Fangfeng Legend
01 · Historical Records
The orally transmitted Fangfeng myth and legend discovered in the 1980s and 1990s in the survey and compilation of the ten great collections of folk literature and art is the living continuation of the Fangfeng myth in the written records. In the early 1990s two academic symposia on Fangfeng were held, and such academic works as The History and Culture of the Fangfeng Clan, Studies in the Fangfeng Myth and A Compilation of Materials on the Fangfeng Clan were published.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Fangfeng is a water-control hero of ancient myth, killed by Yu the Great for arriving late at the assembly of the gods on Mount Kuaiji. He was three zhang tall and his bones filled a whole cart; as the lord of the Wangmang clan, guarding the mountains of Feng and Yu, he was called the Wangmang clan under Yu, Xia and Shang, the Changdi under the Zhou and the Great Man today. Because of his great bones he was historically called the Great Man or the Giant. The Shuyi Ji records that among the Yue customs one sacrificed to the god Fangfeng with ancient Fangfeng music, cutting bamboo three feet long and blowing it like a howl while three men, their hair unbound, danced. The centre of its circulation is between the two mountains of Feng and Yu in Sanhe township of Deqing county, Zhejiang, and its surroundings. The contemporary orally transmitted Fangfeng legends fall into three kinds: first, the transformed forms of the ancient myth; second, those glued to the local geographical features; third, those attached to the beliefs of local popular deities. The contemporary orally transmitted legends fall into three kinds: the transformed forms of the ancient myth, those glued to the local scenery and those attached to local popular-deity beliefs.
Yao Enfeoffs the State of Fangfeng
One of the Fangfeng legends of the transformed-ancient-myth kind.
The Death of Fangfeng
One of the Fangfeng legends of the transformed-ancient-myth kind.
The Fangfeng Pagoda and the Fangfeng Well
Fangfeng legends of the kind glued to the local geographical features.
Legends of Popular-Deity Beliefs such as the Fourth Brother Lord and King Fan Xing
Fangfeng legends attached to local popular-deity beliefs.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The third kind of Fangfeng legend, attached to the beliefs of the local popular deities, includes those of the Fourth Brother Lord, King Fan Xing, King Li and Lord Dai. The centre of the legend's circulation is between the two mountains of Feng and Yu in Sanhe township of Deqing county, Zhejiang, and its surroundings.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Fangfeng myth has important value for folk oral literature and academic research and has drawn great attention from scholarship. Corroborated by the local scenery of the two mountains of Feng and Yu in Deqing, the Fangfeng legend is an important living survival of the creation myth of Jiangnan. Because the old artists are advanced in years or have died, the living transmitting group is gradually shrinking. Under the advocacy and research of the local government and scholars, general surveys and symposia have gradually been carried out and a five-year salvage plan drawn up, so that the Fangfeng myth and legend are better protected and transmitted.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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