Editing Nüwa (section)

==Legends==
===Appearance in ''Fengshen Yanyi''===
[[File:Anonymous-Fuxi and Nüwa.jpg|thumb|{{center|An ancient painting of Nüwa and Fuxi unearthed at the [[Astana Graves]].}}]]

Nüwa is featured within the famed [[Ming dynasty]] novel {{Transliteration|zh|pinyin|[[Investiture of the Gods|Fengshen Bang]]}}. As featured within this novel, Nüwa is revered since [[Xia dynasty]] for creating the five-colored stones to mend the heavens, which tilted after [[Gonggong]] toppled one of the heavenly pillars, [[Mount Buzhou]]. [[Shang Rong]] asked [[King Zhou of Shang]] to pay her a visit as a sign of deep respect. Upon seeing her statue, Zhou was completely overcome with lust at the sight of the beautiful ancient goddess Nüwa. He wrote an erotic poem on a neighboring wall and took his leave. When Nüwa later returned to her temple after visiting the [[Yellow Emperor]], she saw the foulness of Zhou's words. In her anger, she swore that the [[Shang dynasty]] would end in payment for his offense. In her rage, Nüwa personally ascended to the palace in an attempt to kill the king, but was suddenly struck back by two large beams of red light.

After Nüwa realized that [[King Zhou of Shang|King Zhou]] was already destined to rule the kingdom for twenty-six more years, Nüwa summoned her three subordinates—the Thousand-Year Vixen (later becoming [[Daji]]), the [[Pipa Jing|Jade Pipa]], and the [[Jiutou Zhiji Jing|Nine-Headed Pheasant]]. With these words, Nüwa brought destined chaos to the Shang dynasty, "The luck [[Cheng Tang]] won six hundred years ago is dimming. I speak to you of a new [[mandate of heaven]] which sets the destiny for all. You three are to enter King Zhou's palace, where you are to bewitch him. Whatever you do, do not harm anyone else. If you do my bidding, and do it well, you will be permitted to reincarnate as human beings."<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Allan|first1=Sarah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlEZd4x9LUAC|title=The shape of the turtle: myth, art, and cosmos in early China |last2=Allan |first2=Sarah |date=1991 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-0460-7 |series=SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture}}</ref> With these words, Nüwa was never heard of again, but was still a major indirect factor towards the Shang dynasty's fall.

=== Creation of humanity ===

[[Pangu]] was said to be the creation god in [[Chinese mythology]]. He was a giant sleeping within an egg of chaos. As he awoke, he stood up and divided the sky and the earth. Pangu then died after standing up, and his body turned into rivers, mountains, plants, animals, and everything else in the world, among which is a powerful being known as [[Huaxu]] ({{lang|zh|華胥}}). Huaxu gave birth to a twin brother and sister, Fuxi and Nüwa. Fuxi and Nüwa are said to be creatures that have faces of human and bodies of snakes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Millidge |first1=Judith |title=Chinese Gods and Myths |date=1999 |publisher=Chartwell Books |isbn=978-0-7858-1078-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WbWAAAAMAAJ&q=hua+hsu+mythology |language=en}}</ref>

Nüwa created humanity due to her loneliness, which grew more intense over time. She molded yellow earth or, in other versions, yellow clay into the shape of people. These individuals later became the wealthy nobles of society, because they had been created by Nüwa's own hands. However, the majority of humanity was created when Nüwa dragged string across mud to mass-produce them, which she did because creating every person by hand was too time- and energy-consuming. This creation story gives an [[Etiology|aetiological]] explanation for the [[social hierarchy]] in ancient China. The nobility believed that they were more important than the mass-produced majority of humanity, because Nüwa took time to create them, and they had been directly touched by her hand.<ref name=":0" /> In another version of the creation of humanity, Nüwa and [[Fuxi]] were survivors of a great flood. By the command of the God of the heaven, they were married and Nüwa had a child which was a ball of meat. This ball of meat was cut into small pieces, and the pieces were scattered across the world, which then became humans.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lianfe|first=Yang|date=1993|title=Water in Traditional Chinese Culture|journal=The Journal of Popular Culture|volume=27|issue=2|pages=51–56|doi=10.1111/j.0022-3840.1993.00051.x|issn=0022-3840}}</ref>

