From the above characteristics, it can be seen that mythological thinking is actually a symbolic or metaphorical thinking. The so-called symbols and metaphors are the connections between a specific object and a specific meaning. Hegel called "art before art" "symbolic art", arguing that symbolism consists of two elements: "the first is meaning, and the second is the expression of that meaning." Meaning is an idea or object, whatever its content is, and the manifestation is a perceptual existence or an image. “

The characteristics of primitive thinking determine that primitive people cannot use abstract concepts to think independently, but with the development of culture, tracing history, exchanging ideas, summarizing experience, expressing beliefs, etc., often involve some more abstract concepts, therefore, people must borrow some specific objects to imply some similar or related concepts in some characteristics. For example, the gourd and the egg are regarded as maternal worship and reproductive worship, which is a typical symbolic example.

It can be said that the primitive mythology is composed of these different types of symbolic and metaphorical imagery symbol systems, and some of the meanings of the images are quite complex and rich, such as the image of the dragon and phoenix, which is not only a symbol of the tribe, but also contains a specific national spirit and profound national feelings, and has become a symbol of the cohesion of the whole nation.

Mythology is a way of cognition and expression of primitive ancestors, and it cannot be said to be a conscious literary creation. But mythology does occupy a very important place in the treasure trove of literature, because some characteristics of mythological thinking are also present in literary creation and literary appreciation. In contrast, the symbols and emotional expressions in literary creation are more subjective and individualized, expressing the subjective feelings of the author, while the emotions and symbols of myths are rooted in the collective consciousness and have more mysterious meanings. ”

"The primitive state of ancient mythology is very colorful, but after the tide of history, most of what is presented today is only some fragmentary fragments.

In addition to the fact that ancient mythology has not been taken seriously by the literati, the historicization of mythology is a very important reason. The so-called historicization of myths is to regard myths as historical legends, and the usual practice is to reduce the gods to the ancestors of man, and treat myths and stories as historical facts, constituting some illusory beginnings and their development lineage.

This cultural phenomenon has occurred to a greater or lesser extent in the cultural history of other peoples of the world. On the one hand, the historicization of myths is because many myths are based on history, and these myths, semi-historical or quasi-historical deification of history can easily be interpreted as history; On the other hand, the historicization of mythology can be said to be the inevitability of cultural development, because the development from primitive culture to rational culture is not formed overnight across a chasm, but is a process of inheritance and development, and the historicization of mythology is the concrete embodiment of this process of inheritance and development.

The historicization of myths is a conscious or unconscious act of historians and thinkers. It is generally believed that ancient mythological images have undergone a process of development from animal form, half-human and half-animal form to human form. In the canon of orthodox historians or Confucianism, the half-human, half-animal image of divinity is obliterated, because it is difficult to be included in the historical genealogy and violates the principle of rationalization. In addition, there are other myths that violate the principle of rationalization, which have also been removed.

As a result, a considerable number of myths were not recognized by historians and were therefore not included in the register. There is no way to investigate this. Some were fortunate enough to be recorded by literati, but in the process of subsequent circulation, they were ruthlessly deleted. For example, in the myth of Shun recorded in the ancient book of "The Legend of the Daughters", there is a plot of two daughters teaching Shun to wear a bird's work and a dragon dress and escape from the difficulty of the well, which is gone in this "Legend of the Daughters". Another example is that when the ancient book of "Huainanzi" contains the myth of Chang'e running to the moon, it is said that Chang'e "supports herself in the moon, it is for the toad, but for the moon spirit", and this "Huainanzi" does not exist. The reasons for this may all be "indecent".

In addition, there have been changes in Buddhism that have made it difficult for some ancient myths such as the Later Emperor Diji to escape this fate. In 1929, the Shanghai World Book Company published Mao Dun's "ABC of Chinese Mythology Studies" under the pseudonym "Xuanshu", that is, he used the content of "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" to corroborate with "Chu Ci", and found that it was in the Spring and Autumn Period.

According to the "Conjuring" article of "Chu Ci", Houtu is the god who governs the underground secluded capital. Mao Dun thought that in the "secluded capital" mentioned here, everything was black, which was quite similar to the miserable and lightless underworld in Greek mythology. Primitive people's conceptions of the afterlife are mostly miserable. But the myth of the "secluded capital" in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" is not complete. Mao Dun still has to quote the content of Wang Yi's note "The Conjuring" in order to show that Houtu is the king of the hidden capital.

Mao Dun's conclusion in the discussion is that Tubo, who has "the head of a tiger with his eyes and his body like a cow", is the guardian of the hidden capital, as if he is equivalent to the caracal Garm who guards the gates of hell in Norse mythology. China probably also has a very complete myth of the underworld, but only the above two fragments have survived in modern times. Later generations can only know that Tubo, the guardian at the gate of the hidden capital, bent his nine-curved body, shook a pair of sharp horns, looked at the tiger's head, and opened his fingers full of human blood to drive people away.

What is in the secluded capital, what kind of shape is the back soil, there must have been, but all of them have been lost in modern times. Later generations of books tell a lot of stories about the underworld, but most of them are mixed with Buddhist ideas and Hindu mythology, which is no longer the original Chinese national mythology. The flourishing of Buddhism in China is probably the biggest reason for the extinction of China's original myth of the underworld. “

Another way to historicize myths is to transform them. That is, the distorted interpretation of myths into some kind of real event, thus becoming a cornerstone of ancient history. Such examples abound in traditional Confucian texts, from the Book of Shang, Zuo Chuan, and Chinese, to the Shiji, Wu Yue Chunqiu, and Yue Jue Shu, and the "History of the Road" written by Luo Bi in the Song Dynasty is his masterpiece. The result of the transformation was the mass extinction of mythology, the extension of history and the tighter genealogy of the clans.

