Hello and welcome to Chinese Folk Tales.
This is Beibei.
Today, I'm going to talk more about Chinese deities.
Internationally speaking, Chinese gods are not nearly as famous as Greek ones.
But to be honest, From a Chinese perspective, the Greek gods did some really weird things that we are not even comfortable talking about.
Chinese gods are of a different style and a lot of them are more like authoritative leaders who not only have supernatural abilities, but also supernatural responsibilities.
Today, our stars are the god of spring and the god of autumn.
These two are brothers, and their father was Shaohao.
Let's start with their father.
Shaohao was a lord of heaven and was called the White Emperor.
And an interesting thing about the white emperor is that he once built an empire in the east, not of people, but of birds.
That's right, those creatures with feathers.
Isn't that a strange idea?
An empire of birds?
But in fact, it was not the only one of its kind.
For those of you who are fans of ancient Greek plays, you might know of The Birds by Aristophanes, in which the supreme power in the universe was turned over to birds and a new city called Cloud Cuckoo Land was erected midway between heaven and earth and where birds were kings and gods.
Sounds like a land of freedom, but constant rainfall of bird droppings doesn't sound too good for those living on Earth.
Anyways, let's get back to the Chinese tale.
Legend has it that when Shaohao was enthroned, the phoenix came down from heaven with its colorful feathers that shimmered with sunlight.
This was considered a very auspicious sign in Chinese culture.
And of course, it made Shaohao very happy.
So he gave the phoenix the power to rule over the four seasons.
Four other types of birds were given the power to rule over each season.
For example, the sparrow got spring and the golden pheasant got winter.
Five other birds were appointed to take charge of everyday concerns.
The wood pigeon was known for being filial, which is considered the leading virtue in Chinese culture.
So he was given the authority over educational matters.
The cuckoo bird was to take charge of construction in general, for it was known for being fair.
The eagle was in charge of legal matters, including catching bad guys, like mice.
The vulture was given the command of the military for being ferocious.
And the turtle dove, which likes to chatter all day long, was put in charge of all kinds of miscellaneous matters.
Other birds were put in charge of agriculture, the handicraft industry, and numerous other fields.
Can you imagine holding an imperial court session of birds?
Celestial clouds boiling with tweets and tweeters of a million birds?
But I guess that's what we see online nowadays.
Now, time to get back to Shaohao's sons.
They're called Goumang and Rushou.
Really weird names, even for a Chinese.
While they were in charge of springs, and autumn, respectively.
Goumao, the god of spring, had the body of a bird with a square face.
Wow, that cannot be handsome.
The characters in his name meant sprouts of grass and young leaves on trees, representing a vibrant scene of hope.
Goma was also the god of woods and trees.
He was in charge of their growth.
Besides these two titles, he was also the god of life, making sure that every living creature was full of life and vigor.
Now that sounds like a full-time job to me already.
This very important god of many responsibilities lives in the east, where the sun rises.
Do you remember that big tree where the ten suns rest?
That tree was under the charge of Gaomang too.
What about the god of autumn, Rushou?
He didn't look like a bird at all, but he looked even more bizarre.
He had a human face and white feathers all over his body.
And check this out.
He had tiger's paws.
Not someone you want to mess with.
For decoration, he had a snake hanging from his left ear.
Remember how to be a sheik god in ancient China?
Yeah, you gotta have some snakes.
In your hand, or on your ear, or just grow a snake tail.
The name Ru Shou means to reap the seeds of grass.
Time for harvest.
Ru Shou lives to the west, the opposite side from his brother.
So he was in charge of sunsets, like making sure that the visual effects of sunsets were moving enough, or something like that.
Besides that, he was also the god of metal.
And that's why he held an axe of gold in his palm.
With the tiger paws and the axe, he was also the god of punishments.
So don't be fooled by the title of God of Autumn.
You don't want to mess with this guy.
So far, it sounds to me there was certainly a shortage of leadership talents in that kingdom.
Whatever gods they were, they were assigned a package of mismatching responsibilities.
Busy gods they must have been.
Wonder if they got any vacation days.
What do you think?
So much on God of Spring and Autumn.
Did I forget about the other two seasons?
No, I did not.
The God of Summer was called Zhu Rong.
He was also the God of Fire.
I guess that's fair.
But they do need some new hires.
Now, let me check out your resume.
You are the god of summer?
Why don't you just take charge of fire too?
People will be more scared of you.
Maybe that's how the interview was like.
And remember that god of water with a short fuse?
They fought together once.
The god of summer and the god of water.
No wonder there are all these thunderstorms in the summertime.
And now, who do we have left?
The god of winter.
He had several names, one of which was Xuan Ming, which means darkness and gloominess.
He can't possibly be a very cheerful guy with a name like that.
Wherever he went, he brought with him snow and freezing cold air.
I'm sure he wasn't the one wearing a blue dress with millions of sequins.
You know who I'm talking about, right?
And also, he was in charge of the ocean's tube, just on the side.
So that's a lot of gods and titles in one episode.
Were they responsible gods?
Did they do their jobs well?
Do they petition for less work and more holidays?
Well, let's wait and see in the coming episodes.
But that's not for today and hope to see you again.
Bye for now.
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Special thanks go out to Sanlian Zhongdu for their help in creating the content for this show.
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