Gonggong

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This article is about the Chinese water god. For the dwarf planet, see 225088 Gonggong. For other uses, see Gong gong.
Gonggong
Gònggōng
Hán-Nôm
共工, 龔工, 康回
Korean name
Hangul공공
Hanja共工
Japanese name
Kanji共工
Hiraganaきょうこう

Gonggong (

water god who is depicted in Chinese mythology and folktales as having a copper human head with an iron forehead, red hair, and the body of a serpent, or sometimes the head and torso are human, with the tail of a serpent.[1][2] He is destructive and is blamed for various cosmic catastrophes. In all accounts, Gonggong ends up being killed or sent into exile, usually after losing a struggle with another major deity such as the fire god Zhurong
.

In astronomy, the dwarf planet 225088 Gonggong is named after Gonggong.

Name

In English, the two syllables of the name are the same. But in Mandarin, they differ in tone (共工 Gònggōng), and in other Chinese languages they differ in their vowel and the initial consonant as well (cf. Middle Chinese *ɡɨoŋh-kuŋ, also Japanese kyōkō). The most common variant of the name, 龔工, is identical to the first in English, but in Mandarin differs in tone (Gōnggōng), and in other Chinese languages in consonant and vowel as well (cf. Middle Chinese *kɨoŋ-kuŋ).

Gonggong's personal name is said to be Kanghui (pronounced either /ˈkæŋhuːi/ KANG-hoo-ee in English, or as Mandarin Kānghuí kʰáŋ.xwěi kong-HWAY).

Legend

Gonggong is known from the late

Yangzi River and the Yellow River, and why the Sun, Moon, and stars move towards the northwest. Literature from the Han dynasty
becomes much more detailed regarding Gonggong.

Gonggong was credited in various mythological contexts as being responsible for great floods, often in concert with his minister Xiangliu (a.k.a. Xiangyao), who has nine heads and the body of a snake.

Gonggong was ashamed that he lost the fight with Zhurong, the Chinese god of fire, to claim the throne of Heaven. In a fit of rage, he smashed his head against

Buzhou Mountain, one of eight pillars holding up the sky, greatly damaging it and causing the sky to tilt towards the northwest and the Earth to shift to the southeast, which caused great floods and suffering. In one account of the myth, Gonggong kills himself in the process and fire comes out of the shattered mountain alongside floods.[3]

The goddess Nüwa cut off the legs of the giant turtle Ao and used them in place of the fallen pillar, ending the floods and suffering; she was, however, unable to fully correct the tilted sky and Earth and alter their effects on the Sun, Moon, stars, and rivers in China.

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ ChineseWords.org
  2. ^ a b Yang & al. (2005), p. 124.
  3. OCLC 27192394
    .

Bibliography

External links
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