A Comparative Study on Creation Myths: Nüwa and Fuxi versus Adam and Eve

Abstract

This paper compares the creation myth of Nüwa and Fuxiin China with that of Adam and Eve in the west, aiming to touch on the topic that how the two oldest ethnic groups in the world, Chinese and Jewish, explore the origin of the world, the life, the relationship between two genders and the relationship between different ethnic groups.The mythofNüwaand Fuxi
reflectsChineseancestors' observation of the natural world and the cognition of Yin-Yang awareness as the offspring of the observation. Thus natural ontology is the logic starting point of Chinese gender relationship, which is derived from the idea of Yin-Yang. While the myth of Adam and Eve reflects that God is the absolute creator of nature and mankind (including the mutual relation between male and female). The logic starting point of gender relationship is God ontology, namely it is of the relation between God and mankind. This difference in logic might be relevant to the distinct cultural features, when Chinese focus more on “seeing” while the western focus more on“listening”, since the “beginning”.