In the very first article I touched on the creation of mankind by the goddess Nuwa. What I omitted to mention was the way in which we were created. What I'm about to tell you isn't quite a morale booster, I'm afraid - not from the human viewpoint anyway. Nuwa took seven days to create living beings. We were given form only on the seventh and last day. Chickens came first, followed by dogs, sheep, swine, cows and horses, in that order. Finally came humans! Feeling indignant? Wait - there's more to come that you won't quite relish.
When the seventh day arrived, Nuwa started creating our distant ancestors out of yellow clay, one at a time. It didn't take long before she grew tired of the process. So she resorted to ingenuity. She dipped a rope in soft clay and swung the rope desultorily. Wherever each blob of clay landed, there sprang up one more member of homo sapiens!
Imagine chickens, dogs, sheep and all the rest having precedence over us. Then, when our turn came, we were given corporeal form with casual swings of a rope dipped in mud! I wonder which Mandarin oldie the goddess was humming when she swung that rope.
Still, we celebrate that day as Renri and we feast on yee sang on that day. But, if you ask me, yee sang more than makes up for the uncomplimentary history of our creation. Three cheers for yee sang
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