Shànggǔ Mìshǐ 上古秘史
Secret History of High Antiquity by 鍾毓龍 (撰)
About the work
Shànggǔ Mìshǐ 上古秘史 is a large Republican-era mythological-historical novel in at least 321 chapters (huí 回) by 鍾毓龍 (Zhōng Yùlóng), covering the legendary period of Chinese antiquity from the dawn of creation through the age of the mythological sage-kings. The Kanripo text preserves the first part (dì yī bù 第一部). The narrative begins with the primordial chaos (hùndùn 混沌) and treats a sweep of ancient mythology: the goddess Nǚwā 女媧 (molding humans from clay, patching the sky), the battles between Gòng Gōng 共工 and Zhuān Xū 顓頊, the archer Hòu Yì 后羿 and his wife Cháng É’s 嫦娥 flight to the moon, the birth of Jì 稷 (the culture hero Hòu Jì 后稷, progenitor of the Zhōu royal house), the battles with Chī Yóu 蚩尤, the Yellow Emperor’s 黃帝 ascent, and other episodes from Chinese cosmogonic myth.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
Shànggǔ Mìshǐ draws on the rich tradition of Chinese ancient mythology — material preserved in texts such as the Shānhǎi Jīng 山海經, Chǔ Cí 楚辭, Huáinán Zǐ 淮南子, and Shǐjì — to construct a continuous narrative of high antiquity in the form of a vernacular chapter novel. The genre of mythological historical fiction was given its classic form in the Míng novel Fēngshén Yǎnyì 封神演義 (Investiture of the Gods) and Xīyóu Jì 西遊記. Republican-era authors like Zhōng Yùlóng extended this tradition by applying the chapter-novel format to the pre-historic and proto-historic periods of Chinese legend, “filling in” the narrative gaps left by classical sources with freely invented romance, adventure, and supernatural content.
The novel covers figures and events that appear in scattered form across early Chinese texts: the creation myth of Nǚwā, the cosmic battle between Gòng Gōng and Zhuān Xū (which caused the tilting of heaven and earth, filled in by Nǚwā with five-colored stones), Cháng É’s theft of the immortality drug and flight to the moon, the birth of the grain deity Hòu Jì from Jiǎndi 簡狄 (who swallowed a swallow’s egg), and the battles of the Yellow Emperor against Chī Yóu. The narrative reconstructs these mythological episodes as a continuous historical sequence.
鍾毓龍 is otherwise little known; no detailed biographical data has been located.
Translations and research
- Birrell, Anne. 1993. Chinese Mythology: An Introduction. Johns Hopkins University Press. Standard scholarly introduction to Chinese mythological traditions.
- Christie, Anthony. 1968. Chinese Mythology. Hamlyn. Popular reference on Chinese ancient myth.