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Han dynasty Chinese talisman, part of the Wucheng Bamboo-slips []. Scholarly research into the history of Taoist symbolism has always been a particular challenge, because historically, Taoist priests have often used abstruse, obscure imagery writing to express their thoughts, meaning that a path to their successful decipherment and interpretation isn't always readily found in primary sources. [9]
This goddess was initially known as Xuannü (玄女). [4] The name has been variously translated as the "Dark Lady" [5] [6] or the "Mysterious Lady" [6] in English. In the late Tang dynasty, the Daoist master Du Guangting (850–933) created the title Jiutian Xuannü (九天玄女), adding Jiutian (meaning "[of the] Nine Heavens"), to refer to the goddess.
Generally, Chinese mythology regarded people as living in the middle regions of the world and conceived the exotic earthly places to exist in the directional extremes to the north, east, south, or west. Eventually, the idea of an eastern and western paradise seems to have arisen. In the west, according to certain myths, there was Kunlun. [5]
The following is a list of supernatural beings in Chinese folklore and fiction originating from traditional folk culture and contemporary literature.. The list includes creatures from ancient classics (such as the Discourses of the States, Classic of Mountains and Seas, and In Search of the Supernatural) literature from the Gods and Demons genre of fiction, (for example, the Journey to the ...
Along with Chinese folklore, Chinese mythology forms an important part of Chinese folk religion (Yang et al 2005, 4). Many stories regarding characters and events of the distant past have a double tradition: ones which present a more historicized or euhemerized version and ones which presents a more mythological version (Yang et al 2005, 12–13).
The Khitan captured Chinese people who were already eunuchs at the Jin court when they invaded the Later Jin. Another source was during their war with the Chinese Song dynasty: the Khitan would raid China, capture Han Chinese boys as prisoners of war and emasculate them to become eunuchs. The emasculation of captured Chinese boys guaranteed a ...
Schafer noted xian was cognate to xian 䙴 "soar up", qian 遷 "remove", and xianxian 僊僊 "a flapping dance movement"; and compared Chinese yuren 羽人 "feathered man; xian" with English peri "a fairy or supernatural being in Persian mythology" (Persian pari from par "feather; wing").
The tension between eunuchs in the service of the emperor and virtuous Confucian officials is a familiar theme in Chinese history. In his History of Government, Samuel Finer points out that reality was not always that clear-cut. There were instances of very capable eunuchs who were valuable advisers to their emperor, and the resistance of the ...