Nüwa was born three months after her brother, [[Fuxi]], whom she later took as her husband; this marriage is the reason why Nüwa is credited with inventing the idea of marriage.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Introduction to mythology: contemporary approaches to classical and world myths|author=Thury, Eva M.|isbn=978-0-19-026298-3|oclc=946109909|year=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref>

Before the two of them got married, they lived on mount [[Kunlun Mountains|K'un-lun]]. A prayer was made after the two became guilty of falling for each other. The prayer is as follows,

"Oh Heaven, if Thou wouldst send us forth as man and wife, then make all the misty vapor gather. If not, then make all the misty vapor disperse."<ref name=":0" />

Misty vapor then gathered after the prayer signifying the two could marry. When intimate, the two made a fan out of grass to screen their faces which is why during modern day marriages, the couple hold a fan together. By connecting, the two were representative of [[Yin and yang|Yin and Yang]]; [[Fuxi]] being connected to [[Yin and yang|Yang]] and masculinity along Nüwa being connected to [[Yin and yang|Yin]] and femininity. This is further defined with Fuxi receiving a [[Steel square|carpenter's square]] which symbolizes his identification with the physical world because a carpenter's square is associated with straight lines and squares leading to a more straightforward mindset. Meanwhile, Nüwa was given a [[compass]] to symbolize her identification with the heavens because a compass is associated with curves and circles leading to a more abstract mindset. With the two being married, it symbolized the union between heaven and Earth.<ref name=":0" /> Other versions have Nüwa invent the compass rather than receive it as a gift.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Roberts|first1=David Lindsay|title=From the Slate to the Web: Technology in the Mathematics Curriculum|date=2012|work=Third International Handbook of Mathematics Education|pages=525–547|publisher=Springer New York|isbn=978-1-4614-4683-5|last2=Leung|first2=Allen Yuk Lun|last3=Lins|first3=Abigail Fregni|doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-4684-2_17}}</ref> In addition, the system of male and female sex, the yang-yin philosophy, is expressed here in a complex way: first as Fuxi and Nüwa, then as a compass (masculine) and a square (feminine), and thirdly, as Nüwa (woman) with a compass (man) and Fuxi (man) with a square (woman).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schinz|first=Alfred|title=The Magic Square: Cities in Ancient China|publisher=Edition Axel Menges|year=1996|isbn=978-3-930698-02-8}}</ref>

===Nüwa Mends the Heavens===
[[File:Ping Sien Si - 065 Nu Wa Niang Niang (16140351273).jpg|thumb|Modern relief of Nüwa at the Ping Sien Si Temple in Perak, Malaysia]]

{{zhi|t=女媧補天|p=Nǚwā bǔtiān|s=女娲补天|tr=Nüwa Mends the Heavens|out=tr}} is a well-known theme in [[Culture of China|Chinese culture]]. The courage and wisdom of Nüwa inspired the ancient Chinese to control nature's elements and has become a favorite subject of Chinese [[poets]], [[painters]], and [[sculptors]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chinaonyourmind.com/Chinese%20culture/Chinese%20tales%203.htm |title=NUWA REPAIRS THE HEAVENS (Nüwa Bu Tian)|year=2013|location=Beijing|publisher=China on Your Mind|access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref> along with so many poetry and arts like novels, films, paintings, and sculptures; e.g. the sculptures that decorate [[Nanshan District, Shenzhen|Nanshan]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.panoramio.com/photo/13025369 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012233919/https://www.panoramio.com/photo/13025369 |archive-date=2016-10-12 |author=dartman|title=Goddess Nu Wa Patching the Sky |website=Panoramio|access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref> and [[Yaan|Ya'an]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-nuwa-patching-sky-stone-sculpture-ya-city-image35620748|author=Zhitao Li |title=Nüwa Patching the Sky|publisher=Dreamstime|access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref>

