Heaven and Earth and Man

Wade Hetland, Jessica Reyes, Rita Rushanan, Leanna Silvestrone,

Joshua Yannix

Overview• The world began with an

abyss of chaos which was beaten back by the primordial being, P'an Ku.

• P'an Ku separated the Earth from the Sky and then sacrificed his body to....

• Nu-kua, a dragon goddess, molded humans out of clay in her image. She and her husband gave humans many gifts, including writing.

• After a battle between the gods of fire and water, the world fell apart, but Nu-kua returned and fixed it.

"They were fine beings, well fitted to rule over the beasts of the earth, but they would not live forever."

Humans become self-sufficient for ruling from the gods through the gift of marriage and babies, gifts of fire, music, nets, language and recording

Myth as a whole is very human-centric, man is the master of the world

Human Place in the World

What it means to be human

• Language• Walk upright• Having emotions and a brain• Family• Personality

Importance of Art, Music and Writing

"...[Fu-hsi] made the lute from which men first drew music. His also was the priceless gift of fire."

• Humans fashioned out of clay by Nu-kua

• Soon thereafter humans were given "the eight precious symbols"o Each a different character of natureo Symbolize divine value of the subject

• Generally present in times of peace

Nature in Relation to Humans"And now he, who in his life had brought shape to the universe, by his death gave his body to make it

beautiful" Because P'an Ku gave his body to become the natural elements of the Earth, nature is sacred to the culture

QuestionHow does this myth reflect or

represent customs of the Chinese culture that can be seen throughout history and to the present day?

Citations

1. http://img2.photographersdirect.com/img/16398/wm/pd1073028.jpg

2. http://www.susanneiles.com/nukua.html3. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/

stories/large/2011/05/29/Pangu_ZhichingChen_ET.jpg

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXvNgl5Yq2U