For example, "Zuo Chuan: The Seventeenth Year of Zhao Gong": Many of the tribes in the East of China use birds as totems, and there must be many myths about birds among them. Here, these myths about the totem bird were transformed into a series of official names and organized according to the social bureaucracy of later generations.

The historicization of mythology began in the early Spring and Autumn period, and the Confucian school, represented by Confucius, inherited and carried forward this tradition. Confucius once said: "Silence is strange and confusing", and he also directly participated in the transformation of mythology. According to the download of the volume of "Corpse" (Sun Xingyan), when Zigong mentioned to Confucius the myth that the Yellow Emperor had four faces, Confucius said: "The Yellow Emperor has taken four people and ruled the four directions, which is called the four sides." “

The four faces are interpreted as four people facing four directions, and the myth of the "Yellow Emperor's Four Sides" becomes a historical fact about governing the world. Another myth about Kui befell the same fate with Confucius. Confucianism is the mainstream of traditional Chinese feudal culture, and Confucius, as a sage, has a significant impact on later cultures. ”

Another way for ancient mythology to develop and change was to be transformed by Taoism to become a source of fairy tales, which Yuan Ke also regarded as part of mythology. Immortal tales generally tell the story of achieving immortality or transforming into immortals through cultivation or immortal guidance. In the fairy tales, many ancient mythological characters can be found, the most prominent of which are the Yellow Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West.

"Historical Records, Feng Zen Book" records that the Yellow Emperor cast a tripod at the foot of Jing Mountain, Ding Cheng, there is a dragon hanging beard on the tripod, welcome the Yellow Emperor riding a dragon to ascend to heaven. This story has obvious traces of fairy tales. The Yellow Emperor's victory over Chi You is attributed to the "Nine Heavens Xuannu" in the fairy tales, "Bestowing the (Yellow) Emperor with three senses and five meanings of yin and yang,...... Lingbao five charms and five victories, Sui Ke Chi is especially in the middle of Hebei".

Similarly, Chang'e, who stole medicine to the moon, and the Queen Mother of the West, who exercised the medicine of immortality, are also important figures in fairy tales. The transformation of myths into fairy tales is limited, it generally focuses on a specific number of characters, and there are plots similar to cultivation, taking medicine, and ascending to heaven and immortality. However, the cultural connotation of fairy tales is much weaker than that of myths, and in fairy tales, the national spirit and aesthetic quality contained in those mythological characters have been seriously weakened.

Ancient mythology had a great influence on the literary creation of later writers, as Marx said, "Greek mythology is not only the arsenal of Greek art, but also its soil." In literature, people can see the continuation and magnificence of the spirit of mythology. The influence of mythology on literature is mainly manifested in two aspects, one is as the material for literary creation, and the other is directly affecting the way of thinking, expression, and appreciation effect of literary creation.

Ancient mythology, with its broad and profound meaning and vivid expressiveness, laid the foundation for later literature. In addition to being directly recorded by posterity, myths also provide material for various literary works. In the pre-Qin prose, the book "Zhuangzi" is known for its "strange writing" and "ethereal and strange changes", and the subtlety of the Zhuangzi's reasoning and the unbridled style of writing are largely due to mythology.

For example, the Kunpeng changes in "Getaway" and the "chiseling through chaos" in "Emperor Ying", these two myths smear the whole text with a romantic color of change and fantasy. As for Cao Zhi's use of the image of the goddess of Luoshui, Concubine Mi, to create the popular "Luo Shen Fu", it is a successful creation using mythological materials.

The phenomenon of using myths into poetry abounds in the history of Chinese literature, such as the "Book of Songs, Daya, Shengmin" describes the various miracles of Houji, and the various gods and spirits in Chu Ci's "Lisao" come one after another. Poets since then, especially romantic poets, often use myths into their poems, such as Li Shangyin's poem "Yao Chi": "The window of Yao Chi and Mother Qi is open, the song of "Yellow Bamboo" is moving, and the eight horses travel 30,000 miles a day, and King Mu will not do it again." It's a clever use of mythological imagery.

There are also many novels and operas that use mythology as materials, mainly with the help of the peculiar imagination of mythology, and the use of mythological images or mythological plots for recreation. For example, Li Chaowei's novel "Liu Yi" in the Tang Dynasty created a beautiful love myth.

The adoption and reshaping of mythology in the novels of gods and demons has reached the highest point of this type of literature, and its representative is "Journey to the West", in which Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and their soaring clouds and seventy-two changes have become one of the most influential stories in literature. From Sun Wukong, it is not difficult to see Xia Qi who is "born in the stone", Chi You who is "copper-headed and iron-fronted", Xingtian who is "competing with the emperor", and the influence of the Huai Whirlpool Water Monster Wuzhiqi.

In addition, there are also many thought-provoking mythological plots in "Strange Tales from Liao Zhai", "Mirror Flowers", "Romance of the Gods", and "Dream of Red Mansions". It can be said that ancient mythology, as a material, is spread in every corner of Chinese classical literature, and it has been excavated and transformed by writers, and has re-emitted its light in new works, giving literary works a unique artistic charm. ”