The Chinese Culture Essay Research Paper The

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The Chinese Culture Essay, Research Paper The Chinese Culture James Walker Mr.Johnson E3 December 20, 1996 This report is about the myths and beliefs of the Chinese culture. It’s about the stories the Chinese created to explain the world around them, and generally how they perceived their surrounding environment. This report deals with ancient myths and the people who believed them, and what the current believes of these people are. The Southwest Creation Story The Southwest creation story is a myth which explains why people are different. The myth begins by saying that there were people on earth who were all alike, meaning there weren’t people who were black, white, oriental, etc.. It states that the humans on earth all generally were the same. There were also gods who

lived above the clouds in the heavens. And there was a huge heavenly ladder which started on a mountain and reached all the way up to heaven’s door. It goes on to tell a story of a man who had two children. One was a girl and the other was a boy. They lived in a house which had a huge very thick roof. The man had built the roof so thick because it rained almost every day. He hated the rain. He knew it had its benefits but too much of it ruined his crops, destroyed his livestock and every time it rained the roof of the house was destroyed. And every time the man rebuilt it, he made it thicker and thicker. He blamed all his misfortune on the Duke of Thunder. The Duke of Thunder was one of the gods who lived in the heavens. He was the god of rain and thunder. The man dispised the

Duke very much and had a pure hatred of him. Every time it rained the Duke would descend from the heavens and stand on a hilltop. There he would watch with pure delight as the rains and thunder came down harder and harder. Finally the man had had enough. One day he took his axe and waited on the hilltop for the Duke to arrive. When the rains came so did the Duke, and the man slashed him in the back. The Duke was hurt but not killed because he was a god. The man caged him and brought him home. He put him in a corner and warned the kids not to go near him. And to especially not give him water. The next morning was a beautiful sunny one, but the Duke looked horrible almost as if he was dehydrating. The man told the children he had to go to the market and said again not to go near

the Duke no matter what he does and don’t give him water. After the man left the Duke started moaning. He begged the children to give him some water but they refused following their father’s orders. The Duke pretended he was dead with his mouth hung open and he had his lips very dry. The girl was worried, she thought he was dying so she gave him one drop of water. The Duke instantly jumped back up and tore apart the cage. The children were terrified. He came over to them and promised them that they will be rewarded for their deed. He gave them a small egg and told them to plant it in the ground and then he left. When the man came back he was shocked by what had happened. He knew the Duke would be very angry and would punish him. So he didn’t waste any time and started to

build a ship. After a month’s time the ship was finished. It was built out of the strongest material known to him. Meanwhile the egg the children planted had grown to a size of about two small people. Then one day what the man had anticipated came. Huge torrential downpours of rain started and there were tremendous floods. The man jumped into the ship he built, in his panic he had forgotten about the children. They had ran into the egg which had become soft. The floods were so great that the man in his ship reached all the way to the door of the heavens. He banged the doors and yelled let me in! The gods didn’t want mortals in the heavens, so the Duke was ordered to recede the floods. He took the floods back so fast that the man fell back to the earth and was crushed by his