The [[Huainanzi]] tells an ancient story about how the four pillars that support the sky crumbled inexplicably. Other sources have tried to explain the cause, i.e. the battle between [[Gonggong|Gong Gong]] and [[Zhuanxu]] or [[Zhurong]]. Unable to accept his defeat, Gong Gong deliberately banged his head onto [[Mount Buzhou]] ({{lang|zh|不周山}}) which was one of the four pillars. Half of the sky fell which created a gaping hole and the Earth itself was cracked; the Earth's [[axis mundi]] was tilted into the southeast while the sky rose into the northwest. This is said to be the reason why the western region of [[China]] is higher than the eastern and that most of its rivers flow towards the southeast. This same explanation is applied to the Sun, Moon, and stars which moved into the northwest. A wildfire burnt the forests and led the wild animals to run amok and attack the innocent peoples, while the water which was coming out from the earth's crack didn't seem to be slowing down.<ref name=yang>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinese.cn/culture/en/article/2009-10/26/content_43196.htm|title=The Nüwa Sacrificial Ceremonies|location=Beijing|publisher=Confucius Institute Online|date=26 October 2009|access-date=15 November 2015|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117024630/http://www.chinese.cn/culture/en/article/2009-10/26/content_43196.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Nüwa pitied the humans she had made and attempted to repair the sky. She gathered [[Color in Chinese culture|five colored-stones (red, yellow, blue, black, and white)]] from the riverbed, melted them and used them to patch up the sky: since then the sky (clouds) have been colorful. She then killed a giant turtle (or tortoise), some version named the tortoise as [[Ao (turtle)|Ao]], cut off the four legs of the creature to use as new pillars to support the sky. But Nüwa didn't do it perfectly because the unequal length of the legs made the sky tilt. After the job was done, Nüwa drove away the wild animals, extinguished the fire, and controlled the flood with a huge amount of ashes from the burning reeds and the world became as peaceful as it was before.<ref name=yang/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://chinesegeography.skyrock.com/3141683868-Nuwa-Repairs-the-Heavens.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117014305/http://chinesegeography.skyrock.com/3141683868-Nuwa-Repairs-the-Heavens.html |archive-date=2015-11-17 |website=Skryrock |title=Nüwa Repairs the Heavens|date=5 February 2013 |access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref>

===Empress Nüwa===
Many Chinese know well their [[Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors]], i.e. the early leaders of humanity as well as [[culture heroes]] according to [[Chinese mythology|the Northern Chinese belief]]. But the lists vary and depend on the sources used.<ref>{{cite book|title=China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture|author=Hucker, Charles|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=1995|isbn=978-0-8047-2353-4|page=22}}</ref> One version includes Nüwa as one of the Three Sovereigns, who reigned after [[Fuxi]] and before [[Shennong]].<ref>{{lang|zh|劉煒/著}}. (2002) Chinese civilization in a new light. Commercial press publishing.  {{ISBN|962-07-5314-3}}, p. 142.</ref>

The myth of the Three Sovereigns sees the three as demigod figures, and the myth is used to stress the importance of an imperial reign. The variation between sources stems from China being generally divided before the Qin and Han dynasties, and the version with Fuxi, Shennong, and Nüwa was used to emphasize rule and structure.<ref name="ty">{{Cite journal|last=Nagel-Angermann|first=Monique|date=November 2015|title=The Three August Ones|url=https://uhawaii-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_gale_ofg437506581&context=PC&vid=OUZ&search_scope=OUZ_ALL&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US|journal=Dig into History|volume=17|page=4|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref>

In her matriarchal reign, she battled against a neighboring tribal chief, defeated him, and took him to the peak of a mountain. Defeated by a woman, the chief felt ashamed to be alive and banged his head on the heavenly bamboo to kill himself and for revenge. His act tore a hole in the sky and made a flood hit the whole world. The flood killed all people except Nüwa and her army which was protected by her divinity. After that, Nüwa patched the sky with five colored-stones until the flood receded.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html#China|author=Mark Isaak |title=Flood Stories from Around the World|date=2 September 2002|access-date=15 November 2015}}</ref>