Is there evidence of Noah’s flood in Chinese culture?

[ChetSinger]

I’ve read papers that step through the post-flood genealogy and match the names to various later-appearing cultures. And I think its interesting stuff. But I don’t recall any papers that went as far east as China. And as someone who believes the flood was global, that was a puzzle.

Nevertheless I believe there is evidence that ties the Chinese people to an early worship of God, and even to the flood itself.

First, to God. The original Chinese deity, Shang Di (meaning “Lord of heaven”), is so much like the God of the bible that some Christian missionaries preach that they are one and the same.

Second, to the flood. To no surprise, the Chinese have a flood legend. And some of their earliest history describes the hard work of draining leftover water from the land after the deluge. But what’s especially interesting to me is that the Chinese character for “boat” includes symbols that mean eight mouths. And there were eight people on the ark. I knew that connection was controversial, so I’ve spoken of it to some Chinese acquaintances. To my surprise I got agreement. One even exclaimed she had never noticed it before, but agreed once it was pointed out.

So I think the Chinese can be traced back to Noah. I still don’t know where to place them among his sons, but I’m going to guess perhaps Shem, because their worship remained true to God for an extended period after the dispersion.

 

[SkyWriting]

I’ve read papers that step through the post-flood genealogy and match the names to various later-appearing cultures. And I think its interesting stuff. But I don’t recall any papers that went as far east as China. And as someone who believes the flood was global, that was a puzzle.

Nevertheless I believe there is evidence that ties the Chinese people to an early worship of God, and even to the flood itself.

First, to God. The original Chinese deity, Shang Di (meaning “Lord of heaven”), is so much like the God of the bible that some Christian missionaries preach that they are one and the same.

Second, to the flood. To no surprise, the Chinese have a flood legend. And some of their earliest history describes the hard work of draining leftover water from the land after the deluge. But what’s especially interesting to me is that the Chinese character for “boat” includes symbols that mean eight mouths. And there were eight people on the ark. I knew that connection was controversial, so I’ve spoken of it to some Chinese acquaintances. To my surprise I got agreement. One even exclaimed she had never noticed it before, but agreed once it was pointed out.

So I think the Chinese can be traced back to Noah. I still don’t know where to place them among his sons, but I’m going to guess perhaps Shem, because their worship remained true to God for an extended period after the dispersion.

See Also:
Chinese Creation and Flood Myth
Great Flood (China) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flood Stories from Around the World

 

[hiscosmicgoldfish]

I think the Chinese are from Ham.

 

[Calminian]

I’ve read papers that step through the post-flood genealogy and match the names to various later-appearing cultures. And I think its interesting stuff. But I don’t recall any papers that went as far east as China. And as someone who believes the flood was global, that was a puzzle.

Nevertheless I believe there is evidence that ties the Chinese people to an early worship of God, and even to the flood itself.

First, to God. The original Chinese deity, Shang Di (meaning “Lord of heaven&#8221, is so much like the God of the bible that some Christian missionaries preach that they are one and the same.

Second, to the flood. To no surprise, the Chinese have a flood legend. And some of their earliest history describes the hard work of draining leftover water from the land after the deluge. But what’s especially interesting to me is that the Chinese character for “boat” includes symbols that mean eight mouths. And there were eight people on the ark. I knew that connection was controversial, so I’ve spoken of it to some Chinese acquaintances. To my surprise I got agreement. One even exclaimed she had never noticed it before, but agreed once it was pointed out.

So I think the Chinese can be traced back to Noah. I still don’t know where to place them among his sons, but I’m going to guess perhaps Shem, because their worship remained true to God for an extended period after the dispersion.

There's a guy I found a while back that did quite a bit of research on this. He was himself of Chinese heritage. Let me see if I can dig him up........

I think the Chinese are from Ham.

I do recall though, that one of his pet peeves was that idea that they were from Ham. He insists they were semites.

 

[Papias]

Chetsinger wrote:

But what’s especially interesting to me is that the Chinese character for “boat” includes symbols that mean eight mouths.

Um........

Wheren't there supposed to be a LOT more than 8 mouths on the ark?

Other animals have mouths, right?

Papias

 

[juvenissun]

Chetsinger wrote:



Um........

Wheren't there supposed to be a LOT more than 8 mouths on the ark?

Other animals have mouths, right?

Papias

In Chinese, the number of "mouth" in a family means people. For animal, it is called "animal-mouth".

 

[Calminian]

In Chinese, the number of "mouth" in a family means people. For animal, it is called "animal-mouth".

Now that's interesting.

 

[Papias]

Juvi-

Do you have a Chinese source for that, or are you just making it up?

After all, you've already misrepresented the symbol (because it doesn't contain the symbol for "family" anyway - Juvi just added that himself).

Being familiar with this, I could post about the wide range of meanings, and name for, that part of the symbol, but I decided against doing Juvi's legwork for him.

Papias

 

[juvenissun]

Juvi-

Do you have a Chinese source for that, or are you just making it up?

After all, you've already misrepresented the symbol (because it doesn't contain the symbol for "family" anyway - Juvi just added that himself).

Being familiar with this, I could post about the wide range of meanings, and name for, that part of the symbol, but I decided against doing Juvi's legwork for him.

