Mark Edward Lewis is Kwoh-ting Li Professor of Chinese Culture at Stanford University and the author of Writing and Authority in Early China and The Construction of Space in Early China, both published by SUNY Press.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Comparative Flood Myths
Chinese Flood Myths

Cosmogonies and Social Divisions
Social Divisions and the Flood
The Flood and the Human-Animal Divide
The Flood and Human Nature
The Flood and Local Cultures
Conclusion

Criminality and the Collapse of Social Divisions
Gong Gong as a Criminal
Gun as a Criminal
Criminality and Flood in the Shan hai jing
Criminality, Floods, and the Exile of Sons
Conclusion

The Sages as Bad Fathers and Sons
The Demon Child
Fathers, Sons, and the Collapse of Social Divisions
Conclusion

The Mythology of Nü Gua and the Flood
The Mythology of Nü Gua and Fu Xi
The Iconography of Nü Gua and Fu Xi
Yu, Marriage, and the Body
Conclusion