snake devil and immediately locked him in the temple.

Bai went along with her sister to beg the monk to release her husband, but in view of his refusal, he became enraged and caused a flood that devastated the temple.

However, Bai was defeated and was placed in a golden bowl which they later buried under the Leifeng Pagoda.

Later, her sister Xiao Qing avenged her by defeating the monk Fa Hai and forcing him into the stomach of a crab.

4- The shepherd and the weaver

Legend has it that many years ago there was a very good and industrious man who was a cow herder. That man fell in love with a weaver whom he later married and had two children.

They were very happy, but their union caused discord in heaven because the weaver was really a goddess who insisted on living as a human.

One day the goddess Wang Mu ordered the weaver to return to the heavenly palace. With no choice but to obey, the weaver returned to heaven but her husband followed her.

This caused the anger of Wang Mu, who created a huge river between them to separate them. Since then, the weaver and the shepherd have seen and told each other their love from both ends of the Milky Way.

It is said that on the seventh day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar, the picazas form a bridge for the couple to reunite.

It is customary for that day to be celebrated and lovers exchange gifts. It is equivalent to Valentine's Day in western culture.

5- The divine farmer - Shen Nong

Before the Chinese dynasties, the people believed that their rulers were demigods. One of them was Yandi.

Yandi was an emperor with the body of a human, the head of an ox and a transparent abdomen. He was kind and wise.

One day a minister asked him to go see an elderly man who was in severe pain without anyone finding out why. Although she went to visit him, she could not help him and the old man died.

Since then, Yandi became interested in agriculture, herbology, and medicine; he went into the forest and looked for wild plants, analyzed and categorized them.

He identified 365 medicinal herbs, vegetables and fruits. He also identified the five most important crops in ancient China: wheat, rice, millet, sorghum, and beans. This is why he came to be known as Shen Nong, which means "the divine farmer."

Shen Nong is believed to have invented the plow, calendar, and ax. His curiosity and industriousness led him to lay the foundations of Chinese agriculture.

As his strategy was to test all the plants he found, not infrequently he was on the point of dying of poisoning, but he soon recovered with an antidote that he had discovered: tea.

After reaching his 120 years of age, he tried duàn cháng cǎo, which means "grass that splits the intestines," and died of poisoning because he could not take his antidote in time.

6- Chang'e, the goddess of the Moon

It is said that the Jade Emperor, King of Heaven, had ten children who one day decided to become ten suns to torment the Earth.

Unable to stop their mischief, the emperor summoned archer Hou Yi to teach them a lesson.

Hou Yi, seeing the magnitude of the damage that the mischievous suns did, killed nine of them with one arrow. He only spared the life of one to give light and heat to the Earth.

But the emperor banished Hou Yi and his wife Chang'e from heaven.

After years of living as a human, Hou Yi managed to obtain some of the elixir of immortality with a warning: he could only drink half of the concoction. Taking it all would elevate him to heaven.

However, the fatigue of the trip did not give him time to tell his wife, who took all the elixir and rose.

Unable to enter the Jade Sky, or return to Earth as a human, she had to settle for inhabiting the moon in total solitude.

7- The creation of the Chinese zodiac

Legend has it that the Emperor Jade summoned all the animals of the kingdom for a race for the twelve positions of the zodiac.

So all the animals heeded the call and competed, except for the cat who was late because the rat forgot to wake him up on time.

The rat climbed on the first animal in the race, the ox, and when they reached the palace it jumped and took first place.

The ox had to settle for second place. Then came the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig.

8- The legend of Yü Huang

In ancient times there was a kingdom called Kuang Yen Miao Lo Kuo. Their king was Ching Tê, while their queen was Pao Yüeh.

The kings asked the Taoist priests for help because they could not have children. The monks recited prayers for an heir to the throne to be born.

Months later, the queen gave birth to Prince Yü Huang, who from a young age was compassionate and generous.

When Ching Tê died, Yü became king but after a few days he abdicated and decided to become a hermit. After a few years in these conditions, he dedicated himself to curing the sick and saving lives.

Upon his death, he was honored by Emperors Ch'êng Tsung and Hui Tsung of the Sung dynasty with all the various titles bestowed on him today.

9- The Legend of Nian

Legend has it that a horrible monster named Nian would come down every so often to hunt people in the villages.

Fearful, the villagers hid in their houses every time they calculated that the monster was coming to town.

One day a wise old man from the town suggested that they all drive the monster away and they did.

They frightened the monster with the noise of drums and fireworks, to the point that they stunned it and managed to kill it. And thus began the tradition of the Chinese New Year.

10- Meng Jiangnü

In the era of the Qin Dynasty there lived a beautiful woman named Meng Jiangnü. Over the years, the young woman fell in love with and married Fan Xiliang.

But on the very day of her wedding, her husband was recruited to build the Great Wall on the orders of Emperor Qin Shihuang.

When winter was approaching and after long sleepless nights waiting for her beloved, Meng Jiangnü decided to find her husband and bring him winter clothes.

After a long and tortuous journey, she reached the wall and learned that her husband had died and was buried at the foot of the wall.

Meng wept for three days and nights and his crying sank a 400-kilometer stretch of the wall.

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