Chinese Folklore Characters

Chinese folklore is influenced by the country s religions such as the beliefs of taoism confucianism and buddhism.

Chinese folklore characters. Unlike endless cinderella stories or damsels in distress stories in the west where a defenseless and innocent woman was. Along with chinese mythology it forms an important element in chinese folk religion. In china dragons are usually portrayed as long scaled serpentine four legged creatures. Chinese dragons are very common legendary creatures in chinese folklore. Chinese dragons traditionally stand for mighty and auspicious powers particularly control over water and rainfall. The city took one million workers 15 years to construct. The forbidden city is the former chinese imperial palace located in the middle of beijing china.

The animals in chinese folk tales often have human characteristics and can speak reason and perform tasks in the same manner. The dragon is also a symbol of good fortune and sign of intense. The following is a list of supernatural beings in chinese folklore and fiction originating from traditional folk culture and contemporary literature such as pu songling s strange stories from a chinese studio this list contains only common supernatural beings who are inherently evil in nature such as ghosts and demons and beings who are lesser than deities. Built with precious wood and marble and an incredible 980 buildings large the palace was a city it its own right. In chinese folklore it is a fabulous nation whose members are characterized by a fish body and human head. Chinese folklore encompasses the folklore of china and includes songs poetry dances puppetry and tales it often tells stories of human nature historical or legendary events love and the supernatural the stories often explain natural phenomena and distinctive landmarks. This is reflected in chinese mythology by the tales surrounding the deity hebo whose name translated means lord of the river.

Nuwa aka nugua the goddess of humankind is one of the most popular characters in ancient chinese mythology. According to mythology nuwa created mankind and repaired the pillar of heaven and the broken corners of earth which gong gong had destroyed in a fit of anger. Revered personage in chinese myths according to the huainanzi and the philosophical texts of mozi and his followers zhurong is a god of fire and of the south. Chongli he s alternatively called zhurong. In chinese legends is a fantastic animal a hybrid between a ram and a unicorn with a single eye behind one ear. Madam white snake is a chinese legend folklore which existed as oral traditions before any written compilation. Fei is a bull with a serpent s tail the white head and one eye on the forehead.

It tells of a powerful female white snake demon bai suzhen and a green snake demon of lesser powers xiao qing that take on human form and become two beautiful women.