This books features a synthesis of three stories about Pangu and Nüwa from classical Chinese mythology.
In Chinese mythology, Pangu was the first living being and the creator of all. He separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky
Yin) and the Sky (clear
Yang).
To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. This task took him 18,000 years. After the 18,000 years had elapsed, Pangu was laid to rest and nevel woke up. Thus in death, as in life, Pangu made the world as it is today.
Many centuries later, there was a goddess named Nüwa who roamed this wild world that Pangu had left behind, and she became lonely in her solitude. She resolved to make something like herself for company.
Nüwa the goddess used the mud of the water bed to form the shape of humans. She breathed into her creations to give them life. Nüwa then became bored of individually making every human so she started putting a rope in the water bed and lettings the drops of mud that fell from it become new humans. Please see
Chinese mythology: Pangu and Nüwa for more details.
The carefully composed illustrations, coupled with superb book design, make the book appropriately childlike and whimsical, and open this classic tale to new interpretations. Thoughtful students of Chinese folktale will welcome this astonishingly artful edition.
The book comes with Chinese characters and the Pinyin (phonetic transcriptions), a great adventure book to enjoy and practice reading Chinese. The high-quality print is nicely produced to capture the vivid color and exceptional details of the original artwork.
