The Epic of Darkness is a collection of tale

Tale

Tale may refer to:*Cautionary tale, a traditional story told in folklore, to warn its hearer of a danger*Fairy tale, a fictional story that usually features folkloric characters and enchantments*Folk tale, a story passed-down within a particular population, which comprises the traditions of that...

s and legend

Legend

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

s of primeval China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 in epic poetry

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

, preserved by the inhabitants of the Shennongjia

Shennongjia

Shennongjia Forestry District is a county-level administrative unit in Hubei province, directly subordinated to the provincial government...

 mountain area in Hubei

Hubei

' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...

. It contains accounts from the birth of Pangu

Pangu

Pangu was the first living being and the creator of all in Chinese mythology.- The Pangu legend:...

 till the historical era.

History

On August 1982, Hu Chongjun was given a songbook by an old local farmer. The booklet, written in brush and ink with about 3,000 lines of seven Chinese characters each. The Book is split into 4 sections; the beginnings of the Universe, the Birth of Pangu, the Great Flood, the birth of mankind till the beginnings of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Hu began to study and gather the manuscripts from accounts of old people living in Shennongjia.

Liu Shouhua, a professor at the Chinese Culture Department at the East China Normal University

East China Normal University

East China Normal University , was founded in October 1951 in western Shanghai, on the campus of Great China University. It is the first Normal University founded after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.-History:...

, read the ballad and believed that the Epic of Darkness may represent the Han chinese creation myth that has been handed down in oral form.

Yuan Ke, a scholar in Chinese mythology, carefully studied the original materials and supported Liu's suggestion that the Epic of Darkness is a folk epic. Yuan said that the discovery of "Darkness" could be regarded a historic event in the folklore history of the Han people. Yuan suggested some people should further study the different versions and rearrange with caution, the manuscripts into an integrated epic, without ruining its original flavor.

Hu was chosen to compile this massive epic.

It took him 9 years to finally finish the collection. With 5,500 lines, the new edition was selected as the best of many different versions, compiled after Hu skimmed through more than 30,000 lines of the original manuscripts. Liu, who has read most of the original material, said, "So far, the content of this edition is the richest one. Compared with other versions, this edition is more beautiful and is in the linguistic style."

In the same year, the Beijing-based Hualian Publishing House bought the copyrights to publish the Epic of Darkness. But due to financial problems, the publishing was delayed the publication of the book year after year.

In 2000, Zhou Baiyi, publisher of the Changjiang Arts Publishing House, persuaded Hu to end his former contract with Hualian Publishing House and gave rights to his publishing house.

In 2001, Hu signed a new contract with Changjiang Art Publishing House and went to Wuhan for some final editions. The final edition of The Story of Darkness would finally see the light of day.

Hu said that the mountains and nature have protected it from modernization and enabled "Darkness" to be handed down from one generation to the next and into the modern day.

Plot summary

In the beginning, everything was a cloud of gas, chaos and darkness. After eons of effort, the first drop of water was created by a deity named Jiang Ku (江沽). However a god named Lang Da Zi (浪荡子) swallowed that drop of water and died. His body was split in 5 forms, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth. From the elements was born Pan Gu who split the heavens and the earth before he eventually died and his body became the Earth. However mankind has yet to be created at this time. From the 5 elements and animals were born demons and gods who fought each other until a great flood overcame the land. From this great flood, two dragons one black and one yellow fought a great battle. A goddess, Sacred Mother Wu Tien , helped the dragon defeat the black dragon. In gratitude, the yellow dragon laid 3 eggs which the Sacred Mother swallowed and gave birth to 3 gods, Heaven, Earth and Hell. Later from the flood came 5 dragons who found a gourd in the Eastern sea. Wu Tien opens the Gourd and found two humans, Fuxi and Nuwa, and tells them to copulate and thus humans were born after the flood waters recede.