Stories from Ancient China: Nu Wa, Creator of Humans

Nu Wa who created human beings. (Illustrated by SM Yang/The Epoch Times)

The most well-known of China's ancient legends is that of Nu Wa creating human beings. According to the myth, all Chinese people are her descendants.

The first batch of clay people made by Nu Wa, were just like puppets, with no life, thought, or movement. Nu Wa was not satisfied with them, so she breathed into the clay people, giving them a soul. Immediately, they transformed into lively human beings.

But these human beings lacked wisdom and the ability to bear external changes. They could not restrain their emotions and had no understanding of how to cope with the changes in their environment.

They had no logic or ordered thinking and tended to die easily. When one batch of the people died, Nu Wa had to create another batch. The work was tedious and nonstop.

Nu Wa gave the human beings some wisdom and created musical instruments for them. With music, song and dance developed. The human beings could then express their feelings by singing and dancing. From then on, they had culture to order and enrich their lives.

Nu Wa established marriage to have male and female live together and breed their own generations, thus solving the problem of the people dying out.

Gradually the people learned to discipline themselves and handle unexpected changes in their environment. Over time, human history, culture, and other aspects were established and grew bit by bit. With time, their simple life was enriched and grew from nothing into a rich culture and civilization.

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