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| - Nüwa was referred to in many poems and books of songs. Below are some of the common sources that describe Nüwa, given in chronological order. (The following does not include material of local tribal stories or modern reinterpretations, such as often adapted for screenplays.) In Shan Hai Jing (from the Warring States period to the beginning of the Han Dynasty), Chapter 16, it is said that Nüwa's intestines scattered into ten spirits. In Liezi (c. 475 - 221 BCE), Chapter 5 "Questions of Tang" (traditional Chinese: 卷第五 湯問篇), author Lie Yukou describes Nüwa repairing the original imperfect heaven using five-colored stones, and cutting the legs off a tortoise to use as struts to hold up the sky. In Songs of Chu (c. 340 - 278 BCE), Chapter 3 "Asking Heaven" (simplified Chinese: 问天), author Qu Yuan writes that Nüwa molded figures from the yellow earth, giving them life and the ability to bear children. After demons fought and broke the pillars of the heavens, Nüwa worked unceasingly to repair the damage, melting down the five-coloured stones to mend the heavens. In Huainanzi (c. 179 - 122 BC), Chapter 6 "Lanmingxun" (traditional Chinese: 覽冥訓), author Liu An tells that in remote antiquity the four poles of the Universe collapsed and the world descended into chaos; the firmament was no longer able to cover everything and the earth was no longer able to support itself; fires burned wild and waters flooded the land; fierce beasts ate common people, and ferocious birds attacked the old and the weak. So Nüwa tempered the five-colored stones to mend the heavens, cut off the feet of the great turtle to support the four poles, killed the black dragon to help the earth, and gathered the ash of reed to stop the flood. (In a variation of this tale, the four corners of the sky collapsed and the world with its nine regions split open.) In Shuowen Jiezi (c. 58 - 147 CE), China's earliest dictionary, under the entry for Nüwa author Xu Shen describes her as being both the sister and the wife of Fuxi. Nüwa and Fuxi were pictured as having snake like tails interlocked in an Eastern Han Dynasty mural in the Wuliang Temple in Jiaxiang county, Shandong province. In Duyi Zhi (traditional Chinese: 獨異志; c. 618 - 907 CE), Volume 3, author Li Rong describes in the account "Opening of the Universe" a brother and a sister living on the Kunlun Mountain. The sister's name was Nüwa. The brother and sister wished to become husband and wife but felt shy and guilty about this desire. So the brother took his younger sister to the top of the Kunlun Mountain and prayed, "If the heavens allow us to be man and wife, please let the smoke before us gather. If not, please let the smoke scatter." The smoke before them gathered together; thus Nüwa came to live with her elder brother. She made a fan with grass to hide her face. (The present custom of women covering their faces with fans originated from this story.) In Yuchuan Ziji (simplified Chinese: 玉川子集 c. 618 - 907 AD), Chapter 3 (traditional Chinese: "與馬異結交詩" 也稱 "女媧本是伏羲婦"; Pinyin: "Yu Mayi Jie Jiao Shi" YeCheng "Nüwa ben shi Fuxi fu"), author Lu Tong describes Nüwa as the wife of Fuxi. (Note the late date.) In Siku Quanshu (simplified Chinese: 四库全书; traditional Chinese: 四庫全書; c. 618 - 907 CE), Sima Zhen provides commentary on the prologue chapter to Sima Qian's Shiji, "Supplemental to the Historic Record: History of the Three August Ones," wherein it is found that the Three August Ones are Nüwa, Fuxi, and Shennong; Fuxi and Nüwa have the same last name, Feng (traditional Chinese: 風). Note: Sima Zhen's commentary is included with the later Siku Quanshu compiled by Ji Yun and Lu Xixiong. In the collection Four Great Books of Song (c. 960 - 1279 CE), compiled by Li Fang and others, Volume 78 of the book Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era contains a chapter "Customs by Yingshao of the Han Dynasty" in which it is stated that there were no men when the sky and the earth were separated. Thus Nüwa used yellow clay to make people. But the clay was not strong enough so she put ropes into the clay to make the bodies erect. It is also said that she prayed to gods to let her be the goddess of marital affairs. (Variations of this story exist.)
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