page_title: Chinese mythology
section_title: Vernacular novels and new media
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese mythology / Major sources / Literary sources / Vernacular novels and new media
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 颐和园长廊彩绘：路阻通天河（西游记故事） This is a photo of a (or part of a) Major National Historical and Cultural Site in China identified by the ID CNBJ-010-125
context_page_description: Chinese mythology is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as "China". Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Chinese mythology is far from monolithic, not being an integrated system, even among just Han people. Chinese mythology is encountered in the traditions of various classes of people, geographic regions, historical periods including the present, and from various ethnic groups. China is the home of many mythological traditions, including that of Han Chinese and their Huaxia predecessors, as well as Tibetan mythology, Turkic mythology, Korean mythology, Japanese mythology and many others. However, the study of Chinese mythology tends to focus upon material in Chinese language.
  Much of the mythology involves exciting stories full of fantastic people and beings, the use of magical powers, often taking place in an exotic mythological place or time. Like many mythologies, Chinese mythology has in the past been believed to be, at least in part, a factual recording of history.
context_section_description: Some myths were passed down through oral traditions literature, and art, such as theater and song before being recorded as novels. One example is Epic of Darkness.  Books in the shenmo genre of vernacular fiction revolve around gods and monsters. Important mythological fiction which allude to these myths, include Fengshen Bang (Investiture of the Gods), a mythological fiction dealing with the founding of the Zhou dynasty; Journey to the West attributed to Wu Cheng'en, published in the 1590s, a fictionalized account of the pilgrimage of Xuanzang to India to obtain Buddhist religious texts in which the main character and his companions such as Sun Wukong encounter ghosts, monsters, and demons, as well as the Flaming Mountains; and, Baishe Zhuan (Madame White Snake), a romantic tale set in Hangzhou involving a female snake who attained human form and fell in love with a man. Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, by Pu Songling contains many stories of fox spirits, and other phenomena. Another example is Zi Bu Yu, a collection of supernatural stories compiled during the Qing dynasty.
caption: Xuanzang, Monkey King, and companions riding mythological turtle across a river as depicted on a Long Corridor mural, Beijing, China
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