|
The content of the thesis is mainly to explore the implications of snakes mentioned in the ancient Chinese book, Shan Hai Chin, and to find out the various symbols given to snakes in ecology, linguistics, religion, witchcraft and folklore originated from the prehistoric culture in primitive Chinese societies.
The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter, An Introduction, is aimed to reveal the researcher’s motivation, purpose, range of research scope and methodology, and to define the terms of “implication” and “symbol”.
The second chapter categorizes the snakes recorded in Shan Hai Chin into seven groups and analyzes them in a superficial way.
The third chapter covers one of the main topics, exploring the “implication”. Due to the range and length of the research, the exploring of implication of Shan Hai Chin snakes is split into chapters three and four. Chapter three centers on the ecology of snakes, the form, sound and meaning of the word “snake”, and the rise and fall of snake tribes once thriving in ancient tribal societies.
Chapter four explores the implications of snakes found in ancient religious concepts, world of witchcrafts, and folkloric beliefs, in an attempt to shed light on the magical implications of snakes from the previous civilizations by applying the most novel, far-fetched point of views.
Chapter five discusses the second main topic of the research, the symbolic image of snakes. This chapter targets on the four symbolic meanings of luck and woe, forms of gods, totems of forefathers and incarnation.
Chapter six, The Conclusion, intends to draw a conclusion and classification from the six implications and four symbols of the snakes discussed in the thesis. For one thing, the researcher hopes that through the exploring she not only enriches her own knowledge about snakes, but also provides other interested researchers with a deeper insight on the world of snakes. For another, she expects snakes to make a glorious return to the stage of culture, to shine once more, so they can go further to break free from under the dark shadow of “dragon”, and resume their original, truest, simplest image back then when human culture first appeared.
|