Conceptualization of Nature in Chinese and Russian Folklore Tales

Li Khuei ORCID: 0000-0002-5254-5817 PhD in Philology Postgraduate student, Department of Theory and Practice of Foreign Languages of the Institute, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moscow, miklukho-Maklaya str., 21k3, 1405 hyerilihui@gmail.com

IntroductionNature is an integral part of human existence.

This is reflected in both Chinese and Russian fairy tales. Inanimate objects and animals in Chinese and Russian fairy tales are often attributed human qualities: human thinking, emotions and feelings, speech and other abilities, and also given an anthropomorphic appearance. The object of the study is Russian and Chinese folklore fairy tales. The subject is a comparative analysis of linguistic means of conceptualizing nature in Russian and Chinese fairy tales. The relevance of the study of natural factors presented in a fairy tale is that they not only verbalize, but also form the values of culture. Understanding the essence of this process is the most important task of linguistic axiology, within which this work is carried out. The purpose of this study is to consider nature as one of the basic concepts in Russian and Chinese fairy tales, as well as to identify common and different conceptualization of nature in folklore tales of two linguistic cultures. The theoretical basis was the works of V.Y. Propp ^[6], V.M. Zhirmunsky ^[1], D.N. Medrish ^[2], E.M. Meletinsky ^[3] on folklore tradition, structure and meanings of folklore tales. In this work, the following research methods are used: the method of contextual analysis (8 Chinese and 7 Russian folklore tales were analyzed) and comparative analysis to establish common and different conceptualization of nature in folklore tales of two linguistic cultures.

Nature as a basic concept in Chinese and Russian folklore talesWhen we talk about fairy tales, they are often presented to us as “children's stories”, that is, for many, they are stories told to children, or written for children to read.

That is, children are considered as the main target audience. In fact, this is not the case, because, despite the fact that fairy tales are written in simple language, they were not originally associated with children and were written not for children, but for adults and served as their spiritual support in difficult life situations.

Currently, fairy tales are very popular among children and adults. The fairy tales of Andersen and the Brothers Grimm are world-famous, which are excellent examples of artistically processed folk stories. Modern children get acquainted with fairy tales and learn their morality not so much through reading as through animated films and television series. 

Researchers of folk art can only approximately estimate the time of the creation of a fairy tale: it is best said in the fairy tales themselves, namely: everything that happened in fairy tales happened "a long time ago". However, the creators of fairy tales were not children, but adult "people without a name". The plots of fairy tales were retold and circulated among wandering monks, sailors or women, they acquired details, were retold again and experienced for many years.

In Chinese, the word “fairy tale” has a broad meaning. This concept includes not only legends, but also legends and myths, as well as instructive stories. In the book "ABC Fairy Tales", Zhao Jingshen gives a "negative" definition of a fairy tale, i.e. describes a fairy tale using negative constructions.  He writes that fairy tales are not children's speech, fairy tales are not novels, fairy tales are not myths ^[13]. Despite some vagueness of this definition, it indicates several important characteristics of a fairy tale, namely: fairy tales are "primitive literature that has the same organization as novels, and also contains interesting plots. Novels are created by individuals, and fairy tales are created by peoples" ^{[13, pp. 89-97]}.

Fairy tales can be considered as a kind, a kind of offshoot of a myth. Undoubtedly, most fairy tales have not only an edifying, but also an entertaining function, they reflect the thoughts and customs of the people who created them. Considering the artistic images and plots of fairy tales, where people and animals can change shape, and wood and stone can speak, Zhou Zuoren pointed to the educational function of fairy tales for children. He noted that the realization of this function is directly related to the aesthetics of fairy-tale art ^[12]. The first researchers of fairy tales in China attributed fairy tales to children's literature. In the work "The History of Fairy Tales in the World", Wei Wei defined the place of fairy tales in literature as follows: "Fairy tales are wonderful stories that exist in oral and written forms, where absurdity and authenticity are harmonious and united. They are one of the literary styles that are especially easily perceived by children" ^{[14, pp. 53-58]}.

The plot of folk tales is complex, fascinating, but at the same time logical. Fairy-tale fantasies originate in life and surpass reality. The unattainable desires of people also reflect the cultural and axiological features of various ethnic groups.

In Russian science, the study of fairy tales occupies a special place. The Russian historian of the XVIII century Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev wrote that the study of fairy tales of a people is closely connected with the history and life of this people. Russian Russian scientists and researchers noticed only at the beginning of the XIX century that the fairy tale plays an important role in the expression of the “soul” of the Russian people. Since then, various characteristics of fairy tales have received detailed coverage in scientific research (see ^{[6; 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 9; 10]}, and others).

