Author: Bai Gengsheng

The book comprises eight chapters-" Pandect," "The Symbols of Mythic Mountains and a Comparative Study," "The Symbol of the Divine Tortoise and a Comparative Study," "The Symbol of Mythic Seas and a Comparative Study," "The Symbols of Mythic Stones and a Comparative Study," "The Symbols of Bridges and a Comparative Study," "Color Symbolism and a Comparative Study," and "The Symbols of Eyes and a Comparative Study"which together present a systematic classification and a comparative review on the mythic symbols recorded in the Dong Ba classics of the Naxi nationality.The research on the symbols, such as mythic mountains, was conducted by examining their form, content and inner meaning. The work demonstrates that Dong Ba mythic symbols, to a certain extent, formed a system comprising several aspects such as nature worship, fertility cults and hero worship, of which fertility cults formed a core element embedded in the system of Dong Ba mythic symbolism. For historical, religious and political reasons, many symbols within Dong Ba mythology were closely related to Indian, Tibetan or Han mythology.

This book makes several major contributions. In the first place, it systematically introduces and classifies a system of mythic symbols recorded in the Naxi Dong Ba classics, which were written in pictographs. It also analyses certain hieroglyphic symbols in terms of their shape, pronunciation, meaning, and symbolic sense,while the inter-relationship between these hieroglyphs and the cultures of surrounding countries and nationalities are dearly identified and the unique character of the Naxi Dong Ba mythic symbols revealed.

Bai Gengsheng, male, born in 1958, and of Naxi ethnic minority. He is an associate professor working in the Institute of Ethnic Minority Literature under CASS.