The sun is called tai-yang (太陽). One story about the Sun in China is like that of Helios in Greek
mythology. Helios, also identified as Hyperion, is the father of Phaeton, who was given permission to drive the chariot of the sun. He soon betrayed his incapacity and threatened the earth with a conflagration. Zeus, perceiving the disorder, hurled a thunderbolt and struck Phaeton who fell into the river Eridanus (Po).
The Sun, according to a Chinese myth, kept a bird and a rooster. The bird was called ho niao (火鳥) or Fire Bird (Phoenix) and the rooster qin qi (金雞) or Gold Rooster (Coq d'or). The Sun is the symbol of yang (陽) or the masculine and positive principle. Because yang's numbers are odd, both the Phoenix and the Coq d'or had three legs each, instead of two, which is an even number. They were spirits, the Phoenix representing heat and the Coq d'or light. The Sun rode a chariot that traveled above and across the earth every day. He started in the east and went all the way to the west, keeping a close eye at the same time on what was going on down on earth.
The Sun's chariot was drawn by dragons, rather than steeds. Six dragons drew the chariot. Yi He(義和) or Justice Peace was the chariot driver. The Sun began the travel at Yang Ku (陽谷) or Bright Valley early in the morning and got off the chariot at Yu Chuan(虞泉) Worry Spring in the evening to rest. It was daylight while he was traveling. Night fell as he came to rest. Unlike Phaeton, the Sun in China was not struck down by any higher-up god, however.
In another story, the sun was not a god. It was the two eyes of a mountain god called Cho Yin (燭陰) or Light Dark. Yin also means the feminine and negative principle, which, according to Chinese cosmology, combines and interacts with its opposite yang to produce all that comes to be. When Light Dark opened his eyes, the earth was bright - and it was daylight. When he closed his eyes, it was dark: night came.
Light Dark not just controlled day and night. He blew air from his mouth to keep down the temperature as well. He blew and blew, creating cold winds that cooled the earth: winter arrived. If he opened his mouth to shout, well, it was summer, because the earth turned hot.
He lived at Chung-shan (鍾山) or Bell Mountain, which was in northern China. Still another story of the sun says there was a huge rock on Bell Mountain. That rock was known as Stone Neck or Shih-po-tzu (石脖), because it looked exactly like a human neck. Stone Neck had a pair of eyes and a mouth. Its left eye was the sun and its right eye the moon. Stone Neck alternately opened and shut the two eyes. It was day when the left eye was open and the right eye shut. Vice versa, it was night. When the mouth was open, it was spring and summer. If the mouth was closed, it was autumn and winter.
One myth denied Phoenix and Coq d'oro were Sun spirits. There was only one Sun spirit, whose name it was Yu Hua (鬱華) or Melancholy Glory. At first, Melancholy Glory was a mere immortal. He later went to Heaven and stay there with the sun as his abode.
Another myth relates there were ten suns during the reign of the legendary Emperor Yao (堯). One sun was good enough, but ten would scorch all the emperor's subjects to death. Trees and grass died. The people were scared to death. They were afraid of a conflagration, like the one Phaeton had threatened to start by driving recklessly his borrowed chariot of the sun. So the emperor had to think of some way to get rid of nine of the ten suns.
One day, the emperor hit upon a good idea. He ordered his champion archer, by the name of Hou Yi (后羿) or Back Flight to shoot down the nine suns. His nine arrows hit the marks, and the nine suns, together with as many Phoenixes, came down. The world was saved. Similar stories abound in Austronesia. One legend of the Aborigines in Taiwan describes a brave going afield to hunt down nine of the ten suns. He succeeded, of course.
Legend also has it that a queen of a country far away from China bore ten suns. The queen was called Yi He, just like the driver of the dragon chariot for the Sun. The country, located near Kan zhuan (甘泉) or Sweet Spring in the Southeast Sea, was also known as Yi He. The queen and her ten sons - the ten suns - would go to Sweet Spring to take a bath. Back Flight the archer, according to this legend, must have gone hunting down the ten suns and shot to kill the nine princes of Queen Justice Peace.
