Editing Nüwa (section)

{{Short description|Mother goddess of Chinese mythology}}
{{Redirect|Nuwa|other uses}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| title = Nüwa
| pic = Shanhaijing Nüwa Mends the Heavens.svg
| piccap = Nüwa repairing the pillar of heaven by [[Xiao Yuncong]] (1596–1673)
| picsize = 
| t = {{linktext|女媧}}
| s = {{linktext|女娲}}
| p = Nǚwā
| w = Nü<sup>3</sup>-wa<sup>1</sup>
| poj = Lú-o
| j = neoi5 wo1
| y = Néuihwō
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|n|ü|3|.|ua|1}}
| mc = nrɨa<sup>X</sup> kwue
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|n|eoi|5|.|w|o|1}}
| bpmf = ㄋㄩˇ ㄨㄚ
| kanji = 女媧
| kana = じょか
| hanja = 女媧
| hangul = 여와
| rr = Yeowa
| mr = Yŏwa
| qn = Nữ Oa
| chuhan = 女媧
| romaji = Joka
}}
{{Chinese folk religion}}

'''Nüwa''', also read '''Nügua''', is a [[mother goddess]], [[culture hero]],<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Scarpari |first=Maurizio |title=Ancient China: Chinese Civilization from the Origins to the Tang Dynasty |publisher=[[Barnes & Noble]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7607-8379-5 |location=New York |page=86 |translator-last=Milan |translator-first=A.B.A.}}</ref> and/or member of the [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors|Three Sovereigns]] of [[Chinese mythology]]. She is a goddess in [[Chinese folk religion]], [[Chinese Buddhism]], [[Confucianism]] and [[Taoism]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |title=The Secrets of the Universe in 100 Symbols |publisher=[[Chartwell Books]] |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-7858-4142-5 |location=New York |pages=105, 127}}</ref> She is credited with [[creator deity|creating]] humanity and repairing the Pillar of [[Tian|Heaven]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100241815 |title= Nügua |work=Oxford Reference |access-date=18 November 2017}}</ref>

As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Irwin|date=1990|title=Divinity and Salvation: The Great Goddesses of China|journal=Asian Folklore Studies|volume=49|issue=1 |pages=53–68|doi=10.2307/1177949 |jstor=1177949 }}</ref> In other stories where she fulfills this role, she only created [[nobles]]<ref name=":024">{{Cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |title=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind |publisher=Penguin Random House UK |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-09-959008-8 |location=London |page=152 |translator-last=Harari |translator-first=Yuval Noah |oclc=910498369 |author-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-last2=Purcell |translator-first2=John |translator-last3=Watzman |translator-first3=Haim |translator-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-link3=Haim Watzman}}</ref> and/or the rich<ref name=":10027">{{Cite book |title=World Religions: Eastern Traditions |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |editor=Willard Gurdon Oxtoby |year=2002 |isbn=0-19-541521-3 |edition=2nd |location=Don Mills, Ontario |page=325 |oclc=46661540}}</ref> out of yellow soil. The stories vary on the other details about humanity's creation, but it was a tradition commonly believed in ancient China that she created commoners from brown mud.<ref name=":024" /> A story holds that she was tired when she created "the rich and the noble", so all others, or "cord-made people", were created from her "dragg[ing] a string through mud".<ref name=":10027" />

In the ''[[Huainanzi]]'', there is a description of a great battle between deities that broke the pillars supporting Heaven and caused great devastation. There was great flooding, and Heaven had collapsed. Nüwa was the one who patched the holes in Heaven with five colored stones, and she used the legs of a tortoise to mend the pillars.<ref name=":1" />

There are many instances of her in literature across China which detail her in creation stories, and today, she remains a figure important to Chinese culture. She is one of the most venerated Chinese goddesses alongside [[Guanyin]] and [[Mazu]].{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

In [[Chinese mythology]], the [[goddess]] Nüwa is a legendary [[progenitor]] of all human beings. She also creates a [[magic (paranormal)|magic]] stone.<ref name="Gu2006">{{cite book|author=Ming Dong Gu|title=A Chinese Theory of Fiction: A Non-Western Narrative System|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uttmubGXucIC&pg=PA194|access-date=2 December 2012|year=2006|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-6815-9|pages=194–}}</ref> Her husband [[Fu Xi]] is suggested to be the progenitor of [[divination]] and the patron saint of [[number]]s.<ref name="Lewis2006">{{cite book|author=Mark Edward Lewis|title=The Flood Myths of Early China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LfrrSMnqseQC&pg=PA119|access-date=2 December 2012|year=2006|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-6664-3|pages=119–}}</ref>