Ho Po the Ancient China River God

Throughout time myths have a tendency to evolve as new meanings are given to them. This essay will shine some new light on the old legend of Ho Po, the River God of China.

The Myth of “Ho Po taking a bride” starts with Hsi-men Poa coming into power as the official of Yeh. He had noticed that most of the people where in poverty and decided to look into this. When he did he found that this was because of the annual providing of a bride for the River God, Ho Po. Which if not done would result in the over flowing of the river and many deaths. Hsi-men Pao decided to attend the next offering of a bride to the river god. As the next offering came about he saw two to three thousand people gathered dressed in bright colored clothing. When the bride was being brought up Hsi-men Poa asked to take a look at her. When he did so he saw that she was an old ugly women in her seventy’s. He felt that she was not fit to be the bride of Ho Po and surly he deserved better. So

In the last main sources that he used which included “Icons of the Iconoclasm”, “Earth-Diver: Creation of the Mythopoeic Male” to talk about Hsi-men Poa defeating the river god Ho Po. He explained this by looking back in time when Ho Po and Hsi-men Poa first took form.

Ho Po’s ur-form of half man and half fish or snake. His-men Poa is translated to “the leopard (pao) of the West Gate (hsi-men): which could be considered to be the natural enemy of the fish.

Another side to the story shows Hsi-men Poa as a prince “who routed the shamans and saved a pretty damsel in distress.” As he author started to talk about how in spring the boys and the girls would gather on the river banks. The boys would cross over the river with the live dragon to embrace their lovers on the other side. The author used the Book of songs. He also used Marcle Granet, Festivals and songs of Ancient China, when talking about this side to the myth.

In the authors conclusion he states how spring was to be the rebirth of all life and the return of life in the fall symbolized an all-devouring chthonic beat

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