On a Girdle
by Edmund Waller That which her slender waist confin’d,
Shall now my joyful temples bind;
No monarch but would give his crown,
His arms might do what this has done.


It was my heaven’s extremest sphere,
The pale which held that lovely deer,
My joy, my grief, my hope, my love,
Did all within this circle move.


A narrow compass, and yet there
Dwelt all that’s good, and all that’s fair;
Give me but what this ribbon bound,
Take all the rest the sun goes round.

Chinese mythology is as varied and multi-levelled as the country from which it springs. China contains many different cultural groupings, who speak a number of different languages. However, it has had a literate cultural élite for thousands of years, and myths which were originally regional have spread by means of a pictographic script which transcended language barriers. Their evolution has not been entirely oral.
Much Chinese mythology is based on animism, which sees the land itself as alive. It contains many therianthropic creatures, who are both animal and human, and demonstrates the playfulness of the gods.
Strands of Chinese belief

Chinese mythology has been influenced by a fear of outsiders. It has also been shaped, sometimes deliberately, by religious faiths and philosophies. Some myths even demonstrate the conflict between them, as in the story of the Monkey King, which reflects the conflict between Ta ... Read more »