Unlike the study of fairy tales in the Russian humanities, Chinese folk tales have not been systematically studied for a long time, although they also have a long history. In 1913, Zhou Zuoren wrote in the work "" Interpretation of ancient fairy tales: "There were written fairy tales in ancient China, but people did not know what a fairy tale was, and the fairy tale had no name" ^{[12, pp. 126-130]}. Although the very name of the folklore literary genre “fairy tale” appeared in China relatively recently, fairy-tale plots are contained in various fables, legends and myths, and folk tales are vivid examples of folk literary plots. The Chinese fairy tale carries the ideals and expectations of the general public, its emotions and value orientations, and also reflects the national characteristics of Chinese culture.

The processes of globalization have led to the fact that no country or nation can exist in isolation from each other. Constant interaction in the political, economic and social spheres could not but have a significant impact on cultural processes. According to M. Salins, each culture is "a system that accommodates contradictions and everything else, transferring the universe to its own cultural territory" ^{[7, p. 296]}.

Nature occupies a special place in the folklore tales of China and Russia. Unlike the modern world, nature played a decisive role in the life of ancient people. G.V. Vernadsky, for example, said very accurately about the role of nature in the development of the Russian people: "All civilizations are to some extent the result of geographical factors. But history does not provide a more vivid example of the influence of geography on culture than the historical development of the Russian people" ^{[8, p. 468]}.

China and Russia are located in different natural and climatic zones. These natural conditions have determined the type of economy and the way of life of people, the specifics of their attitude to nature and those values that are reflected in the fairy-tale plots of the linguistic cultures under consideration.

China is an ancient civilization with a thousand–year history, having a rich historical and cultural heritage; Chinese folklore tales, combining fables, myths and oral folk art, have become treasures of Chinese culture, reflecting the basic spiritual values of the Chinese people. The worldview of the Chinese people and the values of life are especially vividly expressed in the relationship between man and nature.

The Chinese thinker Chuang Tzu () first put forward the idea of “the unity of heaven and man” in the Zhanguo period (the period of Chinese history: 476/403–221 BC). This concept is reflected in folklore tales. Pangu, one of the heroes of Chinese folklore tales, the progenitor of the Chinese nation, is not only the creator of everything in the world, but also the lord of wind, rain, thunder, sun, moon and stars, rivers, lakes and seas, mountains, rivers and forests. The tales of Pangu show the desire of the ancient Chinese for the unity of the sky and the human view of nature. Don Tibet(), poet of the late Ming dynasty, recorded in the "ГуанбоВучжи" that "Pangu with the head of a dragon and the body of a snake whistled, causing wind and rain, blew, causing thunder and lightning, opened his eyes for the day and closed his eyes for the night. After his death, his joints became mountains and forests, and his body was in Jianhai, and his hair became plants." This is a manifestation of people's reverence for nature ^{[15, pp. 66-69]}.

According to legend, before the heavens and earth were born, the universe was a dark and chaotic mass, like a large egg. Inside the big egg, Pangu slept alone and slept for 18,000 years. After he suddenly woke up, he couldn't see anything. It was pitch black all around. Pangu raised his axe and struck it into the darkness. In an instant, the mountain collapsed and the ground cracked. Some light and transparent objects slowly rose and turned into the sky. Other, heavy and chaotic things slowly sank and turned into the ground. And Pangu stood between heaven and earth, not daring to move. Since then, the sky has risen by one meter every day, and the earth has thickened by one meter every day and finally became very solid. But due to excessive fatigue, Pangu died. His breath turned into wind and clouds; his left eye turned into the sun, and his right eye turned into the moon; his arms, legs and body turned into earth and mountains; his blood turned into rivers.

A similar idea is also found in folk tales, such as "Splitting Mountains to save the Mother" and "The Battle of Gongong Zhu Rong", which shows that in the view of Chinese ancestors, man was not completely reduced to a kind of being completely belonging to God. The whole world and the things in it are equal and in harmony, everything around lives with the idea of the unity of heaven and man.

Here you can observe some similarities with Russian folk tales. In Russian folk tales there are many elements of nature, which often have anthropomorphic forms. This fact, in our opinion, reflects the unity of nature and man. However, in Chinese folklore tales, attention is focused on the person, and in Russian folk tales, it is nature that is often the focus of attention.