Chapter 1 - Part 1

As promised here is Chapter 1. It is long. And complex.

Every Chapter begins with a prologue which is in the form of a poem with a rigid structure of 1. 14 words per line 2. the lines form rhyming couplets.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1 King Zhou lights incense in the Temple of the Goddess Nuwa

In the beginning Pan Gu split the darkness, and the two poles and four directions appeared,
Heaven and Earth and Time came into being, vermin and pestilence were removed, homes were built.
Zhuren took hold of fire and food was not eaten raw any longer; Fuyi designed the Yin-Yang Bagua Symbol,
The Farmer of Farmers invented horticulture, and the Yellow Emperor instituted marriage.
The people prospered under the Five Lords on High; later on, King Yu drove away the floodwaters.
Those of Yu’s lineage held the land for four hundred years, but King Jie lost it through his misdeeds
For Jie spent his days wining and whoring, until Shang Cheng Tang took his chances and purified the land again.
King Yin Zhou was Shang Tang’s thirty-first direct descendant; under Yin Zhou the line of the Shang family became as a piece of broken string
Under him endless chaos returned; he butchered his wife, murdered his sons and listened to lies.
He soiled the palace walls with his love of Daji; he created the Wall of Fire and destroyed they who were both innocent and loyal to him.
The people suffered when they built the Deer Palace for him, and their prayers, cries and pleas went straight to the heavens.

The Nerdy Fengshen/Houshin Translation Blog

Fengshen Yanyi (Jap: 'Houshin Engi'; Eng: 'Appointment of the Gods') was written during the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368 - 1644)(you have been warned - didn't I say that this was to be a nerdy blog???).

About the language: Fengshen was written in a form of ancient Chinese known as 'Gu3Bai2Hua4Wen2' by an unknown author, whom some people have named tentatively as Chen2 Zhong1Lin2. Let's say that Gu3Bai2Hua4Wen2 is intermediate between classical-classical Chinese ('Wen2Yan2Wen2')and modern Chinese ('Bai2Hua4Wen2'). For examples of the former, look up texts like the stuff by Confucius and his disciples. For examples of the latter, look up any modern Chinese book.

Why this book? Well, my dad bought some VCDs. The VCDs were from Hong Kong. They sucked. Big time. One of the reasons they sucked was that the movies on them had appalling special effects. I mean, they looked so 70s...

But more importantly, I felt that the movies overzealously re-told the Fengshen Yanyi story so that it was not the story I remebered but something totally different. There've been other versions of this story such as a Japanese manga/anime and a few movies, as well as a few adaptations in print. I note there is the original version online, but I've also noted that I can't seem to find an English translation of the original on the web.

So here I am. I shall translate this book from its original language into English. For FREE. Gratis. I don't know who'll be interested, but anyway... Back to my point. This is daunting. To do this, I need your HELP. No, I DON'T want your money. That's for next time. Instead, I want your comments and your visits and your recommendations.

I'll work on the translation now. Will post it tomorrow.