Having been dispatched to earth, the half-human, half-snake goddess Nüwa found herself utterly alone living on the heights of Mount Kunlun in northwestern China. In a stroke of genius, she moulded clay figurines and breathed life into them.
Soon after, there was chaos. Wildfires and floods eradicated the natural habitats of animals; beasts grew desperate and consumed mankind; the sky had collapsed and crashed into the earth; demons were unleashed.
Sympathetic towards her non-biological offspring, Nüwa came to mankind’s aid. She sectioned off the legs of the giant turtle Ao (鳌) to hold up the sky and built dams to stop the rivers from flooding. After some pretty tiresome work, Nüwa finally restored order to the human society she created – an important basis for the ancient ruling class to embody the status of semi-divine agency and establish absolute sovereignty.
