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Culture clash...
Oct. 9th, 2007 08:32 pmSo, I'm thinking that a person brought up in a more-or-less Chinese culture would view Russian folk tales with a bit of doubt. Ri-ight, you say the witch's house has chicken legs and can walk around....are you sure about that one?
On the whole, what little I've uncovered of Russian folk tales is pretty dark (these are all the nasty things that can happen to you in the forest). Chinese mythology seems to do things on a grander scale (good and evil). However, I think they would probably be more inclined to buy into all the many differing water spirits the Russians have (mostly bad news), as Asian culture seems to have a horde of its own water beings (mostly good).
Chinese dragons are all male. This makes the question of 'which came first, the dragon or the egg?' somewhat problematic. I found one reference where an emperor became a dragon, but otherwise it seems that dragons come from carp. Yep, I mean fish....So how much more believeable is that than the whole Baba Yaga thing?
I've got a dragon in this story who is taking human form for the first time. Unfortunately, I can't seem to decide how old he really is, or what he used to be. I don't want him talking about his life as a fish, so I may have to bend mythology. (I can do that. It's allowed.)
On the whole, what little I've uncovered of Russian folk tales is pretty dark (these are all the nasty things that can happen to you in the forest). Chinese mythology seems to do things on a grander scale (good and evil). However, I think they would probably be more inclined to buy into all the many differing water spirits the Russians have (mostly bad news), as Asian culture seems to have a horde of its own water beings (mostly good).
Chinese dragons are all male. This makes the question of 'which came first, the dragon or the egg?' somewhat problematic. I found one reference where an emperor became a dragon, but otherwise it seems that dragons come from carp. Yep, I mean fish....So how much more believeable is that than the whole Baba Yaga thing?
I've got a dragon in this story who is taking human form for the first time. Unfortunately, I can't seem to decide how old he really is, or what he used to be. I don't want him talking about his life as a fish, so I may have to bend mythology. (I can do that. It's allowed.)
