East Asian Mythology: China and JapanIntroduction |
Is there a unified ethnic-based Chinese mythology? |
In China there is no single “authorized” collection of myths equivalent to the sacred texts of the monotheistic traditions, the Prose Edda of Iceland, or the Vedas and other sacred texts of India. What we think of as Chinese mythology today is made up of many often-fragmented stories, told over the centuries in many traditions and many dynasties and ultimately transmitted primarily by Han scholars and storytellers.