Tracing the Cultural Origin of Chinese Identity Based on Ancient Chinese Myths: A Mythological Approach and Overview

Abstract

The main source of mythology is oral communication, lacking documentation or first-hand sources, which leads most sinologists to look away from ancient Chinese myths simply for the credibility of their Chinese studies. However, myths are still being told today, manifesting themselves as a living tradition, passed on from the ancestors to the future generations across various modern contexts. Only in this living tradition can we trace the spiritual link between the current China and its previous phrases, especially the primitive stage. This paper serves to provide the succinct English translations of representative Chinese mythical narratives, organized in accordance with the anthropological line of reasoning about the social development from pre-tribal society to urban civilization. More importantly, combining theoretical frameworks across disciplines, this paper proposes a mythological approach, with the caveat of its limitation, to the early civilization of China, and explores the cultural origin of the Han Chinese, which is deemed the backbone of today’s Chinese nation. Taking this approach, an overview is provided to underscore the comprehensive reasoning of social development at the primitive stage, and reveal that ancient myths, alongside early religious activities, induced by material needs for survival and development, lead to cultural and ideological outcomes, which are then utilized as the foundation of a nation’s cultural identity and nationalism through historicization and politically motivated interpretations. Such efforts are supposed to be a valuable addition to both Sinology and cultural anthropology, especially in the context of East Asia. Extending the overview, directions for future scholarly endeavors are suggested.