In this paper the author cites and explains some typical long-distance travel myths in ancient China, deduces their political and cultural meanings which were deeply rooted in Chinese tradition. She concludes that those travel stories imply two opposi...
In this paper the author cites and explains some typical long-distance travel myths in ancient China, deduces their political and cultural meanings which were deeply rooted in Chinese tradition. She concludes that those travel stories imply two opposite political options inside: On the one hand, many stories involved tragedies revealing that as a big country, ancient Chinese tried to unify the whole country by enhancing authority and expelling random travel. On the other hand, by travel into a happy territory, especially the fairy land, ancient Chinese developed primitive ideas of utopia. The author also indicates that although ancient China is affluent in utopian stories, since ancient Chinese myths was always merged with witchery and was thought to be the opposite side of rationalism, it doesn't lead to an advanced utopian writing in China, which is quite abundant in western countries.