All must grow from innocent childhood to adulthood. Similarly human society has also developed from naive infancy - the primitive tribal societies of ancient times -to the modern， urbanized， technological world we live in today.
Children are by nature curious creatures. Their default mode is a questioning one. Why is the sky so high？ How was it created？ Why is the Earth under our feet so solid？ How was it created？ How did we come to have a sun， a moon and twinkling stars in the universe？ Why do they insist on rising in the east and setting in the west？ How is it that those winged creatures， the birds， can fly so freely in the air？ Why are fish so at home in water？ Where did humans themselves come from？ What happens to us after we die？
People living thousands of years before us in ancient societies asked these and many more questions about the universe they inhabited. The world they encountered was greatly puzzling. Remember that this was a time before science and experimentation did so much to explain the world to us. Ancient peoples， with no such knowledge， speculated， guessed and made presumptions to try to explain to themselves the natural phenomena they observed， ideas of Heavens and Hell and the origins of their own species.
Heavens and Earth were originally an integrated whole， often likened to an egg. Interestingly most ancient societies came to a general consensus about this basic concept. Pan Gu who lived in the “egg” was responsible for splitting the “egg” apart into Heaven and Earth； Man， the ancient Chinese believed， was created by Nü Wa with yellow clay； ten scorching suns in the sky boiled all the water on the Earth scorching the land and destroying crops. The suffering lasted， until the great hero， Hou Yi， shot nine of the ten suns out of the sky with his unerring arrows….
Though these stories appear absurd to us， schooled as we are in the certainties of modern science， these fables embody the way our ancestors understood the world in ancient times. Legends were created by our forebears in order to reflect the way in which they saw the relationship between man and nature； between nature and human society.
If one can picture Chinese culture as a long and winding free-flowing river， then the source of this river can be traced back to these ancient tales. If one can picture Chinese culture as a mature， leafy tree， then the roots of this tree lie in the soil that is ancient Chinese tales. If one wishes to delve deeper into Chinese culture and the essence of Chinese civilization and society， one must begin with a thorough investigation of the myths and tales handed down to us from ancient Chinese society.