That is closer to the story of the Aborigines on Taiwan about their brave hunting down the nine suns in a place far, far away from home.
The Sun, according to a Chinese myth, kept a bird and a rooster. The bird was called ho niao (火鳥) or Fire Bird (Phoenix) and the rooster qin qi (金雞) or Gold Rooster (Coq d'or). The Sun is the symbol of yang (陽) or the masculine and positive principle. Because yang's numbers are odd, both the Phoenix and the Coq d'or had three legs each, instead of two, which is an even number. They were spirits, the Phoenix representing heat and the Coq d'or light. The Sun rode a chariot that traveled above and across the earth every day. He started in the east and went all the way to the west, keeping a close eye at the same time on what was going on down on earth.
The Sun's chariot was drawn by dragons, rather than steeds. Six dragons drew the chariot. Yi He(義和) or Justice Peace was the chariot driver. The Sun began the travel at Yang Ku (陽谷) or Bright Valley early in the morning and got off the chariot at Yu Chuan(虞泉) Worry Spring in the evening to rest. It was daylight while he was traveling. Night fell as he came to rest. Unlike Phaeton, the Sun in China was not struck down by any higher-up god, however.
In another story, the sun was not a god. It was the two eyes of a mountain god called Cho Yin (燭陰) or Light Dark. Yin also means the feminine and negative principle, which, according to Chinese cosmology, combines and interacts with its opposite yang to produce all that comes to be. When Light Dark opened his eyes, the earth was bright - and it was daylight. When he closed his eyes, it was dark: night came.
Light Dark not just controlled day and night. He blew air from his mouth to keep down the temperature as well. He blew and blew, creating cold winds that cooled the earth: winter arrived. If he opened his mouth to shout, well, it was summer, because the earth turned hot.
He lived at Chung-shan (鍾山) or Bell Mountain, which was in northern China. Still another story of the sun says there was a huge rock on Bell Mountain. That rock was known as Stone Neck or Shih-po-tzu (石脖), because it looked exactly like a human neck. Stone Neck had a pair of eyes and a mouth. Its left eye was the sun and its right eye the moon. Stone Neck alternately opened and shut the two eyes. It was day when the left eye was open and the right eye shut. Vice versa, it was night. When the mouth was open, it was spring and summer. If the mouth was closed, it was autumn and winter.
One myth denied Phoenix and Coq d'oro were Sun spirits. There was only one Sun spirit, whose name it was Yu Hua (鬱華) or Melancholy Glory. At first, Melancholy Glory was a mere immortal. He later went to Heaven and stay there with the sun as his abode.
Another myth relates there were ten suns during the reign of the legendary Emperor Yao (堯). One sun was good enough, but ten would scorch all the emperor's subjects to death. Trees and grass died. The people were scared to death. They were afraid of a conflagration, like the one Phaeton had threatened to start by driving recklessly his borrowed chariot of the sun. So the emperor had to think of some way to get rid of nine of the ten suns.
One day, the emperor hit upon a good idea. He ordered his champion archer, by the name of Hou Yi (后羿) or Back Flight to shoot down the nine suns. His nine arrows hit the marks, and the nine suns, together with as many Phoenixes, came down. The world was saved. Similar stories abound in Austronesia. One legend of the Aborigines in Taiwan describes a brave going afield to hunt down nine of the ten suns. He succeeded, of course.
Legend also has it that a queen of a country far away from China bore ten suns. The queen was called Yi He, just like the driver of the dragon chariot for the Sun. The country, located near Kan zhuan (甘泉) or Sweet Spring in the Southeast Sea, was also known as Yi He. The queen and her ten sons - the ten suns - would go to Sweet Spring to take a bath. Back Flight the archer, according to this legend, must have gone hunting down the ten suns and shot to kill the nine princes of Queen Justice Peace.
That is closer to the story of the Aborigines on Taiwan about their brave hunting down the nine suns in a place far, far away from home.