Nu Wa
In Chinese mythology, Nu Wa is a very major figure that is important to many themes. She is a goddess that is usually referenced as having the head of a human, the body of a serpent, and carrying a pair of compasses. Nu Wa is credited with many feats, including the creation of humans. Before reading the rest of this post, it is recommended that one reads the posts on Gonggong, Fu Xi, and Pangu that are also on this website, as all three are referenced in this post.
Nu Wa and the Creation of Humans
In the version of mythology where Nu Wa creates the first humans, it is said that Pangu’s first humans either were insufficient or died out. Either way, Nu Wa set out to populate the Earth with humans. She first set about this by using her divine powers to mold a special Yellow Earth material. She modeled these into her vision of humans, but it took very long to do so. Eventually she stopped, as the task was too laborious. Instead, she took a length of rope and dipped it into mud. She then carried and flung it about, and the drops of mud that flew off were transformed into humans. It is said that the humans molded out of the yellow earth became noble and rich persons, while those created from the mud droplets became the poor and working-class people.
Nu Wa and The Restoration of Order
Nu Wa is often shown as a restorer of order throughout mythological texts. Her greatest feat is recognized as repairing the damage done by the monster Gonggong in his fight with the Spirit of Fire Zhurong. When Gonggong collided into Buzhou Mountain and caused great havoc, Nu Wa set out to reverse all of the destruction. Her first order of action was to create dams that held in flooding, which prevented the destruction of nearby towns and villages. Next, she smelted ‘five-color’ stones, which created a substance that was able to patch up the hole in the sky created by Gonggong’s collision. To make sure that the sky stayed stable, she fought a great turtle and cut off one of its legs, which she used as a new pillar on top of Buzhou Mountain. This helped to stabilize the Earth again. Her last action in this case was to slaughter a black dragon that was terrorizing people, and with this, the rest of the fearsome beasts and birds that had arrived from Gonggong’s action were wiped out. In effect, after Nu Wa’s heroic efforts, humans were able to live in peace again and order was restored.
Nu Wa and Fu Xi
Nu Wa is portrayed in two ways: as an independent goddess with divine power, and as the dependent wife of Fu Xi. When the two are depicted together, their serpentine bodies are connected into one body with two human heads. In some instances, Nu Wa is referenced as Fu Xi’s sister, and then they get married. In other instances, the two are not related by ancestry and also get married. Either way, when Nu Wa is referenced as a wife instead of an independent goddess, her status of divine power and a savior of the world is often erased or unreferenced. Furthermore, this marriage is supposedly the first marriage in Chinese mythology, which is looked to as the foundation for the traditional concept of marriage.
Areas of Potential Future Research and Interest
- Nu Wa’s other acts of heroism/divine power
- Nu Wa and Fu Xi’s relationship
References
Birrell, Anne. An Introduction to Chinese Mythology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
Christie, Anthony. Chinese Mythology. Feltham, Middlesex: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, 1968.
