The Mythology of All Races Vol 8: Chinese & Japanese

THIS volume should be called " Outlines of Chinese My-
thology." It lays no claim to consideration as being an
exhaustive study of Chinese mythology, which would require
many volumes. It has been possible to condense the essential
facts into this small space by an exclusion of all myths which
have any suspicion of a foreign origin and by avoiding all com-
parisons between those of China and those of other countries.
Only such traditional stories have been examined as are con-
cerned with the powers of nature, the origin of created things,
or the growth of governmental institutions and popular customs
among the Chinese people.

When the earliest written records of China were made, es-
tablished government and an orderly life among the people
already existed. There must have been also a vast store of oral
traditions. The task of those who were able to transmit their
opinions by means of writing was to explain established govern-
ment and organized life in the light of oral tradition. Out of
this attempt grew all the myths which centre around the early
rulers, celestial and terrestrial. Although the form of these
myths may have suffered many changes as they were being
transcribed to writing, their content has, without doubt, been
accurately preserved j it is with written traditions that this
study is concerned.

The sources are numerous and are too well-known to those
who are versed in Chinese literature to need mentioning, while
a detailed list would be of no help to the general reader. The
index will serve as a guide to those who wish to go further into
Chinese literary sources, as well as an aid to those to whom the
system of transliteration of Chinese sounds may be unfamiliar.