Papias

三口之家 (or 一家三&#21475: three mouth(s) family
牲口: (domestic) animal mouth

 

[ChetSinger]

Chetsinger wrote:

Um........

Wheren't there supposed to be a LOT more than 8 mouths on the ark?

Other animals have mouths, right?

Papias

Sure, but even in the Bible retelling it's the eight surviving people who are counted for remembrance: "In the ark a few, that is eight souls, were delivered through water.".

 

[Gxg (G²)]

I’ve read papers that step through the post-flood genealogy and match the names to various later-appearing cultures. And I think its interesting stuff. But I don’t recall any papers that went as far east as China. And as someone who believes the flood was global, that was a puzzle.

Nevertheless I believe there is evidence that ties the Chinese people to an early worship of God, and even to the flood itself.

First, to God. The original Chinese deity, Shang Di (meaning “Lord of heaven”), is so much like the God of the bible that some Christian missionaries preach that they are one and the same.

Second, to the flood. To no surprise, the Chinese have a flood legend. And some of their earliest history describes the hard work of draining leftover water from the land after the deluge. But what’s especially interesting to me is that the Chinese character for “boat” includes symbols that mean eight mouths. And there were eight people on the ark. I knew that connection was controversial, so I’ve spoken of it to some Chinese acquaintances. To my surprise I got agreement. One even exclaimed she had never noticed it before, but agreed once it was pointed out.


So I think the Chinese can be traced back to Noah. I still don’t know where to place them among his sons, but I’m going to guess perhaps Shem, because their worship remained true to God for an extended period after the dispersion.

One good resource that may aid you can be found here:

• Chinese Memories of Noah's Flood
• Chinese Mythology Clarified by Miao Legend Confirms Noah's

As shared before in Moving the Garden East of Eden..Literally: Was Eden Originally in Asia? ( #2 ), there is much within Chinese and Asian culture to show close connection with the early accounts in Genesis - and having them note the Flood is not surprising...especially seeing their abilities for sea travel.

 

[ChetSinger]

One good resource that may aid you can be found here:

• Chinese Memories of Noah's Flood
• Chinese Mythology Clarified by Miao Legend Confirms Noah's

As shared before in Moving the Garden East of Eden..Literally: Was Eden Originally in Asia? ( #2 ), there is much within Chinese and Asian culture to show close connection with the early accounts in Genesis - and having them note the Flood is not surprising...especially seeing their abilities for sea travel.

Thanks for that. That's interesting reading.

 

[ChristOurCaptain]

So I think the Chinese can be traced back to Noah.

This should not be a surprise, since all people currently existing, can be traced back to Noah...

 

[Papias]

Chet, that doesn't help your point because 1 peter never mentions "mouths" anyway.

 

[Assyrian]

I’ve read papers that step through the post-flood genealogy and match the names to various later-appearing cultures. And I think its interesting stuff. But I don’t recall any papers that went as far east as China. And as someone who believes the flood was global, that was a puzzle.

Nevertheless I believe there is evidence that ties the Chinese people to an early worship of God, and even to the flood itself.

First, to God. The original Chinese deity, Shang Di (meaning “Lord of heaven”), is so much like the God of the bible that some Christian missionaries preach that they are one and the same.

Second, to the flood. To no surprise, the Chinese have a flood legend. And some of their earliest history describes the hard work of draining leftover water from the land after the deluge. But what’s especially interesting to me is that the Chinese character for “boat” includes symbols that mean eight mouths. And there were eight people on the ark. I knew that connection was controversial, so I’ve spoken of it to some Chinese acquaintances. To my surprise I got agreement. One even exclaimed she had never noticed it before, but agreed once it was pointed out.

So I think the Chinese can be traced back to Noah. I still don’t know where to place them among his sons, but I’m going to guess perhaps Shem, because their worship remained true to God for an extended period after the dispersion.

I think the danger here is the Rorschach inkblot effect, it is too easy for people to see what they want in complex designs. I don't think it is enough to ask people who can read Chinese, you would need to talk to people who know Chinese linguistics and the history and etymology of the characters.

 

[sfs]

This should not be a surprise, since all people currently existing, can be traced back to Noah...

Not according to what our genes look like.

 

[ChristOurCaptain]

Not according to what our genes look like.

....
All other humans than Noah and his family died in the Flood.
Therefore, all modern humans descend from Noah.

 

[ChetSinger]

I think the danger here is the Rorschach inkblot effect, it is too easy for people to see what they want in complex designs. I don't think it is enough to ask people who can read Chinese, you would need to talk to people who know Chinese linguistics and the history and etymology of the characters.

It seemed pretty obvious to the people I've spoken with. A small sample size, to be sure. Nevertheless I received agreement from each (which surprised me), and not all are Christian.

 

[ChristOurCaptain]

It seemed pretty obvious to the people I've spoken with. A small sample size, to be sure. Nevertheless I received agreement from each (which surprised me), and not all are Christian.

Assyrian's point still stands, though...

 

[ChetSinger]

Chet, that doesn't help your point because 1 peter never mentions "mouths" anyway.

I think we may be talking past each other.

The observation is that the symbols for "eight" and "mouth", meaning "eight people", are included in the Chinese character for "boat". And knowing that the Chinese people have a primeval flood story, and that eight people were saved on the ark, the character may indicate knowledge of participation in our shared history.