To The Road Tour

"Huainanzi" has always been regarded as one of the ancient books in which many mythology records are kept. It is a general opinion that "Huainanzi" should belong to "miscellaneous school ". In terms of theory,it praised highly the philosophical thinking of "Laozi"and "Zhuangzi",at the same time, it adopted widely doctrines of various schools of pre-Qing times such as the Confucian school, the school of Logicians, the Legalist school, the school of Mohism and so on. It achieved mastery through a comprehensive study of these theory, however, Taoist school set its keynote. As the product of the particular history and culture environment, mythology in this book shows the inclination of Taoist school, and " the soaring deities"express the inclination most obviously.In "Zhuangzi" where it appeared firstly,soaring was the ideal life realm which Zhuangzi designed and the symbol of returning to the great Tao. Deities in mythology of "Huainanzi "carried on and developed the character, so they can be named as "soaring deities ". The common character of the sprits is freedom,and freedom is also the innate character of the particular action - soaring. When they are integrated,there comes the colorful world of sprits in "Huainanzi ".Another type of soaring in the book - the soaring of human privides necessary reference in three deferent aspect to study the culture meaning of "soaring deities":the infinity of space-time, unlimited behavior and unawareness of themselves. Both of the two type of soaring happened relying on the realization of the great Tao. So deities are the embodiment of human being.Most of the soaring spirits in "Huainanzi "can trace their source back to the former ancient books and records which kept mythology: the initial image of Fengyi is the god of the Yellow River ; the legend of dragon and phoenix has a long history ; Ruoshi can be foud in the "deep-eyed " recorded in "The ting of mount and sea";and the powerful influence Nvwa was well known. However, in "Huainanzi" they allbecome the soaring spirits mastering the true essence of the great Tao.The soaring mythology of "Huainanzi "influenced the literature of later periods widely and deeply, hi the literary creation of Elegies of Chu ci it served as a link between past and future, and developed the imagination of this special forms of literature.In the development of Taoism literature,it expanded the subject matter and transformed the image. So it can be regarded as the important link between mythology and fairy story.Soaring mythology of "Huainanzi "exhibites the new culture character during the new history circumstances compared with the mythology of former ages.lt shows the awareness of combine into one system, expresses the creation of spirits during new history period, and implies the inclination of mythology advancing to art.