A bilingual archive of Chinese cultural memory

From creation myths
to the present.

Explore deities, historical figures, spirits, creatures and objects across a source-aware timeline of Chinese myth and history.

Selected points on the timeline

Each entry separates narrative setting, earliest surviving record and the period when its familiar form took shape.

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HISFOLMEDWEB

Pangu

Pangu stands at the opening of a widely known Chinese creation narrative, while the surviving textual record belongs to a much later age.

Creation-myth era

Six source layers, applied claim by claim.

Labels identify where a claim comes from. One figure may carry historical records, local worship and literary adaptation at the same time.

ARC Archaeology

Objects, sites, inscriptions and datable material remains.

HIS Historical records

Chronicles, archives, gazetteers and near-contemporary writing.

FOL Myth & folklore

Myth, oral tradition, local worship and later attribution.

PER Drama & romance

Drama, storytelling, romance and staged adaptation.

MED Literature & media

Fiction, film, animation, games and other creative media.

WEB Internet remix

Memes, short-video claims and online reinterpretation.

Two clocks prevent false precision.

Myths follow narrative sequence. Evidence follows the dates of texts, images and material remains.

Narrative time

Creation
Gods & humans
Recorded history

Evidence time

Earliest witness
Formative period
Modern reception