Research source

Of their cosmological speculations, need not, as I said, detain us long; and the reason why they need not do so…

Date of account: Traditional material presented in a work published 1922
Source: Myths and Legends of China
Reference: Myths and Legends of China · selected passage 25
Rights: public_domain
Language: English synthesis of Chinese traditions
Translation: E. T. C. Werner
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

of their cosmological speculations, need not, as I said, detain us long; and the reason why they need not do so is that, in the matter of cosmogony, the P'an Ku legend and the yin-yang system with its monistic elaboration occupy virtually the whole field of the Chinese mental vision

Published source text

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Source passage

Source text · mention only

of their cosmological speculations, need not, as I said, detain us long; and the reason why they need not do so is that, in the matter of cosmogony, the P'an Ku legend and the _yin-yang_ system with its monistic elaboration occupy virtually the whole field of the Chinese mental vision. It is these two--the popular and the scientific--that we mean when we speak of Chinese cosmogony. Though here and there a stern sectarian might deny that the universe originated in one or the other of these two ways, still, the general rule holds good. And I have dealt with them in this order because, though the P'an Ku legend belongs to the fourth century A.D., the _I ching_ dualism was not, rightly speaking, a cosmogony until Chou Tun-i made it one by the publication of his _T'ai chi t'u_ in the eleventh century A.D.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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